In today’s modern world we are faced with many issues and problems but none more important that food. Food for people of developed countries is a real commodity and luxury. Over the last decade or two we have come to accept the fact that if we see some new exciting food on television or over the internet, that sure enough we will soon be able to purchase this in our local supermarket. We automatically think, WOW that’s fantastic I can go and make my brand new favourite dish. So we go and try and sometimes succeed. More often than not however this recipe will not be used again for a very long period of time. And so we forget about this ingredient, all the while however, the shops continue to purchase and sell this ingredient for a reasonable price. This however leads me to the question, how often do we think about the food we buy?

After people buy food from the shop, their thoughts regarding the food dramatically decrease. Can you honestly say you go home and ponder over the origin of your wonderful new purchases? Take for example the common banana. Bananas are produced in the tropics. Most come from central and South America while others come from important producing areas such as Africa and southern Asia. Bananas are cut while they are still green, 13 to 15 months after the bit is planted. The least ripe bananas are selected for long-distance shipments. The cut bananas are generally carried by truck to loading platforms, then by rail to air-conditioned ships. From the receiving ports bananas are sent to wholesalers who ripen them in special rooms before delivering them to grocery stores. All this, just for a banana. How much more processing goes into the thousands of other products that hit the shelves of our local shops.

The thing I find most interesting is the ease at which we can get food. If we look at Ireland, just 40 years ago, most people would have thought it insane to have to go to shops to buy vegetables or meat or even fruit when they could and did grow their own, on their own land for a very nominal cost. The most energy was used in caring for the land and all it was sustaining.

Nowadays very few people can say that they grow their own. This is very much the blame of urbanisation. People just don’t own the same amount of land they used to. Many have no choice but to move to a more central location in order to be closer to work or local facilities. They have lost interest in growing their own food because it is just so much easier to go and buy some. Fast food take away’s are becoming an increasingly big problem. They act as an easy option for people to go to when they are too lazy to cook for themselves. The trouble is that this laziness is creeping into people’s daily lives which lead them to eat more and more fast food. This fast food is cheap and easy but however is extremely unhealthy and fattening.

 There is also the issue of where exactly these places, such as McDonald’s and burger king actually get their from. This brings me back to my earlier point of, Growing your own. If people were to grow their own they would have a much greater respect for the food they were putting into their bodies. They would have a much healthier diet and would enjoy each meal more as they would be reaping the benefits of their labours from the garden.

What can be said about the transport of foods around our globe?

It’s rather appalling to say the least. There are many things wrong with it. Long haul air flights contribute to air and noise pollution but they also contribute greatly to respiratory diseases which are very serious health problems indeed.  Air freight uses 37 times more fuel per tonne-kilometre than shipping and emits pollutants at high altitudes, where more damage is done to the ozone layer.

As I also recently learned Cash Cropping is an extremely serious matter, one that I never even thought about before because I had been so blinkered when it came to purchasing and eating food, (i.e. go to the shop, oooo this looks nice, so does this and so on, buy it, bring it home and eat it. I am either distracted by T.V. or rushing off somewhere so nowhere in there do I ever once stop and think. It’s criminal really.) Developing countries have no choice in giving up their limited land and resources for the use of producing and selling “Cash Crops” in foreign lands. If I take for example Brazil, which is one of the largest exporters of food and agricultural products in the world, yet two out of every three Brazilians are malnourished. It astounds me to think that in this day and age injustices such as these are rampant within global society.

Some Solutions perhaps for reducing global food miles some of which I’ve already outlined above. But others would be to get to know your local farmer’s and butchers, see what they have to offer you, often times they will have tastier better meat for a better price which has been locally produced. Where possible, Go to your neighbours and see if they would be interested in a vegetable swap agreement, under which you grow certain veg and your neighbours grow other types and you trade. Highly effective, better tasting, cheaper, and best of all hardly any food miles at all, depending on where your nearest neighbour is. In general will help to create more food security. Also once again, where possible,  Grow your own vegetables.

Taking  for example, my own home. It’s pretty much your average country home that receives about the same sunlight and rain water as the rest of the country. Last year we set up a small garden with 6 long raised beds. It took about 2/3 weeks to get it ready with 3 people working on it at their ease, evenings and Saturdays. We had also set up a compost heap a couple of months previous which most of went into these new beds. It’s just coming into proper growing season now, and with a bit of TLC these beds produce a wide variety of lovely Veggies right through the Summer, and Winter, with hardier veg like cabbage.

Picture below: Not much to look at at the moment, but beds being readied to grow new veg.

Above picture: ↑

Chives, immediate bottom right ↑

Leeks, middle right ↑

Small Cabbage, under green netting ↑

All of which survived winter.

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