The Dardanelles is a 13-year-old Mediterranean restaurant located on the west side of campus on Monroe Street. You can't order a number three with fries, and the Mahi Mahi doesn't taste like a stuffed Chipotle burrito. It's the perfect symbol for the small-town, local atmosphere of restaurants and shops that fill the area.
The owner of The Dardanelles, Barbara Wright, is a leading voice for the ""Buy Local"" movement in Madison. She has been advocating for local Wisconsin farmers and growers since she opened the restaurant in 1997, and she prides herself on buying locally grown products. But Friday, April 30, her restaurant closed.
After hearing about the closing, I started to wonder whether or not buying local actually matters. When we hear people talk about ""eating organic"" or ""buying local,"" it sounds like the politically correct, liberal college student thing to do. But for the average eater looking for a cheap, quick meal on a daily basis, concepts like sustainable agriculture and communities don't often come to mind when faced with the numerous fast-food joints on State Street.
However, there are real-life benefits to buying local foods, and it's about more than just sounding smart to your friends on Earth Day. Think about food you purchase at the grocery store, or a restaurant, and how it got there. Vendors use land, air and sea transportation to ship products from the farm to the factory, and from the factory to the shelves. According to a 2003 study by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, on average, the distance a food item travels from the farm to your grocery store is 27 times higher than from a local source to your kitchen. Don't forget the additional amount of fossil fuel required to refrigerate items for such a long journey.
In a county that recently received a ""C"" grade for ozone and an ""F"" for fine-particle pollution by the American Lung Association, reducing carbon emissions by any amount matters a lot. With ongoing concerns about global warming, air pollution and foreign energy dependence, every step we take to wean our society off CO2 counts. I'm not saying you should start a garden in your apartment, or that by refusing a free Double Down from KFC you'll save the world, but the little things add up.
Given Wisconsin's storied agricultural history, along with a state economy driven by farming, protecting local farmers should be a top priority for ""America's Dairyland."" When you buy from a grocery store, only a fraction of the money stays within the local farm system, while the rest goes to processors, distributors, truckers and other middlemen. According to a 2002 study by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, if consumers spent one percent more of their money on locally grown products, farmers' incomes would increase by five percent. By increasing local farm income, more money is spent locally to maintain and improve the business, perpetuating a cycle of positive local transactions.
In addition to its energy and agricultural benefits, buying local has some pretty big economic advantages for the county. When someone spends money at a locally owned business, the tax dollars stay within the county, which provides more funding money for programs and developments at a local level. Maybe even enough to renovate a certain recreational facility. Since locally-owned businesses are Dane County's largest employer, buying local means increasing jobs, too.
As a student, there are easy ways to start supporting local products, and one of them happens every Wednesday and Saturday morning on the Capital Square. The Dane County Farmers' Market is reportedly the largest producer-only farmers' market in the country, and it offers a great way to walk off that terrible hangover while stocking up on fresh fruits and vegetables. All items are produced by the vendors selling them at the stand, and no re-sale is allowed.
Other shops and restaurants are out there, too. Dane Buy Local is a coalition of local independent businesses and organizations allied to keep Dane County communities functioning and prosperous. If you're interested in supporting a local economy, www.danebuylocal.com lists over 400 local businesses in the area, including some UW-Madison favorites like Paul's Book Store, Strictly Discs and, previously, The Dardanelles.
Buying local is important, either as a means of boosting our economy or protecting the environment. Whether you choose to buy apples from the Farmers' Market or Copps isn't going to seem monumental today, but with time and a community effort we can make changes that help shape the way our world works in the future.
Dan Tollefson is a junior majoring in English. Please send all responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
