If only local meant no carbs
A recent Washington Post story highlights a surprising alliance between Chipotle, the highly popular with college students and families everywhere burrito place, and Joel Salatin, who might be called the hero of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Salatin is a self-proclaimed "grass-farmer" whose methods Pollan uses to argue that a locally based, organic, multi-product agriculture can indeed be competitive from a production standpoint with conventional foods. Chipotle's been buying up some of Salatin's products for use in its Virginia stores. There's obvious problems with such an arrangement, as the article points out. Chains value consistency and reliability, two traits that tend not to be strengths of local food producers. Yet in Chipotle's case, the company has proactively sought solutions that will make this arrangement work.
Overall, I have to say this is an interesting piece and improves my opinion of Chipotle. At its extreme, the local food movement can fixate on local identity in ways that feel myopic and protectionist. Food has never been purely "local"--why did Marco Polo go to Asia, after all, if not for spices? But from an economic, environmental, and public health standpoint, arrangements like this are good news. Too bad one Chipotle burrito provides half my daily calories!!