Victoria's Green Matters 12th February 2017

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column on Green Issues for us:

There has been such a hoo-ha this last couple of weeks over the unavailability of certain vegetables. It is amazing to think that courgettes and lettuces could be such news worthy items!

We have, of course, been brainwashed by the supermarkets into believing that we should be able to buy anything that we want, whether it is in season in the UK or not. We import a huge amount of our fruit and vegetables because our climate just doesn’t allow us to grow lots of things. It seemed that it was the lack of courgettes that was the first thing to be reported and this because of really bad weather in Spain where the courgettes are usually grown.

We were not sorry for the people of southern Spain who were suffering an unusual cold spell, only sorry for ourselves because we were denied our supply of vegetables. We then hear that some supermarkets have actually imported iceberg lettuces from the USA – at great cost to the environment because they were transported by air and at great monetary cost to the consumer if they chose to buy them. How ridiculous this is! Where has seasonal eating gone?

There are many root and leafy vegetables available at this time of year that are grown here and the more local to your area, the better. If you want an interesting salad, try red cabbage and grated carrot with balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

We know that we must import exotic fruits that can’t be grown here – how can we imagine life without bananas? – but we really should not be buying imported items just because they are out of season here.