Locavores, pl n. 1. People who exclusively or primarily eat food grown or produced within 100 miles of where they live. 2. A movement dedicated to promoting the nutritional and environmental benefits of consuming locally grown products. 2005 from L. localis “belonging to a place” and vorare “to devour.”
For Sage Van Wing, eating locally grown food is so important she coined a term for it.
In 2005, after reading about one man's efforts to eat only food grown within 200 miles of his New Mexico home, Van Wing, '99, recalls thinking: If he could do it in the middle of the desert, surely she could do it in the bountiful San Francisco Bay area.
For Van Wing, the reasons to eat local were clear: Food that doesn't travel from halfway across the world is easier on the environment, supports the regional economy and usually tastes better as well.
That fall, she and a friend sent out press releases challenging others to join them in making a commitment to eating locally for a month. When a reporter called, wanting to know if their movement had a name, Van Wing and her friend brainstormed, ultimately turning to high school Latin to come up with locavores.
In the first month, 800 people joined their cause. Since then, the term has appeared in Time magazine, The New York Times and Barbara Kingsolver's bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. In 2007, locavore was named Word of the Year by the Oxford University Press.
Van Wing, who has since moved to Seattle, said the “Eat Local Challenge”—now in its fourth year—isn't about being rigid. It's about becoming more aware of the journey food takes before it arrives at your plate.
She's glad to see the movement gaining steam. ”We're not the first; we certainly won't be the last,” she said. “What we did was come up with a catchy word.”
—JOCELYN WIENER, ’99
