‘Eating locally’ is on everyone’s lips at the moment. It’s something which has become a bit of a travel trend, with food tours and retreats becoming increasingly popular and street food vendors and markets popping up everywhere. But whether you are travelling or at home, eating local is a lifestyle choice that helps you to live more mindfully and consciously. It isn’t a fad.

Choosing to predominantly eat locally grown produce is better for yourself, the environment, and your community. We’ve grown used to the convenience of being able to walk into a supermarket and be overwhelmed with the choice of foods from all around the world, but we are designed to eat seasonal ingredients that give us what we need throughout the year. If we eat the foods that grow locally at the time when they are ready to be harvested, we are getting the nutrients and nourishment that we need at that particular time – such as the warmth of root vegetables in winter and the refreshment of watermelons in summer.

Following a more seasonal diet come naturally if you eat locally. It’s also easier to be more sustainable with the foods that you eat. Your food is being grown where you live and isn’t being shipped halfway around the world, which lowers your carbon footprint. On average, food travels for over 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate, which has a huge impact on the environment. This is for our convenience, so we can eat strawberries and avocados all year round, rather than just in summertime, when they grow locally. Some foods have an even bigger carbon footprint, grown in one country and shipped to another for processing and packaging before they are sent to their final destination where they will be consumed. Buying from a local grower on a market stall not only reduces the mileage of your produce, but also ensures that you use less packaging, as there is no need to wrap food in plastic to maintain freshness.

Locally grown ingredients are already fresher, as they have less distance to travel. Produce is likely picked the same day or the day before it is purchased, reaching your table while its nutritional value is higher and the food is tastier than if it had taken a week to reach you. Wandering through a market, selecting fresh fruit and vegetables feels more tangible and personable than picking up a plastic-wrapped alternative from a large supermarket. You get to experience all the lumps, bumps and colours that naturally occur, rather than the heavily edited ‘perfect’ specimens that supermarkets offer.

Within towns and cities, encouraging people to grow food locally helps to cultivate green spaces. Schemes such as the Incredible Edible project (that pioneered in my own small town) plant and grow free food for the locally community anywhere that there is space – in planters at the railway station, along the banks of the canal, outside the police station and medical centre. This guerrilla way of planting can also occur in large cities; planting fruit trees along pavements, encouraging market gardens and allotments, or restaurants growing their own produce on their rooftops can help bring local, seasonal food into urban areas.

Shopping for locally grown food also helps to support the local economy, putting money back into local resources, boosting employment in your local area and investing your money into local businesses, rather than big chains. At the same time, you are paving the way for a more community driven place to live or visit, building relationships between farmers and growers, shop owners, and yourself, the consumer. Whether you’re putting down roots or just passing through, it feels special to get to know the people who grow your food.

If you’re convinced that you’d like to try eating local as much as possible, here are our tips for seeking out locally grown produce and meals while travelling:

·      Seek out market stalls and local organic shops selling locally grown produce. Don’t rely on big supermarket chains, especially when you are travelling. Introduce yourself to the joys of local delicacies and locally grown ingredients that are currently in season, and experiment with your recipes. Delve deep into the local cuisine.

·      Look for farm-to-table restaurants that cook with their own produce that they grow locally, or restaurants that predominantly use organic, locally grown ingredients. Not only will this allow you to eat local, but it will also allow you to experience the authentic cuisine of the place you are visiting.

·      Research your destination. Read travel blogs and magazine articles, connect with local people on social media, and seek out the places where you can eat locally before you arrive.

·      Plan your travels around food festivals, tours and events. Know what food the place you are visiting is best known for and time your travels to visit during the season when you can enjoy it. Attend food festivals, sign up to food tours and enjoy events that focus around local produce.

·      Look for street food vendors. They usually offer cheap options, are widely available and are a great way to sample the local cuisine. Look for stalls or vans with long queues if you’re worried about hygiene and quality.