Where food comes from

The book 'Animal, vegetable and miracle" I am reading now is very interesting and informative. I learned a lot about the food industry, food history and certain farm animals and plants as well as being entertained as one would expect while reading a book in her leisure time. I learned sadly about how the majority of fruit and vegetables travel hundreds of kilometers to get to the supermarkets and how thousands of plants species and many animal species are extinct because farmers only grow food that travels well or yeilds well because that's what the big supermarkets buy.

As the author of the book suggested, I now take more notice of where the fresh food comes from. For example, I can't find garlic from Australia a month ago (Harris Farm signs showed all garlics were from China or Peru). I tried not to use much garlic but ended up buying a small bulb from Peru. I also know there is no Australian grapes at the moment. I saw grapes in the local vegetable shop last week, hoping the new season's started, I asked the owner wherer it was from. He confirmed grapes are not in season and his grapes came from USA by air - transport time around 5 days. He further addded those grapes that cost less than $6 all came via the sea (took 2 months to come) and he thought they shouldn't be eaten by humans. I totally agree and do not want to eat anything that sits in a refrigerated container for that long and still looks good!

As a general rule, I try to buy ingredients coming from NSW, otherwise Australia. I order organic vegetables from time to time, and I know which state and farm they are from, but not all shops list where their food is from. I also try to buy seasonal produce then find recipes to use them rather than choose a recipe first then unable to find the ingredients or the ingredients not in season, therefore very expensive. Of course, I still buy lots of packet and canned stuff and I don't have time to read each label. But I feel that I'm taking a small first step towards having more control over what we put in our mouths.