Claire Morenon in her column (“Many reasons for consumers to ‘buy local’,” July 25) gives us a number of good reasons to “buy local,” but she missed the most important and most obvious reason.
Good nutrition, and, in fact, the best possible nutrition, is contained in plant-based foods, as measured by the amount of time between the time they are picked until the time they are eaten. There are other factors that matter, as well, such as the conditions under which they were kept after they were picked from the plant. The nutritive value of plant-based foods is related to the shortest possible amount of time between the time they are picked and the time they are eaten.
“Buying local” guarantees us that the plant-based foods that we eat have the most possible nutritive value still in them, when we eat them.
Marybeth Bridegam
Amherst