While I'm on the food topic, here's an interesting op-ed piece from the NYTimes about food miles. What I took away from it is that, as with so many things, it's never as easy as it seems. There are many good reasons to eat local, most of them related to taste and flavor. The odds of getting a good tomato decrease pretty directly the further you get from your backyard tomato plant. But when you start talking about things like carbon footprints and other environmental impact issues there are so many variables to consider. I think that's why people burn out. They want it to be simple -- a perfectly reasonable desire. But it's not and I think people on both sides of the issue do their cause a disservice if they suggest that it is, that it's a simple easy call on paper v. plastic, or disposable diapers v. cloth, or (apparently) New Zealand v. domestic lamb.