Killer Salad Recipes

There has been a lot of talk lately about eating seasonal food, sourced locally. Gordon Ramsay, one of the UK’s most prominent chefs has gone one further and suggested that restaurants should be fined if they serve out of season produce. Now although I don’t think that this will ever happen, I think the logic behind this call for local seasonal produce is valid, for the following reasons;

Now, here comes the BUT….

Some foodstuffs that I like to eat are not produced in the UK, I can’t imagine never eating a banana again, and a world without pineapple doesn’t bear thinking about it. There is also the issue of the growers in developing countries that depend on the export trade for their livelihoods.

I think it’s very commendable to think about food miles and the associated costs and long term damage to the enviroment, but we have to think about people too and the immediate impact that a reduction of trade would have on developing nations.

So, what is the solution? Well in simple terms we need to mix ‘n’ match. We should of course be supporting our local producers and eating fresh tasty food, and when we want something that isn’t grown in our native countries, or we want something out of season, e.g. Asparagus in December, we should be looking at fair trade produce, at least that way our food miles will be doing some good. To be honest I could actually survive without Asparagus in December, but bananas and pineapple - no way!

So, over the next few days / weeks I will be doing some research, finding my local producers, finding out exactly what is grown in my local area, finding out what is grown further afield, finding out what fair trade produce is available locally to buy. I’ll get back to you with what I find, and maybe some eco-friendly killer salads.