Local eating for global change
Why eat local? We’re so used to kiwi fruit from California and green beans from Tanzania that the idea might seem strange. But eating as much food as possible that’s produced as locally as possible is one of the most important ways to live sustainably.
The further your food has come, as a rule, the more fossil fuels have been used to get it to you – and so the bigger the climate change impact. The average food item in a supermarket has travelled 1000 miles – even vegetables can travel one end of the country to the other just for processing. Food from a local farmers’ market, on the hand, travels thirty miles on average.
Living sustainably is often about weighing up pros and cons. Buying organic has many benefits, but if the organic food has travelled far to get to you one benefit it won’t have is a smaller carbon footprint than non-organic food grown locally. There are one or two exceptions to the food miles rule - season is important too. One study showed that in the UK out-of-season tomatoes grown in Spain actually had a smaller carbon footprint than those grown in the UK, even though they’d been trucked across Europe. That’s because in Spain they grow in the sun, rather than in the UK where they’re grown in heated greenhouses. So best of all is “eat local, eat seasonal” – of course if you really are eating local, it will be seasonal!
And supporting local suppliers is the best way you can support your local economy. One study found that buying from local suppliers was worth 400% more to a local community than buying further a-field – because local suppliers also spend their profits locally.
Of course growing your own food is as local as you can get and there’s been a huge growth of interest in allotments.
Enter your address at the Big Barn website to find locally produced food in your area.
AFSL Local Food Groups
Action for Sustainable Living has three groups you can join to get more involved with local food
Hulme Food Group
The Chorlton Permaculture allotment
Hulme Urban Gardens Society
Where to get local food in
’s Real Food Guide tells you everything worth knowing about real food in , including where to find local food.
Farmers’ markets and vegetable box delivery schemes are great ways to get more local produce in your diet. And even restaurants and cafes are starting to promote their use of local food.
’s Farmer’s Market provides a great range of fresh local produce. The market is held at Piccadilly Gardens on the second and fourth Friday and Saturday of each month, 10am - 6pm
There are a number of box schemes servicing - such as
http://www.northernchoice.co.uk,/
http://www.everybodyorganic.com/
http://www.northernharvest.co.uk/
Food for thought
Here are some places where you can find out more about the issues and get in touch with others interested in local food.
The Local Food Works website has details of local food groups across the UK.
Food Links UK is the federation of organisations in the UK working to develop sustainable food systems.
Sustain is an alliance for better food and farming, supporting innovative initiatives such as promoting local sources for hospital food.
Friends of the Earth have produced a blue print for UK food production.
The Slow Food movement is the antidote to fast food, promoting local food traditions
And promoting interest in the food we eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.
For one year, two Canadian activists vowed they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their home and the 100 Mile Diet was born. Since then dozens of individuals and grassroots groups have launched their own 100-Mile Diets turning the idea into a movement.
Inspired by the 100 mile diet, residents in the ancient kingdom of Fife have taken part in an experiment to reduce their carbon footprint by eating only local produce.
Content supplied by Dan Welch
