Theatre Lane
FEEDING OURSELVES:THE LOCAL FOOD PROJECT – Taking Action on Climate Change by Eating Local
Talk by artist, writer and grower Lisa Fingleton
Lisa’s Story:
One day I bought a BLT sandwich in a petrol station and I couldn’t believe that there were over 40 listed ingredients from all over the world including such things as Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, xanthan gum, emulsifier and stabilisers.
I started to think about the journey of a sandwich and where all these ingredients come from. It felt like this sandwich connected me to so many places, people, plants and animals from all over the planet. I started to think about the energy needed to bring this sandwich to me; all the electricity, fuel and water. It makes me sad that food, which lands on our plate, has travelled thousands of miles just to be eaten by us. I had been to Borneo and seen the destruction of the rainforest with palm oil plantations and here was palm oil in my sandwich.
I learned a lot from that BLT. It made me question if there is really any such a thing as ‘cheap food’? Someone, somewhere is paying the price in terms of poor conditions for workers, crowded conditions for battery hens or health implications for the consumers of processed foods.
I am concerned about the fact that we are importing so much of our food and losing the capacity to be self sufficient, despite what we know about climate change and carbon footprint. According to Eurostats 2016 “Only 1% of Irish farms grow vegetables, the lowest in the EU”
https://lisafingleton.com/project/the-local-food-project/
