What started out as a challenge to eat only local foods for the entire month of August 2005 has evolved into a lifestyle movement.
The food trend known as “locavorism” emerged after the first Eat Local Challenge at the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Environment Day 2005 in San Francisco.
The locovore movement encourages the purchase of food grown within a 100-mile radius of the consumer, as well as food sold at farmers markets or food grown by the consumer.
Food now travels an average of 2,414 kilometres before landing on our plates, which has an immense environmental impact, according to locavores.com.
But the term “locavore” wasn’t actually put into use until it was created by a group of four San Francisco women: Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing, and DeDe Sampson.
In 2007, the Oxford University Press named it the word of the year.
“It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way,” said Ben Zimmer, editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press in the organization’s word of the year announcement.
— sources: locavores.com, Oxford University Press blog
