Eating only 'local' food

[Nicos]

And when we bought our French house , the previous owner ( wife) left loads of bottles of empty bottles of fruit juice full of the flowers from 'our' garden(!!!) all over the house

Now tell me that's not self - sufficiency!!! That was SOOOOO touching!


Bit of a kick start I wasn't really expecting!

Have to say that it's interesting that most of the non EU people on the Vine seem to be pretty rural- certainly with their approach to GYO!!!


YEY!!!!!

[Hazel at the Hill]

I saw a piece on the TV about the tomato factory (somewhere in Middlesborough?) just this week, PW - and I'm all for using the 'waste' heat in this way - this is clearly an excellent example of a simbiotic relationship - although as I recall the set up cost was enormous

I suspect that this is not the norm, however - and although I take in what you say about the Spanish tommy growers, my point was that if non-hardy crops are grown in an distant environment that does not require artifical heat/light, it goes some way to offset the environment impact of their transport.

It's just that these matters are not as straightforward as they appear at a first glance.

[Nicos]

Hazel- you should see what they do in Iceland and Sweden with their geothermics!!!

I'm sure it's worth looking into over here. ( can I patent that suggestion towards my retirement.co.uk?????? )

[valmarg]

I am a great fan of buying fruit/veg in their seasons.

I went to our local Sainsburys today. They had Israeli Strawberries, nectarines from I know not where, Peruvian asparagus.

The supermarkets say that they stock these items because 'that is what the customer wants'. Not this customer!!

The israeli strawberries looked as if they would have been as crunchy as a piece of raw swede, and the nectarines, small bruised and unappetising.

There are some things that we would never ever buy from a supermarket, ie Runner Beans, French Beans, Peas (other than frozen), Broad Beans, redcurrants, blackcurrants, whitecurrants, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes.

It is the seasonal aspect that we appreciate.

The fact that you can have tasteless pap from all around the world all the year round is not something that the average shopper wants, despite the supermarkets telling you that is what you want. Certainly its not something I want.

valmarg

[SimonCole]

What about local wheat, pasta, bread, rice, butter, meat. I mean you hear lots about carrots, plums and cherries, but the very staple is often from far away. Then consider all the other products that contain foreign ingredients i.e. palm oil, glycerol etc. Our paper travels from Scandinavia at best, Indonesia at worst. The cotton of our clothes comes from the Middle East.

I will not pretend that because my fruit and vegetables are British, that I buy local... Not that I'm poking fun at anyone, it's just as I see it.

[piskieinboots]

last year there were cases of salads being watered with raw effluent.

OMG - noooooo!!

It's just that these matters are not as straightforward as they appear at a first glance

ain't that the truth

[pigletwillie]

I think Simon that there are staples eaten all year around that may well be imported but we have lost track of seasons and with that people think that strawberries are normally found in December.

I personally cannot get away from the fact that a large chunk of my shop is imported, the wood pulp for my dunny rolls may well come from the Baltic and of that I have limited choice bar use dock leaves, my coffee comes from goodness know where but again, its something that is not grown locally. Where stuff CAN be sourced locally and in season, then why not use it.

Far from being a paragon of virtue on the issue of growing and sourcing locallly, whilst I do what I can I refuse to be a luddite because of it or even parade about in hemp knickers cos cotton is imported. I feel its a case of being aware of what is available.

[kentvegplot]

Very interesting discussion here.

This year I had space to grow a lot of veg, and I didn't go near even the local farm shop from May to October. (which somehow I do feel a bit guilty about).

As for fruit, our local shop has locally grown apples still available, and I'm just off to get some pears from the local farmer, who supplies one of the supermarkets usually - but these pears are (wait for it...) too big!

I will indulge in some satsumas and dates over Xmas however....

[Snadger]

Leaving ethics and Air miles out of it, I wonder whether any research has been done to find out if eating locally produced, in season, organic food, is any better for you? Or is it just the 'feel good factor'?

[Flummery]

I SO MUCH agree about cut flowers Piglet. My Ma is the culprit here. She sticks a bunch in her weekly shop year in and year out. I can't get her to see that many are grown in Africa by exploited women workers, no unions, no power, when they should be growing food crops for themselves. Consequently I have recently removed an aged border of moribind shrubs - must have been planted nearly 40 years ago - and am happily planning a cut flower bed there. I'm also putting in a few nice shrubs for foliage - so you can nmake a 'fancy' flower arrangement with just a few flowers but lots of attractive leaves. If she gets flowers every week like that she might not buy them. Sadly it does seem to be a case of stocking what the customer wants - some customers anyway. I have thought of making a big production each time I shop, of asking which flowers have NOT been air freighted in. Tesco marks them as 'by air' (almost as if they are proud of it?!) but not ASDA - our nearest supermarket. Might make them think that shoppers are aware and maybe not buying for that reason. Not really a good time of year to start this campaign though. And of course, I will then have to buy some if they do stock them!

[moggssue]

I know I'll never be 'self sufficient' or a totally local shopper, because I'll always want to buy the likes of rice - but all my meat is from a local farm who rears and prepares it himself, and all the veg I can't grow myself (hopefully less and less as time goes by) is from a local farmshop and therefore seasonal. Okay, at christmas I can't do without satsumas and walnuts but I most definitely can, and do, live without strawberries and asparagus for around 9 months of the year. If I ate them every week, they wouldn't be special any more. So okay, part of my motivation is personal taste but I think most of us could say the same.

I can't decide between the local and the ethical issues, or between the green and the organic - a discussion which has been had before on this forum I know!! I guess basically if I can avoid the supermarkets as much as humanly possible then I'm happy enough with what I buy - and if in doubt, I just don't bother!

[TonyF]

Hi Hazel

Just spent the morning in the kitchen, started the Xmas cooking already!!!

Hazel, all the very best to you and yours and keep up the good work folks and folkettes - I'm sure that by Monday there will be felicitations floying round everywhere!

[Grandpadragon]

I so agree with Piglet willie. I would like to put the other side of the story. We have a small garden with no room to grow veg so all of our food has to be bought (small amount grown in pots like toms). As you do, we like to eat fresh veg but Farmers Market only once a month and with no farm shops or greengrocers within easy reach it has to be back to the supermarket !
We get a lot of our meat from the Farmers Market and all of our eggs because
these will keep ( Meat we freeze) but some things are just too expensive. I refuse to pay £2-50 for 250g of butter when supermarket is £1-00. We are say Comfortably off but not rich and I'm sure that many less fortunate pensioners go by price because they have to. Last week my mum asked me to get her some raspberries which I did ,yes they came from the other side of the world (very tasty surprisingly) would you have refused? She is 97 and living in a care home.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Last week my mum asked me to get her some raspberries which I did ,yes they came from the other side of the world (very tasty surprisingly) would you have refused? She is 97 and living in a care home.

Of course not....because:

It's just that these matters are not as straightforward as they appear at a first glance.

See what I mean?

[seasprout]

Bum.

Not long got back from a local Farmers Market. Had to pay £2.50 for 1.5Kg of spuds.

Thought ho well its Christmas, then heard the seller telling another customer he drove from Nottingham this Morning. Not very local as I'm in Leicester.