Most Americans try to eat locally grown foods
According to a Gallup poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans say they actively try to include locally grown foods in their diets, confirmation that the public is embracing farmers markets, community-supported agricultural programs, and the “farm-to-table” movement that have all proliferated in the United States since the early 2000s.
According to a Gallup poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans say they actively try to include locally grown foods in their diets, confirmation that the public is embracing farmers markets, community-supported agricultural programs, and the “farm-to-table” movement that have all proliferated in the United States since the early 2000s.
Locally grown foods, which are touted as being fresh while also helping boost sales for the nation’s farming industry, have become increasingly popular across the country in recent years. A food industry research firm’s analysis of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) data found that sales of locally grown foods increased sharply from $5 billion in 2008 to $12 billion in 2014 and are projected to reach $20 billion in 2019. Gallup found that 73% of Americans currently try to include locally sourced foods in their diets, 2% avoid them, and 24% don’t think about it much.
The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans lays out recommendations for healthy eating and suggests incorporating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and dairy, while limiting salt, sugar, saturated fat, and soda. Gallup’s food list addresses each of these categories and finds that for the most part, Americans claim to be heeding the government’s suggestions.
Currently, 92% say they try to eat vegetables, 91% fruits, 86% poultry, 75% fish, 70% grains, 64% dairy, and 63% red meat. Each of these have been mainstays on the core list of foods that majorities of Americans try to actively include. Soda and sugar have consistently topped the list of foods Americans try to avoid, and in the latest polling, 61% say they avoid soda and 52% avoid sugar.
Gluten-free foods are the only food type on Gallup’s list that most Americans neither include nor avoid, with 59% saying they don’t think about them either way. The latest finding that 21% say they actively attempt to include gluten-free foods is essentially unchanged from 2015, the only other time it was included on the list.