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Ethical Food Buying

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  • 25-09-2011 1:08pm
    #1
    Thoushaltnot
    Registered Users Posts: 582 ✭✭✭


    I know this might seem more a Sustainability forum issue but I've noticed that more and more people are becoming veg*n for environmental reasons.

    I wonder what the general feeling is here for food issues - are people happy in just being vegetarian or are there many veg*ns who would be interested in wider issues, like sustainability, food miles, 'blood' chocolate, etc., fair trade, dodgy loopholes in food legislation, overpackaging, waste, boycotts, industrial farming, overuse of pesticides etc. where it comes to food?

    If so, do you actively check what you're eating for anything other than veg*n (or allergenic) ingredients?
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    #2
    PurpleFistMixer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    I try not to buy stuff which is ethically dodgy, but it's very difficult without knowing exactly where everything you buy comes from.


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    #3
    Corsendonk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,871 ✭✭✭Corsendonk


    Well the fair trade brand appears to be popular but not sure if people actually understand it. The food miles argument for becoming vegetarian might be dodgy as we can rear animals in this climate in winter but have to import fruit and veg from around the world to vary peoples diets unless you fancy living on roots and cabbage for the winter.


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    #4
    pq0n1ct4ve8zf5
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,070 ✭✭✭✭pq0n1ct4ve8zf5


    It's something I'm interested in but unfortunately at the moment price is the number one determining factor in what I buy. If two products are the same price and one is locally grown and the other is shipped in I'd buy the locally grown, but unfortunately that's rarely the case. The bigger supermarkets do seem to be putting much more of an emphasis now on stocking and clearly labelling Irish produce which makes things much easier though.

    As for fairtrade, again it's a money issue, but as it seems to be of biggest concern around "luxuries"-chocolate and coffee- I really should just have my treats less often and fork out the extra money I guess.

    One area where I do try to always buy somewhat ethically is clothing, which by happy accident is very easy to do on a limited budget just by shopping in charity shops. Tbh I'm more comfortable buying second-hand leather than spending €50 on a pair of vegetarian-friendly shoes from the high street (if I even had the 50 to spend), given the levels of cruelty towards and exploitation of humans that's rife in the international textiles industry.


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    #5
    Ice.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭Ice.


    Corsendonk wrote: »
    The food miles argument for becoming vegetarian might be dodgy as we can rear animals in this climate in winter but have to import fruit and veg from around the world to vary peoples diets unless you fancy living on roots and cabbage for the winter.

    People often get hung up on the local question as far as food is concerned but never apply the same standard to where their cars come from, where the fuel for those cars come from, where their clothes come from, where their electronics come from etc. I think local is great when you can get it but at the end of the day I would rather support a fruit farm in Costa Rica than a slaughter house in Ireland. Fruit and vegetable farms are far more sustainable and environmentally friendly than raising cattle etc.


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    #6
    Corsendonk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,871 ✭✭✭Corsendonk


    Ice. wrote: »
    People often get hung up on the local question as far as food is concerned but never apply the same standard to where their cars come from, where the fuel for those cars come from, where their clothes come from, where their electronics come from etc. I think local is great when you can get it but at the end of the day I would rather support a fruit farm in Costa Rica than a slaughter house in Ireland. Fruit and vegetable farms are far more sustainable and environmentally friendly than raising cattle etc.

    Very broad statement if you think about baby veg grown in Kenya and Tanzania and air freighted into Europe on a daily basis.

    I think the OP has focused ethical Food more to do with enviroment but when you look at NGO groups like Sedex their main concern is the fair treatment of workers with environmental factors a side issue. Ethical Trading is not such a clear cut issue either, very often in 3rd world countries families depend on younger members working. Every so often we get a Panorama programme on child labour in the 3rd World and the reflex action is to stop doing business with the company and not working to improve conditions. A famous example was a clothes company that employed the kids of workers for 3 hours each day but provided free education in return, the tv company failed to mention that fact. The retailer dropped the company overnight and the manufacturer closed down throwing the families into the street with kids forced to go into the sex trade.


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    #7
    Ice.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭Ice.


    Corsendonk wrote: »
    Very broad statement if you think about baby veg grown in Kenya and Tanzania and air freighted into Europe on a daily basis.

    Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-cosub2sub-from-cars-427843.html


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