Recently I saw this superbly good quote from Mr. Raymond Blanc in a BBC News article called “Food needs ‘fundamental rethink’”:

“Whatever amount of space you have in your backyard, it is possible to create a fantastic little garden that will allow you to reconnect with the real value of gardening, which is knowing how to grow food.

And once you know how to grow food, it would be very nice to be able to cook it. If you are growing food, then it only makes sense that you know how to cook it as well.

And cooking food will introduce you to the basic knowledge of nutrition. So you can see how this can slowly reintroduce food back into our culture.”

(Mr. Blanc knows his way with food – he’s a chef who owns a restaurant with two Michelin stars.)

After reading that quote in the BBC News article, I said to myself: “A-ha, that’s exactly what it should be!”. There’s really very little point in hauling frozen vegetables from half way around the planet – cheaper though they might be, for whatever reason – as locally grown ones (given those are available) would be so much better, both nutrient-wise and taste-wise.

If you’re impatient and looking for a taster right now, visiting the local farmer’s market is surely worth a shot. You’ll be amazed at the number of offerings, and the quality is quite good. It’ll be fun to concentrate on this whole fundamental food rethink issue and the layout of your soon-to-be-garden over some fresh cold-smoked fish, a bit of mustard sauce and potatoes boiled with a few fresh twigs of dill.

Of course, not everything grows everywhere, so some things which cannot be grown locally must be imported. Exotic fruit like pineapple or mango, for example. Or, more importantly, wine – just try some nice chilled white wine with the aforementioned fish dish.

Even if you don’t have your own little piece of land to farm, it is not too difficult to grow some herbs and spices indoors. Things like parsley, basil, coriander, mint, and chili peppers can be grown with little effort. It’s both fun and tasty.