sweta's food quest

Local Matters

...a lot. I always push myself and my friends to buy local as much as possible - if not for a sustainable economy then also for that much-needed Food Mile reduction which in turn benefits the environment since you leave out the arduous picking, packaging and transportation process from miles away. You're also buying the produce at its peak form with all the nutrients and vitamins still packed in, when you buy locally grown.

What is Local Produce?

Simply put, local produce is any food that has been grown, raised, cooked, baked or produced within your locality. However to be considered as such, it is also expected that such produce will also have been raised, grown or produced under sympathetic conditions. Animals should be free to roam and fed on healthy, natural foodstuffs. Vegetables and fruit should be grown as naturally as possible without any unnecessary artificial chemicals, colourings, additives or other suspect ingredients. Local produce may be anything ranging from potatoes and other vegetables, through fruits, locally raised lamb, beef or pork, either as joints or as sausages etc., fish, bread, local wines, ales, ciders and perrys. Any food item that is produced locally and sympathetically in line with generally accepted good practices.

Produce from our local veggie market here in Darj. I brought them home and haven't stopped smiling ever since.

 Luscious juicy mangoes

Citric Gold

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating tomatoes like these.

So Why Buy Local Produce?

By buying local produce you benefit many people in your locality.

The local producers or farmers are often struggling to compete with major supermarket chains who dictate unrealistic prices. By buying locally it benefits these producers directly and encourages them to reinvest and produce more produce.

The local community benefits, as buying locally is directly supporting local businesses, leading to employment, and ensures that the money is kept within that local community and not contributing to the ever increasing profits of mega supermarkets.

By buying from your local producer, you will build-up a relationship with that producer. This will lead to a greater understanding of the processes involved and may also lead to you being offered specially grown or raised products. At Orchard Old Spots, they produced some 'special order' sausages just for one client who was keen to try something special.

Finally, the purchaser or consumer benefits as they are buying fresh, healthy produce that has not been picked raw, packaged in plastic and then flown thousands of miles before sitting on a supermarket shelf. If you have never tasted locally produced food, then why not do what David did when he challenged the presenter and guests at BBC Somerset to tell the difference between supermarket sausages and sausages he had bought from Orchard Old Spots, a local producer just 5 minutes away. Despite some confident approaches, everyone selected the local sausages.

'Everyone is talking about 'Food Miles' which is the the distance the produce had had to travel from production to sale. In a recent article David wrote for a women's magazine, he showed how a small shop of everyday items could have travelled over 70,000 food miles. If we are interested in reducing the food miles our food has travelled, then by selecting local produce we can make a major contribution to reducing Food Miles.

95% of our food is over packaged using non-environmentally friendly plastic packaging materials. Visit your local producer and simply compare the packaging they use. Whilst some foodstuffs need to be sealed and kept vacuum-packed, a large quantity is available to be selected by hand and then simply placed in a paper bag. What could be more environmentally friendly?

Perhaps most importantly is that by buying local produce, you are selecting to choose Local, Traceable, Eco-friendly and Natural food which is better for you, your family and the environment.

Via Farms Direct

when life gives you lemons!

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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