Four UVA students are determined to see if they can, keeping a blog of their experiences. Then, James McWilliams over at The Atlantic picked up the story and wrote a nice summation of what’s going on.
The big text call-out in the Atlantic article is “As these refreshingly candid blog entries strongly suggest, a sustainable diet will never go mainstream if costs do not compete with cheap cafeteria crap.” If you read nothing else, take that point in. When you talk to anyone about eating locally, the cost is always the first thing to come out of his or her mouth. Until there are some ways to bring the cost down, whether it’s through new innovations in the space or (dare I say) some help from the government, I don’t see a real change happening any time soon. As I’ve mentioned before, people are willing to pay more for locally-grown food, but until those that CAN’T pay more can afford to eat locally, we are going to be stuck.
In any case, enjoy the blog and the article.
