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Try local produce, don't go far for a healthy diet

The nutritive value of produce is vastly reduced the farther it travels from its source.

It's the small economies we practise that add up, my father says. Sometimes that can be - should I say - annoying. But sometimes, in our need to get things done on time, clear the plate, only to have it piled up again, we forget that we could have just made the task simpler by practising those small economies.
Across corporate and media offices, you can see enormous amounts of paper that goes into the trash. Even today, with digital options attempting to take the crown of existence, we shoot prints like cowboys in a third-rate western. Or kilos of paper dumped into oversized trashcans dotted around the office. When was the last time anybody checked if it all ends up in a landfill, or gets recycled? Does anybody care?
It doesn't have to be like that. In an earlier avatar, many (many) years ago, I remember being appalled at the wastage, and realised I couldn't be scurrying around office to grab each piece of paper. The solution applied to the problem was quite simple: I called our printer, and asked (nicely) if they would do us an enormous favour. Could they perhaps, stitch, bind, staple, whatever - the enormous waste paper output from the organisation - and return it to us to be used? I think they were amused more than intrigued, but days later, I was called to the reception for a special gift - cartons filled with freshly minted (waste paper) writing pads.
I went around the office, handing out scratch pads to the journalists, starting with the editor. The best part was that the printer didn't charge us anything because he saw it as a great initiative.
Today we talk about our carbon footprint, and carbon credits at a corporate as well as individual level. What brilliantly cooked up plans will 'offset' that consumption. Is it a cynical attempt to stay within the catchment area or is it a genuine effort on the part of organisations? Food miles calculate the environmental impact made by consumers. The aware individual with a social conscience will not buy fruit grown in the antipodes. ((Sorry, New Zealand, I'm not going to buy all that crazy looking spiny, yellow-skinned, green-hearted fruit that looks like an imaginative first year art student's term submission. Or, for starters, the bulk of purchases should be local.
The nutritive value of produce is vastly reduced the farther it travels from its source. The economic tug-of-war is between what we want and what we need. At a buffet, one dessert or two, if you have a sweet tooth, would suffice beautifully. Yet, the buffett that has 15 desserts - and a chocolate fountain on a groaning table - takes the cake... and will be the most successful. Today, around the world, farmers markets are springing up like mushrooms, though not enough to supplant the regular groceries and big-name market chains. Consumers will ultimately drive the demand and decide the cut-off point for food miles. Right and responsibility has to go hand in hand. If not this generation, we have to hope that future generations will step up.
Life is circular - many of these concepts have insinuated themselves in your favourite, edgy cafes. The cutlery and flatware holder at the café I had lunch at today, was once a tin of oatmeal. The banana blueberry smoothie of my dining companion arrived in a "pre-loved" glass jar. I didn't see anybody complaining about standards. In fact, the new normal suggests that we are moving in the right direction.
- harveena@khaleejtimes.com