Poll:  Seasonal Food

March 5th, 2007

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?

{democracy:5}
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17 Responses to “Poll: Seasonal Food”

  1. Brilynn Says:

    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.

  2. Bonnie Says:

    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.