Monday, November 19, 2007

Local Produce- 100 Mile Diet in Singapore?

I have been reading This Organic Life, by Joan Dye Gussow. I have enjoyed reading about her committment to growing as much of her own food as possible and eating local. I am also aware of the 100 Mile Diet and the challenge posed to do a 100 mile Thanksgiving. Well, a carve out first, we would not be able to have turkey in Singapore if I followed the 100 mile diet challenge. But, it is an interesting thought.

Living on the island of Singapore, I would assume that upwards of 90% of the food is imported. Very little if any true agriculture exists in Singapore anymore. I wonder if I could do a 100 Mile diet. What is local? What is seasonal? What are seasonal veggies in the tropics? Would it be possible to supplement my own food by growing some on my new patio?

When we move in a month we will be blessed with a 15X15 foot patio. I spent the weekend dreaming of a container garden, small but still there. Perhaps some eggplant, peppers and some "greens". A papaya tree we have been told will fruit in 3 months if properly tended and it can be potted. Same with a bananna tree. So over the next few weeks I think I am going to do some research and find out more about eating local. I may need to expand my 100 miles a bit broader based on the simple fact that Singapore doesn't grow its own food, but I would assume I can get most of my "food" within a 200 miles. I need to find out local sources, I need to find out what can and is produced in the area... but it might be an interested idea.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kristy.

I'm thinking fully along your lines and with this new year that just arrived I will do all I can to live an low impact life as I possibly can. I live in Singapore as well, and facing the same issues as you. Where can I find locally produced food? What is in Season? Can I get all the nutrition I need from eating a local tropical diet? Beside the organic farms in Kranji and one in Johor that I read about I don't know where to go. Are there any farmers markets around that supply this type of produce? When I ask at the wet markets all I get is that it's from Malaysia, that's it. And for sure not organic. Furthermore, a lot of the organic produce in the supermarkets are packed excessive amounts of plastic. Why should it be so hard to get fresh food unwrapped. Please share what you have found out so far.

Then there is another aspect to this. Is it worth losing tropical rainforest in place of having local produce, or is it in fact, taking our location on the planet into consideration, more sustainably to eat imported food from less ecologically diverse areas, like China or the US?

I’m willing to make sacrifices in what I can have as long as I have a healthy diet. I live in the tropics now and should not expect to have the same food on my plate as when living in a temperate place. Villagers in both Malaysia and Indonesia do fine, as far as I know, eating only what is produced close by. I would love to have this type of information and access to such farms. As far as I know there is no published material on this for Singapore, such as what you can find in Europe and the US about local food.

Kristy said...

Henrik,

great thought provoking comment. I think the closest thing to "farmers" markets that I have seen are the farms up in Krangi.

Thanks for posting!

 
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