Supermarket shelves look the same week-in, week-out, meaning that today?s consumer has no, or little awareness of which fruits, vegetables and other produce are in season when. 

As a food shopper there are real advantages to both you and the environment by having a greater awareness about seasonal food.

So why eat more seasonal, or even better, more local seasonal food?

• It reduces the amount energy required to grow and transport food
• It saves us money ? eating local seasonal food is often cheaper
• It helps to support your local economy
• It increases our awareness of the seasons
• You will be buying fresher and therefore tastier food.

The freshest and most sustainable produced food nearly always comes from local sources, where the consumer has a chance to deal directly with the producer; where shelf-life and cheapness are not the only priorities. The Big Barn website encourages trade and communication between consumers and local producers by helping youto find locally produced food.

?Supermarkets have, for too long, been turning the screw ever tighter on British agriculture to the point where some farmers only receive 9p in every ?1 spent on food in a supermarket.   Through buying more food that has been produced locally, directly from the producer, we have the power to reverse that trend.?

Big Barn believes that the first thing people need when they decide to buy food locally is information. The Big Barn map shows you where your alternatives are. Just enter your postcode they will show you show you a map of your area with all your producers listed on it.

Later today, The Guild of Food Writers with The Soil Association present the London premier of a new film, The Future of Food.

The Future of Food is a wake-up call about the threat of GM technology.  The documentary argues that GMO foods are compromising our food safety. Genetically engineered crops have contaminated our food supply and disrupted cultivation methods that have been refined and perfected over hundreds of years.

The Future of Food lays out the case against genetically engineered crops. Exploring a variety GM food issues including suicide seeds, inadequate food-safety enforcement laws, patented genes and GM infected farms.