Where does your food come from?

My 4 year old son is the curious kind, always asking questions. Out of his own inquisition, he is learning that beef comes from cattle and pork from pigs, etc. Just recently he asked me where cookies came from...

On a recent trip to the beach, we discovered that goldfish crackers indeed come from the ocean. Here's proof:

Surprisingly, pop tarts come from the ocean too:

Well, this post is not as much about how food is produced, it is about where it is produced. September marks the Eat Local Challenge. There are many good reasons to eat locally, but my strongest ones are that when you eat locally, you are protected more from food safety problems (microbial and chemical) and you are most likely to be getting the best nutritional benefit the food can offer (some nutrients degrade over time, so you get fewer benefits the longer it takes from harvest to table). I'm nowhere close to eating as locally as I'd like, but I do intend to focus more on that in the upcoming year. Right now I am in a very transitional stage so I'll take little steps here and there. Hopefully, things will be more stable for me next year. I plan on starting my own container garden (growing herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, maybe squash) and become a member of a CSA farm. Canning and dehydrating foods are other ways to preserve food past their season. By the way, you can make a food dehydrator from a box fan, paper air filters, food grade mesh and bungee cords. Just another experiment put off to next year...

Have you ever given thought to where your food comes from?