(A letter of persuasion to a writer of the N. Y. Times.)
Dear Patrick Martins,
As a reporter for the New York Times, I
would assume you have done your research. This is a letter to try and
persuade you to consider an alternative to shipping foods across the
globe. I think your article, “Set that Apricot Free” is clever,
and it opened my eyes to the dangers of over-localizing food
production. What would we do without Brie cheese in the United
States? Or Madagascar vanilla? But perhaps your article would have
benefited from a link to another article, one about why eating
locally farmed food is important in the first place. If you think
that heritage breeds and other small production species are
important, I suggest that you travel to be able to partake in these
delicacies, and that you help inform people about the treasures they
have in their metaphorical back yards. If everyone ate locally
produced food, those “rare breeds” would be in demand in areas
near where they are produced, and would likely taste better for the
locality. The delicate terroir of certain foods would be an appeal to
tourists and enthusiasts, and also encourage local producers to take
pride in developing their local specialties. I would ask you to hear
the voice of Tristan Stuart, who raised some pigs as a young boy in
his hometown. His TedTalk is worth a listen. If you won't hear me,
then listen to him talk about the waste that occurs when food gets
shipped long distances. Would you really like a large percentage of
those Saddleback pigs to be lost to the waste of transportation? That
seems like such a shame. I believe you can think of a better solution
to the problem of dull local food, and await your next article.
Sincerely,
O.
[306 words]
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