There’s a common misconception that eating healthily is more expensive than eating rubbish. This is mainly the case when fruit and vegetables in particular are bought out of season and outside the local area.

The cost of packaging, transportation and other overheads means the price of produce can be a lot higher when you shop in a supermarket. But if you don’t have a local farmers’ market in your local town or village, finding responsibly sourced local meat and veg isn’t always easy.

BigBarn calls itself UKs no.1 local food website, and is dedicated to helping you find where you can buy food nearer you that’s both seasonal and locally sourced.

Type in your postcode and the site will bring up all local producers in your area, allowing you to order directly from the online marketplace, or locate your nearest markets so you can buy in the real world. If you order online, you can order from any of the producers, so you’ll need to select carefully if you want to stick to locally produced goods.

It’s not just about making it easier for you to shop either. The website aims to reduce the trend for very low-priced product, which does farmers and producers out of a profit. By selling direct without the worries of travelling and packaging costs, they can keep their costs low and their profits higher.

A similar site in the US is Local Harvest, which includes similar elements. Let us know if you have any other great local food stores online. We’ll compile the best ones into a guide to local food online for you.

Oh, and if you have any thoughts over the tricky issue of “greenwashing” when it comes to locally sourced food (is it actually better for the environment to buy lamb from New Zealand?), drop us a comment.

Image: USDAgov

According to this animated infographic from Good.is, we’re now paying far less for our food then we did back in 1949, despite having a wider range of food to choose from. Unfortunately we’re also unhealthier.

In 1949, 22% of the average American income was spent on food. By 2009, it dropped to just 10%.

Have a watch of the video and let us know your thoughts.

Image: [danorth1]

The thing is, while we advocate adopting a Slow Life approach, getting through a 40-page document can be a little bit daunting.

Thankfully Chef2Chef agrees, and have therefore put together a summarised version of it so you can spend your time enjoying your slow cooked dinner. They’ve broken it down into five points, on how to adopt a slow food approach. Here’s what’s we’ve taken from the overview.

How to be a slow foodist

1) Eating is an act of pleasure to be enjoyed with others.

Enjoy your food, and enjoy it with others. Erika Lesser, the Executive Director of Slow Food USA recently said “It is survival but it’s also pleasure.”

2) Food should be enjoyed in season.

Base your meals on what’s currently in season, and what you can find locally. You can sign up to Eat The Seasons to find out what’s in season on a weekly basis. You can read our review of Riverford Vs Abel & Cole for a comparison of the two biggest seasonal veg box suppliers.

3) Food producers and co-producers must be connected.

Get down to your local farmers market or fair and meet the farmers and producers who grow and distribute the food you eat. An increased knowledge of your food leads to a higher respect for what you’re eating and who produces it.

4) Food and biological diversity are to be protected and celebrated.

Some traditional foods are close to extinction thanks to changing cultures and industrial practices. One of the main drives behind the slow food movement is to bring those rare foods back into the mainstream.

5) Producing food is an important job and should be recognised as such.

By supporting Fair Trade producers, you can adopt one of the key principles of slow food. Slow food should be clean and fair, to both the producer and the co-producer.

Are you a slow foodie? Or even a slow-ish foodie? Tell us what you do!

Image: [NickNguyen]

Although you can often get involved in delivery box schemes with your local farmer or greengrocer, the two big guns of the muddy veg box world are Abel & Cole and Riverford.

Now, we like Abel & Cole, but we also like Riverford. But which is better? There’s only one way to find out…

FIGHT!

Local Food Fight

Abel & Cole is based in London, sourcing organic fruit and veg from around the world that can supply our seasonal needs. They don’t air-freight and all fruit and veg is sourced from as close to the UK as possible in order to keep food miles down.

Riverford is in Devon with its own farm and a collective of around 30 regional farms. You get your veg box from your regional farm and the company doesn’t air-freight.

Food heroes

Keith Abel, founder of Abel & Cole and Guy Watson, farmer and founder of Riverford, are both compelling figureheads. Keith has written an excellent seasonal cookery book that I use constantly, and the (sometimes quite grumpy) Riverford newsletter Guy writes each week is brilliantly written and a must-read for any slow foodie.

Riverford also has a cookbook, which I haven’t used, but I have sampled some of the free recipes you get with your box and they’ve all been delicious.

Riverford is also well known for its award-winning ethical restaurant, The Field Kitchen, which you can visit in Devon.

Organic box contents

Your box contents are chosen by Abel & Cole, based on the likes and dislikes you tell them about, meaning you’ll only get things you want. Plus you can choose the size of the box, depending on whether you want to feed yourself, you and another or an entire family.

All the fruit and vegetables in the boxes are seasonal, based on the recommendations of the farmers who provide the produce, and they are transported in as little packaging as possible.

Riverford, meanwhile, is less flexible: there is no picking of favourites or banning of celery (more’s the pity). Instead, you’re expected to switch boxes if you really can’t face another week trying offload sprouts onto neighbours.

Having used both systems I’d say it’s actually not so terrible to get stuff you don’t use. We either swap boxes or gift the grapefruit to someone with a taste for bitter.

However, it *is* nice to know you’ll never get sent another celeriac if you so choose.

Choice and quality

Both companies offer a wide variety of extras for delivery. Organic meats, luxurious breakfast cereals, Milk, pickles and all manner of other goodies all feature. Abel & Cole also offers things like eco-friendly cleaning products, which can be very handy if your local shop doesn’t stock them.

You’ll also find that you get a really good variety of veg types from both companies, all provided in the skimpiest packaging they can manage, with plenty of invitations to return packaging to the companies for reuse.

So which is better?

I started out with Abel & Cole and used them for about 10 years before switching last year to Riverford. If I was forced to choose between them, I’m probably plump for Riverford.

I left Abel & Cole because I felt we weren’t using up the veg and I felt like the choice was getting limited. Maybe it was simply just too long with the same scheme, but my Riverford box somehow feels more usable and enticing.

I once wrote an article about Abel & Cole for my local south London magazine (they were based in Herne Hill at the time) and the people there were so lovely that I’ll always have a soft spot for it. I haven’t cancelled my account with Abel & Cole, but for the time being I’m sticking with Riverford.

Image: [clayirving]

Do you prefer Riverford or Abel & Cole? We’d love to hear your thoughts on which one is better.

And when it comes to packed lunches, Tupperware or plastic sandwich bags apparently just won’t cut it any more.

With health fears rising about bisphenol A in plastic containers,  parents are looking for alternatives.

One option is the Graze Organic lunch bags. These reusable snack and sandwich bags are the creation of Los Angeles mothers Heather Jacobs and Leslie Sarracino.

Mothers of Invention

Jacobs and Sarracino heavily researched what goes into making the organic lunch bags, down to the details of what can be used to print the designs and where the materials can be sourced locally. The result is a collection of well designed sandwich bags that both parents and kids love.

The ink used on the bags is water-based, rather than plastisol inks, which contain PVC and phthalates which are harmful to the environment. The water-based inks are non-toxic, free of lead and heavy metals.

This, coupled with the use of organic cotton for the bags, means they’re expensive to produce. It’s not surprisingly that they’re reasonably pricey at around $24 for a pack of three Graze bags, but since you’ll be using them for a long time to come, it’s an easy one to justify — thanks to the wonders of “cost-per-use” logic.

Recommended reading:
Handmade leather satchels. The Cambridge Satchel company makes beautiful old-fashioned leather satchels for work or school that will make going to work that little bit more pleasurable.

New Slowdown Skill: learn sewing. Lovely as those Graze bags are, you could always save on the air miles and make your own from the many hundreds of reusable cotton bags you’ve gathered over the years.

However, until recently I was unaware of the effort that goes into making a Slow Christmas pudding. The process takes at least a couple of months, during when you spend time ‘feeding’ it with alcohol.

Historically, Christmas puddings were made four to five weeks before Christmas, ideally on the Sunday before Advent. This was known as Stir-Up Sunday, due to the tradition of asking every member of the family to give the mixture a stir while making a wish. Another tradition involved adding several sixpence or threepence to the mixture, for the lucky consumers to find.

Seeing as it’s already December, it’s probably a little too late to make one for this year. However, there’s nothing stopping you making one now for next year.

For a simple step-by-step guide, follow the Once a Week Kitchen video below.

Once cooked, you can keep the pudding in the fridge for up to three months, or freeze it for next year. Once defrosted, you just need to steam it for a couple more hours on the day of consumption.

What’s your favourite Christmas Pudding recipe? Tell us your secret!

Image: [humbert15]

Which is perhaps why other baked goods are stepping up in a bid for the cake crown.

Cake jars in particular are growing in popularity with those who want a mess-free cake for sending as a gift. The old-fashioned jam jars are filled with layers of fluffy sponge, chocolate chips and buttery icing. The benefit these cake jars have over their crumbly brothers, is the ability to eat cake straight from the jar. Surely, this is the kind of luxurious treat Sundays are made for?

Cake jars don’t have to be limited to cooked goods either. For a handmade present, you can pour each of the raw ingredients of a favourite sweet treat into a jar, layer by layer. Add a screw-top lid, a ribbon and a label and give it to a friend or loved one who loves to bake. All they need to do is pour it into a bowl, add a couple of extra ingredients, then pop in the oven.

Blogger Bakerella in particular leads the pack when it comes to cake and cookie jars. Have a look at her suggestion for ‘Cowgirl Cookies‘, which she’s even designed labels for.

If you don’t fancy making the jars yourself, and you still have a soft spot for cupcakes, you might want to have a look at Etsy store Nummycrummies, which sells an assortment of cupcake jar flavours.

Image: [House Of Sims]

Are you over the cupcake trend? What do you think about cake jars?

The event, running from October 31, had a record 200,000 visitors, with an estimated 30 per cent from outside Italy. Many came for the educational element, finding out about products close to extinction and attending the Slow Food Educa activities on offer.

The team from UK Slow Food went along to the event and picked their favourites from the range of Presidia foods. Pokot Ash yoghurt was praised for its use of ash to preserve the natural, bitter-tasting yoghurt. Brazilian Guarana, a small variety of fruit, is a must for anyone who desires a bit more energy in their life. Meanwhile Oscypek, a type of Polish sheep’s cheese, is said to be delicious fried.

Overall the event was a huge success, both for local tourism and inspiring “a profound reflection on food and the global community it represents,” according to regional councillor Alberto Cirio. Slow Food Italy President, Roberto Burdese also commented: “This is the Salone del Gusto in its maturity and it has been one of the best editions of Terra Madre in terms of the sediment of ideas and projects it leaves behind it.” Combined with Terra Madre, the Torino-based bi-annual conference for discussing innovative concepts in the field of food, gastronomy, globalization, economics, the Slow Food message is likely to reach an even larger audience.

Source: SlowFood

Did you go to Salone del Gusto? What did you find there?

The episode, which you can watch on BBCi player, follows the finalists as René takes them on a foraging hunt for fresh produce in the nearby woods and beach, which they would later use to create a new dish.  René takes inspiration from the produce he finds naturally around him, and particularly loves searching for ingredients by the coast. “I believe as a chef you need this connection with nature,” he says. In fact, he sends his chefs out every day to search for fresh ingredients, and up to a third of the restaurant’s dishes are based on these local finds.

The Masterchef finalists are asked to taste their unusual finds, including scurvy-grass, then use their instincts to understand the connection between nature and the dish they eventually create.

The  two-Michelin star restaurant centres on Nordic cuisine, something René has been credited with reinventing for the 21st Century. Noma’s elevation to the title of World’s Best Restaurant is all the more impressive considering it has only been serving since 2004. The clean tastes and fresh ingredients are presented in the kind of creative fashion that wouldn’t look out of place in an art gallery. According to its World’s Best Restaurant entry, a typical starter would have “crunchy baby carrots from the fertile Lammefjorden region of Denmark, served with edible “soil” made from malt, hazelnuts and beer.”

Thanks to René’s vision, the restaurant is able to offer its customers a stripped back, natural menu with a luxurious twist.

Image: CycloneBill

Making your own porridge is as quick and easy as pouring a bowl of cereal, so there’s no excuse for opting for the takeaway options from certain fast food restaurants. The health benefits are particularly good for anyone looking to lose weight, lower their blood pressure and cholesterol, and it’s also packed full of folic acid, making it an excellent dish for expectant mothers.

There are plenty of recipes around, but this ginger and nutmeg version from the Schwartz website is ideal if you’re trying to avoid a cold this winter, as ginger is known for minimising the effects of colds and flu.

Ingredients

175g (6oz) porridge oats
900ml (1½ pints) skimmed milk
1 pinch Schwartz Ginger Ground
1 pinch Schwartz Nutmeg Ground
75g (3oz) dried cherries
2 tbs honey

How to make it

1. Take a saucepan and add the porridge oats, skimmed milk, ginger and nutmeg. Allow it to boil, then simmer it for 6 minutes, stirring until it thickens.
2. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl with the cherries and a drizzle of honey.
3. Enjoy!

See, it really is that easy. Try experimenting with other fruit, or a swirl of chocolate spread or golden syrup.

Image: Magnus D