trip to Pittenweem

Here are a few photographs from a recent trip to Pittenweem just to try and get a feel for our subject matter. It's strange for me trying to study this area as I grew up smack bang in the middle of it. I feel like I am maybe slightly too close to the topic to be able to connect in the same way as other members of the group. Simply because I grew up there and know people there doesn't necessarily mean I'm the best person for the job.

Brixton Fish Markets

So whilst the rest of the group have been firing on with research local to Dundee and Fife for the Food and Sustainability project, I have been undertaking a short work placement in London and therefore attempted to utilize the resources around me to obtain relevant research (well, as relevant as is possible considering the project is supposed to be based on locality to the Dundee area as much as it sustainability...).  I guess, however, that there is really no such thing as 'irrelevant' research, so what I learnt in London will still be applicable to what we are focusing on within our project here in Dundee.

A large part of my time in London was spent living in Brixton; an area known to be rich in ethnic and cultural diversity and known to be the most ethnically diverse district in the whole of London.  It is also home to the infamous Electric Avenue (yes, it is a real place!), where I carried out the majority of my project research.

Electric Avenue features a plentiful array of market stalls, both indoor and outdoor, spanning the entire length of the street itself.  The markets sell an eclectic carnival of African, Caribbean, and Portuguese products to name but a few, specialising in every kind of fresh produce imaginable, from fruit and vegetables to butchers’ stalls and fresh fish mongers; the latter of which being our main focus area.

The Electric Avenue markets are open more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with an additional specialist farmer’s market on a Sunday.  They feature more variation and species of fish on display than I have ever seen - ever (!); never mind in other markets, let alone in supermarkets.

It seems a lot can be learned from the Brixton markets in terms of what can be brought back to Scottish soil – both the Electric Avenue and ‘Brixton Markets’ have their own individual websites which even provide the consumer with recipes to try based on the fresh fish produce that is offered on sale at the markets daily.

With both licensed and casual traders offering produce, it also poses the question of where all of the produce is sourced.  Some some markets even feature signage such as ‘We ship FedEx overnight to anywhere in the USA…’. O RLY?

I believe it could be useful to make comparisons between the Electric Avenue fishing markets and Scottish farmer’s markets and fisheries, making specific relevance to Dundee and Fife, obviously; what are the benefits for example, of living by the coast?  With an array of costal towns and villages around us in the area such as Anstruther and Pittenweem, it poses the question that if the London fish monger's of Brixton, where there are no notable local coastal landscapes/rivers etc that are as readily accessible as in Dundee, can still proclaim to offer ‘fresh’ produce daily, is our local area in Scotland really utilizing all the resources on offer around us...?

Although I did not manage to conduct a great deal of ‘proper’ interviews with sellers, so to speak, having passed the market at around 8am every morning daily when it just begins to kick off, it became more than apparent to me how much waste must also be produced considering the stalls were still reasonably packed with produce when I passed again on the way home around 7pm. 

Bringing the research obtained from the Brixton markets back home into the Scottish fishing context, it will be interesting to visit Fife this coming Wednesday to undertake localized research and crate comparisons between the two.

Maria 

Friend of the Sea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68aSdFZwD3w

Relevant

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6112352.stm

Recipe!!!

Seafood Scotland is a trade organisation set up in 1999 by the main representatives of the Scottish seafood industry, to market, promote and develop responsibly caught Scottish seafood in order to maximise the value return to industry.

Seafood Scotland also acts as delivery partner for Seafish in Scotland. The organisation works closely with all sectors of the Scottish seafood supply chain, from catching and processing, through to retail, food service and consumption, and encourages and facilitates those sectors to cooperate together.

 

Check the recipes here:

 

http://www.seafoodscotland.org/en/recipes.html

 

 

Some ideas!

Created on : 7/Oct/2010

Some References for Food+ Sustainability Project ( not related to Fish though):

1. Guerrilla gardeners use candy machines to sell seeds - Greenaid is a project to convert vending machines to sell 'seed bombs': balls of clay, compost and seeds that can be thrown discreetly into derelict urban sites to (temporarily) transform them. (Springwise newsletter:28^th April , 2010)

http://thecommonstudio.com/index.php?/project/greenaid/

                       

2. (C)urban Ecology is a modular micro-remediation infrastructure that integrates seamlessly within our existing streets, supplanting the mundane utilitarian curb-and-gutter system to offer new levels of amenity. A versatile and performative design provides opportunities for water permeation and street vegetation, while sequestering small scale debris before it reaches the urban watershed.

http://thecommonstudio.com/index.php?/project/curban-ecology/

3. Pop-up cafés can be an effective way to promote both brands and concepts- a weeklong café that combines education, try-vertising and experience consumers will remember. Launched by the “Innocent” smoothie brand at the start of October 2010 just for seven days, the 5 for 5 Café in London's Shoreditch region gives U.K. consumers a way to get their recommended “five a day” in one meal for just GBP 5. The 5 for 5's menu was created for Innocent by celebrity chef Gizzi Erskine, and a different selection of dishes is served up each day including two starters, three main courses and two puddings; consumers need only pick two for a complete day's quota of vegetables and fruits. Sit-down lunches and dinners are available by reservation only through Friday, and a kid's menu is available. So, too, are take-away “veg pots” and smoothies — also priced together at GBP 5 — for those on the go. (Springwise  :7^th October , 2010)

http://5for5cafe.innocentdrinks.co.uk/

4. , Young Urban Farmers is a new Toronto-based venture founded last year by three young Queen's University grads that lets consumers enjoy home-grown vegetables without having to do the gardening themselves. Young Urban Farmers specializes in edible vegetable gardening, with a focus on organics. The company's YUF garden service can set up either raised garden beds or direct in-ground gardens, both complete with all the materials necessary. Soil mix, transplants and seeds, garden tags and stakes are all supplied; optional extras include trellises, shiitake mushroom logs, worm composters and education kits. All customers need do, then, is specify what they hope to grow and choose between YUF's basic service option — which includes an initial garden setup, a gardening instruction manual and a mid-summer checkup — or the full service option, which includes ongoing maintenance roughly twice a week. (Springwise  :6^th October , 2010)

http://www.youngurbanfarmers.com/

5. Allotments and community gardens have long been a refuge for gardenless city dwellers wanting to grow their own food. But for garden newbies, the commitment and work involved can be daunting; not to mention having to deal with waiting lists and established social dynamics on a shared piece of land. Meine Ernte—German for My Harvest—rents out vegetable gardens for a season, and takes care of soil preparation and planting. Once the plants start growing, members come in and spend 1-2 hours a week caring for their plants and harvesting their crops. (Springwise  :2^nd June , 2010)

http://www.meine-ernte.de/

6. Kraft's Triscuit brand recently teamed up with non-profit group Urban Farming to launch what it calls a Home Farming movement, with a site that aims to provide a place where both beginners and seasoned gardeners can connect and get advice about growing food at home. according to a recent Triscuit survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans are interested in growing food in a backyard garden and three out of four of those surveyed prefer to eat foods with a few, simple ingredients.

 Four million packages of Original and Reduced-Fat Triscuit crackers have been packed with cards including basil or dill seeds that are ready for planting; with the help of crop guides, a community forum and tips from master gardener Paul James, visitors to Triscuit's new site can use those seeds to reap the rewards of home gardening. Triscuit and Urban Farming are also collaborating to create 50 community-based home farms across the U.S., starting with one in Los Angeles that launched in March; others are slated to appear in such cities as Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa, to name just a few. (Springwise: 7th July, 2010)

http://www.kraftbrands.com/homefarming/pages/default.aspx

7. London grocer Thornton's Budgens has just begun selling organic produce grown in a rooftop garden of its very own. Dubbed Food from the Sky, the rooftop garden project is collaboration between Thornton’s Budgens, The Positive Earth Project and the local community. In late May, a crane lifted up the necessary materials onto the roof of Budgens' Crouch End store, including 10 tonnes of compost, fencing, trees and over 100 pallets. The project is collaborating with the heritage seed library to grow a number of endangered species of food; it also plans to run food growing workshops on the roof and provide seeds from the harvest free of charge to residents and schools. The garden's first organic fruits and vegetables just went on sale in Budgens, all grown and harvested by volunteers. All proceeds from the not-for-profit venture will be put back into the project; plans for the future include the addition of chickens and top bar bee hives. (Springwise: 6^th  July, 2010)

http://www.thorntonsbudgens.com/social-environment/food-from-the-sky

8. Fortnum & Mason—the famous London retailer has placed four hives on the roof of its 181 Piccadilly building. From where, as Fortnum's describes, the bees are able to "fly high above Mayfair, visiting the grounds, gardens and squares of the best addresses in London, gathering rather superior nectar." (The colony was previously housed by Fortnum's in Shropshire and Oxfordshire.)

Pollen from chestnut and lime trees, as well as a wide variety of other flowering plants, make for a delicate urban honey, which will sold by the retailer. A 227g jar of Fortnum bees’ honey is priced at GBP 12.95. Completing the picture, Fortnum & Mason offers an up-close view of the palatial beehives via two webcams in their website. Recently they commissioned Helen Beard, a talented ceramicist to produce a special honey pot. Helen has produced four hand-illustrated honey pots in a limited edition of six, each depicting one of four bespoke beehives, into which a little pot of Fortnum's Bees' honey fits perfectly. (Springwise: 8^th April, 2009)

http://www.fortnumandmason.com/fortnumbees.aspx

9. Sainsbury’s is set to become the first UK supermarket to keep bees, recently announcing plans to install eight 'bee hotels' on land around their new eco-store in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

With the new eco-store located in one of the UK's main fruit and vegetable growing regions, Sainsbury’s beekeeping efforts are aimed at helping to improve crop pollination in the area. Sainsbury's Environment Manager, Jack Cunningham explains: "The rapid decline in bee population has had a severe impact upon the productivity of British crops, so we have decided to take practical steps to help.” Sainsbury's won't be collecting honey from the bees, just facilitating pollination of local crops, gardens and wildflowers.

This initiative is particularly apt given that Sainsbury's existing loyalty scheme involves customers collecting “Nectar Points”.

http://www.j-sainsbury.com/index.asp?PageID=424&section=&Year=2010&NewsID=1306

10. The Crop Mob is a North Carolina-based organization through which farm-loving volunteers descend on one lucky sustainable farm for an afternoon each month and accomplish tasks it would take the farmers themselves months to do alone.

On sustainable farms, work tends to be done using more manual labour than on industrial farms, where mechanized equipment and chemicals have come to be substitutes. There's obviously a high cost to that petroleum-based approach—as green-minded consumers the world over have come to realize—which is why there are growing numbers of twenty-somethings taking to the land themselves, hoping to do it right. Toward that end, The Crop Mob aims to build the community necessary to practice sustainable agriculture and to make that community available to the world's future food producers. Monthly Crop Mobs have been going on in the North Carolina area since late 2008. Tasks taken on by Crop Mob teams have included building a greenhouse and removing rocks from fields; so far, the effort has contributed more than 2,000 person-hours to 20 or so farms, according to The New York Times Magazine. Many volunteer participants in Crop Mobs are apprentices or interns on sustainable farms themselves; others are experienced farmers and gardeners willing to share their knowledge with the next generation of agrarians. Either way, no money is exchanged at Crop Mob work days—rather, the hosting farm typically provides a meal for everyone.

Crop Mob uses a Google Group to keep everyone informed of upcoming events, while a map displays where in the U.S. existing mobs have already been formed. For those who want to set up something similar in other parts of the world, a “Getting Started” guide is also available. (Springwise: 12^th August, 2010)

http://cropmob.org/

11. Not Far from the Tree in Toronto operates a residential fruit-picking program that aims to prevent locally grown fruit from going to waste. Toward that end, it sends teams of volunteers to harvest the fruit on trees whose owners are not inclined to do so themselves. Of the resulting bounty, one-third goes to the owner, another third goes to the volunteers for their labour and the final third is distributed via pedal power to charities and community organizations in the neighbourhood. The project harvested more than 3,000 pounds of residential fruit back in 2008, followed by more than 8,000 pounds last year; so far, close to 2,000 pounds of cherries, mulberries and plums have been picked this year. Coming this winter from the nonprofit group is a like-minded pilot project to tap residential maple trees and then boil down the sap into maple syrup.

http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/

12. A full 40 percent of North Americans do not have their own yard space; those who do, meanwhile, often leave it underused. Aiming to match the haves with the have-nots anywhere there's a similar inequity, Sharing Backyards partners with local community organizations to create land-sharing programs in diverse regions around the world. One of the biggest barriers to growing food in the city is access to land - despite the fact that many yards, lawns, and backyards have plenty of room to spare. Sharing Backyards links people with unused yard space with those looking for a place to grow food.

Sharing Backyards is a project of LifeCycles, a Canadian nonprofit dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health and urban sustainability in the Greater Victoria, B.C., community. To help maximize land use in communities far and wide, Sharing Backyards actively seeks out local partners and gives them administration of their own, local Sharing Backyards Program. That includes not just promotional materials but also a forum for interaction with other local partners. Consumers, then, begin by browsing the free site's list of programs already in existence. To find or share land in their area, they can scan an interactive local map for current listings and use the program's internal messaging system to make a connection.

                http://www.sharingbackyards.com/

13. Bringing the concept of crowd-sourcing, into the realm of the supply chain, New Zealand's Giapo Gelato is now inviting consumers who grow organic fruit to sign up as suppliers for the store's new “Giapo Certified Organic” line.

Located in Auckland, Giapo Gelato serves up an all-natural line of healthful gelato and sorbets, with inventive flavours including Spirulina, Feijoa and Chili Chocolate. In July, it kicked off its new crowd-sourcing effort to incorporate organic fruits supplied by the crowds. To be eligible for consideration, consumers must guarantee that no herbicides or pesticides have been used within the growing area of their fruit; samples will be randomly tested to ensure compliance. The price of the fruit supplied will then be calculated in current market prices, and Giapo will give suppliers free Giapo Gelato in return. (Springwise: 8^th July, 2010)

                http://madaboutgiapo.posterous.com/

14. Florida company Harvest Cycle that delivers local, farm-stand fruits and vegetables via a bicycle-towed trailer.

Sarasota-based Harvest Cycle provides home and bulk deliveries of organic produce from Jessica's Stand and Organic Farm, a local provider. Foods delivered include farm-fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, grains and seeds, and everything is delivered in 14-gallon Rubbermaid bins stacked atop a bicycle-towed trailer. Customers browse the week's available selection—updated each Thursday night—and place their orders online. Deliveries are then made Friday or Saturday. Delivery fees are USD 15 per bin, and 25 percent of the proceeds go to the Alliance for Responsible Transportation. (Springwise: 11^th Sep, 2008)

15. British supermarket chain Waitrose dates back to the early 1900s, when bicycle and horse and cart were its chosen methods of delivery. Now—proving once again the old adage that everything that goes around comes around—much the same methods have returned as part of the company's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

Earlier this year, Waitrose has launched a series of new green initiatives that include eco-minded handcarts and bicycles for use delivering groceries to local consumers. At the store in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, for example, eco-handcarts have been added as a way to help boost the number of delivery slots available to customers without increasing the number of vans on the road. The specially designed carts are intended for use delivering to customers who live within a mile of the store, and can keep products frozen and chilled for up to two hours. Waitrose branches in Lichfield, Parkstone and Droitwich, meanwhile, have also introduced eco-bicycles following a successful trial last year at Waitrose Cambridge. The eco-bicycles are electric bikes with a maximum distance charge of 30 miles, and are intended for delivery to customers who live within 15 miles of the store. Finally, in a bid to help consumers adopt greener habits themselves, Waitrose has also introduced cycle trailers for loan at 36 of its stores. The trailers are loaned out free of charge to any customers who wish to use them, the company says.( Springwise: 22^nd April, 2009)

16. “Sorry to pull you away from checking out your ex’s photo gallery, but Vitaminwater needs your help.” Offering an alternative use for Facebook, the beverage company is inviting users to create new flavours and vitamin content.

After adding the FlavorCreator app from Vitaminwater’s Facebook page, users can help influence the flavour, functional benefits and design of the new water. First, they are invited to choose their favourite of ten flavours, picked from the ten most mentioned flavours elsewhere on the web according to the app’s ‘buzz meter’. (Which means the crowds are indirectly and unwittingly contributing, too.) The second step lets users play games and answer quiz questions, helping Vitaminwater understand the most desired nutritional benefits, and which functional ingredients to add to the drinks. The last step lets users name the flavour, and decide the aesthetic and copy to be used on the bottle. Rapper 50 Cent and American Idol winner Carrie Underwood will help decide the winning submission, which comes complete with a USD 5,000 prize. The winner was announced in December 2009, with the flavour available from March 2010.

                                                http://www.facebook.com/vitaminwater

17. Postcarden, a pop-out greetings card transforms into a mini living garden.Combining gift and greeting card, Postcarden is available in five designs: Botanical, City , Football, Christmas and Allotment. Recipients open and unfold the card, then sprinkle water into the base and scatter the enclosed cress seeds onto the damp paper. The Postcarden will start to grow in a few days, and will keep for two to three weeks; once grown, the cress can be eaten. Designed and produced by UK-based A Studio for Design, the cards can be sent through the post and are printed in Wales by Ethical Packaging; the seeds and inner tray are sourced nationally in UK as well.

http://www.postcarden.com/

                One of the stockist is: Dundee Contemporary Arts - 152 Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4DY

18. In December 2009, the Instructables Restaurant- "the world's first open source restaurant"(called by its founders) —has opened .At the Instructables Restaurant, which launched as a pop-up event at the historic Theatrum Anatomicum of the Waag in Amsterdam, patrons receive not only creatively-cooked food but also instructions for preparing everything they see, eat and use—including the furniture. For example, someone seeking the recipe for the Tom Kha Gai soup they just enjoyed can either claim it at the restaurant or download it online; and anyone interested in making their own versions of the restaurant's recycled 50-gallon barrel chairs can do likewise.

Everything in the restaurant derives from Instructables, a web-based documentation platform where people share their expertise with others, whether it's cooking, pottery or woodworking. Even the instructions for creating the restaurant itself are now available on Instructables.com.

http://instructablesrestaurant.com/

19. SoupCycle, a Portland –based company deliver Organic soup, made from locally grown produce each week to subscribers on bicycles. Three soups are typically on the menu in any given week at SoupCycle. Consumers who live or work in the Portland, Ore., company's delivery area begin by checking out the selections for the following week and placing their order by midnight on Friday; rustic bread, salad and dressing are also available. With a list of subscribers in hand, SoupCycle then buys the necessary produce from local farmers. On Monday it cooks up those ingredients into delectable soup, and then on Tuesdays it begins its weekly deliveries, with a different delivery day for each area. Each of SoupCycle's trailers can carry some 40 soup containers, 40 bread loaves and 20 salads at once, it says.

Since SoupCycle first launched about two years ago, it has delivered more than 19,000 orders of soup, spent USD 37,000 with local farmers and saved 6,600 gas-powered miles by using bicycles instead. Some 300 subscribers now enjoy its weekly deliveries.

               

http://www.soupcycle.com/about-2/

20. Pittsburgh-based Small Farm Central helps farmers create websites for their farms.

Small Farm Central's core service provides farms with a website, email addresses, a domain name, photo upload capability, page creation, template customisation and more through an easy-to-use control panel. Additional features include phone support, mailing list handling, a blog service and image editing help. An optional e-commerce extension provides a shopping cart and order processing functionality right inside the farm's site, while Small Farm Central's Member Assembler component is a member management platform for community-supported farms. Some 250 farms across the United States and Canada now use Small Farm Central to tell their stories, sell their produce and build community among their customers.

http://www.smallfarmcentral.com/

21. Global warming and the recession may have delivered a one-two punch to many consumers' travel plans, but that doesn't mean people can't still enjoy an exotic escape of a different kind. Enter Destination Dinners, a San Francisco company that offers a wide variety of dinner kits replicating dining experiences from around the world.

Bangladesh, Jamaica, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Lebanon and New Orleans are all regions that customers can 'visit' gastronomically by means of Destination Dinners' recipe kits, which come complete with everything necessary to create a local-style meal. Premeasured spices, sauces and dried items are part of every package, as are step-by-step instructions, a shopping list for fresh ingredients, and fun facts and trivia about the destination in question.

The Destination Dinner kits are designed to serve four adults and are priced at USD 25 or USD 30. A line of dinner party kits is also available—including serving pieces, placemats, bowls, trays and even music CDs—as is a "Destination Passport" plan that ships one dinner kit plus a corresponding cooking or serving tool each month.

                                http://www.destinationdinners.com/

22. The site Permablitz Melbourne - has been set up to help people get together and have fun learning about, designing and implementing suburban permaculture systems. The focus is edible gardens.

http://www.permablitz.net/

23. Launched in 2008 and now expanding worldwide, San Francisco-based Original Beans offers a direct link between its customers and the conservation work it supports. The premium chocolate company has taken product life stories to the next level by incorporating a transparent commitment to rainforest conservation.

For each bar sold, Original Beans plants a tree in the rainforest where the bar's ingredients originated. Each bar carries a certificate inside the wrapper with a lot number that designates the location of a new tree. By entering the tracking code on the company's website, customers can not only trace where the cacao beans in their individual bar were grown, but also what their contribution is to the chocolatier's rainforest replenishment efforts. Hence the company's mantra: "One bar, one tree, go see."

Original Beans offers three varieties of single-origin chocolate, from Ecuador, Bolivia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company is allied with farmers' co-ops in these areas, who plant rare cacao trees plus a mix of trees necessary for lively biodiversity. Incorporating ecological and social costs into its pricing model means each 3.5oz (100g) bar of Original Beans chocolate is steeply priced at USD 12. Even for an indulgence that helps the environment, it remains to be seen whether customers will be willing to regularly pay double digits for chocolate bars.

                                                http://www.originalbeans.com/

24. Danish butter brand Lurpak is encouraging online conversation about their brand via a new website called Bake Club.

Targetting consumers in the UK, Bake Club is an interactive baking club that allows amateur bakers to connect and have bake-offs. Bakers create a group, invite people to join and set up a baking schedule. Members are called to task via an e-mail alert with a date for baking. Members then share, rate and comment on each other’s bakes. Pictures of people's cakes, cookies and pies are displayed both on the website and on Flickr.

Blending one part viral marketing, one part life hack, one part social network and a generous dollop of the most vital ingredient — consumers — Lurpak obviously hopes to build name recognition and sell more butter.

                http://www.bakeclub.co.uk/

Interview a no go...again

Well, last week brought with it yet another disappointment on the interview front. We went to have our chat with Spink the fishmonger in Dundee city centre last week and it was clear that he had no idea who we were. To be honest it was totally our fault as we didn't really organise with him to have the chat and this was the first time we had actually met. So, long story short, he was busy. However, we have managed to get an hour of his time next Thursday morning which I think will be invaluable to our project.

Although, we were once again left wanting to a certain extent - from our lack of successes on the interview front - every cloud does indeed have a silver lining. Like our last impromptu trip to Tesco, Michael and I (other Michael) decided to go for a little look at the fish counter in Marks & Spencer's to gather some general observations. Although I say counter what I really mean is fridge. Unlike Tesco, where there was in fact a fish counter selling fresh fish, this particular M&S did not have this. All of their fish was pre-packed. It was however similar in the way that the fish came from a number of different locations around the globe, from Arbroath to Honduras.

However a number of the products had a symbol on them which said "MSC certified" which means that this fish is certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. This would appear to be another interesting avenue for obtaining research.

I also went for a trip down to the East Neuk of Fife to conduct some more observation but I will post about that later once I've had a chance to look over my findings.

An impromptu trip to Tesco

Yesterday our group had planned to interview one of the managers at Spink's the fishmonger, located in the centre of Dundee.

However, when we arrived we were informed that the person we were going to chat to was pretty busy and that we should go back on Thursday morning when he had more time - which is fair enough. Although the interview didn't go ahead as we had hoped for it was nice to experience the shop and to get a sense of what a traditional fishmonger's is like.

So, after this slight disappointment we decided to have a little trip to Tesco to see what a fish counter in a supermarket was like and what sort of offerings they provided.

Observations of an Impromptu trip to Tesco

On arrival it was fairly obvious what atmosphere Tesco were attempting to recreate. The look and feel of the fish stall in Tesco is very similar to that of a more traditional fishmonger apart from the fact that it was situated firmly within a huge supermarket selling a whole host of other products from Televisions to Dragon fruit.

There was also a poster behind the stall that said "help your fishmonger", but we were not quite sure how buying your fish from a supermarket would achieve this?

Michael (America) approached the woman attending the stall and started to have a general conversation with her, asking about where the fish was sourced. Although she was very friendly and made an attempt to answer his questions we were given the impression that she was pretty ill informed about where the fish actually came from.

We did a little bit more observing and noticed that each of the fish on the stall had a little bit of information posted next to it - Michael (America) has images. As well as this we found a leaflet entitled "Tesco, Freedom Food." which gave some more information on Tesco's attitudes towards the issue. This information included location and sometimes the way in which the fish was sourced.

Nevertheless, this apparently helpful information actually raised more questions for us as a group interested in sustainability. The information included statements such as "Farmed", "Grown" & "Responsibly Sourced" although from some of our desk research we have been led to believe that "Farmed" fish is often an unsustainable method of fish - for lack of a better word - production. Therefore how can it be a responsible method?

We also noted that the fish seems to be sourced from numerous locations around the globe e.g. Scotland, Norway, The Atlantic Ocean (Bit vague) and even Vietnam. Is this sustainable? Think of the food miles a fish from Vietnam would rack up.

The "Tesco, Freedom Food" leaflet also gave examples of how Tesco is interested in the welfare of its fish and that the Salmon is farmed in Shetland adhering to the Animal Welfare standards set out by the RSPCA - These standards aim to reduce the stress of the fish and also maintain its good health.

From our initial research Tesco claims to source their products in a manner that is of minimal impact to the environment. However, the question must be asked, what does "minimal impact to the environment" look like?

We look forward to going back to Spink's on Thursday to get a different perspective on fish selling and sourcing.