Food imports

[taff]

right now I wish I could grow a sunday dinner, I'm starving....

[zazen999]

right now I wish I could grow a sunday dinner, I'm starving....

Ooh - we just had ours......all home grown veg including gravy with some passata in it - just gave it a nice edge.

Sorry.

[zazen999]

I heartily agree with solway cropper about at least trying to eat seasonally and, when we can, grow our own.

I truly don't care for the 'Daily Mail' type theory that it's 'them', not 'us' as the culprits for importing stuff In my city there are plenty of Eastern European branded items available but I seriously doubt they're a very big percentage of imported goods. I constantly see very basic veg, easily grown here at the right time, on supermarket shelves - beans from Africa, apples from South America etc etc.

As already mentioned, some crops provide a valuable income to developing countries and I think that buying coffee, spices and exotic fruits from Fair Trade outlets benefits both my kitchen and the people who grow them. The transport issue isn't ideal but it's a swings & roundabouts thing.

Judging by the shelf space in the supermarkets that I have to visit on occasion; about less than 1%.....if we really looked at stuff on the rest of the shelves I'd be surprised if 80% wasn't imported in some way or other; but it's not any one particular 'type' [non-national] that's at fault - its the people that buy it which includes - er - most people that walk through the door.

I often go look at the fresh fruit and veg and am still shocked at this time of year - the apples NOT grown in the UK that are on the shelves.

I don't think we can stuff the 'non-seasonal' Genie back in the lamp.....

[Two_Sheds]

I struggle to find British pork & bacon in the supermarkets (I won't buy Danish caged meat)

We're trying to drink British beer rather than foreign wine (the homebrew is nearly drinkable though)

Um... dinner tonight was all from the allotment, bar the sliver of cheese (British) and coffee

[northepaul]

I dont buy any fruit and vegetables that are not in season....except bananas, which are not airfreighted, and lemons (I always buy the ones that come from the closest place, ie italy)
I nearly always buy british fruit and veg.
I always buy british (and usually free range or as near as I can get) meat.
I dont buy imported fresh fish, ie tuna, talapia etc. (Usually we have herrings, mackerel, salmon, whitefish, pollack, trout.)

I always buy organic british dairy products, with eggs they are from a local farm. Goats milk comes from yorkshire I think??

Have I forgotten anything?

[minskey]

Hi beefy, Yup up to scotland & back is only one example; 'specials' are what loads like that are called around here. This happens when an item is rejected at the delivery end or has not been placed on the lorry before as its been forgotten. My OH drives for a company who do this all the time; they never pick up return loads & thier main business is sending 18t lorrys with 3 or 4 boxes on a pallet because many RDC's will not accept a van or 7.5t lorry. The company is very successful & has been in business for a long time.

You sound really good at your job, we could do with a few more people like you around here.

[beefy]

Hi beefy, Yup up to scotland & back is only one example; 'specials' are what loads like that are called around here. This happens when an item is rejected at the delivery end or has not been placed on the lorry before as its been forgotten.

.

Thats bad management at the packhouse end then and the transport company knows this and also knows that due to the contract with the supermarket that the produce has to be delivered on time and charges accordingly.You can't blame them for making a bit of cash can you?
Ely , Chatteris , March , Downham market - all places I spent time in and around collecting spuds and veg for the markets in Dublin and Belfast and a few pallets for Birmingham, Manchester , Glasgow , Edinburgh and New Covent Garden fruit markets as well depending on where I was going .

[Hilary B]

There are foods that just plain are imported, there are other foods that don't need to be.
I prefer to keep consumption of the 'always imported' down to manageable proportions, and refuse to buy imports of what could be grown round the corner (but when something is a 'throw away' price, if I don't buy it, waste is worse than 'food miles'. I'm not entirely convinced about the lamb rearing figures. I really doubt that the 25Kg of feed a Highland farmer needs for each lamb he rears has a higher environmental impact than carting one across the globe in a refrigerated (or freezer) transport, and at that, the Highland lamb will be bigger.

[Madasafish]

Well I looked at our last supermarket bill:
Milk: UK
Grapes: import
Bananas: import
grapefruit: import
Blueberries: import
Tea: import
Coffee: import
Cane sugar: import
Gin: UK
Tonic water: import quinine.
Bread: UK
Butter and spreads: UK
Bacon: UK
Meat: Uk
Fish: import.
Rice: Import
Canned tomatoes: import
Baked beans : import.


The subject is silly really. Many of the above have ALWAYS been imported..

Anyone want to go back to salt beef, and apples from a barrel at Christmas?

Even in WW2 we imported an awful lot..

Of course if you want to pay UK Labour Rates for growing food, go right ahead. Pay three times more for lettuce in winter with heating costs...

And oil is essential for fertiliser. No oil = 50% reduction in yields = lots of dead people..

[beefy]

There are foods that just plain are imported, there are other foods that don't need to be.
I prefer to keep consumption of the 'always imported' down to manageable proportions, and refuse to buy imports of what could be grown round the corner (but when something is a 'throw away' price, if I don't buy it, waste is worse than 'food miles'. I'm not entirely convinced about the lamb rearing figures. I really doubt that the 25Kg of feed a Highland farmer needs for each lamb he rears has a higher environmental impact than carting one across the globe in a refrigerated (or freezer) transport, and at that, the Highland lamb will be bigger.

Well you have a choice - either ship the soya and wheat halfway round the world to make the feed (UK lamb) or ship the carcass half way round the world (NZ Lamb)- your choice - choose wisely

[Hilary B]

Well you have a choice - either ship the soya and wheat halfway round the world to make the feed (UK lamb) or ship the carcass half way round the world (NZ Lamb)- your choice - choose wisely

With the quantity of barley and feed-wheat grown in this country I see no reason to import any of that for making sheep-feed. The soya is another matter, but as it is only about 15% of the total amount of feed....
I used to have a (very small) sheep farm in Orkney, so I do know how it is done THERE (I know what my neighbours did). In fact plenty of the farmers used 'white fish meal' (a by-product of the fish-finger industry) as the protein-boosting additive, until the rules got changed, and they bought grain from nearby farms that grew it, or they bought manufactured feed from a local company that bought the grain from local growers.
Yeah, of course not ALL producers did it that way, but there were quite a lot that did!
If you want to look at indirect food-miles, consider pork (and eggs for that matter).....

[bobleponge]

As a nation we have imported since trade began. Food would definitely have been traded, as well as spices and materials etc, and as Zazen said, the non seasonal eating genie will not be placed back into its bottle now.
Most people on the Vine are fairly like minded, we grow our own and try to eat seasonally, and living in France they are far more seasonally minded than in the UK, but notwithstanding, I do buy a lot of imported stuff because I like it.
COOFFEEEEE is one thing I couldnt live without.
In most large supermarket chains in France they have aisles dedicated to "speciality" foods, as France too is a country with a large immigrant population. There are entire shelves dedicated to Turkish foods, Chinese foods and even British (stuff generally eaten by Brits rather than produced by them) foods. All imported, but clearly the market is there or the shops wouldnt stock them.

For a very interesting (imho) partial explanation into why the world eats non seasonally, grab a copy of a Barbera Kingsolver book from the library, cant remember the name of it now but she and her partner attempt to eat seasonally for a year. Its a horrendously schmalzy, sickly read but the bit of non seasonal eating is fascinating.

As a final point, there currently IS enough food available to feed the whole world on a daily basis, the problem comes from corruption and mis management of resources.

[Nicos]

Please forgive me if I'm wrong ( I have been known to be!)

I seem to recall reading that our bodies have evolved over the past few thousand years-to adapt to eating certain foods when they are available and by eating seasonal food we are actually fulfilling our body's needs better ( eg we actually need greens in winter).
Also that various races have adapted to eating certain foods which other races either find indigestable or can't absorb as efficiently .
I think dairy and wheat are a couple of prime egs.

I import loads of UK foods...and so do my friends on my behalf...I'd go mad without one or two of my 'comfort foods'...and yes- I do grow most of my own fruit, veg and poultry here....so I don't feel so bad when I buy in some pork pies and jammy dodgers and Yorkshire tea!

As boble says- the shops stock seasonally here. I'd be hard pressed to find any strawberies now- the supermarkets are selling walnuts and hazelnuts on the shelving area which use to stock the rasps and strawberries.

Where I've had to adaptmy cooking is that I used to think- oh , I'll make such and such - or see a recipe I fancy making- and then can't because one of the fresh ingredients is out of season. (eg - no strawberries dunked in a chocolate fondu for Valentines day )