Poll: Seasonal Food
A recent comment on my last article (Seasonal Food for March) got me thinking. The comment basically questions whether seasonal food and in particular, local food is still relevant in this day in age.
I’ve just put up a link on purple sprouting broccoli as the seasonal product of the week, but to be honest I’ve been struggling a bit with the whole seasonal food bit. For a start what’s seasonal here isn’t seasonal elsewhere.The point is that the world is now very small. Years ago it made so much sense to promote local, seasonal food because you couldn’t get non-seasonal food without importing it dried, salted, etc. Nowadays we can get what’s seasonal somewhere in the world delivered pretty much while it’s still fresh.
So as a world citizen and someone dedicated to fusion, but at the same time someone who wants to support local producers and oppose globalisation by the big multinationals, I’m really caught between two stools. I support diversity of culture and hence the importance of regional produce and food, but I’m not a narrow minded nationalist because this is both racist and contrary to where I think the world should go. It’s not an easy issue, is it?
Just to point out - no hard feelings against the author of the comment (Trig - with his own great foodblog), who is obviously taking a balanced view himself. But it makes a great starting point for a debate in my opinion. So…
Seasonal / Local Food: Worth it, or a waste of money?
Bite This!
March 5th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I’m sort of torn over the issue too. I like the idea of eating locally and fresh and think that fresh ingredients, (especially ones you’ve grown and picked yourself) taste better. But I would hate to miss out on foods that can’t be grown here, like mangoes and pineapples for example. Perhaps it isn’t a question of eating strictly locally but rather one of choosing foods that are grown/raised in an earth friendly/non polluting way and encouraging that practice to be performed worldwide. I dunno… just some random thoughts.
March 5th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
As long as the product can be grown locally it should be sourced locally.
As far as I’m concerned it’s not about the little guy vs the big guy.. it’s about reducing food miles and protecting the environment.
As with decadent foods, I believe that fruit and vegetables that cannot be grown locally should only be used for special occasions and sparingly. Even if our purchase of bananas and mangoes, coffee and chocolate help poor farmers and communities in the short term, in the long term, if we continue to ship produce across our not-so-small planet, it will do so much damage that we will be able to farm our own bananas and mangoes here soon - cutting them out anyway.
If you can’t live without this produce that is shipped from different countries, move somewhere that does grow them locally. That way you fly there once and stay there rather than fruit and veg flying half way across the world on a weekly basis for your convenience.
No matter if the produce is grown in an environmentally friendly way, it’s still got to get to whereever you are right? That kinda cancels out the eco-friendly growing conditions.
I’ll quite happily live without that produce if it means the Earth will stop getting warm.
March 5th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
[…] post by scott and plugin by Elliott Back […]
March 6th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Scott~
I shop at our farmer’s market weekly. I LOVE IT!
March 6th, 2007 at 1:32 am
I’m all for local but I’m not going to give up coffee and chocolate. Like much else in my life I strive to do my best and realize that my failures could be worse.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Living away from home currently, I do appreciate local produce and ingredients. But there are not many ingredients that I need in recipes (particularly Southeast Asian, sometimes) which are local. So, I believe we can leverage on local/seasonal, regional, and even international. Food is about variety and variation, isn’t it ?
March 6th, 2007 at 2:40 am
[…] Poll: Seasonal <b>Food</b> […]
March 6th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I didn’t mean to start a big controversy, just to say that I mave mixed views on the subject. Bonnie makes a great point, which I hadn’t really thought about. In a post I’ll put up tonight when I get back from college I mention the fact that my fish was sourced from sustainable stocks in Iceland. But I failed to notice that it had to be shipped to the UK. On the other hand, as Brylinn says, I don’t want to retreat to localism and miss out on the great produce that the rest of the world has on offer. What prompted this and what I really don’t like is the globalisation of cuisine as with top restaurants in Australasia, Asia and America all service Modern European Cuisine and not looking at their own produce, spices, etc. I don’t want the world to all be separate, but nor do I want the world to be the same. I just want it to be different and enjoy the differences.
I can’t vote in the poll Scott, because it doesn’t really give me the right choices. I want a “yes, but…” option.
March 6th, 2007 at 8:48 am
I count myself very lucky because there are a lot of seasonal/local produce available to me PLUS I can also choose to buy organic produce sourced from a 3rd world country (i.e. Equosolidale bananas in favor of Chiquita), in protest of big companies if I want to. But the one thing that I’m especially grateful for is the fact that I have my own plot of dirt in which to grow my own vegetables.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Some friends started the Rusper Vegetable Company 9http://www.ruspervegetables.com/) for this reason. Not necessarily organic produce, but rather seasonal and sourced locally. It certainly cuts down the carbon cost of your veg.
I actually don’t live anywhere near, so I only get my vegetables from them when down there for a meeting, but a lot of it is so much nicer than those from my local sainsbury’s.
There are a number of box schemes like the Rusper Vegetable Company serving different local areas, so people should be encouraged to find and use them.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
As far as local seasonal produce goes, I try to source that from the local farmers markets because it keeps them going. I also buy eggs and meat as organically as I can too. However, as pointed out, there are certain exotic fruits that you can’t buy here whatever time of the year, or soft fruits that have a short season over here, so I do buy them from the supermarket but buy FairTrade produced items when and where possible. Short of living like our ancesters did (i.e. without the luxury of more exotic imported produce), I think this is the best that anyone can do.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
While I voted “yes, it’s worth it” I think there is room for reasoned debate on the matter. A great resource for information is Peter Singer’s book “The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter”- where he argues that, among other things, sometimes food from far away actually has LESS environmental impact than locally grown food. He talks about the fact that if you drive in your car for 45 minutes to a local market, you’ve used up relatively more fossil fuel than if you bought the same thing that was shipped by boat from thousands of miles away. Even worse is if you are in a cold climate and your local farmer uses fossil fuels to raise local produce (heated greenhouse, etc.)
March 7th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
P.S. I also agree with Peter Singer that the localness of local food does not point to an inherent value. Why should the [relatively] rich and heavily subsidized European or American farmer get your food dollars vs. a third world farmer, for example? I realize that that is a horribly reductionist example, but it’s just to get my point accross. Overall, I agree with Trig’s point, we should think globally when food ethics is concerned and buy the food (local or not) that best satisfies the myriad criteria that that entails.
It makes my head spin!
This is in no way saying that I’m against local foods or local farmers (especially small ones). Just that I recognize that there are a lot of issues at hand that don’t have a blanket solution.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
I don’t think my comment made it through cyberspace.
We try to eat from the local producers. We’re in a small community and everyone sells from the farms. I think seasonal eating adds an overall diversity to a diet and I like the idea of eating foods that haven’t been stored and then ‘flash’ripened.
Great articles and comments.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:12 am
It could be because I live in Southern California, but I definitely eat seasonally. Asparagus in the spring, peaches in the summer, squash in the fall, and cauliflower in the winter. It just feels and tastes right. Plus, I get to know the farmers well, which is an added bonus.
March 8th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Brilynn: Great point, and it’s one that comes up again and again. I think the idea behind “go local” is that the items which can and are grown locally, are bought locally too.
Bonnie: Great point about the food miles. There’s a farm shop near me which takes pride in all the “0 Food Miles” produce.
Michelle: I go to ours whenever I remember. And I love it, too!
tigerfish: I agree, the world is nothing without variety.
Trig: I’d allow users to add their own answers, but I could see the poll going a little crazy if I did. Great points though - and I know you didn’t mean to start the debate intentionally! Sorry!
Rowena: You are indeed lucky. I wish my garden was big enough!
iCookFood: veg box schemes are a great idea, thanks for bringing that up!
Freya: True. I love imported stuff myself - it’s just the carrots etc that are imported (when they grown great right here) that is crazy.
bazu: You had to make it complicated. I’ve heard that point of view before, too - but I feel the implications of endorsing it could lead to all kinds of produce traveling all over the place. Great comment, though.
Katie: Maybe your first one was swallowed by my spam filter (sorry!). It’s so true that seasonal eating adds diversity - you look forward to the next big thing coming into season.
Susan from Food “Blogga”: It’s a great bonus. Asparagus is well worth looking forward too, as is squash. Peaches I have to get imported unfortunately.
March 9th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Great debate. With me convenience wins over seasonality any day. While sniffing vegetables at snail pace in a farmer’s market sounds lovely, I am more likely to be doing a supermarket trolley dash, guided by recipes and not seassonal produce. We have enough to worry about already.
EEEk. I am in a small minority in the poll!!