Drink Local

Where does your wine come from?

What do many students do for fun in college? They drink. No parents, no chaperones = freedom. So we go nuts for alcohol. In general, the idea in college is to feel that alcoholic buzz without paying much, so college kids rarely worry about buying high quality tequila. But perhaps we should start at least worrying about where our drinks come from.

Why am I talking about drinking on a blog about food? Because alcohol is made from food. Wine comes from grapes; beer from barley, wheat, or other grains; vodka from potatoes or other vegetables/grains; and so on. Since most college students (at least on the St. Olaf campus) don’t make their own food but do buy their own alcohol, our drinks are an area where we can control our buying habits.

An article from last month’s New York Times revealed that even in San Francisco, the center of the Locavore “Eat Local” movement, most restaurants still carry imported European wines. Surrounded by California vineyards in places like Napa and Sonoma Valley, many restaurants — even those that advertise all-local menus — cling fast to their European wines.

A brewery based in St. Paul

Is this hypocrisy? I think it is. Why is alcohol generally ignored or forgotten from the local food movement? I say, if you’re going to go local, then go local. Learn to love the specific foods and flavors of the place where you live. Sure, enjoy an extravagant French wine or an imported German beer every now and then. But don’t make a habit of it and then claim to be a locavore.

Although St. Olaf College isn’t exactly in the heart of wine country, there are still quite a few wineries in Minnesota for students wanting to drink local. Here’s another website for finding beer breweries near the Twin Cities. Is it too presumptuous of me to ask that college kids start supporting these local businesses? Let me know your thoughts.