The reality of home-grown and imported food and their carbon emissions, with Louise Gray

HortWeek Podcast

The author of The Ethical Carnivore, Louise Gray takes a journalistic approach to questioning trusims about fruit and veg being better for you and the planet.

Mike Berners-Lee wrote about the carbon footprint of 100 things in 2010's How Bad Are Bananas. As many businesses attempt to go carbon neutral, ethical and environmental sourcing is more of an issue than ever.

In her book, Louise interviews banana, potato and avocado experts, adds some history and scientific references plus some personal worries related to her own baby in an attempt to bring clarity to the dilemma many consumers face when choosing what to eat.

Louise discusses the use of avocados, beloved of millenials and vegetarians, and long used by anti-vegetarian campaigners as a stick to tell them they are being bad for the planet. She talks about how much less carbon is produced importing avocados from abroad compared to producing beef in Britain. Avocados are a lot less bad than meat and airfreighted asparagus, but are worse than UK-grown potatoes, she says.

For apples, English Apples and Pears' Ali Capper is the interviewee and Louise discusses how the loss of apple biodiversity is a cause for anxiety.

She concludes that the perfect diet does not exist and that food stories (the growing and selling of plants) are 'complex'.

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