For this instalment of Food Friday, I'll be talking about buying produce from your local food market. For me, my local market is based at Kew Village on the first Sunday of every month, but I also have a few other markets nearby which are open every weekend, which makes food shopping a little easier for fresh items. Local market's tend to be full of local produce, which not only helps the local economy but you're also getting incredibly fresh foods - which has to be healthier for you! Here's my top 3 benefits of buying from a local food market: 1. You meet the people involved with growing and/or producing the food. They know their produce inside out, and you can ask them anything about how it's grown, transported, made etc.. and they can actually give you an answer! 2. Local, seasonal produce. There's been research about how eating local, seasonal produce benefits your health, because the food is actually more nutritional when it's grown in the season it's supposed to be grown in! Here's a link to a study if you're interested: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17852499 3. It's better for the environment. On a whole, the produce doesn't come from very far, so not only are you reducing the miles the produce travels but these small farms/producers actually use a lot less fossil fuels, fertilisers, pesticides etc.. on a whole. I absolutely love shopping at a local food market, not only for the experience of seeing exciting, seasonal produce but also because it's fun (compared to going to a supermarket, or online shopping)!
For me though, local markets can actually be quite expensive - but you've got to remember that these are normally micro businesses, who sell on a tiny scale. Do I do my weekly shop at a local food market? I wish I could say yes to this, but I don't. I shop there as much as I can, when time allows. So for now, I still do my weekly online shop and go to markets as and when I can.
1 Comment
Jill
18/5/2018 09:49:13
The fresh food looks great and I love to buy in season too but I am surprised to see so many plastic bags . . . Lots of initiatives down here in Devon/Dorset to encourage paper, or even lightweight reusable cotton bags for produce.
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