I think we'll soon have to go online to find out what's in season! With all these foods being available year-round, I forgot when their season is! Like, do cucumbers have a season? Aren't oranges always in season - my grocery shop seems to think so. Avocados aren't at all local - do I never eat them? Tomatoes originally came from America, as well as chocolate. Do I never eat them? .. So, not as easy as it sounds!
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
What? Simple solution my friend. Grow your own food (goto farmers markets) create a community model (Our NeighbourGood) in order to produce all required food. Then you don't have to think about it. You simply eat what is available...
I wish I could grow my own food!
Farmers' markets aren't as developed a concept here as in America, oddly enough. But our produce isn't as "artificial" either, I guess.
But the more incisive question is: tomatoes aren't local here. Nor in Italy where most pizzas and pasta dishes depend on tomato sauces. Nor can I imagine a Greek salad without tomatoes. So, should be abide by the "eat local" injunction and stop eating tomatoes?!
So, from a certain aspect, this injunction is ridiculous. If it is, then what's wrong with eating avocados year-round?
However, it's not a completely ridiculous injunction. In Russia they eat lots of milk products. And I mean lots. In Greece and Cyprus, we basically only got yogurt, which even lactose intolerant (or should I say sensitive) people can tolerate pretty fine (maybe cos the yogurt is so strained). The genes of Mediterranean people are more prone to issues with lactose. Milk spoils easily in warm weather, you see, whereas in the cold climates of Russia it lasts longer, giving rise to all sorts of intermediate products from completely liquid to completely strained: kefir, ryajenka, smetana, slivka, pahta, tvorok - they got stuff we don't have words for, which is why we often just take the world wholesale. So, since milk spoiled easily, people in warm climates didn't need the enzymes to break it down in adulthood.
I'm one of those people who can't drink milk. If I drink more than, say, half a cup a day, I will have gas and much turbulence down there. However, I can eat (strained Greek) yogurt to satiation. But I typically eat about 360 g a day. I occasionally drink some milk, usually via recipes that require it. My dad didn't drink it at all, said he didn't like it, which I always found strange, cos I love milk! And he ate tons of yogurt! I guess his instincts were more aligned to nature, having grown up in a different era, like you were saying! But I often wonder whether I could tolerate milk just fine if it were natural, containing all the enzymes (lactase) needed to break it (lactose) down. Anecdotal evidence says this often happens: people who couldn't drink mass produced milk, drank organic milk just fine. Do you have any experience with this? I tried drinking milk to which the enzymes were added back in, and this only led to diarrhea after a few days! I guess this confirms the picture you have of science: they break apart the natural, reassemble it, and cause side-effects as a result!
There is plenty of clever ways to get a hold of some land to grow food on! I was involved with a start-up idea a number of years ago called 'garden-space' , essentially it was like air-bnb for gardeners and land-owners. But the key here is to find someone with land, that isn't being used (towns and cities are often accepting to this idea as well) and present them with a simple proposal for growing food on it. Often this is massively popular, it increases land value as it becomes more fertile and more beautiful, also it provides food (which you can offer in exchange for use of the land, so you don't have to pay money). I have found (when researching for the start-up) that nearly everyone I talked to about lending some of thier land to have someone else grow food, in exchange for a part of the food grown, they were all in favour of it! Who would want a basket of fresh food right from thier own land every week or so?! That way you get use of land, it's not as ideal as owning your own land, but it works! Also, there are a few large scale market gardeners using this exact model, turned it into a full time job using lots of peoples land and is turning over 6 figures profit annually (in canada). It's highly lucrative as it cuts out many farmers biggest expense (owning land). Which, could be a great idea for you if you say farmers markets aren't that big there (it's a trend growing globally) you could lead it.
So, if you wish you could do it, there is a way you could not just 'do it' but get all your food grown (reducing your expenses) and grow valuable food. It wouldn't be a far stretch to say you could make a reasonably profitable living doing it! Just an idea :)
I also don't drink milk, I was addicted to it (seriously, like half gallon a day for 20 years), but I cut it out and never looked back. The few times I have tried to re-introduce it I have become immediately sick (might be a bit mental as well, but it also occurs when I didn't know milk existed in the meal, pre-sickness). So, I haven't tested the 'organic' theory. Though for me, I believe it would have to be raw to contain the proper enzymes for digestion, I would only do this if I lived in a climate (like russia) opposed to the tropics as I do.
When I say eat local, this is in reference to what 'can' and 'does' grow locally during specific local season. Not necessarily what evolved in your local area of the course of millenia. If something can and does grow locally, when it ripes in your local climate and season is when I believe it is best. For a 'scientific' approach to this it's understood that we evolved along food eating it when it was ripe and when it was available. We didn't need to know why certain foods ripened in certain seasons, what effects those certain foods combinations had at that time or any of it. We simply ate what was there to eat. So, if something grows in your climate (regardless of where it was originally from) when it ripens in that climate. Eat it.
Also, there is a whole host of other benefits of eating food grown in your environment. One example, in new zealand the ozone layer has been damaged and more radiation goes in. Many people in new zealand are sensitive to burning because of this. However, what is also noted is that many plants grown in New Zealand have been shown to have a higher antioxidant count than the same plants grown in other environments. Long story short, this is attributed to the plants creating defenses themselves for the UV radiation and when we eat those plants we get a higher amount of antioxidants to help us in that environment cope with the higher radiation as well.
Yes that's what I meant, raw milk.
Interesting ideas! I'll keep them in mind! I know someone who owns land who doesn't use it. There's olive trees there, and he just lets them go to waste. Don't know if there's room for anything more, but at least one could get some free olive oil!
Thanks for taking the time to write these replies!