• Local and natural/organic foods are healthier for the people who eat them. Varieties are selected for flavor and nutritional value, not shelf life and ability to withstand long-distance shipping. They retain more of the nutrients typically lost in shipping and they are raised with no or minimal pesticides.
• These foods are healthier for the community. More of our food dollars stay local and more go directly to the producers.
• These food are healthier for the planet. Few or no chemical inputs are used in their production, less fossil fuel is used to ship them and natural/organic growers are "green" in many other ways.

"Most people want to make a good decision about food — a healthy decision, an ethical decision, a pleasurable decision. They want all of those three things at once," says Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen. "The problem is, it's so difficult to make choices when we don't have all the information. Partly we don't have it because it's obscured, partly because science doesn't have all the answers."

Read more about food choices in a conversation with President Hansen.

At King Arthur Flour, twin passions of baking and writing get a rise out of Susan Reid '79 (Fall, 2006)

A return to the nest hatches business success for Jesse Laflamme ’00 (Fall, 2004)

Coming Home To Eat author speaks at Bates (Oct. 11, 2001)

Mark Winne '72 derives pleasure from offering good food to low-income families (August, 2000)