Other words honored this year: “social graph,” like the networks painted by MySpace and Facebook; “colony collapse disorder,” the beehive catastrophe first noticed late last year; “MRAP vehicle,” or a mine-resistant vehicle designed to protect troops from IEDs, and the verb “to tase,” as in “to zap with a Taser.” Awesome.

The Ethicurean, which broke the news to me, noted that the term locavore was coined by Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing, and DeDe Sampson during a month-long experiment in 2005. They drew a circle with a 100-mile radius around San Francisco, and resolved, making just a few exceptions, to eat only foods grown from within that “foodshed.”

The locavore’s “guidelines for eating well,” read like a manifesto. “If not locally produced, then [buy] organic,” they begin. If organic isn’t available, they advise consumers to buy from a family farm. If food from a family farm isn’t a possibility, they suggest buying from a local independent business, like coffeeshop or bakery, even if the food they’re selling isn’t particularly ethical. Beyond that, terroir is also a consideration: “Purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in and support the agriculture that produces your favorite non-local foods such as Brie cheese from Brie, France, or Parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy.”

Why eat locally? Twelve reasons, according to the locavores: freshness, taste, nutrition, purity, regional economic health, variety, soil stewardship, energy conservation, environmental protection, cost, a step toward regional food self-reliance, and passing on the stewardship ethic. Read more here. Congratulations, locavores! You’re an institution now!