Eating only 'local' food

[Seahorse]

I thought this BBC News article about being a 'locavore' was very interesting:

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Living on the Fife Diet

I already try to buy a minium of things with a huge air mile value but I'd like to work towards the 100 mile radius idea. Hopefully the lottie and garden will cover most of our fruit and veg needs, once I've got things properly established. We have regular farmers markets for meat (although we don't eat much anyway). I would miss exotic fruits, nuts and spices, plus the sheer convenience of just opening an occasional tin or packet but I enjoy cooking and baking and as my children get older, I will have more of that great luxury, time, to make things at home.

I don't know that I'd ever do it absolutely 100% but as you can see from the 'Fife Diet' in the article, you don't really have to miss out on much!

[piskieinboots]

I don't know that I'd ever do it absolutely 100%

can any of us do 100%? I mean living on an Island as we do? But yes, I do try whenever possible to source local

[bubblewrap]

Just been to get my Christmas beer from Aldi(from Lincolnshire)
Looked at the fruit section,the fruit came from the following countries.
Brazil,Chile,Peru,Egypt & South Africa. Do I need say any more?

[TonyF]

I've been following the news reports on this in the UK quite closely. One of the constant themes from the supermarkets seems to be that the 'consumer' - the shoppers - want year round strawberries, cherries and the like. But it's the supermarket's research that's giving the answers and as we don't know what the question was - closed or open, how was it asked etc - we can't know how good the research was.

I'm so fortunate. Not only do I have the time to grow my own stuff and grow fruit and veggies for other people, I also live in an area where 'seasonality' - another supermarket word I think - actually means something. If you want green beans (haricot vert) down here in the winter, you grow them through the proper season and then store them!

We get the exotic fruit and nuts here as a matter of course - walnuts, almonds and hazels all grow here without any problem at all - we live in a centre for growing soft fruit, apricots and peaches, all of which can be preserved.

To me, it seems that - and I have no impirical evidence for this, that the supermarkets are price driven because that is what the customers want - Tescos and Morrisons being the best examples.

But to what end - lazier shoppers, lazier gardeners fuelled by the 'instant garden' programmes, trendy gardening fuelled by the rush of the middle classes to allotments (wonder how long that fad will last) and people loosing the ability to cook, preserve their produce and then get back into the seasonal way of things.

Don't get me wrong, although I cooked, preserved and shopped organically as far as I could when I was in the UK, I was also guilty of the fast food - not processed as such - thing because I was working, always under some time pressures and sometimes took the easy option.

I now live an incredibly priviledged life style. J and I have a huge garden and access to two other, even bigger gardens, that we maintain for the fun of it. I get to grow and pick veggies and fruit, have the very best equipment and I can buy material where and when I want it.

I can indulge our seasonal view of life - that time is cyclical, not just linear - and we have the time to do what we want to do regarding our diets and the source of the food we eat.

I don't wholly blame either the supermarket or the consumer, it's a mix of both - shoppers want the best, often the cheapest prices and supermarkets want the profits.

Do we use the supermarkets here? Of course we do, we buy our cheese, some breads, some tinned stuff and fish but where we can we buy them from the farmers on the markets locally - they're not special farmer's markets either, they've always done that down here, just a way of life.

Sorry, just wanted to say my bit on this, I'm not always so intense about things! To me it's cyclical time and seasons, not year round (and frequently expensive) year round linear growing.

And of course, the time and experience to be able to indulge all this.

[piskieinboots]

To me it's cyclical time and seasons, not year round (and frequently expensive) year round linear growing.

A round of applause for that man *claps loudly

[Hazel at the Hill]

Sadly, you aren't going to get that much fruit fresh from this country this time of year, BW! You can buy lots of british veg from Aldi, I noticed the other day tho' - all the brassicas, butternut squash, leeks, parsnips, carrots and spuds.

Like a lot of the grapes here, I'm sure, I try to 'buy local' although I don't stick to this 100% as that would mean I would be unlikely to eat banananas, citrus fruit or (probrably) grapes ever again, which I don't want to do. Try to keep these to a minimum tho' - and of course growing your own is the ultimate in cutting food miles.

As has been said before on this forum, it's not a straighforward issue - just a couple of examples - is it better to buy english tomatoes which have been grown in a huge heated greenhouse, or ones from Spain which have been grown outdoors? Is it better to buy chrysanths from Africa with the extra carbon footprint, but it supports an economy that would otherwise mean people possibly starving?

Lots of issues that it's difficult to see a 'right' and 'wrong' on - but if we all try to 'improve' and do what seems intuitively right in each particular circumstance, this might not solve the worlds problems but it might make them slightly less.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Just a quick supermarket point - Tesco et al are only successful because we, the people, shop there. The answer is in our own hands - if you want to keep your local shops, shop there.

Until taste, freshness, ethical producion and locality is valued by the majority of people over cost and convenience of the supermarket, the Big Four will continue to march on.

[Flummery]

Fruit is the definite problem area for me. I don't (and won't) buy asparagus and strawbs out of season. I don't buy the air-miles veg which is out of season. However, I can only grow so much in the way of soft fruits and damsons and such and when the frozen ones are gone that's it for the year. Short of not eating fruit in the winter I don't know what else to do. I like the seasonality of foods - strawberries are to look forward to. Satsumas mean it's getting on for Christmas etc. When you can have everything all year round (however tasteless) you lose a lot.

[moggssue]

If I ate satsumas all year round then they wouldnt be a treat around christmas time - I do stick to whats in season concerning fruit and veg (and meat to a point) and buy as much as possible locally, tho it isnt possible for everything (satsumas being a prime example, and the likes of rice). I avoid supermarkets as far as possible and only venture in very occasionally, leaving again as soon as possible! Even the fruit that I have to buy because I cant grow I still source from small local shops. This is, I feel, a very emotive idea and one on which opinions differ widely and the debate will go on .... and on ....

[Nicos]

Confession time......

For most of the summer I eat from the lottie - and am quite happy to eat an almost meat-free diet.
Unfortunately for about 6 months of the year I rely on local supermarkets for most of my veg produce.

OK - I'm not so proud of that ,and if I had the time, instruction and equipment, then I'd preserve a lot more ( my chest freezer if FULL of fruit) and my cupboards full of jams and preserves( Oh yes..and rhubarb schnapps!!!).
I have to admit that having eaten my own fresh veg for half the year I'm a bit reluctant to freeze or jar vegetables when there is plenty of choice of fresh veg in the supermarkets!

Now that we are exposed to the French way of life, I can see how much the locals preserve everything! (how many of you know someone who knows someone who could press and then pasteurize apples into bottles of juice???)

I think as a Nation we have started to forget how to do these traditional skills, and clearly lack the equipment. Even my mother and MIL ( both in their 80's) would have no idea how to use a Kilner jar, although they would have watched their mothers preparing fruit and veg in this way.

I must tell you though that when I decided to prepare a simple pudding in November of strawberries on 'Quatre quatre' - the French type of Victoria butter sponge with fresh cream ( slurp slurp smile needed here!) that our neighbours having been given the choice of that or Tarte Tartin all devoured the strawberries and were up for seconds!!
Interestingly there were only 2 punnets of strawberries in Leclerc ( the huge hypermarche 20 mins drive away).
M&S at that time had a section about 10 ft long by 3 shelves high stacked with Estima stawberries from ( I think Kenya???)

I wonder how supermarket/customer led each country is????
This will be my first Xmas with no fresh strawberries and raspberries in my fruit salad.
I think I am starting to do my bit!

Oh ..by the way..well done if you have managed to read through all this....

[Seahorse]

As has been said before on this forum, it's not a straighforward issue - just a couple of examples - is it better to buy english tomatoes which have been grown in a huge heated greenhouse, or ones from Spain which have been grown outdoors? Is it better to buy chrysanths from Africa with the extra carbon footprint, but it supports an economy that would otherwise mean people possibly starving?

Lots of issues that it's difficult to see a 'right' and 'wrong' on - but if we all try to 'improve' and do what seems intuitively right in each particular circumstance, this might not solve the worlds problems but it might make them slightly less.

Such good points Hazel - I'm a big supporter of Fair Trade and it's very easy to see how refusing to buy anything from overseas could impact on that. I think if we follow your 'what seems intuitively right' advice that has to be the best of all possible worlds, even if not foolproofly correct!

[TonyF]

And according to the tv last evening, prawns caught off Scotland are then shipped to Korea or somewhere for processing, because the footprint for transport by ship is lower than air frieght etc. But the question then is why ship them abroad at all, why not process them in the UK - and the answer is cost, the asian work force are just cheaper.

I but organic (bio in France) and the equivalent of fair trade where I can here but it's not always easy.

I see the economic argument about employing people in developing countries but they're employed not for their good (unless it's a fair trade scheme) but for the good of the supermarket. How on earth is it economical to ship abroad and then return shell fish to the uk, to the port they were exported from, or raspberries from Chile or anywhere else? Low wage economies, which still predominate in the developing world.

I can remember the campaign against the old South African government and how we organised boycotts of the fruit, thereby partially undermining their economy but making sure we kept the pressure on the apartheid government for change. In the 80s Thatcher used the economic damage, hurting the poor workers argument to try to undermine that campaign but it didn't work because the people in SA wanted change and accepted the short term hurt for the long term gain.

For me, it's the same srgument - regardless of whether the supermarkets develop markets, they do so for their own ends and use the plight of the workers as an argument to maintain their markets. My answer has always been, pay the people abroad the same as you pay them in the UK and watch the UK consumer's responses when the prices of the out of season produce doubles.

And that's it from me folks - as Nicos said, over here they do things the old fashioned way. Kilner jars cost next to nothing, can buy everything you need here in the DIY sheds for very little money, steamers and pasturisers for fruit juice are very inexpensive - I'm pleased to say that outside the larger towns and cities in France, rampant consumerism has not caught hold!

I've already taken up too much of your time on this my little chums and chumlettes - I now say nothing else.

[pigletwillie]

I totally agree with you Tony, France is our second home and close to becoming our first and seasonality is very marked in both the recipes and what supermarkets et al stock.

We have two freezers Nicos full of fruit and veg, one freezer is full of home made ready meals and the other unprepared stuff. I still have plums now, but insead of them being fresh, they are served for example, as Nigellas spiced aromatic plums. I refuse to buy strawberries out of season as well as french or runner beans, cucumbers and a whole manner of unseasonal stuff, not so much because its travelled along way but I personally dont want to eat summer salads in December. Yes we do have lettuce and such like in the tunnels and scallions in the beds but these are mixed with stored beans and grated carrot, beetroot and celaric to make a winter salad.

In winter we rarely buy a tomato, we either have green ones ripening in the workshop that last well into the new year or fall back on sundried and home procesed such as passata.

Discovering a pressure canner has been a boon as home made, bottled spag bog for example gives us a taste of summer in the depths of winter and its great for using up those courgettes that appear everyday. The hard part is being organised enough to deal with your produce for winter use.

A Christmas treat are clementines which are in season at this time of year and not grown in this country (yet) and grapes for the cheese board.

As for local, yes please.

[Hazel at the Hill]

As ever, Tony - some well thought out points, most of which I agree with - perhaps we'll chew over this interesting topic again in the New Year at some point?

In the meantime, salut (*raises glass) and Joyeux Noel to you and yours.

[pigletwillie]

Oh Hazel, one of the biggest tomato growers in the UK uses heat from a neighbouring chemical works to heat the biggest glass house in the country (£40 million quids worth) holding some 5 million vines.

A reason to boycott Spanish tomatoes is that they DO use heat in winter but are based in a part of Spain that cannot sustain the demand for water and so last year there were cases of salads being watered with raw effluent. I would sooner buy a British tomato in winter than a Spanish one.

I never buy cut flowers as for 9 months of the year Kazzi gets at least one bunch a week and sometimes 7 bunches from the plots. Cut flowers are a oft neglected crop on allotments.