Where My Food Comes From

A little project or game I’m playing with myself is to find out where my food comes from so that I can make more informed purchasing choices. I can eat asparagus from Argentina, pineapple from interstate Queensland, Australia, strawberries from the northern suburbs, or spinach from my own garden. The purpose is to see if I can eat more locally.

The first foray was insightful, but not altogether conclusive. Some shop keepers are pleased to indicate that it is ‘Grown in WA’ or ‘Packed in WA’, but not where in WA. I would like a little more detail please. For example, I know that a lot of bananas are grown in Carnarvon and strawberries in Carabooda. If I wanted to cut down on my food kilometres, then strawberries would be a better choice. Carnarvon is 904 km North of Perth, and Carabooda I found out today is fifteen minutes drive from Wanneroo which is a northern suburb 27 km from Perth.

There are some things which I am not going to be able to get locally or find a suitable substitute. Coffee comes to mind Currently we are using Braziliano Coffee beans roasted by European Foods Wholesalers in Northbridge just a few minutes walk from Perth city on the other side of the railway line.

I’m still thinking about how to organise the information that I am collecting. A map would be nice, but until I can differentiate where in WA, this will not be very interesting. I may need to just start off with a couple of lists, showing food from within WA, interstate, and overseas.