Seattle’s Localwhore Movement: Marketing Local Food
by Jordan Hoy
I work at a hipster restaurant.
Uber drivers and amazon employees alike gather here on their lunch break to admire our living plant wall while they sit on metal industrial chairs and enjoy delicious gluten-free food on butcher-block tables. Raw concrete floors and exposed brick walls act as a backsplash to the mason jars adorned with cucumbers on the rim. Wait-staff with thick luscious beards and/or an embellishment of tattoos cheerfully ask if you’d like to add a side of truffle garlic friends to your order. (Yes, you want the fries. Trust me.)
I am not ashamed to say that I work at a hipster restaurant.
(Above: GoogleTrends shows how interest in “Local Food” has risen over the past decade.)
People care about where their food comes from and how it’s grown more strongly than ever before. As a self-identified foodie and localvore, I understand the impact that our food system has on the environment and therefore actively pursue a diet that does not cause excess environmental degradation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), 3.7 billion acres is dedicated towards food production. That’s 36% of the Earth’s arable land! One common theme observed throughout courses in UW’s Program on the Environment is how individual choices and lifestyles can have an impact at the global scale. We vote with our dollar, so it’s understandable that people want to support sustainable agricultural practices, as well as best business practices, when they go out to eat.
That being said, I feel that Seattlites have taken this to the extreme. You know that one episode of Portlandia? Well, that’s a SLIGHTLY exaggerated depiction of my restaurant’s clientele:
People in this city don’t want to eat the average burger. They want antibiotic-free grass-fed Painted Hills beef on a toasted Macrina brioche bun topped with organic Full Circle Farm’s lettuce/tomato/onion and homemade locally distilled pickles. The local food movement obsession seems harmless enough, but how much of it is just marketing? Are Seattle businesses capitalizing on the sustainability movement or do they truly have benevolent intentions?
From my perspective owning and working in a restaurant, the food industry is not unlike any other industry; it is fueled by consumer demand. Our clientele requested local tofu, therefore we researched and now source from a local tofu producer. They wanted organic duck from Washington, so I talked to some farmers. I’m grateful for the small-scale of our restaurant that allows healthy communication between management and customers. It is this vital communication that constantly guides our business in the right direction towards reflecting the values of our consumers and neighborhood community.
Larger businesses do not have the luxury of intimate customer communications and without legal repercussions holding businesses accountable to the claims that they make, the consumer is inevitably distanced from the producer.
As the local food movement continues to gain momentum, what will be the steps moving forward? Will restaurants start producing CSR reports? Would a restaurant’s water use/waste reduction/philanthropic efforts be strong determining factors for where you decide to have dinner?