Peachy peaches and the case for food miles

This one may get me in trouble. Before you go off the deep end and start to palpitate, I am not making a general case for food miles in what we eat. Though, I recently heard a very cogent argument for food to be produced where it is cheapest to do so. The actual costs involved in planting, growing, picking, cleaning, trimming, sorting, cooling, shipping or flying and driving a tray of green beans from Peru or Nigeria to your local supermarket are, apparently, negligible.

Counter arguments, including those that say “It’s not about a tray of beans. it’s millions of trays of produce grown by impoverished people and then shipped all over the world 24,7, 365.” tend to hold more sway with me. There is one big HOWEVER all the same.

The HOWEVER is not about trays of beans or other stuff winging its way from poor foreign countries to this poor country. It’s about one tray of four peaches that I picked up in Lidl last weekend (2 food miles from the house). No need to tell you that they did not grow here in Ireland. I was too enthused about them to look-see from whence they came. Therefore I don’t know how guilty I should be feeling.

My recipe really is not a recipe at all. I did with them exactly what I would have done with figs if I could lay my hands on any. The figs, like latter-day Phileas Foggs are probably winging their way from someplace foreign to someplace else again.

For Baked Peaches with Honey and Ice Cream you will need:

• 4 peaches
• 8 blobs of butter
• 8 teaspoons of honey
• Vanilla ice cream to serve

This peach recipe is too easy to qualify as a recipe. Just do the stuff like I say and they will turn out beautiful.

Slice the peaches like in the photo. Put them in a roasting pan and add the 8 blobs of butter and 8 teaspoons of honey.

The great thing about shooting pouring honey is that it happens slowly enough to get the shot.

Put the roasting pan in the oven at 180 degrees C for 20 minute.

They don’t look a lot different coming out of the oven. They tast a lot different though.

Serve them with the ice cream.

Side note: I do feel a twinge of guilt by not making my own ice cream and writing about it here. If I did that, the cream and eggs would have come from just down the road. I would not be causing too much offence when one aggregates the distance traveled by all the ingredients. Though, the vanilla would have to come from Madagascar, Zanzibar or some such place.You’d have to go a long way to find anything as tasty and toothsome. Better not though. They have come far enough themselves.