Once upon a time, a long long time ago when life was simpler, we all grew our own food. We planted crops, cared for food trees, milked the cows and collected the eggs. We weren't entirely self sufficient because the Murphys grew better potatoes, but the Smiths knew how to cook them best, and so we would trade our apples for the Murphys' potatoes, or the Smiths' chips... Sometimes we would even buy some of the produce, when our bean crop failed for instance, or our chicken fell off it's perch. This worked fine. We cared for our gardens and we always had fresh, seasonal food to eat in our region.
Then we worked out that the seasonal food here was a little different to seasonal food there. In an effort to be a little bit exotic we traded with there until we realised that they were so happy to see our corn that they would pay us more of their exotic harvest than the Murphys or Smiths would trade in potatoes or chips. So we stopped trading with our neighbours and only sent our produce far away.
And we also decided that we wanted fruit and vegies that weren't in season. We wanted apples in summer and nectarines in winter. So the Super Store created a way of storing it for long periods of time. The food lost it's flavour, but if you only ate food that had been stored for long periods of time you wouldn't notice after a while, and you'd eventually grow accustomed to a less flavoursome food. In fact, the Super Store also sold things that you could add to make it taste ok... artificial sweeteners, preserved sauces, processed flavours. And because it also lost nutritional value the Super Store also sold nutritional supplements!
So we realise that the Murphys, the Smiths and even we have stopped growing fresh, local, wholesome foods, and instead we are going to the Super Store to buy processed, old food and whole lot more. Now that the Super Store is the only place that sells these things we feel like we are obliged to pay whatever price they ask, regardless of the lower standard of food. What should we do?
I don't think the answer is to ask the government to close down the Super Store. What I think we should do is support the last few of our local growers by buying their fresh, local, wholesome foods.
I am blessed to live in an area which has a local butcher, a local fruit shop and farmers markets nearby. The standard of food and service at Coles and Woolworths is motivated by profit, minimising bad publicity and trying to keep costs down. The standard of food and service at the Fruit Shed or Mick's Meat Barn is motivated keeping their neighbours and friends happy so that they come back and buy more and tell the rest of the neighbours to do the same. See, if the apples are dry and tasteless at the Fruit Shed you will get people complaining, and they are not just nameless people complaining to teenage checkout attendants, they are Betty, Sue and Robbo speaking to the manager - a manager who has pride in their business. They are obliged to be part of the community.
There are a number of reasons to support local grown produce, not the least of these is the long term economy of our beautiful nation. But to be honest, that's rarely what I'm thinking when I choose my local product. Instead I'm thinking;
- Taste - apples and pears and sweet corn and snow peas that have a real, fresh flavour! And as the seasons change it's like the invention test on Masterchef to try cooking with the new seasons ingredients.
- Health - I find that with the increased nutritional values in fresh foods I eat less, I snack less and I am less hungry. My body tells me it's satisfied quicker! My food budget now goes towards better quality food, but less of it.
- Fun - given the choice of dodging prams and pensioners at the supermarket (where the aisles are not quite wide enough) or tying the dog up at the local green grocer, or wandering through the farmers markets sampling the taste tests... I know what I'd prefer! And I love a butcher or green grocer who will make menu suggestions... Love it!
