Roots of the Local Food Movement

I ran across this interesting photo essay of wartime posters highlighting our country's history with victory gardens. While we might sustain ourselves through a season with just our backyard vegetable fare, it's the meat and eggs from neighboring farms that would turn a bleak potato-driven winter into one of variety. As we look at Meredith's potential to deliver a viable local food system for our residents and neighboring communities, a look back at what we can do individually vs. what we can do together proves our food future is best managed collaboratively.

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Photo essay: The locavore movement may seem like a fad to some, but these wartime posters show that equating local food and security has deep roots in U.S. history. posted Sep 15, 2010

"A Victory Garden is like a share in an airplane factory. It helps win the war and pays dividends too." – Claude R. Wickard, Secretary of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 20 million Americans rose to the call for patriotism and planted a victory garden during World War II. 

Canning, home gardening, and vegetarianism have once again become political actions. Just as Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged victory gardens by planting one at the White House, the Obamas have helped to restart the home gardening trend by planting the first White House vegetable garden since the Roosevelts'.

Ready for Anything: YES! Magazine's latest issue: How to build resilience now for hard times ahead. Of course, the locavore movement emphasizes local food security for different reasons than wartime propaganda campaigns did: a changing climate, an end to cheap oil, and a difficult economy, rather than the need to feed and maintain armies. Still, the parallels are striking: Americans are eating locally not just to develop the resiliency and self-sufficiency of their communities, but to do their part in a larger struggle—this time, the global climate crisis.

To view the photo essay, click here.

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Poster images courtesy of the Collection of National Agricultural Library and an exhibit created by Cory Bernat and Good-Potato.com. Visit the website for more information.

Interested?

• Pioneers of the New Normal
• My 10-Mile Diet in a Global Food System
• 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. aabdallah. (2010, September 10). Roots of the Local Food Movement. Retrieved October 09, 2010, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/roots-of-the-local-food-movement-1. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

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