Your next food shop, will it be today or later this week? Most of us buy most of the food we eat. And eat we must very regularly. So when Patrick Vallance responds to the latest IPCC report on climate change saying that “nothing short of transforming society will avert catastrophe”, how do you and I respond?
We can call for governments and businesses to act, and we should and they must. We can organise and find ways to get heard and support like-minded individuals and organisations as, for example, Green Durham does. But if you and I want to make some changes to the way we live right now, the food we eat and the drink we drink is a good place to start. It’s an argument that Jonathan Safran Foer forcefully makes and in very concrete and inspiring terms.
So where could you start if, say, you wanted to explore and start feeding yourself in more sustainable ways today? You could get on your bike or the bus and visit the Durham Health Food Shop in Langley Moor. Here you will find a local family business who are, in a quiet yet confident way, finding new ways of supplying Durham residents with food and drink, which ticks all the boxes: Local, organic, vegetarian or vegan, zero or low waste, healthy, and with an overall low carbon footprint. So, is it just another shop or is there something more meaningful here towards our quest to transform society to avert catastrophe? To be sure, I don’t want to make a case that “the market will fix it” here. I also don’t want to overstate the impact our individual food choices have on greenhouse gas emissions. But for me personally, the opportunity to benefit from and to support the innovations green small businesses make is important and I will give some examples in this blog post.
I spoke to Lindsey from the Durham Health Food Shop on 11 May 2021 and was impressed by her quiet determination and the vision she and her husband are putting into practice with their shop. The range of items on sale has grown, following the demands of customers and now includes fresh store cupboard staples, chilled goods, fruit and vegetables, bread, household cleaning and personal hygiene products. The café in the shop has fallen victim to the pandemic for now, but who knows maybe they can expand to the space adjacent to the shop outside, or maybe a second location in Durham city centre might be the place to revive the café.
Lindsey is keenly aware of the need to reduce plastic packaging and sources store cupboard staples packed in paper bags whenever possible – if you bring your own bags and jars you can complete the chain with very little packaging indeed. So even if the smoked Tofu and vegan cheese you may want to try comes in plastic packaging, the fruit, veg, and store cupboard staples come with the minimum of disposable packaging. The oat milk still comes in tetra packs, but Lindsey is exploring getting a refill station. Most of the cleaning products on offer are refill. A favourite of mine are those coffee beans which are good value, taste amazing, and come in a compostable bag. The shaving soap bar, packaged without the common plastic, was a first for me and I’ll be coming back for more.
When we talk about the joys and virtues of green products we also must talk about price and affordability. There is no two ways around it, producing to high environmental and animal welfare standards comes at a price. So, there is a problem and the potential to exclude those who must watch their food budgets very carefully, and they would probably walk out of the shop again without trying that vegan cheese from Newcastle. However, for example the many varieties of dried beans, lentils, and peas can certainly help create a low-carbon, cheap and healthy diet. Admittedly, magic bullets are not on offer.
Remember by which year the internal combustion engine car is to be off our streets? Well, Durham Health Food Shop is there already. Their delivery service using an electric bike has been leading the way for some time already. And now, to accommodate the growing demand there is an electric delivery van as well. The convenience of online shopping in this case comes with reduced emissions delivery and from a local family business. Businesses such as Durham Health Food Shop are important because they innovate based on the personal vision and values of business owners who are in a continuous conversation with their customers – you can join that conversation and be part of the transformation, and even ask for a new product to be stocked! The result is that you and I have the chance to make our next food shop less carbon-intensive, producing less waste, and even trying out some entirely new food product –maybe even the kids will like the plant-based sausages!?
Take a look at other Refill & Local Food Shops listed on Green Durham
