Forum Topic

Vegan question

I've often wondered if importing so many vegetables from other countries is contributing to climate change. Does anyone have info on this?Our own climate and available land is not conducive to all year round vegetable or legume or grain production without creating artificially lit and heated areas.

Katrina Black ● 1719d18 Comments

as delivery vehicles cost much less to run if they are electric.  It also means that there is more effort to make deliveries more organised as that is more economic.Then there are vegetables being grown like this:https://hydromag.co.uk/industry-insider/thanet-earth/

Philippa Bond ● 1716d

Growing vegetables on top of buildings?https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10424392https://cityfarmer.info/the-supermarket-growing-food-on-its-roof/

Philippa Bond ● 1717d

School gardens where they grow their own vegetables are a great idea.  This gets them to try things they never have before - especially if you have a good cook in the kitchen helping by cooking different recipes.  Unfortunately I'm not sure that all schools have kitchens any more.  Hopefully there is more domestic science again now.

Philippa Bond ● 1718d

ii have used riverford for 15 years now and trust them completely. growing local doesn't necessarily always mean that it's environmentally friendly. as previously posted sometimes it's better to have something slow shipped from overseas rather than a heated all-year-round poly tunnel in the UK. I always eat certain fruit and veg seasonally such as soft fruits as they can't really be shipped. I do grow a lot myself too, last year was tomatoes, courgettes of all colours, turnips, delicata squashes, berries, potatoes (heritage), carrots (multicoloured). basically I grow stuff that is overpriced in shops lol.

Maxine Campbell ● 1718d

The one that gets my goat is almond milk - imported from California and 75l of water to make 1 l of this dreadful stuff...

Bob Bowmer ● 1719d

Andy on a serious note the real question is how much the UK spends on food as compared to rent/mortgages and other things.We need to promote good food - and that needs to start in schools.  Good quality school meals for all kids should be the policy IMO. There will be some that will say why give kids of well off families free school meals. But unfortunately poor kids aren't the only ones that go hungry - but more important we need to try and illuminate the packed lunch and get kids to experience a variety of different healthy foods.

Ed Robinson ● 1719d

Yeh maybe

Andy Pike ● 1719d

Perhaps just golf courses Andy as few people use them :)

Ed Robinson ● 1719d

If you really want to go local looks like we'll need to turn ths commons and the heath into farmland to save on transporting, that should keep the Putney greens happy.Not sure about Messrs Cameron and Evan's though 😁😁

Andy Pike ● 1719d

Food is one of those multidimensional things that does your head in IMO.There is of course Brexit, where we had the common agricultural policy that subsidised and protected EU farmers at the expense of non-EU farmers. We probably send some of these countries aid when they may prefer trade.Then we the economic differences in the EU that means a supply of labour at a cost in terms of wages and conditions that is not acceptable to much of the UK workforce.Added on top we have the environmental impact of transporting food around the world. Nutrition wise chefs always rage about fresh, locally sourced.I'm glade some people can navigate around it and make it a Brexit remain thing. I'm just thankful we can at least produce some of our own 🥂

Ed Robinson ● 1719d

Matt, that's if there are enough lorry drivers to transport the goods to the UK. It might just be empty shelves and price rises ... 

Michael Ixer ● 1719d

With some food rotting in the fields because of nobody to pick (brexit and covid) we are importing more food than ever i imagine.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britains-vegetables-are-rotting-in-the-fields-soon-imports-will-fill-the-shelves-instead-dxsmbg2rw

Matt Palmer ● 1719d

Environmentalists think that veganism is a better option for the planet and will assist in curtailing global warming. I'm not aware of any research that supports the opposite view so would be interested if someone has a reference to some.Obviously it's better if food can be sourced locally but that applies to meat as well as fruit and veg. In fact, I would imagine the energy used to refrigerate meat in transit is far greater than that required for fruit and veg.Hodmedods now grow chickpeas and fava beans in the UK. Some fruits - citrus and grapes - have to be imported but carnivores should be eating those as well as veggies so the thing is to try and purchase those from European countries rather than further afield to minimise foor miles.

Michael Ixer ● 1719d

That's why veg boxes are such a good idea!  Otherwise it is quite difficult to work out when you are in a supermarket or at the greengrocers which are the fruit and veg in season.the most local the better.  Some companies have local producers.  Abel & Cole I think is based locally but I know most about Riverford who have a farm in France.Why not check out their websites to find out more?There are also companies growing vegetables on top of and in buildings here in the UK.A lot of people are now growing some vegetables here in their gardens as well as in allotments.  You can grow a lot of vegetables in pots. (There are special varieties ie plants that don't grow enormous).  We had courgettes and tomatoes in pots last year and it is always worthwhile growing your own herbs.  Every home should have a bay tree (or know where the nearest one is) and containerised mint plant and a pot of basil on the windowsill as far as I am concerned! There is this website:http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/It can help you to look out for what should be in season and there are some recipes.I know Riverford is good with recipes for what is in their box and I suspect Abel & Cole are too.Italian and Indian and Middle Eastern food have good vegetarian options (well better than the proverbial omelette).  I prefer to eat things that I do not make at home - so probably more complicated than a tomato and mozzarella salad!  It's galling when you buy something that you could have made better.

Philippa Bond ● 1719d

Hello Freddy,That is not what I meant, my apologies if I was not clear.Of course we still import produce from the EU but tariffs are coming in sometime soon but am not too sure of the date.  This will be a challenge for many and it would not surprise me if, when the tariffs are applied, many businesses will stop exporting from the EU.  We had a similar problem at the beginning of the year with exports to the EU.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1719d

There are still a lot of vegetables from EU countries in the supermarket. I assume this is because as yet no tariffs have been imposed. They tend to come by road and ferry. Still polluting forms of transport though. Sorry this isn't a particularly Putney related question, except perhaps to highlight to other readers that there are those living here who would appreciate a veggie/vegan restaurant!

Katrina Black ● 1719d

I’m no Brexit supporter but seriously, what do you base your assumption that suddenly vegetables are no longer able to be imported from European Union countries?? Plainly we still import large amounts from Europe as evidenced here How dependent is the UK on the EU for food? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55408788

Freddie Francis ● 1719d

I should think it may have been contributing as most products were transported by lorry or plane.But as we have left the EU, our imports will come from Australia, Fiji and other Asian countries.  Hence the contribution to climate change will be even greater!

Ivonne Holliday ● 1719d