Bit boring I know, but AIBU to be buying out of season fruit for DD?

[Yesmynameis]

This week DD 16mo has had blueberries, raspberries, grapes, peaches, clementines and bananas all shipped to Asda from half way across the globe.

She does love her fruit, but is not so great with her veg unfortuantely, which I guess has encouraged me to buy this stuff more, and all through the winter.

But AIBU to buy this stuff all year round? Do others do the same as me, or if not, does anyone have any inspired alternatives for the winter

*have! Sorry.

Squeaky - arghhh how frustrating that we can't even stop it :(

I know you didn't call her anything

Just meant on the scale it's mild

I am sorry if I offended you, biggirl.

Some people prefer tinned fruit to fresh.

Btw star I did appreciate the forbidden fruit joke.
I was just puzzled by this claim about no swearing on MN and I rarely curse!

I don't think you did anything wrong that's why I made a joke! Don't worry x

I dont think we should stop it patience .. I think the solution is to educate more people into trying out exotic fruits rather than them going to waste.

Many of these fruits are the primary source of income for the people who grow them. Without export, those people would be likely to be in poverty.

Cut down on the import of goods that cannot be produced in the UK and you are causing hardship to someone else in the world.

True squeaky, I was only thinking of the environmental impact of flying them over. Your argument made me feel less guilty about buying and eating them.

It costs a lot less to produce something in a country where it grows naturally, and the global shipping costs are a small % of the total energy cost of any piece fruit.

yanbu, As Whatmeworry says, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner or How Bad are Bananas? are good for looking at the true costs & benefits (globally) of air-freighted food. Including benefits to the local economies.

I don't know anyone who would eagerly give up all airfreighted food.

I love green beans/runner beans and it drives me mad that even when they are at the peak of their UK season it's almost impossible to buy British ones in the shops - they are still all air-freighted from Kenya/Morocco/wherever. Every year I try to grow them in my garden and end up with about three beans. I love staying with my grandparents at that time of year as they always have tons of them!

The point about tinned/frozen fruit is that they will not have arrived here by air - air freight is really expensive so is only used for small quantities of fresh foods/flowers. That's why they are better environmentally.

There have been some interesting points about the relative environmental costs of different fruits and vegetables on this thread - I would like to be able to find out more. Maybe in the summer I will join a veg box scheme again, but they are so dispiriting at this time of year (the hungry gap, as someone mentioned above).

I don't think squeakytoy's point is a very valid one though - supermarkets run on a supply and demand basis, so if no one bought the fruit they wouldn't stock it. I very rarely see exotic fruit reduced for quick sale in my supermarket - yours obviously doesn't have very good stock control. You're making the same argument as people who say vegetarians who don't eat meat because they don't want animals to be killed for food might just as well eat it because it's already dead. That's not the point! (and I am a devoted carnivore...)

Mmmm Confessions of an Eco Sinner goes into a lot of detail about why airfreighted beans from Kenya are a good thing (arguably), how much they benefit the local economy (in Kenya) & help most people who are the bottom end of their society, anyway.

Same book also talks about "sweat shops in Bangladesh" as providing opportunities (otherwise absent) to socially & economically empower women. It's interesting reading!

Woodlands I'm really not sure why it drives you mad - you would not pay the prices local ones would cost (and given that you can simply cycle to a PYO place and get them, you're not paying the price) The problem with beans is that you have to pick them by hand - labour is simply too expensive so you grow a more appropriate crop that you can use machines to harvest.

An alternative to air-freighting them in would be to import the labour of course, but then if you're willing to import labour to do jobs which aren't economic at minimum wage - why wouldn't you import people to do all the jobs?