Skip to the reading

Taste, technique and where food comes from

Tongue and Tine

Section III of III

Food and place

How far food travels, and whether the distance is the point.

3 pieces, 2013–2026

This section is about the distance between a field and a plate, and about attempts to shrink it to almost nothing. One piece, dated years before the others, looks at the idea of a zero-food-mile kitchen, where produce is grown in or on the same building that cooks it, and at the limits of that approach. Another looks at rooftop and indoor growing as restaurants practice it now.

A third piece takes on the phrase food miles itself. Distance is easy to count and easy to print on a label, yet transport is often a smaller part of a food’s environmental cost than the way it was grown. That piece sets out what the number captures and what it misses.

Latest at the top

  1. Rooftop and indoor growing for restaurants

    A shelf of microgreens by the pass is cheap and quick to pay back. A farm meant to supply the whole menu is another business, and several well-funded ones have gone under.

  2. What food miles measure and what they miss

    The distance a tomato traveled is easy to picture and hard to use. Two decades of research say it matters a lot for some foods and very little for others.

  3. The path to zero-food-mile cooking

    A few kitchens now grow part of what they serve within sight of the stove. The idea holds up well for herbs and young greens and runs out of room long before the rest of the menu.