My sister, Julie, provided me my original fascination for co-ops and eating organically. I didn’t even know what a food co-op was until I visited hers about ten years ago, where she and her husband Martin are active members (and on the board, at one time). So it’s only fitting that we both recently would have developed related blogs. It is with that caveat that I am blatantly stealing both her artwork and her blog entry to proudly announce the “Word of the Year” -- Locavore.

So what’s a Locavore? Well, it’s someone who eats local food, of course. This comes from the Oxford University Press, who I guess consider themselves experts on words and such. (Being that they publish a very popular dictionary, I guess I can give them that.)

Here’s a snippet from the Oxford University Press blog:

The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.

“The word ‘locavore’ shows how food-lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment,” said Ben Zimmer, editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press. “It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way.”

Do you feel a zeitgeist coming on? Cause I sure do.