Where does your food come from?

by Fe2O3Girl 7 Replies latest social current

• 

  Fe2O3Girl

  I went shopping in two different supermarkets at the weekend. I wanted to buy some apples. English apples. Or Scottish or Welsh apples would do. Not a difficult task? WRONG.

  I could have had apples from France, Italy, New Zealand, USA or Chile. But not any apples grown in my own country. WTF?????

  So, I go to the meat counter, where I can actually buy meat from my own country, but if I choose to, I can have Australian beef, or New Zealand lamb.

  I have no objection to importing food that we can't grow in Britain, English bananas are a difficult crop to manage, but why is so much food imported which we could easily grow here?

  I would like to hear from people outside the UK - are your shelves filled with imported food?

  And you Brits - does this bother you at all?
• 

  Jayson

  I live in the Apple Capital of the world. WTF are apples from new zeland doing in my supermarkets!?

  Look for a local warehouse that sells your local crops. If you don't have one then look into opening one. They can be very profitable.

  Jayson (Of the capitalism rocks class)
• 

  Warrigal

  Even better...if you have 'em, patronize farmers markets in your area. You often get locally grown produce and better prices. Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes!
• 

  Fe2O3Girl

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,952682,00.html
• 

  RAYZORBLADE

  Up here in Canada, the growing season is seasonable as some of you may know.

  But...when the season is right, I always buy Canadian produce.

  We also have huge greenhouse operations that churn out fresh veggies all year round.

  As far as apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, grapes, nectarines and other fruits, I can still get last falls crop. Not fresh, but some fruit will last for a long time.

  It's always important to buy local first, national, and if it is simply not available where you live (tropical items) well...you buy it regardless of its origin.

  At the Supermarkets here, in the produce sections you'll see a sign indicating the country of origin.

  I will buy local/national first, always.
• 

  Stephanus

  I live in the Apple Capital of the world. WTF are apples from new zeland doing in my supermarkets!?

  It's called "comparative advantage". It's always better to sell what you're really good at producing and buy the stuff that you're not so good at producing, even if you're okay at producing it. I always advise people, even my fellow Aussies, to buy NZ lamb if they can get it.

  Whatever you do, don't fall for the line that your local chefs are trying to flog on telly these days, guys like Nick Nairn, Rick Stein and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Sure, the stuff they source from local producers (or produce themselves) is to die for, but you're paying through the nose for that inefficiently produced produce. It's okay for them to buy that kind of stuff; they typically charge 60 pounds per head in their yuppy wanker restaurants. For the rest of us, cheap and abundant imported food is good enough.
• 

  hippikon

  It's called "comparative advantage". It's always better to sell what you're really good at producing and buy the stuff that you're not so good at producing, even if you're okay at producing it. I always advise people, even my fellow Aussies, to buy NZ lamb if they can get it.

  I agree -

  I don’t agree with Governments that subsidize local but inefficient producers or build tariff walls that exclude other “Friendly” nations produce. If the local product is more expensive to produce it should be reflected in the price. It’s all very well waving the patriotic flag but fact of the mater is it is most people would not support the local economy if doing so hurt them in the pocket. It’s not as if New Zealand or Australia are third world countries producing shoddy goods. Often (but not always) imported product is superior to that produced locally.

  Remember New Zealand and Australia is on the opposite side of the world from the UK and half a world away from the USA but who set troops to defend the UK during WWII. Many thousands of New Zealand and Australian soldiers died defending the UK and USA and yet when it comes to “fair” trade Australia and New Zealand products are ridiculed as “Cheep Imports”.

  Question

  Who made the car you drive?
• 

  Stephanus

  I agree

  Awk!

  I don’t agree with Governments that subsidize local but inefficient producers or build tariff walls that exclude other “Friendly” nations produce. If the local product is more expensive to produce it should be reflected in the price. It’s all very well waving the patriotic flag but fact of the mater is it is most people would not support the local economy if doing so hurt them in the pocket.

  There's nothing I hate more than "economic nationalism". And here in Oz it's the Dick Smith/Pauline Hanson kind - trying to make poor people feel guilty about buying cheeper or better quality imported goods.