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Green Food Map Background Introduction The Sheffield Green-Food-Map focuses on raising the profile of positive local food initiatives covering everything from shops selling local organic produce to courses on growing to information on health and cooking. By doing this it is hoped that more people will actively engage with the issues around 'Green Food' and seek it out to cook, buy, pick, and grow. The Map is also aimed at policy and decision makers, as it will clearly show areas of the city with all the ingredients of a local food economy and those that don't- the food deserts. Questions can be asked and hopefully decisions made to change and improve the situation in these areas. The Green Food Map presents information on the following:
The Sorry State of Food Food is increasing an issue of local, national and international interest and concern, and mostly this is for the wrong reasons. Over my lifetime I can remember [not necessarily in chronological order] huge crises and debates around genetically modified organisms, Foot and Mouth disease, Mad Cows Disease, nitrate run off in rivers, high suicide rates of farmers, fish farming pollution, the disappearance of fish from the North Sea due to over fishing [and all the other seas], Anti-Freeze in wine, PCB's in processed food, pesticide residue in root crops, veal calf exports, battery chickens, E-numbers and the levels of preservatives, flavourings and additives in our daily diet. There were many more but these sufficiently emphasis the point that negative issues around food are never far from the public agenda. Reflecting on all of these incidents and events it is not difficult to find a common thread, tying them all together. This seems to be the industrialisation of food, with its twin towers of quantity and profit held high over quality, health and the environment. Industrialisation of the whole food process has brought us bountiful supplies but at what cost? 'If the last century has taught us anything about food production it is that we must, in future always be prepared to think the unthinkable. It seemed unthinkable that the good roast beef of England could ever be seen as a health hazard, but it was. It seemed unthinkable that the rich earth of these fertile islands could ever be put at risk, but it has been. And what of the seas that wash our shores? When I was a child cod and chips was a cheap meal. Now cod has become almost a luxury food and soon it may be extinct. Unthinkable, but it has happened. We have the most extraordinary capacity for destroying what we value most.' [John Humphreys, The Great Food Gamble] It is one thing, producing foodstuffs in huge quantities but you then need to sell it, and the industrial agricultural machines have found their perfect mate in the cathedrals of consumption that the modern supermarkets have become. Tie in the American style walk in chest fridge/freezers which we are now being sold and you have got the perfect system for 'growing', processing, distributing and storing until needed the latest globally travelled convenience meals. A Sustainable Food Future So what does the future hold and can we reverse some of these trends? There is a growing body of evidence that suggests we can, but in order to realise this we need to change the way we approach our daily bread. It calls for a re-localisation of food, a move to sustainable agriculture, a change in Europe's Common Agriculture Plan [CAP] and also a change in consumer behaviour-we are part of the problem and can by our buying power and veto become part of the answer. [As has recently been demonstrated by the withdrawal of the GM seed company's from growing projects in the UK]. Sustain, the alliance of better food and farming, have defined Sustainable Food as that which meets a number of criteria including [www.sustainweb.org]:
The Green-Food-Map is an attempt [there are currently others, and will be many more] to readdress the balance, to promote 'sustainable food' and tackle some of the key areas identified above. Green Food Map Criteria To make it possible to assess a site's green food map potential we developed a number of criteria check lists, these are similar to the sustainable food list above. However each category has to be assessed independently and the criteria adjusted accordingly. For instance, bakers are not the same as whole-food shops or cafe's so the criteria check list has been tweaked for each. The methodology is presented below, along with the thinking behind the different category check lists, to keep the whole process transparent and enable others to add to the map. Shopping -Where to buy local, healthy, organic and socially responsible food or how to have it delivered to your door. Local Most of the food we buy has travelled many miles to get to us this has a huge social and environmental impact, both here, and in the country of origin. A sustainable Food economy needs to look to its local area for a sizeable proportion of its daily food needs. Even foods grown in this country can travel hundreds or thousands of miles before finally being eaten. The distance travelled has been termed Food Miles, and Sustain [http://www.sustainweb.org/] have carried out extensive research on the topic [see for instance their publication titled 'Eating Oil']. For example an average Christmas Dinner for a family of four will have travelled a few thousand miles. However if you are careful and shop locally you can get this down to within a few hundred miles. Shopping locally also helps the local economy. The New Economic Foundation [www.neweconomics.org/] are currently running a research and monitoring exercise called 'Plugging the Leaks'. In this they are investigating the effects of spending money in the local community or at a brand/chain store. What they find is that local businesses are likely to employ local people and uses local services, these in turn also use more local resources, and so you get the multiplier effect; One pound spent locally will be magnified many times to the benefit of many local businesses and individuals. Where as one pound spent in a super store quickly disappears into the international monetary system. For local sustainability we need to develop a vibrant local economy to keep the wealth in the region, otherwise it flows straight out of the area because there is nothing to hold it in. Organic The arguments for organic food are many and complex, the Soil Association [www.soilassociation.org/] are the main UK organisation promoting organics and have produced lots of literature about the benefits and comparisons, basically organic agriculture supports methods which:
Whole Food Historically we have long adulterated our food stuffs to improve taste, shelf life or reduce costs and make it go further. However this has now got to the point that many processed and forced grown foods have little nutritional benefit in them and the manufacturers in some cases add these in afterwards. Globally this is leading to 'hidden hunger' - chronic mineral and vitamin deficiencies caused by eating processed or green revolution crops. This is malnutrition by another means, not this time through lack of quantity but through lack of quality in the food stuffs we consume. For example Omega 3 which is a polyunsaturated fatty acid has recently been recognised as an essential part of ones daily diet for a whole host of reasons including to counter cardiac problems, to ensure the correct functioning of the brain and a healthy skin. We gain Omega 3 from wild game, leafy greens, oily fish and some nuts, and our intake of this has been slowly dropping for centuries. However over the past century, with the industrialisation and development of the food industry it has dropped most dramatically, to be replaced by omega 6, a hydrogenated fatty acid, found in processed foods with long shelf lives. Our diets now contain 16 times as much omega 6 as omega 3, and this imbalance could be the cause of many modern illnesses. Omega 3 is very fragile and quickly brakes down with processing so it is almost impossible to store it in manufactured food. Freak Out Foods There has also been widespread concern about things that are added to food and a recent, yet to be published, study by Britain's Food Standards agency points to food additives and colourings causing tantrums and hyperactivity in a quarter of children who consume them. Top Ten Risks Food is also very prominent in the top 10 risk factors causing disease and death world-wide. A recent WHO report identified these as: Being underweight, unsafe sex, high blood pressure, tobacco, alcohol, lack of clean water and sanitation, iron deficiency, indoor smoke from fires, high cholesterol, and obesity. [New Scientist 2/11/2002,p8] Therefore for all these reasons and many more the Green-Food-Map promotes Whole food. The Wider Picture Social Food As well as looking to where you can buy green food the map also picks up a number of other categories which are equally important in creating a local food landscape. Within the 'shopping' and 'eating out' section, those outlets that support local produce, are independent retailers or perform a wider social function are also highlighted. This might be in the form of a shop in a food desert area, or a community cafe offering more than just a place to have a snack. This social dimension is very important for a future sustainable food system. Growing Food Another very important section is growing. We've identified community gardens, community allotments, general allotments and other places to grow, growing courses and support organisations, as well as wild food that you can just go and pick. Armed with this information people will be able to visit a local green community garden, join an allotments group, find out where to buy or collect seeds, compost and manure and attend a course to help them produce those prize marrow's and cauliflower's. The connection with the seasons and the land can have many beneficial effects and those who are time rich but monetarily poor can learn to grow and eat in the most organic way possible. If we are to re-localise the food economy then we will need to call on the experiences of these people and re learn how to grow in and around our cities. The medical profession is also waking up to the benefits of the outdoors and you can now be prescribed a walk and maybe soon a food growing course instead of a course of anti-biotic's. [search of the web for health gyms, food gyms or gardening gyms, or look at www.greengym.org.uk] Health and Cooking Cooking courses, health and nutritional information is also sign-posted on the map. Pre-packaged and processed foods are failing to deliver the nutrients required [hidden hunger-see above] and often packed with dubious additives to improve everything from shelf life, to look, to taste. They are also leading to a de-skilling in terms of knowledge of how to prepare and cook fresh produce. This traps people into a dependency on low quality [high sugar, salt and fat], and expensive convenience foods. Therefore we are highlighting those organisations that are offering cooking training and advice on eating a balanced diet within a budget. Hopefully once armed with this information people will be encouraged to shop locally and even start growing their own herbs and vegetables. All of the information contained within the map has been gathered with thought and care. However, we are still learning and we are very likely to have made mistakes, included inappropriate sites and missed off others that would shine out. If you would like to get involved, have any comments or know of other sites or disagree with those selected please let us know. |