Word Of The Year: Locavore
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November 29, 2007The New Oxford American Dictionary has announced locavore as the 2007 Word of the Year. At PWF we continue to see interest in Melbourne’s new 100 Mile Cafe – The Community Cares…So The Hospitality Industry Responds.
It seems that around the world in 2007 there has been a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.
The ‘locavore’ movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better.
Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.
Ben Zimmer, editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press, says,
“The word ‘locavore’ shows how food-lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment…It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way.”
‘Locavore’ was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Other regional movements have emerged since then, though some groups refer to themselves as’localvores’ rather than ‘locavores’.
Whatever the spelling- it’s a word to watch.
1 Comment
Lovatore? What a horrible word. “It sounds like a disease” was one comment from my office. It makes me think of some ghastly breed of people from out of space that is probably related to Batman or an enemy of Superman or even from some far away planet that the Battlestar Gallatica team came into contact with. It does nothing to inspire me to eat local and fresh. I can see how they have arrived at such a word but does nothing for me. If you take asap which is (getting used more and more as a word, ‘as soon as possible’ for those who don’t know the meaning of asap) as an example then to most people this needs no explanation. I know our language evolves with time but can you imagine ‘lovatore’ becoming a catch word? By the time you had explained its meaning the good food at the market will have sold out. It had to be American. I think the Brits might be losing it too because I see the Americans have convinced them to use it. I guess we can all convince ourselves of anything if we had a mind to but the more I think of ‘lovatore’ the more I think it is a glorified lavatory.