If a major earthquake or zombie apocalypse rocks the Pacific Northwest, knocking down bridges to the coast so that Coos County has to rely on food produced locally, we'll all be in a nutritional pickle.

We're not there yet. But if forced to solely eat local produce, Coos Countians would have a cranberry-rich diet and not much else.

"We would produce differently. We would have to eat differently," said Agricultural and Resource economist Larry Lev. "You'd end up having to eat much more seasonally."

Still, there's a growing movement to buy and eat food produced locally.

Even major retailers including Safeway, Fred Meyer and Albertsons, have jumped on the local bandwagon, offering fruit and vegetables grown in Oregon and the Northwest.

The idea of eating food grown close to home has captured the imaginations of many Americans, but experts say feeding a whole community on locally grown produce seems unlikely.

What is local?

Lev, who works for the Oregon State University Agricultural and Resource Economics Department in Corvallis, said there is no definition of the term local. Some people say it refers to produce grown within Coos County's borders, in a several county region, within the state, or the Pacific Northwest as a whole.

"The way you would define local in Coos Bay would be different from the way you define local in Chicago," Lev said.

And with so many major grocers marketing their produce as local, it's pretty confusing for consumers.

Compounding the issue, if consumers tried to eat things grown, say, in a 400-mile radius for one year, they'd be hard put to meet their nutritional needs, Lev said. Large growers in regions good at growing a particular crop can produce more than what people in their region need and then ship the surplus all over the world. Doing so drives down prices. Plus, it allows people to eat tomatoes, bananas or blueberries 52 weeks of the year.

In theory, a person could feed himself for the year with local produce if he was willing to spend the money to grow indoors, did a lot of canning, grew a winter garden and participated in community-supported agriculture.

"I think you could do it, but it would be difficult and challenging," Lev said.

If it's a matter of feeding the masses, it doesn't make any sense at all. You wouldn't be able to produce the diversity of what people want to eat, and it would be a challenge to meet their nutritional needs.

"It's not a realistic goal," Lev said.

Still, people strive to put more local produce on the dinner table. Local food isn't necessarily healthier but it does taste better, Lev said. It's also possible it's more nutritious, but that's hard to prove.

He added that people also like buying locally to keep farms in business.

"They want to know who is getting their money," he said.

Selling local

For Gary Zaluskey, owner of Coquille Valley Produce & Deli in Coquille, local means food grown no more than a day's drive away. Fresh, ripe fruits and vegetables just taste better. If they are produced nearby, they can be picked once they ripen. If they are from California, the produce will be at least four days old.

"It's the difference in buying corn that's been picked a week ago to buying corn picked the same day," Zaluskey said.

Produce grown in another country or some far-off state is harvested early while still hard so it can survive being picked, shipped, stored and then displayed.

His little market in Coquille sells both wholesale produce and locally grown. In the summer, 50 percent of produce is local, including raspberries from Myrtle Point and blueberries from Coquille. Most other local items such as green beans, sweet onions, leeks, beets, zucchini, squash, peaches and melons come mostly from commercial farms in Roseburg, Winston and Dillard.

Founded in Portland 86 years ago, Fred Meyer has always purchased local produce, said spokeswoman Melinda Merrill, although the chain prefers the phrase Northwest grown (Oregon, Washington and Idaho). The stores also work with Organically Grown Co., an Oregon and Washington-based clearinghouse for Northwest smaller scale organic growers.

Albertsons purchases some vegetables from farms and distributors within 50 miles of Portland, said Lilia Rodriguez, the public affairs manager for Albertsons Intermountain West. She said doing so reduces the company's carbon footprint, supports the local economy, and gives it a chance to be the first to market each season.

At McKay's, which operates nine stores from Gold Beach to Lincoln City, one can find local produce including spinach, cucumbers and Northwest cherries. But Kevin Murray, the chain's produce supervisor, said local suppliers aren't big enough to serve all its stores.

The groceries can buy independently from them. However, doing it on a large scale is too expensive, because local growers don't have enough produce to fill freight trucks.

"The more you send at one time, the less expensive it is," he said.