- 2 months ago
The Journey of Food: Mariam and Zimal travel to farms and supermarkets to explore how food makes an impact on our everyday lives, how we can make shop sustainably and what it's like to live with an allergy.
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00:00Hi, I'm Mariam and I'm Zimmel. I'm a scientist and researcher and I'm a
00:04secondary school student. We're here to ask questions like where does our food
00:09come from and how does it get onto our plates? From growing food to waste, from
00:13culture and tradition to cost, science, climate and the future. We'll be
00:18exploring all of this in... Generation Food!
00:30In this episode we're going to look at the journey most food goes on and also
00:49choose a dinner that we both love and find out what really goes into it from
00:53plant to plate. I looked up a recipe that had lots of vegetables and seemed quite
00:57easy to make and I came up with a chilli. Are you happy with that? Yeah, I love a chilli.
01:01It's decided then and we're going to start at a farm where we learn about
01:05growing and harvesting crops. We started our food journey at Nonnington Farm, from
01:13planting the seeds to harvest. We've got the seed behind us here and we put it
01:17into our drill and I'll show you how it grows in the field. It doesn't look much
01:25like wheat. So this was planted in October last year and now we're in April. End of
01:31July, beginning of August, that's when we will what we call combine the crop which
01:34is harvest the crop. We've heard a lot about organic crops. Our crops are not
01:39organic, we're sustainable. When we use chemicals it's the last thing that we use
01:44if we have to. And when you do need to use it, is it a bad thing? We use things to
01:49control disease and weeds. Now I'm going to show you the grain store. We've got 900
01:54tons in here and this wheat is going to be used for your bread. This is one that I
01:59made earlier. Put it between your palms. Oh, they just fall out? Jack found his
02:10passion for farming during school and works at Nonnington Farm. But with it
02:14being a cold start to the farming season, there weren't many crops to look at. Can
02:18you tell me a little bit about what you're growing here? We've got a bit of daikin
02:21radish and a bit of kale. Overwinter plants that help stabilise our soil, improve our
02:26soil health. At the moment we are in our spring season, surprisingly. We should be
02:31able to grow our parsnips, beetroot, carrots. Unfortunately it's been delayed, you
02:35know, it's just too cold, it's not enough sunlight hours, it's too wet. Leaving the
02:39European Union, do you think that's affecting UK farmers much? There is a few
02:43big challenges such as labour. Some of my seeds come from Germany and it is
02:47expensive getting it over. What's the furthest your vegetables travel
02:52from here? 30 odd miles. It's just myself out here, chucking it down the rain, picking
02:57veg all day. Is it fun? I wouldn't say it's fun, but it's relaxing. On our final stop, we
03:03met a family of farmers who are looking after a brand new family of sheep. At the
03:07moment we're lambing, so we're getting up really early as soon as it's light, which at the moment is
03:10about half past five. We get out there just to check what's going on, then last thing at night
03:15we'll go and check that everything's okay as well. They run around the paddock, they only
03:20come back to mum at that point for food. A bit like you really. How do you know at
03:26the supermarket if the animals have been treated well? Organic would help, but
03:30unless you actually know who the farmer is, I don't think with meat you're ever
03:34gonna really know. Our sheep are pasture-fed 100%. If you feed them grain, they
03:40basically fart a lot more and they produce an awful lot more methane. The grain that is
03:44grown in this country, over 50% goes into feeding animals and it's not very good for them.
03:50So what do you think young people should know about farming? We have difficult bits, like
03:54one day we're trying to get these in for scanning and they ran everywhere, all of the roads and
04:00stuff. Yeah, it's hard work, but it's good fun as well isn't it?
04:06Oh wow. Very kind one I think. Lots of farms are open to the public so everyone can just go and
04:12turn up, whoever you are, wherever you live. It did make me appreciate how much effort goes into
04:19feeding Kent and the whole of the UK. And the importance of buying locally where we can, but
04:25sometimes that isn't possible and we have to import food. A lot of the food we eat comes from far away.
04:31We love bananas but can't grow them here in the UK so we import them. Let's take a banana. It would
04:37start in a country that has a hot tropical climate. Once they're grown, a lorry would take them to a
04:42dock so that they can be transported by a cargo ship. Then they'll cross oceans before arriving
04:47here in the UK. It can take between 10 and 25 days for the bananas to reach us. Once they're here,
04:53they go into another lorry and are transported to ripening centres for several days. After that,
04:58they arrive at our supermarkets. It can average at more than 5,000 miles. Our food standards also need
05:04to be kept. Plants can't have certain pesticides on them. And meat can't have harmful chemicals added
05:10to them. But the packaging it's in has an impact too. Using less plastic or recycling can make a
05:15difference and if we all do it, it can make a huge difference. But currently only 44% of households do
05:22it. Our recycling doesn't go on the same adventure as a banana, but it's still a process. After our bins at home,
05:28it goes to a sorting facility. Then it can be sold to become new things. Clothes can be transformed
05:33into insulation in homes and glass can become jars. So now we know more about local produce
05:38and supporting farmers. As well as where our packaging and food waste ends up. We went to buy
05:43the ingredients for our dish. I went to a refill shop. And I went to a big supermarket. Let's see
05:49who had the least packaging. And who spent the least money.
05:57How does shopping here compare to shopping at a supermarket? A lot of people say it's like a
06:01sweet shop and you can bring in your own containers from home. So you're saving a lot of plastic packaging.
06:05Great. So will you help me do my shop? Yeah, of course. I need 400 grams of black beans.
06:11Great. Okay, next up we have kidney beans. No idea how far these beans actually travelled before getting
06:18to us here in the UK. So next up we have rice. We know that most of the rice in the UK is imported
06:23from places like India, China. 90% of it is from Asia. There we go. And then you just turn it on like a
06:32normal tap. We have a lot of options for olive oil. I see organic. We can grow tomatoes here in the UK,
06:41so it's a shame that these have come from very, very far. And what would you suggest for a healthier
06:46snack? So nuts are a great choice. They're good for protein. None of these packets make it really,
06:50really clear where their stuff has come from. Fair trade. Cocoa.
06:54So these bananas, the loose ones have come from Ecuador. These have come from Norfolk,
07:03from Spain. A red pepper and two carrots. The thing is, it doesn't say where these have come from.
07:13So let's see. What was your overall total? £31.70. Very nice. Mine was £27.10. Oh wow. I think there's
07:36like a little bit of mystery behind where everything comes from, which I felt really frustrated by because
07:41I wanted to try and make the best choice I could. The producers should note down like at least put
07:45a sticker on everything. Right. About where it's from. Maybe a better alternative was maybe is to
07:51grow them yourself. That's a good idea. I grew radishes, cucumbers and more vegetables in my garden.
07:56That's really cool. I go to my weekly market in my town. There's like a whole farmer's market.
08:02In terms of the packaging, I can recycle most of this stuff. Definitely the glass, the tin. What I learned
08:07is that some of these bags you can recycle at the supermarket, but also there's food waste, right?
08:13I need to find a way to use ten onions without them going off and having to throw them away at
08:18the end of the day, right? So we're going to make a vegetable chilli. I'm looking forward to it.
08:21It looks really healthy.
08:30The whole process has made me look differently at labels as well.
08:33Same. And that actually brings us to our last topic, which is allergies. I met with a group
08:38of young people to talk about how having an allergy changes their everyday experience of food.
08:47Food allergies happen when the immune system, which is trying to protect you,
08:51overreacts to certain foods. Millions of people here in the UK have them,
08:55so I thought I'd have a chat with some people who live with allergies to see what it's like day to day.
09:00I met with Claire who founded a tennis and allergy awareness charity, the Sadie Bristow Foundation,
09:05in memory of her daughter. We set up the foundation six years ago after our middle child passed away
09:12from an allergic reaction. We're not sure what the reaction was. She was allergic to dairy,
09:17which caused her to have the more severe reactions. Sadie was the UK's number one tennis player for her age.
09:24What else was she like? What did she like to do? Well, anybody who knew Sadie realised that she was a force
09:33of energy. She was never afraid to try her best and to give it a go. And so what are you hoping that
09:39this foundation and hopefully other foundations like it are doing to increase that awareness?
09:45Educating staff in schools, in tennis clubs to spot the signs of what an allergy is, or in a more severe
09:53glucose and anaphylactic reaction. I'm assuming it will affect your food shopping and stuff like that.
09:58Every packet you pick up, you need to read the labelling. You need to be really careful.
10:02As of October 2021, Natasha's Law requires full labelling of ingredients on all pre-packed food.
10:08Talking about Sadie inspired me to give tennis a go. Erin, who's dairy intolerant, and Millie,
10:13who recently developed her allergies, joined me. How important is it for you guys to have a good diet?
10:19I cut out dairy, so I avoid things like chocolate. I could eat less chocolate too, but oh gosh,
10:28we call it a day. Yeah. What's it like living with an allergy? I find it quite hard because my friends
10:36bring in like stuff to school that's got loads of chocolate. My allergies, like it's not one of the
10:44main ones, so they don't have to list it. Say just flavouring or spices, and that means I can't eat it.
10:49Do you think your friends would know what to do if you had an allergic reaction?
10:52Mine usually happens over days, but if my other friend did have sesame seeds, we would call the
11:00teacher immediately. One person in my class brought in some hummus, and if the teacher wasn't in the
11:06classroom, I don't think that they'd know what to do, so it would be quite scary. One of my friends
11:12carries around an epi pen, so obviously I'd know to use that and then call an ambulance. Yeah. Did you
11:18ever get taught in school how to use an epi pen or anything like that? No. Do you think it would be
11:23good if they did teach some medical stuff? Yeah, it would help all the kids understand. You feel like
11:30you're being really careful all the time. A lot of people didn't realise you could even develop an allergy.
11:34I'm constantly like worrying about like foods and whether they can have it in and have not said
11:39about it. I think I'm going to take away to be careful around what I have, make sure my friends
11:44can have what I'm having as well, so that they don't feel isolated, so we can talk about allergies more.
11:51And after the break, we're going to take a closer look at food and the journey it goes on in our
11:56Generation Food group chat. Welcome back to Generation Food. In this episode's group chat,
12:06we went to Homewood School in Kent. I spoke to Josh from an education charity called CommuniGrow,
12:12Steve from Kent Veg Rocks, young farmer Joseph and Gemma who works at the school farm. And I got some
12:17questions from our audience. Then some amazing students had their turn to talk all things food.
12:32Hello everyone. I want to start with my farmers. Tell me a bit about what it's like to be a farmer.
12:37Fantastic job and great fun. Since I was very young, I've had a massive interest in farming. Later on,
12:45at the beginning of secondary school, I started doing some work. But you also have to fight against
12:53government removing subsidies, which is making farms struggle quite a lot. I originally grew up in
13:00the city, moved out to the countryside at 19 to pursue a career in farming. Can you explain a bit
13:05about what those subsidies are? Farmers could get extra money from the government and from the EU
13:11for doing certain things, supporting the wildlife, planting certain crops. Since leaving the EU,
13:16quite a lot of those have gone or are in the process of being removed, which means that farmers
13:21who used to rely on a lot of that money for their income have now lost that. My name's Toby Heales,
13:27I'm 11 years old. And what's your question for the panel today? How many hours you spend on a farm per day?
13:34In the summer, it can be extremely long hours to get the crops in time, especially demonstrated like
13:42this year because of all the rain that prevented like the combines from being able to get into the
13:48fields when it's dry. I saw some farming YouTuber who was like they were getting up at like 2am in the
13:56morning to combine because it was drier then than during the day. How early do you have to wake up in
14:03the morning? It'll probably be around like half six or seven-ish. That's pretty early. On the more
14:10livestock side you have your phone with the cameras and you watch the animals all through the night
14:15and then you have the winter times. You are still doing a lot of work, you're mucking out, you're
14:19making sure the animals are clean if they're housed inside. What are your favourite things about being a
14:23farmer? I love tending to the animals. You see them from start to finish, so you see them being born,
14:28looking after them, nurturing them all the way through and then having the final product of meat that you can be
14:32really proud of. You gotta be outside all day every day. I'm Aita and I'm 12 years old. What would
14:40you like to ask the panel today? How could the chemicals harm our environment? Why do we use
14:46chemicals in farming anyway and what's good about removing them? We do it less now as a society but
14:52we used to be big into pesticides, so chemicals that are specifically to kill off a particular, normally an
14:57insect species that messes with the growing process somehow, right? The issue with that is that,
15:03number one, maybe those chemicals are poisonous for other species or maybe even harmful to human
15:07beings that end up consuming the food. We don't know that those negative effects are creeping in
15:12until way, way, way down the line when those chemicals have already started having an effect on
15:16us and our society. There's natural ones, you know, manure, compost etc, but they are not really as efficient
15:24as everybody would like them to be, so they say okay let's generate an artificial one, which is a chemical
15:30process, so it'll be made in a big industrial plant. Obviously like they're helpful in terms of like
15:36it helps increase the yields, then obviously has the downside on the environment, especially when it's
15:43really wet, like it can just run off all the fertilizer and it can go into like rivers and stuff
15:49and kill the animals in there. You can do it other ways, like there's certain breeds of sheep that will
15:54eat certain like, I don't know, stinging nettles, but there's a lot of chemicals that we have to use
16:00for animal welfare, like spraying them with fly prevention because fly striking sheep is deathly.
16:06I know there's drones actually that we can use nowadays to decide where to target these chemicals.
16:12My name's Thomas and I'm 11 years old. And what would you like to ask our experts today?
16:17Why do plants grow from soil? The soil is brilliant, it has all the natural nutrients and it has
16:22everything they need to grow in there. Starting with soil health is so important because that is
16:27where everything starts from. The little bits of kind of ground up rock and stuff that, you know,
16:31that make up a small part of soil, the sand and stuff, that was a mountain millions and millions
16:35and millions of years ago. We're never going to beat this natural process. And also like,
16:40soils everywhere. So it's just really easy just to, you dig a hole, put the seed in, cover it.
16:47You don't have to grow them into the soil at all. You can grow them in hydroponic towers.
16:52So that involves just water and the nutrients is put in the water and they can grow whole cabbages
16:58like that. My name's Fifi and I'm 11 years old. What would you like to ask the panel today?
17:05When it's in its box, how's the food protected? Like, can any bugs get in or anything?
17:09If there's a food source somewhere, then they're going to try and get into it. And it's, you know,
17:14it's extremely difficult to keep them out. I wouldn't be concerned about it though. You know,
17:19I mean, it's just nature. Steve, with Kemp VegBox, what's the benefit of stuff like that versus a
17:25supermarket? We take Kemp vegetables and we deliver them to people's homes in a box. Carrots, for example,
17:32we'll take them any size, shape or colour. We don't mind if there is a little slug bite or something
17:37on the carrot because it just shows that the soil is not absolutely dead.
17:42I'm Gracia Orgetti and I'm 12. And what would you like to ask the panel today?
17:47How has the plastic packaging progressed over the years?
17:50Well, it started quite a long time ago when it comes from fossil fuel and it's, you know,
17:56another chemical at the end of the day. It was great for keeping produce fresh, keeping it clean.
18:01Obviously now we realise and understand the environmental impact of that.
18:05Climate change is mostly driven or almost exclusively driven by the usage of fossil fuels
18:09and plastic is like a reminder that that is happening in the background, like basically all
18:13the time. I laugh every time I go into the supermarket and I see bananas in a plastic bag.
18:18Bananas are the most conveniently packaged thing in the world. They come in their own,
18:22quite tough like package and they're already linked together. But I feel like people have just
18:26come to accept and even expect it because it's what's familiar. So we just,
18:30we don't really question it. But if you think that's happening with millions of bunches of bananas
18:35all across this country, you know, dozens of other countries all across the world, it does add up.
18:40The thing about plastic is it can take up to, I think anywhere between 20 and 500 years to degrade.
18:46And it's only up to a point that plastic will degrade. So it will start getting smaller and
18:49smaller, but you'll always have those microplastics in the environment.
18:52The supermarkets, which are 85% of our food, we say, well, we are not going to buy food from you.
18:58It's got to be recyclable. It's got to be compostable. Guess what? They change.
19:02And I think that's the way forward from here.
19:04Joseph, I'll finish with you. What do you think the supermarkets should change and do differently?
19:09Definitely change from plastic to compostable stuff. Using more UK products rather than importing lots
19:18of stuff from other countries. The food miles are a lot less. And then also, I'd say, like,
19:27the customer gets fresher food. What kind of things can you grow and we grow in the UK?
19:34My veg patch in my garden, I've grown sweet corn, potatoes, red beets and carrots at the moment.
19:42So we've got loads of alternatives for UK stuff, right? That we could be creative with them.
19:50Welcome to my student panel. Thank you, guys.
19:59Tell me something that you didn't know about farming that you know now.
20:02Probably how much effort it could be.
20:04I learned about all the chemicals and stuff that were put into crops and stuff. I didn't realise that
20:09there were quite so many chemicals that were put into farming.
20:12So who here has tried to grow something themselves?
20:15I have.
20:16Yeah? Yeah? Tell me about what you've grown.
20:18I grew potatoes in my back garden and some lettuce and flowers out the front. The lettuce,
20:24it felt really satisfactory to grow my own food and then eat it, knowing that I'd put all the effort
20:30into it and then I didn't have to buy it from the shop. It was mine.
20:33I've just grown green beans and I think it's, like, the healthy option. Like,
20:37it's nice to know that you've grown it and it does take a lot of work to grow some things,
20:41so it's nice. Definitely.
20:43I've grown potatoes and tomatoes and it is, I think they definitely taste fresher and better.
20:49When you've done it yourself?
20:50Yeah, but it is well harder.
20:53It's hard, yeah? What's hard about it?
20:55Just, it's like, I don't know, caring for another life form.
20:59I did some, like, green beans and some potatoes, but, like, when you finally got to eat them,
21:04it felt so good and it tastes better, knowing that you put all this effort in,
21:08like, by yourself instead of just going out and buying them.
21:11Now that you know, like, all the work that goes into farming,
21:13do you reckon you'll appreciate your food and the farmers a bit more?
21:16Oh, yeah, definitely.
21:17Definitely, yeah.
21:18Yeah.
21:18Yeah.
21:19Do you think you'll choose differently at the supermarket, maybe, or eat a bit differently, or?
21:24Maybe sometimes, yeah.
21:25Yeah.
21:25Maybe, yeah.
21:26What did you guys think about the plastics and all the packaging stuff?
21:30Was anyone surprised to hear about the plastic and how long it takes to degrade?
21:34Yeah.
21:34Yeah.
21:35Yeah.
21:35What could we do differently to limit the amount of packaging that we use?
21:40Well, I think, firstly, we could start making more sustainable packaging by, of course,
21:45making paper packaging or cardboard boxes to box our food instead of using plastic boxes.
21:51Also, we can make sure that everything's recycled if we use plastic,
21:55just so it can be reused and make sure that it doesn't go into our oceans.
21:59Do you guys recycle a lot at home or in school?
22:02Yeah.
22:02Yeah.
22:03Did you guys learn about what a carbon footprint is?
22:05Can someone tell me what a carbon footprint is?
22:08I'm not quite sure, but I think it might be, sort of, the carbon and the pollution that you are
22:15making yourself and what you leave behind after you've done that.
22:19That's exactly right. It's a measure of the carbon that we use day to day. You can have a carbon
22:24footprint as a person. You can even go online and figure out what your personal carbon footprint
22:28is. What kind of things do we do that put carbon in the atmosphere, do you think?
22:32Using cars.
22:33Using a car.
22:34All the plastic packaging, because that is using factories and that's putting pollution into the air.
22:39So can each of you give me one piece of advice as to how I can be and we can be more sustainable
22:44going forward?
22:46I think definitely trust local farmers more and grow more of your own produce so you don't have to use
22:52plastic packaging or buy foreign products.
22:56Great point.
22:57Make sure to recycle to keep the environment healthy and make sure you, like, appreciate how much farmers
23:03put effort in and stuff.
23:04Definitely.
23:05When you go to the shops, look for, like, more sustainably sourced foods.
23:09Read the labels and stuff.
23:10Yeah.
23:11Maybe, like, if you're, like, if you're my age and you cut off school, maybe you could, like,
23:16volunteer at, like, a local farm or join a club at school.
23:19That's definitely a good idea.
23:20Thank you, everyone, and thank you to our panel.
23:52Let's go.
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