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Originally Posted by bjones6416
Yes, I think that's part of the dilemma for those people who are absolutely committed to eating locally. I don't have that kind of commitment; I would just like to make an effort to do it when it's feasible.
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I don't have that sort of commitment either. We're in walking distance of good greenmarket with a lot of locally produced foods, if you accept a flexible definition of local. (Like, we have farmers from Amish country in PA at an NYC market.) We shop there for fresh seasonal produce.
But I'm not fanatic about it. If you insist on only locally grown food, you limit your selection to what
can be grown locally, which will vary depending on where you are. Personally, I like living in a society where food from anywhere in the world is available.
And too many of the fanatics I've seen about such things seem more motivated by status than philosophy, and the goal is to one up the other local food fanciers. "I'm more local and pure than you!"
I'm happy to support local growers, but I don't let that stop me from buying food grown elsewhere if local growers don't grow it.
In some cases, you may have no choice. For instance, NYC has a good sized Ethiopian community. Ethiopian food features a form of bread that can only be made from a particular strain of wheat. For a long time, Ethiopians had problems, because no one in the US grew that strain. A wheat farmer in Minnesota heard about it, determined that he could grow that strain, and is now the supplier for wheat for Ethiopian bakers anywhere in the US.
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Some of the baked goods offered in my CSA, for example, have grains in them that are processed locally, even if not grown here. I have a friend with chickens and I try to get my eggs from her, but mainly because they just taste better than the ones from the store. This is my first foray into the local cheese, but it won't be my last because it is GOOD. 
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Yes, artisan cheeses are prime examples of what can be done. And there's a better chance that the animal that produced the milk from which the cheese is made is local, too.
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Dennis