Just how good is local food?

Food miles have become a big political issue in recent times, but how easy is it to source food from your own area?

By Angela Soave
BBC Scotland news

It is Scottish Food Fortnight and we are all being encouraged to eat more local produce.

Members of the Scottish Government will be eating nothing from outside Scotland for a week.

But how easy is it to follow a local diet?

Well, for the next week, myself - Angela Soave - and the south of Scotland's news website reporter Giancarlo Rinaldi are going to try - in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway respectively.

Angela Soave is bidding farewell to her pasta and prosecco for a week

Lets face it, as I tell anyone who asks - and a lot of people who don't - our local food is fantastic.

Borders farming gives us the best beef and lamb, organic fruit and vegetables ... even salmon.

We have the freshest eggs and speciality cheeses.

Bread I can get from any one of our excellent wee bakers. And fish and chips in Eyemouth may not be among Julie Andrews' favourite things, but it's definitely one of mine.

Although the ice-cream in Innerleithen may just give that of Berwickshire Riviera a run for its money.

So I was never going to turn down the chance to eat my way across the Borders in the name of research.

Over the next week, I'll be visiting small shops and delis, supermarkets and farmers' markets, tracking down local produce.

My food may travel fewer miles, but I'm not sure about me!

However, there will have to be sacrifices.

Pesto put away

My Italian comfort food habit will have to go; even if I find local tomatoes to make sauce, and count the basil on my kitchen windowsill as Borders produce, there'll be no pasta.

Or pesto. Or - worse - prosecco, my cheap 'n' cheerful fizz, without which the weekend doesn't really start.

(I'm sitting sipping some at 9am, because I have an open bottle, and refuse to throw it away).

Finding ice cream in southern Scotland should not be a problem

No blueberries - even if they are Scottish.

And, the unkindest cut of all, my tea's out; no cups - fly or otherwise - for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS!

Elsewhere, a raft of substitutions will be called into play.

Doing without chocolate will be difficult - but I can eat tablet made in Melrose instead.

There'll be no hardship in swapping M&S banoffee pie for Cameron's custard slices.

And, despite generally being a wine drinker, I plan to develop a taste for Traquair and Broughton ales - or Ayton cider!

So, if there's anything else you think I should try, or include, please get in touch.

You can email me at [e-mail] or by clicking here.

Giancarlo is on the lookout for suggestions of Dumfries and Galloway produce and where to get it. Contact him at [e-mail] or click here.

All suggestions will be gratefully received. And you can follow my progress every day on the BBC Radio Scotland's News for the Borders, as well as online.