Eat the seasons

Over the course of my blog, the impact of eating animal products, and of eating imported foods from unsustainable sources, have come up as recurring issues in the effort for a sustainable future. Locally-sourced foods will become increasingly important as climate change occurs, and it also minimises profits for food grown with heavy nutrient pollution, in deforested areas, and with high carbon footprints. In my final posts, I will be discussing more general tips for sustainable diets such as seasonal foods, minimising packaging, sustainable options while eating out, and minimising food waste.

Seasonal Christmas food

On the topic of locally grown food then, today's post is about how you can eat seasonal, local food! With more than half of UK's food and animal feed sourced from abroad, there has never been a better time to eat more locally. To help you, here is a seasonality table, showing which foods are in season each month. December is a fantastic time of year as many popular Christmas time foods are in season. These include brussel sprouts, chestnuts, clementines, cranberries, parsnips, and turkey. If you're looking for an easy way to make a consistent impact, weekly farm deliveries are a great way to eat locally and seasonally without even thinking about it.

Farm delivery services include:

• Riverford Farm - Eight organic varieties of vegetables are included with potatoes, and onions or carrots each week (Vegetable box £15.35 for three people).

• Farmaround - London's first organic box scheme (Vegetable box £14.25 for two to four people).

• Oddbox - This option is different in that the produce is surplus as it does not meet cosmetic standards. You can get 50% off your first box (Vegetable box £11.49 for three people). Buying this box saves an estimated 6kg of CO2 and 1328 litres of water by preventing food waste.

• Farmdrop - Deliveries from farms throughout the UK are available and vegetables can be bought individually.

If you share with flatmates or family, the price is very reasonable. There are a range of sizes and fruit and veg boxes are available too. In my local area (North London), family veg boxes wrapped in re-usable nylon bags can be picked up weekly. Additionally, local shops sell vegetables individually from local farms. Depending on where you live, it therefore may be easy to eat seasonally without a delivery service. I try my best to source food locally, and over the Christmas period, I aim to eat more locally-sourced, seasonal food.

I hope you have a great Christmas, and have time to think about the impact of seasonality over the break.