Globalization and the Homebrewer

Like many craft beer aficionados, my love of craft beer is part of a broader attitude toward food.  Many of the adjectives I use to describe the creation of beers that I drink- craft, unique, small batch, fresh ingredients, real ingredients, minimal processing- can more broadly be applied to my attitude about eating and cooking.  I’m hardly alone: “Foodie” and “Beer Nerd” subcultures have populations that overlap quite a lot.

One feature of my Foodie-ness (and the Foodie-ness of many other Foodies that I know) is a concern with Local-ism (along with hyper-hyphen-ization).  Localism (the act of being a localvoire) shows up on my plate in two distinct ways.

First, I prefer, when possible, to eat food that was grown locally, made recently by someone who lives nearby, and sold by a company that is based in my part of the world.  Localism Rule #1 is to shop / eat / drink local.

Secondly, many Foodies’ Localism includes an interest in terroir, the idea that products, Continue reading