One thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is the carbon footprint of the food we eat. To minimise this, an easily achievable step would be to buy British and also to buy fruit and veg in season. I used to buy asparagus quite regularly that had been flown in from Peru (which was nice and cheap) but now don't bother, its not justifiable in my view. Sorry Peruvian farmers!
This very much reminded me of this tweet:https://twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/583261721994924033?s=20
imported tomatoes from Spain and Italy have two times lower greenhouse gas emissions than those produced in Austria in capital-intensive heated systems. On the contrary, tomatoes from Spain and Italy were found to have 3.7 to 4.7 times higher greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to less-intensive organic production systems in Austria.
I got called small minded (diddums I know) on Twitter for pointing out something similar regarding Lewis Hamilton (veganism and V8s)
My growing view is that we're all way too cuntish to take individual actions to avoid fucking the planet up - most of us have our vices and wont give them up, whether it's long-haul climbing, driving loads, buying loads of shit from far away, having the heating on too much etc. We just do what's convenient and ignore the rest, and probably 9/10 of us are the same.
I think how we produce and consume food is more important than what we eat.
Quote from: Paul B on October 18, 2019, 11:02:04 amI got called small minded (diddums I know) on Twitter for pointing out something similar regarding Lewis Hamilton (veganism and V8s)I guess this depends on whether Hamilton is vegan for environmental reasons or because he doesn’t like killing fluffy animals!
Quote from: Kingy on October 17, 2019, 05:37:40 pmOne thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is the carbon footprint of the food we eat. To minimise this, an easily achievable step would be to buy British and also to buy fruit and veg in season. I used to buy asparagus quite regularly that had been flown in from Peru (which was nice and cheap) but now don't bother, its not justifiable in my view. Sorry Peruvian farmers!From the little i have read this is a far more complex thing than 1st meets the eye, as suggested in alexs post. I know a few who have gone down the veggie/non meat eating route for this reason and i am not convinced its as easy as that, nor do i intend to start eating rabbit food all my life. Is eating local grass fed beef worse than imported avocado or asparagus? I believe cheese has a bigger carbon footprint than chicken and pork so should we stop eating that first?I cant help but feel that the "facts" are often heavily influenced by the" in it for the money" meat producers on one side, and the animal rights campaigners on the other, and i feel the later group really is hijacking this to help push their cause. I have a lot of good friends who are farmers and they feel pretty threatened by the dont eat meat message but also they dont identify at all with the intensive farming that you see used to justify it. I think how we produce and consume food is more important than what we eat.
so aside leaving it to become woodland (not in itself a daft alternative)Wasnt farming fish seen as a realtively low C way of generating protein?
On a fruit POV it would mean eating locally grown deciduous fruit (mostly apples plums and pears) late summer, cultivated berries and little else.
Quote from: SA Chris on October 18, 2019, 03:40:32 pmOn a fruit POV it would mean eating locally grown deciduous fruit (mostly apples plums and pears) late summer, cultivated berries and little else.Are we still allowed to freeze things?
The obvious answer to that is to eat stuff that is in season, which is fine in theory but has some associated problems, not least that we're all so used to being able to source any veg we want at any time of year that cooking seasonally can feel like a huge effort - the kind of effort that seems like quite a hurdle to a busy working family.
preserving in jars is the only way I'm afraid.
Quote from: Will Hunt on October 18, 2019, 03:28:27 pmThe obvious answer to that is to eat stuff that is in season, which is fine in theory but has some associated problems, not least that we're all so used to being able to source any veg we want at any time of year that cooking seasonally can feel like a huge effort - the kind of effort that seems like quite a hurdle to a busy working family.There's no reason cooking with seasonal produce should be any more actual work (prep etc.) than with non-seasonal, but it requires a different mindset where you first buy what's available and then decide what to make with it. I guess that could feel like a restriction.
Quote from: andy popp on October 18, 2019, 04:10:28 pmQuote from: Will Hunt on October 18, 2019, 03:28:27 pmThe obvious answer to that is to eat stuff that is in season, which is fine in theory but has some associated problems, not least that we're all so used to being able to source any veg we want at any time of year that cooking seasonally can feel like a huge effort - the kind of effort that seems like quite a hurdle to a busy working family.There's no reason cooking with seasonal produce should be any more actual work (prep etc.) than with non-seasonal, but it requires a different mindset where you first buy what's available and then decide what to make with it. I guess that could feel like a restriction.I know it sounds lazy (and perhaps it is, but I'd argue it was more to do with having many other things competing for my time) and is a terribly uncool thing to admit to on such a middle class forum, but I don't currently have the culinary creativity required to do as you describe, and the amount of work I think it would take to get to that point is quite daunting.