Fresh food tastes great and the interaction and trust developed with the purveyors reminds me of my favorite food, fish that I caught, cleaned and cooked. There is a great loss when food is in tidy packaging on neatly stacked shelves, the reality of where that food comes from. I love the interaction markets encourage, the way you relate to your food much better than in a supermarket. Also on a social aspect you are far more likely to talk to people at a market or local store than at a supermarket.
How green can the market be? I felt very good about myself when I managed to produce a “zero waste” meal for two. I brought my own bag, Tupperware for the scallops, I was tempted but refrained from removing the rubber band from the asparagus.
In my time in New York I was astounded with the abusively excessive packaging and daily waste. I have discovered it is very hard to live a minimal impact lifestyle and have a huge respect for those who endeavor to. Recycling systems are confusing and it is such a hassle to separate compost able waste let alone taking it to drop off spots. You have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of time and effort and many of us know how easy it is to forget the bloody reusable shopping bags.
Does the economics of it make sense? Is it “Greener”
Sure local food travels less but all this mass production stuff we got into had reasoning behind it, efficiency. One big truck or ten small trucks and vans? The whole competitive advantage concept, some places grow apples more efficiently and others bananas. We trade because it improves efficiency and therefore our standard of living.
New Zealand can produce a pound of butter and ship it to the UK for less energy than it takes to produce a pound of butter in the UK!
Why will many people pay more for local food? I think some sort of patriotism. I will often pay a little more for the familiarity of NZ products.
It isn’t easy to grow food in Manhattan so I wonder about the economic sense of trying but am torn in many ways. I love the idea of rooftop gardens, growing you own food is very rewarding, cities contain more pollutants than farms will this mean the food grown is effected? The time and effort possible transferred from more productive work
Wasting food
We consume for sustenance but modern cuisine has moved so far away from the basic human need to eat as fuel for survival. Mainly for indulgence and speed or laziness
The quantity of food that is thrown out is unbelievable! Right through the range of producers and consumers, restaurants, supermarkets and households all waste stupid amounts of food. The economic system encourages waste, people are laziness, greedy and it waste is accepted by western society.
I think we need to discourage food waste possible by finding a system of making the waster pay for the costs of that waste. I can see this in a restaurant scene when the waiter clears a table a charge is added to the bill for the proportion of the wasted food.
BBC intersting links
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4444429.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/costingtheearth_20050414.shtmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7334916.stm
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