Are you an elitist?

Here's another take (from the folks at FarmAid) on why supporting local agriculture is not an elitist pursuit. It does seem a bit silly to me that one is considered elitist for supporting the very population (salt of the earth, no-kidding farmers and the like) that many laud and trumpet as "real americans". The knock on the locavore etc movement is that not everyone can afford to buy all those lovely ingredients at farmers' markets. It is generally speaking true that most patrons of farmers' markets are middle class, but I think that is starting to change. We are seeing more markets turn up in urban settings away from the trendy neighborhoods, and the road-side stand is also experiencing an upward trend. The costs at these markets of course must be compared to supermarket prices, but if we really look at food deserts, they often don't even have access to decent supermarkets with real produce and the like. On a personal note, if the high price of meat leads to more shifts in diets to vegetables and grains, I can't see that as a bad thing. Far too many Americans still go hungry, but feeding people with cheap, mass-produced, fat-heavy proteins (e.g., burgers) is not the best option. And with the growth in attention to how we eat and where it comes from, it is no longer the only option.