You may have seen over on my socials that I was at Whistlewood Common on Saturday for their Earth Day Celebration. It was beautiful - such a lovely space and especially so with the sun shining. I was invited to deliver a talk on seasonal eating/food choices that can help the planet.
I thought about this for a while. I didn’t want to just rock up with a list of seasonal foods to eat right now and what to do with them. That’s something anyone could easily google if they were so inclined. I wanted to give an overall impression of the current food system we live in, how it’s harmful to the planet (and to our health) and what we can do about it. It was kind of a big ask of myself, because the current food environment is massively complex - on account of profit being the number one driver rather than human or planetary health.
Some of the problems our current food system creates includes land degradation, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, greenhouse gas emission, deforestation… the list goes on. Not to mention the harms to human health and the absolute travesty that is the way we treat animals in the food system.
I get it… fixing this mess seems impossible and overwhelming. And actually, it can’t be done just by a handful of individuals. It needs to be addressed by policy-makers, organisations and indeed, the food companies themselves. See Chris Van Tulleken’s book ‘Ultra-processed People’ for a deep dive into this stuff. BUT… and this is a big but… we do actually have some agency. By making small changes, we can influence things. The more people buy organic, the more it sends a message that we’re not happy with conventional farming practices. When sales of UPF start to go down, it sends a message that we’re not into harming our health and our planet anymore.
So if you want to take matters into your own hands, while waiting for the powers that be to tackle the big stuff, here are a few things you can be thinking about and getting on with…
Choose local. Go to a farmers market or a farm shop, even just once a month, and buy a few items that have been grown near where you live. Why?
Reduces food miles
Supports local and smaller, diverse farms
The food will be fresher and more nutritious
Helps keep traditional farming methods and varieties alive
Eat seasonally. Why?
It tastes better and is more nutritious when grown in season.
Far less intervention (heated greenhouses, transportation from overseas)
Supports farming practices that align with natural rhythms rather than forcing production
Choose organic wherever possible. Why?
Pestides and herbicides are harmful to pollinators, affect soil health and wash into waterways
Organic farms tend to have 30% more biodiversity than conventional farms
Organic practices build soil rather than deplete it
Choose better quality meat and animal products when you can. Why?
Deforestation mainly happens to grow crops for industrial animal farming
Industrial farming operations create more waste than local systems can handle, causing river, soil and air pollution
Ethical farming practices (i.e. free-range, pasture-raised, grass-fed) are better for the animals
Carbon sequestration - well managed grazing can actually restore grasslands and sequester carbon in soils
Reduce ultra-processed foods (UPF). Why?
Plastic packaging overload!
Most UPFs are made from commodity crops (soy, wheat, corn) which are grown in monocultures, destroying biodiversity and exhausting soils
Food miles - ingredients have to be shipped from all over, processed in a factory and then shipped out again - all using massive amounts of energy
Plus many many more reasons…
Minimise food waste. Why? Ever heard the statistic that if food waste were a country it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, after the US and China. Yeah, it kind of goes without saying that when food is produced just to be thrown away it isn’t great for the planet. How do we deal with this?
Compost! A great way to deal with scraps, peelings and unwanted leftovers
Love your leftovers - whatever doesn’t get eaten can usually be repurposed into another meal (for lunch today I had some leftover bolognaise, mixed with chickpeas, on toast with a bit of grated cheese on top - posh beans (chickpeas) on toast anyone?!).
Meal plan. Sit down with your family, ask everyone what they fancy to eat that week, make a plan, a shopping list and then order or go shopping. Try to reduce top-up trips to the supermarket (this is something I’m working on at the moment)
Freeze anything that looks like it might not get eaten in time. Bread is great for the freezer for toast emergencies!
Grow your own food. Why?
Ultra-local, reduces packaging, builds heathy soil and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Again, please don’t think I would expect anyone to do ALL of these things ALL of the time. I only started growing food a few years ago, and it’s just a few things I can fit on my windowsill and in my small garden. And you don’t need to be a gardening expert. I’m genuinely just making it up as I go along. Last year I was inundated with courgettes. This year, only two out of eight courgette seeds have sprouted (and my daughter snapped one of them! 🙄). Also…
I don’t buy everything seasonal or local (just some things, some of the time)
I don’t buy everything organic (just some things, some of the time)
I don’t always buy the highest quality meat and animal products (just as much as I can, as often as I can)
I don’t live a completely UPF free lifestyle
I try to avoid food waste but occasionally due to poor planning or some kind of kitchen mishap, food has ended up in the bin
I don’t grow all of my own food from seeds (just a few things, in the spring/summer time)
So please don’t be disheartened if it all seems a bit too much. Maybe just try making one small change, and see what happens. Maybe another change will follow... and then maybe another... who knows?! 🤷♀️
Take care of yourself (and the planet!),
Lucy 🌿
ps, photo of Luna 'helping' to plant the seeds 😂
