Eating local. Traveling great distances - at the cost of a huge carbon footprint - to do so. This "eco-friendly" tourism is hot, but is it just greenwashing? Stay tuned.
Greenwashing is now in the OED Oxford English Dictionary. It describes the whitewashing of regular old PR and marketing with the theme du jour "going green". I've brought you news of the popularity of culinary travel and invited you to explore the paradox of being an "environmentally conscience traveler". Seems this paradox is still making headlines.
Here's the latest news from Canada. Traveling to eat locally.Think about that for a minute.
Eco - foodie- tours that teach you about the food cycle are climbing in popularity. Up close and personal with your food. Care to examine a big steamy pile of droppings on a hiking trail to see what the local big game are eating? Then later at dinner, see if you can discern their diet by the flavor of the meat?
This may be extreme, but there are a couple of interesting facts tied to that experience...here's an interesting fact:
- Post 9/11 tourists rank "local cuisine" the biggest factor in choosing a travel destination. More than parks, mountains, casinos.
- 17% of travelers last year indicated they were taking part in culinary or wine-related activities and 60% planned to in the near future.
On Burgers, Sliders and "Hamburglers"
I wonder if the OED includes the McD's term "hamburgler" in its recent lexicon updates. Seems the recent editors and writers cannot resist it. See the New York Mag here and the Improper Bostonian, too.
If the Los Angeles Times is correct, and Americans are eating less fish*, maybe we're in for more burgled beef words. Wonder what the greenwashing will be on the carbon footprint of beef?
Coming up: The Low Carbon Diet.
* this year's consumption is on the decline as against last year. Still, with our love of meat, we're just third in fish consumption behind China and Japan.
