I have been eating big salads with a small piece of meat and a wedge of Turkish bread (from the freezer store supply) this week as my main meal. I haven't eaten much else although I did make Auntie Julie's zucchini slice for lunch yesterday. By eating fresh food it is not only healthier, but also easier to determine food miles :-)Items that I have purchased this week that are outside my 100 miles:
- Funky lettuce - abut 4 big handfuls with more to buy today (I do have lettuce planted but it will need a few more weeks before I can start harvesting)
- Wonton wrappers (no local option)
I got some great local vegetables too - tomatoes (vine ripened), cucumbers, zucchini - yummy! I also got some locally smoked ham, and local, organic and free-range eggs for the zucchini slice. Dorrigo feta was the crowning glory on my big salads (funky lettuce, tomato and cucumber).
Coffee - well it is still coming ...
So, now I get to the hard stuff.
- I don't have any more flour and haven't resolved my quandary about this one (the wheat is a bit outside the 100 miles but I haven't followed up the milling yet) so, as I don't need any flour for now, I am letting this one sit but I will have to resolve it sooner or later.
- I have almost finished my bottle of balsamic vinegar. Real balsamic vinegar comes from Modena, Italy and nothing else will do. Okay, I would only get a couple of bottles a year but... Is this a luxury good I could do without, or is it a kitchen essential? I am wavering (at this moment it is an essential) but the answer will determine whether I buy another bottle or not.
- I have almost finished my bottle of olive oil - Jingili from Western Australia - highly recommended. I don't appear to be able to find an alternative within 100 miles and as I regard this as an essential ingredient do I minimize the miles and get one from this side of the world, or do I go for a straight replacement (and if I do, does that make it a luxury item?)?
One example they gave, which got me thinking, was that if you live in London, it is more environmentally friendly to eat lamb from New Zealand than lamb local to London. This determination was reached when one considered all of the input required to the lamb from paddock to plate including fertilizers, water and the like. And even taking into account the shipping of the lamb from New Zealand, it still came out miles ahead - no pun intended.
As I live in a little food bowl here (with lots of water), and there is a good range of organic produce available, I am not going to factor in all of those other bits in the decision making process of what to buy. For a start I don't have the resources or the energy, and secondly I am sure that given the specific circumstances of the area, local will come out best. But in determining the purchase of things like lentils or chickpeas or whatever, some preliminary thought in the direction of the bigger picture would probably resolve a lot of my little issues.
5 comments:
Greetings!! I found your blog via comments on bushtucker and now ... here I am :)
I've had similar thoughts when trying to determine the ethics of vegetarianism/veganism vs. backyard permaculture, where one eats one's own chooks. I'm not vegan/vegetarian, but I know rather single-minded people who are, and I construct discussions with them in my head :)
So here's some food-for-thought on ethics, ecological soundness, and food schtoofs in general ...
1. What's better - using Australia's limited water and fertile soil to grow rice (or coffee, or any other thing that doesn't readily grow in Australia), or to import those same products (thereby racking up pollution black marks) from those countries which need the money and have the correct climate for it?
2. What's better - removing kangaroos and wallabies from un-"improved" land, then irrigating and fertilising that land, in order to grow legumes as a protein source to avoid animal exploitation - or to eat the kangaroos?
3. What's better - to live in a city so as to reduce transportation costs between home, food, work, etc, but be unable to grow much of one's own food, or to live on a property and grow one's own food, but rack up transportation costs for necessary non-local groceries, work, etc?
4. What's better - to use imported nnd/or mass-produced resources to support a non-animal-exploitation lifestyle, or to exploit animals in a permaculture lifestyle which will reduce use of importation and mass-production?
I have my own preferred answers to these questions (the fact I'm an omnivore working to set up a permaculture lifestyle, but commuting an hour to work every day will help :) ) but in reality, it's not black-and-white. At every turn, regardless of one's internal ethics and preferences on a matter, requirements to compromise will turn up. It's then a matter of balancing the compromise with one's own philosophy and coming to a solution that allows you to live with yourself :)
More specifically - balsamic vinegar is a regional speciality and by your tiny consumption of it, you are supporting the very regionalism you're trying to live. So its purchase is A Very Good Thing and well-deserved.
Olive oil - well, now, there's a catch. If you can't buy olive oil locally, does that mean your climate doesn't support the growth of the olive? If one is supporting true regionalism, should one be trying to use something that doesn't actually grow in one's area? There's another tricky question. There's a few possibilities:
1. Find the most local olive oil you can and keep tasting until you find the one you can live with;
2. Try using local alternative oils such as macadamia nut.
3. All of the above :)
My general thinking is that there's no single easy answer, but by trying to the best we can and to be consistent to one's own priorities, we are already making a difference; and that's the important thing.
Well, something like that anyway :)
wow, i am always impressed at the amount of thought you put into this MG... and I think you have met your match in infoaddict... smiles... i don't have any of the answers, but i love watching your thought process as you figure them out!!
Oh, my head hurts with the thought of trying to buy only locally grown food. How does one find enough time in the day to research all these things, then go out and get them?!! I saw a segment on tv not long ago about food-miles, & the family they interviewed did their grocery shopping every day... again, who has the time!?!?! But I say, if you do, then go for it!! With the cost of gas being what it is these day, & no sign of going down, I try to limit my trips to the market to no more than twice unless I absolutely have to.
As for the basalmic vinegar being a necessity or luxury, I'd say it's all relative to what you cook & whether or not you use it regularly. Personally, I've never purchased or used the stuff.
Great to hear from you again infoadict - with a well-spring of knowledge :-)
I have found an olive oil that is just outside my 100-mile zone - in Gwidir. Unfortunately I am in one of those few areas of Australia that gets too much rain to be suitable for olives. Mind you, go to the top of the dividing range and everything is different. Will give Gwidir a call today and find a stockist :-)
Yes pita, this does take a lot of time getting set up - I think it will take me 18 months to be completely swapped over (to get the preserving of seasonal foods done and the like). I would hope that once I have all of this info I can share it with others in the neighborhood so they won't have to do all of this work!
I am an every day shopper but, for the most part, always have been so that isn't a hassle. I live in a great little town and go by the veg shop, the butcher, the supermarket every time I go to work so it is no prob just to drop in and get my bits. And because it isn't a shopping centre (yes these are real shops on a real street) there isn't the nightmare of parking and crowds. I can also walk and because I only buy a little each day, the load isn't heavy.
Have I also mentioned that I am single?
Hi MG -
will have to check it out - but there is a fairly large olive grove in Grafton - not certain if they do oil pressing or only sell the olives.
wheat and flour - most of the wheat comes from west of the Great divide - well outside your 100 miles, and as far as im aware , the majority of flour mills are based in or around the capitals (ie Sydney or Brisbane for us residents of the north coast) - there may be some more local, but I dont know of any ( I used to deliver flour etc to the local bakeries , so got to know a few of the supplying mills) -
Good luck with your quests,
RG
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