Lots of people have different views about supermarkets. At Deema's Sri Lankan Spices, we choose not to have or share any of them. If it all goes to plan, you see, we want to feature in their shelf space.
Yet it's a simple fact that even the most taste-conscious supermarket can't compete for tastiness with local fruit and vegetables that are allowed to ripen naturally, for longer - attached to a plant in the soil, rather than being kept fresh in any super/instant freezing/refrigeration process. Why do we know this? When we cook up samples with veg from
Tattie Shaws, people comment on the veg, as well as the spices. Natural freshness makes a big difference. But if we don't support this difference, it may be lost forever to more convenient processes.
Supermarkets can do something about this and promote '
slow food', i.e. food that costs less in carbon. (Here's a line for them: 'Less carbon, but much more taste'.) We can do something too. Yes supermarkets are convenient, but lets get our Sunday or any special meal veg from a local grocer with connections to local farmers.
Good quality naturally fresh local food doesn't have to be expensive either. In Edinburgh we have a great charity called
Edinburgh Community Food who carry out training, cooking lessons and make great tasting locally grown vegetables available to people who find it difficult to have a healthy diet. So some of our most vulnerable citizens get the best at a low cost. They also make this available from the website for us to order,
here.
Now that's a positive way to promote good health.
