Where have all the blueberries gone?

I try my best to buy local and seasonal whenever I can, but I will admit that due to my son's addiction for blueberries more often than not, I would have opted for the supermarket staple that is the Chilean Box Set. In fact, there is seldom an alternative, and I thought little of this until recently. In the wake of the the earthquake that struck Chile earlier this year there has been a vast reduction in the amount of blueberries available on UK shores, and the price has sky rocketed (so long Sainsbury's Basics).

It sometimes takes something like this to remind you of the over-reliance we have on foods from overseas. Blueberries aren't native to our shores and our climate simply doesn't promote their mass commercial growth in the UK and Ireland. This can be said of many things, yet food fashions come and go, making some international ingredients quite literally flavour of the month and very much in demand.

Perhaps be seen as a sign to stick to more local produce? Or maybe not -  consider the sobering thought that while we moan about the lack of Chilean produce on our shelves, the people of Chile are still very much suffering the effects of the earthquake, either through water pollution, homelessness or the destruction of business. We still need to support the Blueberry Farmers of Chile, whose very livelihood has been effected by this natural disaster, which hit way back in February and in the wake of Haiti, didn't get half the media attention. It's a vicious circle in many ways, and to quote a fellow blogger, we are faced with a decision between buying local, and buying helpful. But given that we don't really grow our own, I'd say when buying blueberries, buy Chilean for the time being, and help get the industry back on it's feet.

At a later date we can get back to the age old local/overseas debate.

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net