Going Local

It's all change in our shopping habits since my post about supermarkets. I was so unconvinced by my own arguments, that I've pretty much stopped frequenting their hallowed aisles.

Instead, I've been doing our fruit and veg shopping at Unicorn in Chorlton and only buying local
produce. This is a challenge in a period that is traditionally 'hungry' in terms of UK seasonal produce. The winter storage veg (carrots, potatoes, parsnips) are running out and the summer's abundance is yet to burst forth from the fields. Leaving a few meagre greens as the only fresh offerings from the soil.

It all started around the 6th of May. I cycled to Chorlton on my way home from hospital. Unicorn smells good. It's always been one of those places I have wandered around, wide-eyed and wondering at the organic wholesome goodness... longing for the day when I have a wage and can afford to shop there. But no longer. I still have no wage, but I'm going to see what happens if I try and spin out our veggies and wholefoods to the very best of efficiency. Is it really too expensive? We'll see.

So here I was, with my bicylce panniers and my shopping basket, breathing in the aroma of the grains and spices, all organic and all fairly traded. At Unicorn,packaging is kept to a bare minimum and the entire operation is a worker's cooperative. My kinda place. They do import organic vegetables from overseas, but for the purpose of my local organic produce experiment, I would be abstaining from spanish tomatoes and bananas from whoknowswhere. This also meant that my bill would be cheaper, since my food wouldn't have been transported as far.

As I picked a few potatoes and some dirty carrots from sacks, I overheard a parent chastise their child - "NO, you CAN'T have any more sunflower seeds, you've had ENOUGH today". Surely a conversation that could only be overheard in a fairtrade organic wholefoods store in Chorlton. I smiled inside, remembering kids I used to babysit for who had to be bribed into good behaviour with seaweed (Japanese Nori), as they didn't like sweeties.

So that week I came out with delicious tasty baby salad leaves from 3 miles down the road in Sale, carrots from herefordshire, potatoes fom Dundee, rhubarb from somewhere in the UK, leeks from herefordshire and mushroom from Ireland. On top of this, I got some canned tomatoes and some pasata - not from the UK but really, there's not much else to eat at the moment... Ideally, I'd like my local eating to be limited to produce from the North West, but having also been to the farmer's market this week, I still can't find much that comes from my local area and have had to stretch as far north as Dundee and as far south as Hereford.

Also visited the farmer's market that takes place on the 2nd and 4th Friday and Saturday of each month in Picadilly Gardens, Manchester. Not as impressive as I'd hoped, but Hungry Boy and I managed to get some awesome Lancashire cheese made in Goosnargh. It felt really good to buy it straight from the guy who made it. It was really, really tasty. We also bought some bread from Kirby, although I can make our own bread, I do find it difficult to keep up with Hungry Boy's demands.



The following week brought Spring Greens (Sale), Beetroot (Ormskirk - stored from winter) and Chicory (Sale) into our diets. It is becoming more and more exciting to see a new vegetable crop on my visits to the grocery shop. Yesterday there was a new variety of lettuce (Sale) and even CHERRY TOMATOES from Blackpool!!! There was also Spinach and Runner Beans. My day was made. The simple joys of watching the earth turn out new things for us to eat in a timely and sustainable fashion.

So are we just eating vegetables? Pretty much... I'm allowing us to eat some stuff that is not from the UK - mainly staples like grains and pasta. We also have frozen broccoli of dubious origin and a cupboard full of spices. And some of these we still get at the supermarket. Hungry Boy needs fed and pasta is only 19p in Sainsbury's, what you gonna do? And dairy. Unicorn's vegan. This is a great disappointment to me - i'd like to buy local organic milk from them. And local organic eggs. And honey.

I'm trying not to get religiously legalistic with my locavorian tendencies. I'm concentrating on the positives of eating local fruit and veg rather than the negatives of not doing so. I'm still eating out, especially tasty Chinese, and it has yet to become socially acceptable to inform hosts in advance of attending for dinner that you are now a locavore.

Things I made out of this veritable feast of local delicacies included Beetroot and goats cheese salad, Aduki bean pie, Carrot and Lentil Burgers and Macaroni cheese with Spinach and Mushrooms. Yummy yum yummy.

ps - does anyone know how to make chicory taste nice?