Why am I eating an apple from New Zealand?

Ms. Molly mentioned a book she was reading called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbra Kingslover in one of her blogs a while back and I decided it sounded really interesting, so I picked it up from the library (yes these still exist).  It is about a lady who decides to eating seasonally by growing her own food and only buying local products for one year to help reduce her family's carbon footprint.  I am not very far through the book, even though I have had it for 3 months (I can't read and entertain a baby at the same time), but it got me thinking about where our food comes from and why we don't eat seasonally.  I remember my mom saying "we will have to wait until it is in season" for fruits and vegetables such as melon, berries, asparagus, and artichokes.  I don't remember having many apples around in the winter, and, as I do now, corn, oranges and grapefruit only show up in the fall and winter months.  So I am not a stranger to eating seasonally, however, I have gotten used to having anything I want RIGHT NOW!!!

I went to the store today to do a little shopping (something I never do anymore, I do everything online) and I noticed how almost nothing I bought was from the UK.  I bought apples from New Zealand; pears and cucumbers from Holland; butternut squash from Portugal and sweet potatoes from Ecuador.  The only things from Britain were the cauliflower and the eggs.  I thought "this is so stupid, why am I buying apples from New Zealand"?

I feel guilty in some ways.  There are three reasons, in my opinion, to eat locally and seasonally.  Fuel consumption, local economy and taste.  Have you ever had a peach, apple or watermelon in the winter?  Yuck!  When I was living in Bradford, I loved going to the market to go shopping, but the market is too far away now (I am not even sure how much of the produce there was local).  There is a market in Saltaire once a month (I need fruits and vegis more than once a month) but I have never been and these are not Farmer's markets.  I also feel guilty because I looked at the apples I was buying, saw they were from New Zealand and bought them anyway.

In most cases I do eat seasonally.  I eat zucchini, melon, peaches and nectarines in the summer.  But I like to eat my apples all year round (though I tend to skip out on the Jan-March crop).  I would never dream of eating an artichoke, asparagus, pumpkin or peach out of season.  And I do eat meat that is locally produced, they don't give you much choice on this end.  Also, have you noticed how the fruits and vegis that are on sale are the ones in season?

I am so excited to finally be moving to a house with usable land that Richard and I can grow a vegetable garden on.  I doubt we will be able to grow enough to stop shopping at the grocery store, but it will be fun try.  I also found a cool website called "What's in Season" which will remind me of the items I should be eating and when.  I also want the Sprout to like eating fruits and vegis and in order to make sure he likes them, they need to taste good, which means buying them when they are at their best.