The Healthy Food Movement Pandemic Trends are Shaping Better Local Food Systems by Marlaina Donato
A noteworthy outcome has been a surge in demand for healthier food production using sustainable and humane practices.
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Greater Ann Arbor
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ike so much else on the planet, the two-year coronavirus pandemic turned the health food world upside-down. “I found myself thinking real dystopian and wondering if people would be able to survive if grocery stores crumbled,” recalls Diana Mondragón, of Rockford, Illinois. “That scary thought train reminded me that I want to learn how to be more self-sustainable.” Her once-occasional drop-bys to farmers markets are now an essential weekly ritual. “I want to support local farmers and food producers to help communities grow stronger and healthier,” she says. When the long supply chains of the conventional food system became disrupted, many Americans found themselves feeling insecure about food availability for the first time in their lives. The industrialized food system that had operated so efficiently for many generations had relied on long and complicated supply links; when they broke down or became gridlocked, the result was empty supermarket shelves and long waits for home deliveries. Add the economic repercussions and job losses, and about one in nine households lacked enough nutritious food to sustain a healthy life, report researchers from New York University. Faced with the system’s shortcomings, a noteworthy outcome has been a surge in demand for healthier food production using sustainable and humane practices. Unable to drop by a nearby grocery store and get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it, many consumers began buying locally grown produce for both practical and environmental reasons. After
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