Image of locavore book

U of T Mississauga geographer offers alternate view to 100-mile diet

Jane Stirling

You’ve heard of the 100-mile diet, farm-to-fork movement, and sustainable farming. Now, a U of T Mississauga geography professor is launching a tasty counter-attack with the publication of his new book, The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet.

Pierre Desrochers will launch his book, co-authored by Hiroko Shimizu, at an “author meets critics” free public event on Wednesday, June 6, at 1 p.m. in Council Chamber (Room 3130), William G. Davis Building, U of T Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd. N. The event will feature a panel discussion with Professors Tenley Conway and Joseph Leydon of geography and Debbie Field, executive director of Food Share Toronto, moderated by Professor Hugh Gunz of management. Following the discussion, Desrochers will answer audience questions.

“Today’s food activists think that ‘sustainable farming’ and ‘eating local’ are the way to solve a host of perceived problems with our modern food supply system,” says a summary published on the website PublicAffairs Books. “But after a thorough review of the evidence, Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu have concluded these claims are mistaken. In The Locavore’s Dilemma, they explain the history, science and economics of food supply to reveal what locavores miss or misunderstand: the real environmental impacts of agricultural production; the drudgery of subsistence farming; and the essential role large-scale, industrial producers play in making food more available, varied, affordable, and nutritionally rich than ever before in history.”

Desrochers is an associate professor of geography who writes frequently on economic development, globalization, energy and transportation issues. He was a senior research fellow at Duke University Center for the History of Political Economy. Shimizu majored in Chinese history at Gakushin University and holds a master’s of public policy from the University of Osaka. 

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jane Stirling
Marketing and Communications
U of T Mississauga
905-569-4350
jane.stirling@utoronto.ca