I thought the diner that was owned by a farmer and only bought from local farmers was very interesting. Kingsolver said that in order to compete with big corporations, the owner started the diner to give the local economy business. I really liked how he saw this as a responsibility to his community and as a patriotic action. It works out really well for them because this diner provides business for the farms in an hour distance from it, and in return the farms provide supplies to keep the diner open. This just emphasizes the strong community effort that is needed to eat locally. This local community was struggling to keep their farms open, so they found a solution that worked for them and not for the big corporations.
Kingsolver again stresses how it is our responsibility to hold the stores and restaurants in our community responsible for buying locally. She suggests asking stores if they have any local produce or asking restaurants if where their ingredients come from and what items on the menu are local. She also emphasizes that it is important for you to be informed as to what is available in your community. These kinds of proactive efforts will lead communities to buy more local than from big companies.
I also thought it was interesting when she mentioned that one of our country’s biggest exports was McDonald’s or “MacDo.” From my experience this is very true. I spent a month during the summer in France and one of the first things I noticed was the frequency of fast food places in the town we were in. There were at least 2 or 3 McDonalds and one Domino’s Pizza. It seems that these restaurants were only there for novelty purposes because they were foreign