3 Reasons to Cook with Local Ingredients by The Roadhouse

Consumers are faced with a lot of decisions about food. They not only have to choose what and where they are going to eat, but also where they are going to purchase their food from. With the recent trend in purchasing organic ingredients, there has also been a big push for consumers to purchase local ingredients. The Roadhouse Wilmington Vermont based restaurant that serves up tasty dishes. Here are 3 of their reasons for buying local whenever possible.

1.      You know exactly where your food came from. If you purchase from a local family farm, you know that they grew the fruits or vegetables, or raised the animals, on their personal property. You can have a better and more trusting knowledge of whether or not pesticides were used, and if proper growing methods were sought. If you choose to purchase meat and dairy locally, you can rest assured you know how they treated the animals, and that they were give enough exercise, space, food, water and shelter. Knowing these things can help a consumer become more conscious of their food source.

2.      It’s more sustainable. Because fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and other foods that are not grown locally come from somewhere farther away, they have to take a long journey to get into your shopping cart and eventually on your dinner plate. If you want to have a positive impact on the environment and cut down on the amount of gasoline and energy used in transporting foods, buying local can help lesson your carbon footprint.

3.       It stimulates your own economy. Why pay money to another place when you can be helping out your friends, family and neighbors you share a community with by growing their economy. Buying locally means that you are paying the local farmers, growers and animal caretakers for their hard work in producing the food you eat.