Food miles - bugbear of the green brigade or is transporting food around our planet truly helping to cause its decline? That’s the question host Allegra McEvedy and her panel of experts will try to get to the bottom of in this month’s Food Radio podcast.

Coined by Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, London, the term “food miles” simply means the distance food has to travel from field to plate. But the implications are not as straightforward as this comment from the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ( http://www.defra.gov.uk ) illustrates;

"The environmental impacts of air freight merits examination but the relationship between food miles and carbon emissions is a complex matter. This issue would have to be looked at a global level. Countries acting unilaterally would disadvantage their own food sector. Furthermore the prospect of dealing with air freight emissions will be of great concern to producers in developing countries, many of whom depend on it to get produce, particularly perishable produce, to markets like the EU. We need to consider these complex issues very carefully to ensure that any proposed action in the future does not disrupt international commitments, or contravene World Trade Organisation ( http://www.wto.org ) rules".

Confused? Then listen as Allegra and her team define the issue, debate its importance, discuss the pros and cons of imported food against locally grown produce, talk about how we can make better informed shopping decisions, and much more.

Join the debate by emailing Allegra at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or leave a message on Food Radio voicemail by calling 0870 33 33 33 (national rates apply).

The panel

Kirtana Chandrasekaran - Food Campaigner, Friends of the Earth ( http://www.foe.co.uk )

Kirtana Chandrasekaran is a Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth. She campaigns on issues relating to GM, food and climate change and sustainable food and farming policy in the UK and EU. Previously she worked at NGOs in India on Trade, Agriculture and Good Governance and has worked in Media and Journalism. She has a degree in Environment and Development from Kings College and SOAS and in Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism.

Oliver Rowe - Chef and Broadcaster

Oliver Rowe is best known as the Urban Chef after the BBC TV series that followed his efforts to source all the ingredients for his Konstam at the Prince Albert (http://www.konstam.co.uk) restaurant from within the M25. Oliver began his culinary career in 1997 at London’s acclaimed Moro restaurant where he worked his way up from junior chef to sous chef. In 2001 he became Head Chef at Maquis, an Anglo/French restaurant in Hammersmith where he learnt “how and how not to run a kitchen”. He has been running Konstam Café near Kings Cross since January 2004 and opened Konstam in 2006.

Matt Ware - London Policy Advisor, NFU (http://www.nfuonline.com)

In his role as London Policy Advisor to the National Farmers Union, Matt Ware appears regularly as an expert commentator on TV and radio programmes including BBC1 and ITV1 news, the BBC’s Countryfile and Radio 4’s Today programme. He has worked for the National Farmers Union since 2001 where he began his career as South East Regional Policy Adviser covering all agricultural commodities. Matt’s background is in the farming industry and he has been a partner in a 320-acre mixed arable and livestock farm in Herefordshire for ten years. He also has experience in dairy, hop, and soft fruit farming and agri-tourism.

The Host

Allegra McEvedy – chef, restaurateur, writer and broadcaster

Allegra worked at notable London restaurants Green's, The Belvedere, The Groucho Club and The River Café before gaining a special visa to the US as 'an alien with extraordinary ability in the culinary arts' where she worked at Robert de Niro's New York restaurant Tribeca Grill. She is a founding partner of Leon a healthy fast-food restaurant concept that won Best New Restaurant in the 2005 Observer food awards. She has a weekly column in the Evening Standard's ES Magazine and monthly columns in Elle, Living etc and Image. She has contributed to GQ, Tesco Magazine, The Guardian and Good Housekeeping.

Resources

Food Miles on Wikipedia - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_miles