Getting my dander up...
So one of the main news items today is about the shortage of leafy green and 'summer' vegetables due to poor weather conditions in their country of origin.
Major supermarkets have introduced rationing measures, limiting the number of items of affected veg that any one shopper may purchase.
My initial thought was, "Is this a covert government-led healthy-eating kick?", but no, it is down to flooding in areas of Europe where the UK nabs it's winter saladery from.
This has got me dander in a rufffle, I can tell you!
Why do we need to eat lettuce in February?
IT DOESN'T GROW HERE IN FEBRUARY!?!
Eat seasonally.
Eat carrots, cabbage, spuds, onions.
Eat lettuce when it grows naturally in this country: it does grow under glass, I know, but slower than in late Spring and in the Summer.
Are people so inflexible with meal planning?
So rigid with "having to have" what must be imported at a high price?
With continuing to consume the same things day after week after month to the point that the supermarket causes a major news story by limiting one resource when there are countless alternatives?
If healthy eating is the goal, salad could be raw veg sticks with hummus, veg soup/stew or curry, or a jacket potato.
And as for no broccoli?
(Well bless my soul; that puts paid to my diet plan for the week, I'd better have a kebab...)
Major supermarkets have introduced rationing measures, limiting the number of items of affected veg that any one shopper may purchase.
My initial thought was, "Is this a covert government-led healthy-eating kick?", but no, it is down to flooding in areas of Europe where the UK nabs it's winter saladery from.
This has got me dander in a rufffle, I can tell you!
Why do we need to eat lettuce in February?
IT DOESN'T GROW HERE IN FEBRUARY!?!
Eat seasonally.
Eat carrots, cabbage, spuds, onions.
Eat lettuce when it grows naturally in this country: it does grow under glass, I know, but slower than in late Spring and in the Summer.
Are people so inflexible with meal planning?
So rigid with "having to have" what must be imported at a high price?
With continuing to consume the same things day after week after month to the point that the supermarket causes a major news story by limiting one resource when there are countless alternatives?
If healthy eating is the goal, salad could be raw veg sticks with hummus, veg soup/stew or curry, or a jacket potato.
And as for no broccoli?
(Well bless my soul; that puts paid to my diet plan for the week, I'd better have a kebab...)
I agree.
ReplyDeleteI love a nice winter salad with red cabbage and carrots with some pickled beetroot or something, far better for this time of year.
My thoughts exactly! Even better if you can grow a bit of your own then you know what's to be eaten.
ReplyDelete< chuckle >
ReplyDeleteJ x
I second your opinion. I was raised to, and continue to eat seasonally. I am in Connecticut, New England (NE USA) and we are in the dead of Winter. My current fresh produce is limited to Californian and Floridian citrus, cold storage New York apples (just got 2, 3 lb bags of them on the marked down shelf as they had a bruise on one apple in each bag-they will do nicely in my apple crisp for dessert!). For produce: again cold storage items: onions, potatoes, cabbage, parsnips, carrots. CA celery. CA grown organic spinach, chard (silver beet where you are in the UK), red beets (beet root) and golden beets. NY state hothouse tomatoes, that are non GMO. I supplement with home canned/frozen produce, some commerically but domestically produced as well. Fewer salad, with less ingredients, lots of cabbage this time of year! This approach just makes for even sweeter asparagus come Spring.
ReplyDeleteHow funny - I said almost exactly the same thing - "courgettes don't grow in February"!! Nothing wrong with winter veg in winter - or am I missing the point somewhere??
ReplyDeleteWere you listening to me as I did the weekly shop today?? I bought carrots and sprouts and kale and was grateful that I could! I'd love to know how much salad stuff ends up in the bin because it gets put onto plates as a garnish and not eaten. Love seasonal veg and fruit although we don't mind frozen/tinned fruit either to vary our diets in winter. My favourite winter veg is "chuck it in the pan" soup, the thicker the better. Catriona
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. I shook my head when I heard on the radio news that one supermarket was rationing iceberg lettuces to 3 per customer!!! For starters, who is buying 3 in one go? And how many of those will end up in the bin?? Grrr!
ReplyDeleteI think that it was to stop retailers (e.g. cafes, etc) buying up a whole load. That's what they said anyway.
DeleteJ
I understand that you have a much longer growing season than we do in W. Canada but for us 7 months with no lettuce or any other salad item is a long time!! I guess I have a different idea than CTMOM what eating seasonally means. I thought it meant eating what is grown in your area, not what is trucked in from 2500 miles away. Just my opinion.
ReplyDelete