I think I am a contrarian. I don't mean to be, but there is something buried deep in my pysche, that tends to react in a negative fashion, when the media get hold of a concept, and I start reading various people who feel the need to beat me and everyone else around the ears about what we should and shouldn't be doing in our lives.

Simply put - I hate to be told what to do. Especially by people who I don't have any reason to respect, and especially by people who climb onto the latest fashionable trend, and run with it, espousing easy catch phrases, but lacking any real depth of analysis.

And this link to an article in the New York Times, captures exactly the sense of uneasiness I've always had about those who would have us focus solely on locally produced food. An idea that is trendy to toss around, and fashionable to be seen to be getting behind, but which, when you start really exploring the angles is devoid of the actual justification that these people claim to have exclusive rights too.

But then, I'm not keen on taking extreme, absolute positions on anything. Life just simply isn't quite that clear cut, and stating absolutes leaves you no wriggle room, and I always like the opportunity to be able to reconsider.

We buy local where we can and where it makes sense - but we don't claim the moral high ground over the issue, and nor do we purport to do so exclusively. I think to do so is a gimmick, a bit like the TV show on the Food Channel some time back, covering a young chef who sort to run a restaurant only using food sourced in the greater London area. He wasn't doing that becos he really 'cared', he was doing that becos it gave him a point of difference, and was therefore an idea the TV producers were prepared to run with.

I personally believe it was devoid of any moral genuineness, and in fact all to do with publicity. But I say that becos I also happen to be somewhat cynical about most peoples reasons for wanting to be on TV, and not becos I actually know whether the restaurant is still there, and still surviving using ingredients sourced from London. Somehow I doubt it.

The history of food is writ large thru ingredients having moved all around the world over the centuries. The locavore purists taken to their logical extreme would have us deny the glories of some of the greatest food cultures in the world. Thats nonsense.

New zealand is a primary producer based economy - we need people in Asia, the Americas and Europe to want to eat our kiwifruit, our dairy and our meat. And to to get that produce to those markets it has to be shipped. Having people screaming about the carbon imprint of such shipping is just a vocal and emotive form of tariff I believe, and one that is devoid of acedemic proof, as this article amply points out.

And thats part of the reason why I get uncomfortable. But the other part is simply becos I really don't like people telling me what I should and shouldn't be eating. I'm quite grown up enough to be making those choices myself, thankyou very much!