87: Are Local Food Movements Elitist? with Paul O. Mims

“The local, slow food movement romanticized everything, and created a dichotomy that if you don’t eat organically, from local food sources, from farmers, you’re not doing it right. You’re not eating right, you’re not caring about the environment, you’re not caring about yourself… It’s not realistic, there are people who can’t afford it! You have to use what you have. ”
— Paul O. Mims
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It’s been a while since I’ve put out an episode, so I am extra excited to get these episodes rolling out again. These are a continuation of season 6 that got a bit de-railed after a provincial lockdown up here in Ontario. Today, we’re back on our regular interviews, and this one is an episode I’ve been SO pumped to share since the moment we sat down for this talk.

When we talk about the food system and all its faults, the overwhelming trend in the last twenty years has been, well… we just have to eat local. But what does that actually mean, and is it accessible to eat local, or is it an elitist bandaid solution to the much bigger societal problems it’s trying to skirt?

My guest this week is the phenomenal food writer, creator, and educator Paul O. Mims, who is on the show to explore the elitism of local food movements and his unique and refreshing lens as a food writer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Paul began cooking at six years old with his grandmother. He's run culinary programs at a public library, worked as a museum educator at New York’s premier food and beverage museum, taught at public schools worked as a community organizer conducting community food access programs, and even teaching cooking as a drag queen. Paul's unique and expansive career is so easily showcased in his food writing as well: he has that very rare ability of being incredibly concise but also able to bring so many considerations in when exploring key issues in the food world.

This week he’s on the show to explore one of the essays he’s written on Medium unpacking the local food scene. We look at how the local food movement started, and Paul explores how the public started to romanticize agriculture, and how white women’s moralities began to shape and take hold of the ethics of food consumption in the 21st century.  If you grew up in the era of Food, Inc, feeling stressed about Michael Pollan telling you what to eat and how to eat it, this is one of those conversations that really takes a step back and assesses the amount of damage that these movements and their elitism has had on the food world, and I have been so looking forward to sharing this with you.

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