One of the most important topics for us humans is food - and it spurs the political discourse in many different ways all over the globe. From discussions about how to prevent people from suffering malnutrition over the legislations regarding food safety up to the economic safety of our food market and the impact of global warning on our eating habits.
One of the most talked aspects of food during the recent years in industrialised countries is climate change and its impact on our ability to feed ourselves as well as the economic ramifications of several laws regulating the food market both in sales and production. While malnutrition, food scarcity and a lack of proper education surrounding food isn’t only an issue in third world countries, the western world loves glossing over the fact that those issues loom over our societies as well and are upheld by the bedrock of systemic poverty by our governments.
So while this article will focus heavily on the topics and discussions surrounding the former topics around food, I don’t want to neglect mentioning that those are issues and stances that people with a certain socio-economic background can’t afford to have or take. This is something I want you all to keep in mind while reading.
With food prices on the rise due to global inflation and national policies as well as economic and political changes (eg. the higher price of petrol, the higher price of certified labour, policies in agribusiness when it comes to the use of certain fertiliser and insecticides) as well as climatological changes (eg. droughts, floodings) and man-made difficulties (eg. mono-cultures and their impact on the fertility of our land), we all are impacted by the additional financial strain and subsequent health issues caused by lower food quality (both in nutrition and actual product).
This additionally to a general change regarding our view and personal relationship with capitalism and consumerism as a societal way of life has led many people in recent years to question and analyse their own consumption. It really isn’t surprising, that on the back of several movements (most notably the general vegetarian and vegan movement, the “health” movement and Fridays for Future), people are taking a critical look at the way they get and consume their food. To quote the german Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (short: NABU): “Regional is the new organic”. This newspost is meant to inform and educate about regional (and thus by extend seasonal) food consumption and maybe give a bit food for thought on the whole matter of where does my food come from and how does this affect me and the world.
What is regional food?
While there are laws in place to decide whether certain products and produce are wholefood, there is no trademark on the word regional. Don’t get me wrong, some items do come with a very specific regional trademark, like for instance champagne and Parma ham, and some products like eggs have very detailed descriptors of their origin. But these really are exceptions to the rule.
This causes a lot of confusion and can be used to lie to consumers on a large scale when it comes to marketing. Despite the many laws and regulations when it comes to food, there are a few blind spots when it comes to defining the origins of a product. Especially fresh produce often gets advertised as being regional despite there being no clear definition of where this means it has to come from. Additionally processed food doesn’t mark down where their produce comes from, sometimes they don’t even tell where it is produced. Sometimes the registered office of a brand is all the information you can get on the package.
To help consumers out and bring in the much needed transparency, many countries have unions that help (mostly) farmers prove where their produce comes from and aid in marketing visibility to all the consumers that care about the specific origins of their food. Additionally to helping with localising the sources, they often also help in defining the standards of the products by for instance only allowing certified organic farms to partner with them or farms that refuse the use of certain pesticides. You can check for these unions in your own country to get a bit more insight into where food with specific labels comes from.
Regional, local and transparent - the advantages
The reasons for shopping your food regionally are plentiful. The shorter transportation routes mean that your food doesn’t get shipped in containers for several weeks but arrives in the store within a few days. That doesn’t just mean your food can get fresher to the table (as opposed to pre-maturely harvested fruits that have sat in a freezer for two weeks) and the amount of petrol used to ship it around is much lower as well. (Though let’s not over-romanticise it, there are still economical and environmental costs involved in getting your food from the farm to the market and even if the produce has been grown, harvested and packed in the same country as it has been sold in, the routes it travelled may still be fairly long.) And as a nice bonus, you’re investing into the local economy and supporting local businesses with your purchase.
By the by, the only difference between regional and local is the radius it takes. Local is much closer than regional - for instance the farm in the city nextdoors would be considered local while the farm halfway across the country would usually be considered regional. But again, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to the use of these words and regional certainly doesn’t even have to mean that your food comes from the same country that it has been sold in.
To help you recognise where your food is from, you need the seller to be as transparent as possible. This is where the unions and their labels come in handy. And this is also why according to European law, the country of origin has to be noted on the produce. The more information you can find about the origins of your food, the more ethically conscious you can be in your buying habits.
The other side of the coin
Unfortunately regional food consumption also comes along with a bunch of difficulties and inconveniences we aren’t used to anymore in our highly globalised consumerism. If you limit yourself to buying only regional products, you find yourself genuinely restricted when going to the store. This has two reasons.
On one hand, rarely any country is able to fully sustain itself. Thanks to the aforementioned globalisation, we have countries that “specialised” in the harvest and production of certain food (often based on climatological reasons - you just can’t grow tomatoes in northern Europe all year around, not even in greenhouses - and sometimes even financial reasons - for instance the lower price of labour). Additionally to this, some fruits and vegetables just don’t grow where you live and have to be imported. These climate-related restrictions can severely limit the access to diverse food in some places around the world.
Last but not least is the issue of the price. Depending on where you live most food comes with an additional cost. If the cost of life is higher in a country, that also means the food coming from there has to be higher priced. You have workers that need to be paid, bills like water and don’t forget about the packaging. Adding to all of this is - especially in middle Europe - the amount of wholefood producers compared to farms that don’t limit themselves to additional restrictions when it comes to the amount of space they need for their livestock, for the types of fertiliser and pesticides they can use, etc. All these choices are reflected in the price and sometimes that just makes it much more expensive than the same fruit that has been shipped in from the south from a giant monoculture greenhouse.
If you decide to source your food locally, you’ll have to start by deciding how far you’ll go with it. How big of a radius are you drawing when it comes to import? Do you still shop at the supermarket or do you go to a farmer’s market or maybe even the farm shop of your local farmer? Depending on where you live, these decisions will already have been made for you, but you can still decide upon small things like only buying your food when it’s in season, supporting food distributors from your country and region or just generally deciding which form of agriculture you want to financially support. There will be downsides to this decision (for instance tropical food like mangos and avocados won’t be in it anymore if you’re from Europe); it is ultimately your decision how much your food and the origins of it is worth it to you.
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