How do you know which food is in season?

thriftlady_2

Just been to Tesco and there appears to be no lack of Peruvian asparagus, Kenyan beans etc.

I bought Israeli tomatoes hoping that was a more environmentally sound option than greenhouse local toms.

Sometimes my head hurts with all the things one has to consider when food shopping and I just buy what we like to eat, what is good for our health and what we can afford.

melli_2

Dustykitten wrote: »

I wonder what will happen to all the food which was ready to fly?

Will the suppliers still get paid?
Who will pay for the loss
Will the food simply rot?
Will it be given to local people?

Whilst most of us will be able to do with out our mini sweetcorn (often wonder who buys that stuff and why) the fact is the stuff has been grown, harvested and packed ready to go.

Just saw this link on the Guardian online;
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Cloud%20of%20ash%20costs%20Kenya%20Sh300m%20a%20day%20/-/1056/902042/-/nwc7b1z/-/index.html

Penelope_Penguin

melli wrote: »

Just saw this link on the Guardian online;
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Cloud%20of%20ash%20costs%20Kenya%20Sh300m%20a%20day%20/-/1056/902042/-/nwc7b1z/-/index.html

That link doesn't work for me; is this the story?

thriftlady_2

thriftlady wrote: »

Just been to Tesco and there appears to be no lack of Peruvian asparagus, Kenyan beans etc.

.

Makes you realise just how fresh these things are. After all they must have been here since last Wednesday.

Winged_one

Well, the prices of F&V have been going steadily up here in recent years, so I have been growing more of my own. Luckily, I have some in the freezer, and there are some things growing at the moment (I am harvesting leeks, PSB and rhubarb this month, and salad leaves are starting too). But I think that this summer is going to be very interesting as there will be a LOT of disruption to supplies, and those supplies that do come in will have to make some extra money in order to offset those that couldn't come in and have to be left to rot.

But while I had already been planning intesifying growing this year, I think I will be further intensifying the plans in the next few weeks with all of this - extra leaf mold for the peas, and at least a few extra rows of peas and beans. And I just sowed an extra 2 pots (doubling my expected yields) of leeks for next winter.

artichoke

hi all

I just wanted to add the Transition Networks view on this issue of whether it is better to buy local UK food or support farmers in less developed countries:

"BUT won’t the relocalisation of food in the West lead to starvation in the developing
world?

Some interpret the concept of increasing localisation to mean that building resilience in the West
– increasing national food security, rebuilding local manufacturing and so on – will by necessity
lead to increased impoverishment in the developing world. This would not be the case. Will the
developing world be lifted out of poverty by continuing to dismantle its own food resilience and
becoming increasingly dependent on global trade, which is itself massively dependent on the
cheap oil we can no longer rely on? Is the way out of poverty really an increasing reliance on the
utterly unreliable? Rather than communities meeting each other as unskilled, unproductive,
dependent and vulnerable settlements, they would meet as skilled, abundantly productive, self-
reliant and resilient communities. It is a very different quality of relationship, and one that could
be hugely beneficial to both.
Over the last few years we’ve started to see clear impacts of tying the developing world into
global commercial food webs, as food prices rose in step with oil and fertiliser prices. In fact, the
Transition Network argues that tying developing-world food producers into the globalised system leads to their exposure to both food and money shortages. "

this is taken from the Transition Network Ten Butts to Transition...in the hustings guide.

I agree with what they are saying - we need to develop our own local food system, and support charitable agencies who work in developing countries with local farmers to enable them to create farming systems for themselves to provide for all their own food staples for their own communities - rather than they mass producing coffee and bananas for the uk, and then having to buy in rice from america as all their own resources go into production for the west....

stop the madness - think global eat local


art

melli_2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

That link doesn't work for me; is this the story?

The link I posted was direct for a Kenyian (sp?) newspapers website but Guardian link also has the same info

westcoastscot

Hi artichoke, thankyou for posting this - very interesting. The problem is the "interim" period for developing countries. I'm sticking with my broad approach of home grown - locally produced - fairly traded, in that order.
WCS

artichoke

hi

yes, in my local food group we are trying to promote very local food for all that can be sourced locally, Uk food for the rest, and fair trade for the luxuries that we can not grow in the uk eg coffee, bananas, oranges...

but these fair traded products need to be seen as luxeries not every day essentials - hard for me to say with my caffeinne addiction!

and it is hard to ween young kids off bananas although they do love our home grown soft fruits..

art

Dustykitten

Thanks for all the thought provoking posts. It is easy to think that we are supporting developing nations by trading with them and maybe that would be the case if we traded as equals but I'm sure that is not the case.

The fact that the farmers are unlikely to be paid for the crops that can't fly (according to this thread, sorry I've no other info on it) surely confirms that trading with the west and the big supermarkets is not a fair relationship.

I too am sticking with home grown, british grown (as more local than that is difficult here) and then fairtrade.