Food Issues
The politics of what food to eat and where to buy it from is changing and evolving all the time. If you don't know your free-range eggs from your organic, it can all be a bit overwhelming and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a definitive guide of how to eat ethically, shop responsibly and not spend a fortune.
But what does eating ethically even mean?
Well, for us it means:
- supporting local shops and British farmers as much as possible, and ensuring that farmers are paid fairly whether the food is home grown or imported.
- buying food that minimises any negative impact on the environment.
- ensuring that the meat and dairy products we buy are produced to high environmental and welfare standards.
We've put together a list of the some of this issues we think are most important, with information on why we should care at all and what you can do. Of course these issues are changing all the time, that's why we here at OxNosh are dedicated to bringing you as much information as possible so that you can make up your own mind, think of it as a mental checklist everytime you buy food!
Change the World!
We Are What We Do
A brilliant movement that aims to inspire people to use their everyday actions to change the world. Think of it as 'small actions X lots of people = big change'. It's not rocket science but it does work. Log on and see what you can do to help change the world. We've listed some of our favourites below - you can see how easy some of them are, why not get started today?- Have dinner together tonight
- Bake something for a friend
- Buy Fairtrade
- Shop Locally
- Find out where your lunch has come from
Bite Sized Tips
Check out www.idealbite.com for bite-sized ideas for light green living. Easy eco-living tips are delivered in a short, sassy email each weekday. Bear in mind that this is an American company, (soon to expand to the UK!) but their tips are usually universal and really useful!1.Shop Locally
Oxford has so many wonderful independent food shops, we should all be making the most of them to support local businesses, plus it's so much more fun to buy your cheese from the fabulous Oxford Cheese Company than at a supermarket...especially when they let you taste all the lovely cheese before you buyWhat is Local Food? - Click here
Ditch the supermarket - here's how...
Know your Local food
As it becomes more and fashionable to buy local food, everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. The definition of local is open to interpretation and can be misleading. This Times and Independent article highlight how the term is being abused. If in doubt, always ask!Buy Organic food where possible
What is organic?
Click here to find out what organic means and 10 reasons why you should buy it.Too expensive? Click here
Try visiting a farmers' market or getting a vegetable box for local organic fruit and vegetables.
2 .Eat Seasonal Foods
There are a number of good reasons to eat more local, seasonal food:, to reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow foods out of season, and transport the food we eat; to avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way; and to support the local economy. But, most importantly, because seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious. An easy way to eat with the seasons is by getting a weekly vegetable box.What's in season now?
For more information, click here.3. Buy Happy Meat and Dairy
Next time you buy something containing meat, think about where that meat has come from and how it's likely to have been reared. Sixty billion animals are farmed for food worldwide every year - the vast majority of them reared intensively in systems that seriously impact on their welfare, which makes it's way down to us as consumers by impacting the taste and quality of meat we eat.For more information, visit the Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) website.
How do I know its Happy Meat?
Buying free-range or organic meat guarantees that minimum welfare requirements have been met, such as specifying maximum stocking rates and giving the animals outdoor access. Check out this guide on food labelling from CIWF, some labels you will find on meat products are downright misleading, so get informed to make the best choices!CIWF have also produced a really easy to read Shopping Guide that gives tons of advice on what to look out for when buying meat products.
The Chicken Out! campaign - have you signed up yet?
The Chicken Out! campaign is demanding higher welfare conditions for chickens farmed in the UK and fairer conditions for the farmers who rear them.To read WHY, click here
Save our bacon
"Bangers and mash, crispy bacon butties and ham sandwiches. Hardly luxury grub, right? Well, they soon could be if you want the bacon in your butty or the pork in your sausage to be British. The great British banger is in danger and we want your help to save it. British pig farmers are currently losing approximately £26 per pig they sell. Feed prices are rocketing and the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak led to lower pork prices following the loss of valuable export markets for British pig meat. But why should you care? Well, not only does British pork taste delicious, our farms have some of the highest welfare standards in the world."Sign up to Waitrose's Pig Pledge and help us Save Our Bacon!
4. Eat Sustainable Fish and Seafood
It is impossible to escape the fact that fish stocks are declining rapidly from our seas due to overfishing - which is widely acknowledged as the greatest single threat to marine wildlife and habitats. The amazingly informative FISHONLINE website can help you identify which fish are from well managed sources and/or caught using methods that minimise damage to marine wildlife and habitats Check the links below of what to buy and what not to buy regularly before you head out to the shops, as it changes often. For more information on why fish stocks are declining and the consequences for us and the environment, click here.
5. Buy fairtrade
"Buying products with the Fairtrade logo guarantees that growers are paid a fair price for their crops. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade a ddresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives."For more information, click here.
