Them Belly Full but We Mindful

'Locavore,' a word describing those who eat only (or more realistically, mostly) local foods -- that is, foods grown and harvested in the local 'foodshed,' another neologism of note -- is the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year. Another environmental term in the running was 'upcycling,' defined as "the transformation of waste materials into something more useful or valuable."

Locavorism (if it really has attained the status of -ism) is an extension of the Slow Food movement, which strives to make us all more mindful of the foods that sustain us by taking the time to cook and savor it. Mindfulness is a laudatory goal, to be sure. In that spirit, however, it seems important to acknowledge something which locavorism's champions often seem reluctant to admit; namely, that the very idea makes one at least as mindful of the limitations on eating locally as it does the possibilities therein.

Even in a place like the San Francisco Bay Area, after all, where the term locavore was coined and which is blessed with a long growing season and a climate amenable to a wide variety of crops, some things are just out the window. Coffee, for example. And bananas. And maple syrup. Other things only exist in very limited quantities -- things like, say, olive oil and even wheat. And there went breakfast. Still, I salute the intentions behind it. I do. It's great food for thought. It's just that, well, ... excuse me while I go refill my coffee.