By Stephen Chapman

Sourcing food locally is not just about the obvious health benefits, but also about the benefits that are available socially, economically and environmentally

With expanding waistlines and deteriorating health spreading rapidly across the UK, sickness and unhappiness are just around the corner for many of us. This is nature's way of urging us to adopt a proper diet and to leave the ready meals to whom we have lost much that is valuable on the shelf. How many of us remember fondly how our grandmothers or mothers used to make their own jam tarts, used to always pull a homemade steak and kidney pie out of the oven on Sundays, used to always have homemade biscuits and cakes lying about the kitchen, and even used to grow their own veg in the back yard?

The average american now consumes nine pounds of chemical additives per year, in the form of preservatives, artificial colourings and flavourings, and texture agents. This 'American' diet is unfortunately fairly typical of the average diet in the UK and other affluent industrialised nations. Is this really the road we want to go down?

Eating foods that are grown in the same conditions as those in which we live enables us to adapt more successfully to the changes taking place around us, and fosters the close connection between the body and it's environment. Since ancient times every civilization developed a way of eating in harmony with its natural environment, and within these cultures degenerative diease was almost unknown.

Sourcing food locally is not just about the obvious health benefits, but also about the benefits that are available socially, economically and environmentally. Supporting your local farmer rather than your local supermarket supports your local economy and the livelihood of those around you. Engaging socially with those around you who grow your food can develop your interest in growing and cooking, leading to a healthier lifestyle. Eating local food removes the need for the transport of such large volumes of produce from other countries, reducing the environmental effects of travel. Fresh produce also does not arrive in specially moulded trays or ziplock bags to dispose of!

Stephen Chapman

Founder, Make Travel Fair