10 Reasons why you should shop seasonally

Shopping seasonally may seem a strange concept to millennials, but throughout human history, before about 30 years ago all our food followed a seasonal pattern of what was available. This meant that whatever was growing in your local field would be what is on your plate. However, now we can have bananas at Christmas and tropical fruits and nuts all year round, but is this really ethical?
Here are ten reasons why you should shop seasonally, for yourself and for the planet!
1. It supports your local farmers and their farms.
2. It limits the food miles, tropical foods have to be shipped thousands of miles using a huge amount of energy. 
3. Local food is allowed to ripen before being picked meaning it has more nutrients.
4. It keeps our money in the local/British economy.
5. It supports rural communities.
6. In the UK we have stricter labour laws meaning our food isn't grown using child or slave labour. 
For this recipe, put a potato in the oven and while its cooking heat up some coconut oil in a frying pan. Place the salmon and some sliced ginger and chilli in the pan and sear the salmon. Add the kale, carrot onion and cabbage and place a lid on the pan. Steam this for 15 minuets and then serve with a jacket potato ;)
7. It can save you money as seasonal products are often cheaper because they are easy to grow.
8. When food is picked from then it starts to lose nutrients so food that is grown locally can be consumed not long after picking. 
9. Food that is grown locally is tailored to your environment so it provides us with all the nutrients we need to live in that environment.
10. Food tastes better e.g a tomato off the vine in the summer... yeh we all can tell the difference.

2 comments

Unknown said...

Great post Elfie, as always! I am slowly learning how to eat more seasonally and change my bad habits... Like eating tomatoes in winter! No more for me now but i'm craving them real bad! Haha!). xo
Melodie | http://happymelodie.com/

Ethical Bunny said...

Thank you :) :) yes I haven't really tried it before but I'm slowly getting into it! Its actually surprisingly easy when you know what is seasonal I'm thinking about writing a little list :) ha ha yesyou do start to miss things I always miss bananas hee hee :) xx