Local food...how am I going?

In a post earlier this year, I discussed the concept of obtaining my food from within 250km of my house. So, how I am going? Well I haven't tried very hard, but started at least to make some conscious decisions when I am in my local grocery store (independent brand) and at the local "farmers'" markets.

What have I been successful in obtaining within this area?

• strawberries
• bread
• mandarins
• chicken
• yoghurt
• milk
• mushrooms
• fish (whiting)
• pesto
• honey
• eggs

This list doesn't look extensive to me anyway. Have a look at your shopping trolley next time you're unpacking it into your car and see where your grocery items are coming from. Are local products readily available from your store?

The obvious flaw with the bread (which has been consistently raised with me) and the pesto, is that I don't know where the basic ingredients are sourced from (basil in pesto is local, but don't know about the other ingredients). This fact could actually lead to an increase in my carbon footprint as a result of extra transportation of primary ingredients to the location of manufacture, but at least I have considered one step in my food chain and this is what I consider a step in the right direction. 

I have other local products available fairly readily but have not required them to date and I also have sourced herbs from my garden, mostly parsley at this stage and therefore don't have any transportation impacts on these. 

Where to from here? Further investigations into the availability of many of the staple products in my pantry would be useful.  Quizzing the sellers at the farmers' market where the products they are selling are coming from would also help and only buying what is seasonally available. All of these steps will assist in purchasing only products available from my local (250km) area. 

Have you tried and what success are you having? 

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