The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

by Michael Pollan

Shopping in the organic supermarket underwrites important values on the farm; shopping locally underwrites a whole set of other values as well. That’s because farms produce a lot more than food; they also produce a kind of landscape and a kind of community. Whether Polyface’s customers spend their food dollars here in Swoope or in the Whole Foods in Charlottesville will have a large bearing on whether this lovely valley—this undulating checkerboard of fields and forests—will endure, or whether the total economy will find a “higher use” for it. “Eat your view!” is a bumper sticker often seen in Europe these days; as it implies, the decision to eat locally is an act of conservation, too, one that is probably more effective (and sustainable) than writing checks to environmental organizations.