AzureRadiation

The Crackerman definitely knows his crackers. They are delightfully "real" tasting. Immediately after snapping this photo, the Bailey cat dragged them away. After a long battle, I finally got them back just long enough to get a photo of the back.

Apparently, the Crackerman of Etna consists of John and Beverly Bender who bake these crackers in their house. You can buy them at Ludgate Farms, Greenstar, and various wineries in the area.

In Ithaca, I suppose it isn't as difficult as many places to be a localvore. My interest in this type of food gathering was inspired by a little research and my general distaste for corporations that bully.

What is a localvore? Generally it describes people who mostly consumes food produced within 100 miles of where they live. I think it describes someone who is more aware of where and how their food is produced and makes an effort to eat accordingly. Obviously there are some foods that have to be produced more than 100 miles away--for instance, I don't see coffee, tea, or olives being grown in upstate NY any time soon... I think of localvore as the new organic given that the FDA's definition of organic is rather loose and only accounts for 95% of the ingredients.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't do much because of lack of funds and laziness. But, the one thing I always make sure to do is to not consume dairy from cows treated with growth hormone. I don't just do this because there are no long term studies researching the effect of treated cow milk on people, I also do this because of the business practices of the company that makes the growth hormone, Monsanto. Monsanto has been waging a war on farmers who choose not to use their genetically modified seeds and bovine growth hormone.

They have sued small dairy farmers who state on their milk containers that they do not treat their cows with bovine growth hormone because apparently it makes it sound like milk from cows who were treated is bad for you (even though they never said it was bad for you). Though they were unsuccessful in getting money out of the dairy farmers this time, they did get the FDA to force all non-bovine growth hormone dairies to state that there is no difference between milk from cows treated with the growth hormone and milk from those who were not treated.

In addition, Monsanto has essentially hired spies to determine whether farmers are keeping their genetically modified seeds from year to year to replant them instead of purchasing the latest seeds from Monsanto. That's right, Monsanto forces farmers to sign an agreement saying they will not participate in the age-old practice of saving seeds from your harvest to plant next year. When their infiltrators suspect a farmer has been saving seeds, they bully them into paying fines by settling outside of court. They've even sued farmers when it is likely the wind or animals have caused the cross-pollination of their non-genetically modified crops with Monsanto crops (see Percy Schmeiser). In almost every case, Monsanto has forced farmers to settle outside of court because there is no way that small farmers could ever have the financial backing to compete with Monsanto's legal team. And this, frankly, makes me angry.

I think we all have the right to know what is in our food, where it came from, and how it was produced. Eating local is probably the only way to have a chance at knowing what you are putting into your body so it seems like a pretty good idea. And that's even without taking the savings in fossil fuels into account when your food doesn't have to be shipped hundreds of miles to get to your local supermarket.