The Food Scout

Now for the other side of the coin.

What if your products, like Colombian coffee, Ecuadoran bananas, Chilean wine or Italian Parmesan, HAVE to come from far away. In this case, Wisconsin cheese would clearly win out over imported, if distance were all that mattered. No, if you can’t win on the sprint races (a.k.a., “Food Miles” claims), then you have to train for marathons (a.k.a., “Fair Trade” claims). And the food equivalent of that is building a good story around the food.

So, in other words, it’s OK for products to come from far away if there is a story (printed on the label of course) to justify the larger carbon footprint. For example, if the production of your food product provides a sustainable (almost as good a word as “Food Miles” but on the verge of passe) economy for a village in South America, and a romantic story complete with photographs of villagers in exotic clothing and big smiles is included on the package, then you don’t have to worry too much about a carbon footprint. In this case, you’ve built an emotional bond that minimizes the issue of carbon emissions because people’s lives are being enhanced significantly in the process. This is the tack that a French brand called Ethiquable has adopted, and it seems to be working for them. The site includes an abundance of information about each product’s origin and the villages that produce it.