EAT&DRINK
Think global, eat local
The choices we make about the food we consume can have a major impact on the health of the world, writes Barry Shelby.
ecisions about the food you
purchase have perhaps the
largest and most far- reaching impact on the environment. (iiven the excessive use of fertilisers. pesticides and COB-spewing vehicles to raise and transport much of the produce in our industrialised food world. the potential for ecological damage is considerable. Then there is the depletion of global fish stocks or the destruction of rain forests to create arable land ~ to consider.
But too often we focus on doom and gloom which. while necessary to illustrate the challenge. tends to discourage rather than promote positive. healthy actions. As l.eo Hickman writes in A (ioml Life ((iuardian/liden Project Books). ‘()ur choice about what we eat is one of the most important and more frequent ethical decisions we can make.‘ It is about preferences (and an occasional modicum of sacrifice) to make real changes and do your bit to improve the environment.
Support local shops
Too many of the l'K‘s small shops and grocers have closed in the past decade and supermarkets have taken root. Supermarkets. which are heavily advertised and perceived as convenient. are here to stay. But try to use them less often. All goods in supermarkets travel huge distances (see our item on page I It) in which we calculate the distance travelled for a typical supermarket meal).
liven when the produce is local. it travels up and down motorways to be processed and packaged. According to lielicity Lawrence in her book Nu] (m the Label (Penguin). ’35 to 40‘} of freight on [K roads is now involved in the
production and distribution of
food‘. Hickman says that at least 20‘} of the l'K‘s annual climate change emissions are from the food chain and that only ‘a shameful 1‘); of food [is] moved by train‘.
Think about how little packaging is used in your local fruit and veg shop. fish monger or butcher. Less packaging means less freight on the road (lots of those lorries are only moving plastic wrap and card containers) and less waste topping land fills: a quarter of all household waste is packaging refuse. and more than two thirds of that comes from food packaging alone.
Shop from farmers' markets liarmers‘ markets in Scotland are on the rise and they demonstrate that many. many consumers want to buy food directly from producers. This is the best of all possible worlds: food that is produced within no more than a l()() mile radius of the point of sale and is also produced without recourse to chemicals that end up poisoning the land and upsetting the natural balance.
Sign up for box schemes Here is another excellent way to support local producers. eliminate
food miles and get some really fresh vegetables. Most of the local box schemes are organic. too. although this can mean that produce in your box (usually it comes in a bag. actually) has been flown in from afar. But ask for that content to be kept to a minimum. One local box scheme — Bellfield ()rganic Nursery in Fife — only supplies vegetables that it grows. You can
receive a healthy weekly supply of
veg (like the basket pictured above) delivered to your door for the modest price of £10. Yes. this means fewer of the exotic goods that you may normally desire. but Belllield experiments with different varieties of vegetables that it can grow and each shipment comes with a recipe for using at least part of the delivery.
Eat seasonally
Scotland‘s pre-eminent food writer Joanna Blythman is attributed with coining the phrase. Permanent (ilobal Summertime. which. as she writes in Slur/med: ’I'lre .S‘lroeking Power of Britt's/r .S'upermurkels (Harper Perennial) is a ‘nature- defying order where every conceivable fruit and vegetable is available all the time‘.
(ireat. you say. Well. not so grand for the environment: it means. for example. those green beans you eat in December travelled in a heavily polluting intercontinental flight. l’urthermore. the further your 'fresh‘ food has come. the less
Life Style
YOU CAN RECEIVE
A HEALTHY SUPPLY OF VEGETABLES DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR FOR THE MODEST PRICE OF £10
likely it is that it will taste any good. This is not only a consideration for fruit and vegetables. We eat spring lamb from New Zealand (about 11.500 miles away) when we should simply wait for our own to arrive. Fish should also be eaten seasonally as there are periods of spawning when species should be allowed to breed and reproduce: at least they should if we don‘t want to exterminate them.
Grow your own Thanks to opportunistic politicians. the word ‘sustainability‘ — bandied about carelessly in debating chambers — has lost its true meaning. But this should not dilute its importance in how we view our world: we need to create scbernes that are sustainable. renewable and not dependent on finite resources. ()ne of the best ways to understand this is to create your own small- scale sustainable system. Take growing peas. for example. From about 100 seeds you can grow plants to provide not only peas all summer (as well as dried or frozen for later consumption) but also the seeds to grow your crop next year.
Obviously. if you stay in a flat. growing your own can be difficult. But herbs in pots happily exist on sunny sills (as do tomatoes and peppers). Investigate local allotments and light to keep them from being removed — like in Glasgow where road projects may mean the demise of a pair of allotments.
lior ideas. pick up The Real Good Life: A Practical Guide to (1 Healthy. ()rgunie Lifestyle published by Cassell in conjunction with the Soil Association.
26 May~9 .Jun 2005 THE LIST ‘I 1 1