We should all ask more questions

Oranges ain't oranges: It pays to know where your food comes from. Picture: Algul

There was a fuss at the markets the other day. It started when my friend Jen asked a stallholder where the oranges came from.  The woman exploded with exasperation.

“Everybody wants to know something!  Where’s this from?  Where’s that from?  People think I’ve got nothing to do but answer questions all day.”

She went on bellowing, “Once you could just have a stall, now it’s a hundred questions!  It’s fruit, lady – you just buy it!”

Jenny was amused and unrepentant. “I don’t care,” she calmly explained, “I’m not buying something from the other side of the world.”

I agree with Jen that there is something really wrong about produce that has clocked up more overseas travel that you have. While it might seem innocent enough to fly an orange several thousand miles there is more to it.

That variety may not be the juiciest, most fabulous orange.  Instead, it may be chosen for its ability to handle jet lag and months in cold storage. Who produces that orange and how it was grown have become invisible to us.  It could have been soaked in DDT and harvested by child slaves for all we know.

As the stall holder said: “Just shut up and buy the orange.”

I am really glad she’s having a tough time running a produce stall these days.  I think anyone in the food industry needs to be prepared to answer a lot more questions.

Consumers are waking from their blissful ignorance.  We are  discovering that those who control food production and supply may not have the interest and health of the customer or the planet as their priority.

Come on, let’s all start asking a lot more questions about what is on the label and how well travelled our produce is.  Our little annoying questions seem to be adding up.