The Aesthetic Value of Local Food

Local food is often defended on environmental grounds. However, (at least some) environmental defenses of local food are flawed, and all environmental defenses are limited as they at most establish that local food is instrumentally valuable. These deficiencies motivate a different approach. By drawing on the aesthetics of engagement, a theory of environmental aesthetics, I argue that local food has an overlooked intrinsic value; it can allow people to become engaged with- and thereby aesthetically appreciate- the environment. My argument charts a comparatively neglected area of aesthetics: the aesthetics of taste and smell and, more specifically, the role that these senses play in the aesthetic appreciation of the environment.