Fresh Produce

Buying local fresh produce is not difficult in South Africa. Thanks to the various climatic regions ranging from mediterranean through tropical to savannah, there are few crops that cannot be grown locally, often with more than one harvesting season. And of course we have long coastlines and all the ‘fruit of the sea’ that the Indian and Atlantic oceans offer.

The global food economy is weird to say the least. As South African consumers we actually compete with exporters for local produce. There are foodstuffs that South Africa imports and exports at the same time, usually because of differing quality that can achieve a higher price when sold overseas. Despite their having travelled thousands of kilometres, there are imported foods that retailers can source more cheaply than their local equivalents. This is because of food subsidies paid by governments in the European Union or the United States. Obviously this is most often the case with long life products, such as canned produce. But if you have a look around your supermarket, you’ll be astounded how much imported fresh produce you will find.

Imported foods

The reasons given by retailers for importing food are ‘availability’ and ‘quality’. Shopping, as we do, in spaces with no natural light and no windows to the outside world, it’s easy to forget that food does not grow on brightly lit, refrigerated shelves. And if we consumers buy strawberries all year round, or avocados or grapes, then the supermarkets will source them overseas when they are out of season, ie not ‘available’, in South Africa.

‘Quality’ is a more elusive criterion and if queried it often gets amended with ‘same quality for that price’. That’s where the already mentioned skewed food pricing system comes in: If Italian tomatoes are cheaper to source than local ones due to agricultural subsidies, retailers tell their consumers that Italian tomatoes are better quality. It’ll fit in nicely with our assumptions and historical experience. What I am actually buying is a lifestyle choice. It’s Italian-type food that made pastas and their sauces, olive oil, Italian cheeses and pork products popular around the world. Yet, the tomato doesn’t come from Italy. It originates from South America. There is no reason why Italian tomatoes should be better quality and in 2013, the quality of South African produce can easily compete with that from Europe. We have fantastic olive oils, handcrafted cheeses and pork products. It’s true, you won’t be able to buy locally made Prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham) or Parmigiano-Regiano (Parmesan cheese) but that is because these are legally protected names. Even if a local farmer uses exactly the same methods to make their ham or cheese they have to call it something else. And of course some foods are not available locally (more on that below). If it’s durum wheat you are after, it will be imported.

There is local and there is local

Supermarkets like to deal with few suppliers and these have to be able to provide substantial and predictable quantities of food that fits into the supermarket ‘standardised look’. This means is that even your ‘Product of South Africa’ does not necessarily come from the farm around the corner but could have been transported across the Republic before it lands on your shop’s shelves. Distribution is a main cause for food wastage. In South Africa an estimated 8.5 million tons of food are wasted every year because of transport inefficiency and weak distribution mechanisms (another 500,000 tons get wasted in households, where it doesn’t get consumed before it goes off). There are some projects, eg by the Ackerman Foundation, which assist small-scale and community farmers to bring their wares to close-by supermarkets, but they are few and far between.

One of the most persuasive reasons for buying local food is that the fresher it is and the riper it was when it was harvested, the better it tastes and the more nutrients it has. The time food takes to get from the farm to your fork depends on how local it is.