(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

I've been thinking a lot about the meat I eat since taking a bunch of ethics classes last year. I am in no way equipped to become vegetarian - for one thing, I hate most vegetarian food; for another, I live with a lot of people who aren't vegetarian and we cook together. For similar reasons, I can't make sure that my lifestyle is 100% fully sustainable.

BUT, I have been thinking about being more aware about where my meat and vegetables come from. On that note - can anyone suggest how I can investigate where my meat, particularly, is coming from, and the practices the farmers engage in? for example, I know that New Zealand beef is generally grass-fed (good), not corn-fed (bad). But when I say "generally", I don't know if that means everything I buy in the supermarket, or just the pricey stuff, or just the stuff we import to the UK (to whom our green image is apparently very important, because when I googled "meat New Zealand sustainability" all I got was a bunch of advertising.) Can anyone recommend inexpensive places to buy fruit and veges and meat that are known quantities in terms of their origins?

x-posting this to christchurch.

Comments

[lady-larla.livejournal.com]

Go to Annie Potts or Philip Armstrong at Uni. They can answer all your questions, I learned a lot from them last year about these things.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

The greengrocer I go to (on the corner of Yaldhurst and Curletts, basically) labels everything with country/place of origin. Most of the NZ stuff is labelled down to city/town of origin, and most of it is grown in Canterbury or the South Island. You'll only really be buying overseas stuff for oranges, bananas, or really out-of-season things. It's not real cheap, but it's better than the supermarket, and it's much better quality than the Funky Pumpkin.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Really? Cool, ta.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Ah, but is it organic? Thanks though, that's really useful (not that we can actually shop at your greengrocer, but...) Hey, check next time for the biogro brandmarks?

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Well, judging by the state of the eggplants I bought on sale last week, they're either organic or the growers were *seriously* incompetent in their use of chemical products. *g* Seriously? I don't know, but if I'd have to guess, most of it's unlikely to be organic (although I will check.) If you want to buy organic then you're going to have to search further afield, I think. I can supply you with lots of organic silverbeet, if it helps. :P

[kheha.livejournal.com]

You hate most vegetarian food? *saddened*

Do you have any farmers markets or green grocers out there near you? Eating food grown/raised nearby would probably reduce your ecological footprint more than stopping or even reducing eating meat. I'm trying for apples and other fruit that's grown in the USA even at the supermarket now -- just because of the environmental impact of transporting them all the way around the globe.

I also remember at one point my parents getting together with a group of their friends to buy an entire cow, which was then slaughtered and the parts divided among them. The meat lasted for a long, long time. It was raised nearby (and bought near wholesale!) -- maybe there's some way you could look into something similar? *err*