The latest food fad is “locavore,” which means eating only locally-produced foods. In other words, the food must have been grown within a hundred mile radius of home. Depending on where one lives, this lifestyle can be easier (Tuscany) or harder (Alaska). Since we are in St. Louis, we have access to a bounty of delicious local foods from April through October. Even so, no cook can give up eating olive oil, citrus, sugar, coffee, chocolate, wheat, or parmigiano reggiano.

There is one criterion for eating food: does it taste good. Taste trumps all other factors in deciding what to eat. Locally-grown food in season usually does taste better, because it has been vine-ripened. Produce that travels has to be picked green. Meats and fish taste better when they have not been frozen, but never-frozen meats are hard to find.

Can any of us put the genie back in the bottle and give up the foods we’ve come to love, just because fossil fuel was burned to transport them to your plate?

Author Barbara Kingsolver did the locavore experiment for a year and survived to tell the tale. Join us for a discussion of the locovore lifestyle when the book club reviews “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” on Sunday, October 21 from 1 to 3:30 pm.