It was my regular trip to the farm shop today where we are faced with a plethora of good local and organic food with which to fill our cupboards, fridges and freezers. We've graduated form the super market as far as possible with all our fresh produce with the intention that buying locally at the village farmshop and buying organic where possible will enhance our lives and benefit the environment. Lofty goals, but by choosing organic carrots from whiltshire and not large, juicy looking ones from spain, the world will be a better place.
For the casual shopper more used to 2 for 1 and other special offers, the rather dirty looking barn with bags and boxes of veggies all over the place can be a little daunting. There is no clear way in, no trollies and no obvious way to queue at the till. One you get your bearings however, shopping at the Farm shop can be a rewarding experience.
Our Farm Shop does have a problem and a problem that has affected many shops of its ilk. It has an identity crisis. It's shelves are filled with organic, fair trade, free range and local produce. It has cutsie little jam pots, chutneys and pickles. It has frozen roast potatoes, ready meals and blackcurrants and this all looks wonderful. 'Hand made' crisps, 'hand finished' cakes, 'specially selected' potatoes. I tell you, its not fooling me. But if you can see past the products that are an obvious sham - like the 'ready to cook' frozen beef wellingtons (beef from where?) and the 'heat and serve' fish in sauce, you really can begin to feel better about the produce you are buying. Some fantastic jams, great vegetables, tasty local ice cream and really good looking beef and lamb, its just a shame all the sausages seemed to contain about 20% added water. Why rear lovely free range meat and then ruin it with a poor sausage recepie? Its just like the organic burgers I had once from a supermarket. They were organic, from Argentina or somewhere and seemed to be made up largely or organic fat and connective tissue. Easily the worst burgers I have ever had.
My questions to the farm shop is this: Are you local? Are you high quality? Are you organic? Are you about convenience? Why do you sell cute little jam pots with fake cloth lids that declare 'produced and packed in the EU' on them?? What are you!?
The Farm Shop is trying very hard to replace the supermaket up the road, the large succcessful Sainsburies complete with its mother and baby parking, disabled toilet facilities and fruits and vegetables from around the world interspaced with a smattering of TVs DVDs and clothes.
For me, as a new world eco-consmer Sainsburies no longer fits the bill. It too large, has too many things contained in it and too many products that come from all over the world subsequently killing trees and raising the sea levels. My local farm shop however boasts swede from within whiltshire or carrots that have traveled 11 miles, potatoes from the local village - 2 miles. You really can feel good about helping local producers by making your purchase decisions this way.
So I fill my bag with locally grown organic carrots, english onions from the region, some tasty looking garlic and other sundry items.
Furthur into the shop you have the wonderful choice of buying produce with an increasing array of labels and catergories designed to educate the traditional consumer and enthuse and excite the new world eco-consumer - like me.
Organic - free from pesticides and other man made chemicals, most likely from all over the world as we produce only a small fraction of our organic produce in the UK. Chances are its come to the UK in a freezer ship or flown in by air cargo.
Free Range - generally speaking meat that is reared outdoors more than indoors, a good chance of coming from the UK. This label is a weird one. It essentially implies that the meat has not been 'factory farmed' or 'intensively reared'. We get our free range eggs in the village from an old lady with hens.
Fair Trade - produce from the developing world, coffee tea and chocolate in the main where the grower receives a higher price than usual for their hard work - no mark of quality whatsoever.
Ecover - household cleaning products that claim to be kinder to the environment (the toilet cleaner is no replacement for bleach but the washing powder seems to work)
British meat - a label given to meat killed or processed in the UK - mostly from factory farms and highly intensive production systems. This is some of the worst quality meat you can get.
In my experience of trying all these various types of fruit and veg you cannot guarentee any of them will taste better or be of a higher quality. I've had some truly terrible organic beef and some very average fair trade tea. The choice of free range pork sausages is almost non-existant and organic produce comes from all over the world, its often small and incipid looking and can really disappoint.
My new world eco-consumer buying decisions are made like this then with quality being the number one thing. Price for me is not a deciding factor, when it comes to food I am lucky enough to have a good deal of choice and I try to exercise it in the best way possible to obtain the highest level of quality.
1) High quality local organic produce. - top notch artisan foods, very rare to find.
2) High quality local free range produce - as rare as 1), perhaps rarer given farms often try to go the whole hog and convert to organic.
3) High quality Organic world produce - e.g. Green and Blacks Chocolate
4) Local Organic produce - organic box schemes, can dissapoint in terms of quality ad variety
5) Local Free range produce - free range meats, but watch the quaituy of the finished product
6) Local, UK world battery/factory farming. - really try to avoid this category if I can.
I'll use my farm shop as much as I can and being a well educated eco-consumer I'll do my best to buy ethically and intelligently and keep as much of my money away from the supermarkets as possible.
I'm off to make a wonderful free range beef stew with local vegetables, herbs grown in my garden and top quality red wine (oops from New Zeland - one step at a time!)
For the casual shopper more used to 2 for 1 and other special offers, the rather dirty looking barn with bags and boxes of veggies all over the place can be a little daunting. There is no clear way in, no trollies and no obvious way to queue at the till. One you get your bearings however, shopping at the Farm shop can be a rewarding experience.
Our Farm Shop does have a problem and a problem that has affected many shops of its ilk. It has an identity crisis. It's shelves are filled with organic, fair trade, free range and local produce. It has cutsie little jam pots, chutneys and pickles. It has frozen roast potatoes, ready meals and blackcurrants and this all looks wonderful. 'Hand made' crisps, 'hand finished' cakes, 'specially selected' potatoes. I tell you, its not fooling me. But if you can see past the products that are an obvious sham - like the 'ready to cook' frozen beef wellingtons (beef from where?) and the 'heat and serve' fish in sauce, you really can begin to feel better about the produce you are buying. Some fantastic jams, great vegetables, tasty local ice cream and really good looking beef and lamb, its just a shame all the sausages seemed to contain about 20% added water. Why rear lovely free range meat and then ruin it with a poor sausage recepie? Its just like the organic burgers I had once from a supermarket. They were organic, from Argentina or somewhere and seemed to be made up largely or organic fat and connective tissue. Easily the worst burgers I have ever had.
My questions to the farm shop is this: Are you local? Are you high quality? Are you organic? Are you about convenience? Why do you sell cute little jam pots with fake cloth lids that declare 'produced and packed in the EU' on them?? What are you!?
The Farm Shop is trying very hard to replace the supermaket up the road, the large succcessful Sainsburies complete with its mother and baby parking, disabled toilet facilities and fruits and vegetables from around the world interspaced with a smattering of TVs DVDs and clothes.
For me, as a new world eco-consmer Sainsburies no longer fits the bill. It too large, has too many things contained in it and too many products that come from all over the world subsequently killing trees and raising the sea levels. My local farm shop however boasts swede from within whiltshire or carrots that have traveled 11 miles, potatoes from the local village - 2 miles. You really can feel good about helping local producers by making your purchase decisions this way.
So I fill my bag with locally grown organic carrots, english onions from the region, some tasty looking garlic and other sundry items.
Furthur into the shop you have the wonderful choice of buying produce with an increasing array of labels and catergories designed to educate the traditional consumer and enthuse and excite the new world eco-consumer - like me.
Organic - free from pesticides and other man made chemicals, most likely from all over the world as we produce only a small fraction of our organic produce in the UK. Chances are its come to the UK in a freezer ship or flown in by air cargo.
Free Range - generally speaking meat that is reared outdoors more than indoors, a good chance of coming from the UK. This label is a weird one. It essentially implies that the meat has not been 'factory farmed' or 'intensively reared'. We get our free range eggs in the village from an old lady with hens.
Fair Trade - produce from the developing world, coffee tea and chocolate in the main where the grower receives a higher price than usual for their hard work - no mark of quality whatsoever.
Ecover - household cleaning products that claim to be kinder to the environment (the toilet cleaner is no replacement for bleach but the washing powder seems to work)
British meat - a label given to meat killed or processed in the UK - mostly from factory farms and highly intensive production systems. This is some of the worst quality meat you can get.
In my experience of trying all these various types of fruit and veg you cannot guarentee any of them will taste better or be of a higher quality. I've had some truly terrible organic beef and some very average fair trade tea. The choice of free range pork sausages is almost non-existant and organic produce comes from all over the world, its often small and incipid looking and can really disappoint.
My new world eco-consumer buying decisions are made like this then with quality being the number one thing. Price for me is not a deciding factor, when it comes to food I am lucky enough to have a good deal of choice and I try to exercise it in the best way possible to obtain the highest level of quality.
1) High quality local organic produce. - top notch artisan foods, very rare to find.
2) High quality local free range produce - as rare as 1), perhaps rarer given farms often try to go the whole hog and convert to organic.
3) High quality Organic world produce - e.g. Green and Blacks Chocolate
4) Local Organic produce - organic box schemes, can dissapoint in terms of quality ad variety
5) Local Free range produce - free range meats, but watch the quaituy of the finished product
6) Local, UK world battery/factory farming. - really try to avoid this category if I can.
I'll use my farm shop as much as I can and being a well educated eco-consumer I'll do my best to buy ethically and intelligently and keep as much of my money away from the supermarkets as possible.
I'm off to make a wonderful free range beef stew with local vegetables, herbs grown in my garden and top quality red wine (oops from New Zeland - one step at a time!)
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