Posted by kathryn in Ethics & Sustainablity

While there is a growing locavore trend in the US, here in Australia it’s still a fledgling movement. Most shops do not regularly display where their produce comes from, apart from an occasional “Australian grown”, which makes it difficult to work out what’s local.

In the Herald, Robert Cornish decides to eat locally for one week. He shows you can find a wide variety of produce grown within a small radius of where you live, but it takes many phone calls and questions to suppliers and retailers. He also discovered that eating locally in Victoria, meant giving up coffee, sugar and bread.

Rising concern about climate change means people are becoming more aware of the distance their food travels. Transporting produce around the country and overseas uses up fossil fuels, which exacerbates climate change. Eating more food that is locally produced is one way of counter-acting this.

At the moment it’s difficult to know where your food comes from. If you are concerned, I’d suggest you start asking some questions. Talk to your local greengrocer and email your supermarket. Ask them where their produce comes from. Let your local retailer know you are concerned about climate change and want to eat locally – and ask them to make it easier for you, by labelling their produce.

27 June, 2007