Veg Boxes

This morning I came across a site just established to provide people with their local "veg box" supplier http://www.vegboxschemes.co.uk/. I tried this and the recommended supplier was based 72 miles away. This just shows that this scheme needs your help. Not just getting the suppliers onto the site; there are many "local" suppliers in this vicinity but also to try their products. I recall someone saying to me that what they loved about the veg box scheme was not just its eco-friendliness, it was the sheer pleasure she got from the surprise at what it contained; she just did not know what to expect! Remember that if we divert our spending to local and natural (albeit ugly and misshapen) products, then this will put pressure on the managers of Supermarkets to realise that local is good and profitable and that there is a significant customer need for such products. It would provide Supermarket managers with more job satisfaction if they have to select some of what they sell too!

Here is an article by Jos, who founded this website, telling her story. I am slightly worried, however, that we tend to blame individuals. However, people are only responding to pressures from the system; it is the system that is at fault not the people, who are only trying to survive in our economic system.

The Strawberry Incident & Why we turn our backs on the supermarkets...By Jos Dewing

My own journey began at the ultimate place of modern enlightenment, the supermarket!

It was about 8 months ago and I suddenly found myself with a growing group of fellow shoppers furiously searching through the freshly stacked(but definitely not freshly picked) and over priced strawberries for a punnet that contained just a few that were not rotten. I actually stepped back and caught the glance of a fellow shopper and I believe at this time we had a collective realisation that what we were doing was fundamentally wrong.

Why should I give this filthy rich intermediary my hard earned money for a product that was totally substandard to the point of being rotten? And why was this other guy subconsciously in total agreement? Why were we here?

Well the answers were frightening and justly highlighted the problems of food in our community today. We were both there and both prepared to purchase the products because of our benign desire for a continuous dietary summertime. Both myself and the other man and the many, many more consumers lining up to scrabble through the strawberries felt that we should be able to eat whatever, whenever, with the no consideration at all for seasons or regions. No care for where the product is harvested, when it is harvested, what chemicals it is treated with for travel, how much carbon its journey generates or finally, what the quality is like.

And the final nail in the coffin, my purpose for buying the strawberries in the first place was to improve my intake of 'fresh' fruit via the smoothie method.....

Following on from this I was aware that supermarket meat, produce and fish would often go bad before its use-by date and I started looking at the country of origin labels, which showed that having travelled over 5000 food miles to get my plate (which it never reached anyway), it was of no great surprise that the meat could no longer sustain its existence. I even realised that chicken can be up to 6 months old before it gets to me and apples can be up to 12 months old. This is simply terrifying. To think I was giving my beloved son such rubbish and thought it was fresh and good for him.

My research into alternatives seemed to point to a box scheme but I struggled to find one locally and without going into much more detail, the resulting solution was http://www.vegboxschemes.co.uk/ The site has been launched and devised to answer the problem highlighted above directly. But it is not simply to raise awareness, we want to put YOU in touch with the local producers who can help us to rid our communities of these octogenarian strawberries and the like. The site will list your local providers of box schemes who will be able to deliver the produce you want to eat, directly to your door. Not only will this help to support your local community and producers, but it will also contribute toward the essential duty we all have to curb the damage of food miles and to protect the future of our children and their's... Please visit our site and recommend your local box schemes today.