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Friends in all the right places
03/07/2008 13:13 - (SA)
Georgina Guedes
My husband and I are getting very good at turning the geyser off during the day. Or perhaps it's more true to say that my husband is. I, at five-foot-one, can't reach the fuse box. At six-foot-three, it's his responsibility. But I remind him.
We're also getting very good at remembering to turn it on again. So far, there hasn't been a morning when we haven't had hot water. There was one near miss - but my husband remembered in the middle of the night and got himself out of our lovely warm bed to flip the switch.
I sometimes wonder if, like load shedding, all this turning the thing on and off is going to put too much strain on the system, and we're going to need to replace our overworked geyser, but I'll deal with that if it becomes a problem, and for now I'm feeling pretty virtuous.
It's incredibly difficult to think green. Everything I used to do without any thought now requires analysis. I have bought all the shopping bags I need so I don't need to ask for plastic packets, but I just haven't perfected the cycle of taking them back out to the car after unpacking. If I leave them by the front door, I just waltz merrily past them on my way out.
Local is limiting
At the moment, the big issue I'm grappling with is trying to eat only local produce. This means eating seasonally, which is supposed to be better for you anyway, and frequently denying myself things that I feel like on a whim.
For instance, when is the South African asparagus season? Woolies asparagus is imported from Thailand, and the packet I found in the Spar came from Peru. Asparagus is great in risotto. Risotto is a winter food. I am having to rethink my entire ingredient strategy to reduce my food's carbon miles.
A handy trick I have learnt is to use my local greengrocer rather than the chain stores. This is slightly less convenient, as the Woolies and Spar are closer, and it means I have to make two stops when I'm shopping (which itself is bad for the environment), but it does mean that I can have long discussions about the origins of my veggies with someone - and for a food obsessive like me, this is a good thing.
I particularly like that when I want things like fresh bay leaves, he'll bring me a branch off his grandmother's tree. Now that's service.
The meat treat
My local butcher is within walking distance of my local chain stores, and I try to support them as well. I am still a meat-eater, for all that it's damaging for the planet, but I do try to eat very little, and make it worth it when I do.
This is where my relationship with my butcher comes into play. They guys who work there now know me well. I come in with cookbooks and ask for exotic cuts of meat, named differently to what we call them in South Africa, and show pictures so we can work it out together.
They're always delighted to help out, and always enquire, with perfect recollection, how well the preparation of the previous meal went.
Small businesses
Although I love my Spar and Woolies, I also like the personal relationship I have developed with my butcher and my green grocer. I wish they were all in a row on Grant Street, for my ease of shopping, and that we had a fishmonger to boot.
Aside from the fact that shopping like this is supporting small business, it also allows you to gain a level of familiarity with the produce that you're buying. You can find out where your fish is caught and whether it's caught with line fishing or nets (line fishing is better as it reduces waste).
You can find out if your vegetables are locally grown, and get bay leaves from a grandmother's garden. And you can choose the best piece of steak to make your occasional meat eating worthwhile.
But you still have to remember to take shopping bags with you.
Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. She sometimes feels like there's only space for one environmentally friendly activity in her brain, and as soon as she starts a new one, the last one is elbowed out.
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