Why limit food miles to corn and oranges?
Try it on liquor and you might be surprised
My husband, who is really into the food miles concept, is a beer snob. So it was sort of bothering him that much of the beer he really enjoys is from the east coast or, worse, overseas. He's been trying more local brews and found out he really likes Two Brothers Brewing Company's beer. It's made in a small brewery in Warrenville, about 15 miles from our home.
If he's a beer snob, he's downright arrogant about absinthe. Up until recently most absinthe was manufactured in Europe -- an expensive and carbon-chugging option. But the food miles concept made him explore, and now he's enjoyg North Shore Distillery's Sirene Absinthe Verte. That's from a Chicago suburb 63 miles from our home in Plainfield.
Now, the food miles thing is a little easier to calculate. If the orange grew in Florida, it's got X number of miles.
Manufactured products are harder. The absinthe is made here, but the ingredients are probably from all over Europe. There's not way to take that all into account.
But we can still take comfort that we're doing something. And it's still less travel time, and carbon, if the water is added to a product more locally.
Plus, we're supporting jobs in Illinois and supporting the entrepreneurs that make our country a great place to live. That might not be a green concept, but it's a good one.
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
Leave a comment