It was traditional in many places to give thanks for a successful harvest with a harvest festival. With many of us no longer directly working the land and having access to most foods all year round, the idea of a harvest can sometimes pass us by.

It is fitting that the end of harvest time for us coincides with the Season of Creation. The link that each of us has with the land is brought into view. We look at what sustains us. And we consider how we can care for the earth so that it can continue to sustain us and our children.

So what is LOAF?

Foods coming from far away are now common, enabled by international trade, packaging, refrigeration and the cold chain. High yield crops and agrichemicals have concentrated land for food production pushing wildlife to the margins. Industrial scale meat, dairy and fisheries have made what was once a luxury an everyday menu item and put pressure on our forests and seas. And sometimes our brothers and sisters struggle in poor working conditions and are trapped in poverty while they toil for our food.

L is Local. At this harvest time can we find local and seasonal ingredients?

O is Organic. Can we think about how our food affects biodiversity and choose products that respect the careful balance of the soil?

A is Animal-friendly. Can we challenge ourselves to try meat-free alternatives?

F is Fair-trade. For ingredients that have come far, can we assure ourselves that the people who worked hard for our food have a fair wage and work in safety?

As we go about our shopping, we can think about LOAF and remember the observation from Laudato Si’ 129 that “there is a great variety of small-scale food production systems which feed the greater part of the world’s peoples, using a modest amount of land and producing less waste, be it in small agricultural parcels, in orchards and gardens, hunting and wild harvesting or local fishing.”