Local & Seasonal
Local
Food travels further than ever before. Fresh produce can travel thousands of miles from growing to packaging to consuming. Local economies lose money and the vast distance travelled by over-packaged and processed food contributes significantly to climate change.
Struggling to compete in the global market, we are also losing many of our small family businesses, local farms, market stall holders and shops.
This in turn means a loss of local distinctiveness, traditional varieties and a connection to the food we eat. Buying locally supports local producers and retailers, keeps money in the local community and provides social benefits.
Seasonal
All fruit and vegetables have a season, a time when they are abundant and when they taste best. Today we have lost our connection with nature's seasonal cycles and very few of us in the developed world eat according to the seasons.
As consumers want fresh produce all year round, and can have this thanks to refrigeration, heated greenhouses and global food transportation, we have become dependent on standardisation, breeding varieties for their ability to withstand storage for long periods of time and transportation over large distances. As a result we are losing hundreds of local and traditional varieties (see side bar on diversity), meaning that ironically the present food system actually limits our choices.