50 food mile diary: Getting there

The Gemmell family from the Borders is taking part in the 50:50 food challenge

An unusual food experiment is under way in the Scottish Borders.

Fifty people hope to survive a month eating only produce from within a 50-mile radius of their homes.

The event has been organised by the voluntary group Tweedgreen which hopes to promote local food and cut energy waste.

One family taking part, the Gemmells from Peebles, are keeping a diary of their experiences for the BBC Scotland news website.

MUSSELLING IN ON LOCAL FOOD- 19 OCTOBER 2009

Cockles and mussels were collected from the beach on holiday

The second week of our 50-50 challenge saw us depart to the Isle of Colonsay for four days; this resulted in a deviation, if not a departure from our challenge.

As intended we brought most of our food with us and supplemented it with what was available locally.

We considered this would fall within the criteria as one of the main objectives was to reduce food-miles and consume food from within a 50-mile radius of your current location.

Being a small island, the availability of locally-produced food is fairly scarce unless it is grown by the islanders themselves.
We did however manage to rustle up good haul of cockles and mussels from the strand that separates Colonsay and Oransay.

Now in our third week, we cannot conceive of returning to old habits, though we will have to give more thought to time spent preparing our meals

In addition, eggs plus a massive turnip were kindly supplied by Walter, a well-known local farmer.

The mussels were delicious cooked in onion, garlic and 'white wine' - we were on holiday after all - and went down very well, especially with Michael who found himself in mollusc heaven.

As for the cockles, as well as being full of essential minerals, they were unfortunately also full of grit, this despite being filtered in clean salt water for several hours, overall, a lot of work for very little gain.

Mum continued to make bread each day; this was made all the more difficult following a mishap that befell the weighing-scales, leaving the yeast content a matter of conjecture.

Eating only locally sourced produce does not always go down well

We were however able to keep within the 50-50 criteria without too much difficulty as we were away for such a short time.

We managed to exclude all processed food, apart that is, from a mouth-watering selection of contraband in the form of biscuits, shortbread and cake smuggled in by Gran.

Other food to be consumed outwith the criteria was supplied by Caledonian MacBrayne Ferries en-route.

We came home to find bare cupboards, hence a quick trip to Peebles high street and Whitmuir Organics had to be negotiated before lunch.

We have now consumed our bumper crop of apples, and fruit in general is in short supply.

We had already frozen some of this year's crop of strawberries and raspberries and have been using them in milk shakes for the kids.

We decided not to be too 'hard line' when it came to children and fruit, fruit in general was one of their indulgences rather than a particular fruit, so while we have been buying as much local fruit as possible, we decided not to deny them oranges or bananas especially if they were fair trade.

Strong jaw

Nevertheless, mum and dad have had a fruitless couple of days and need to source some local apples, pears and plums.

We do have Japanese quince in the garden, however even these cannot be attempted without a great deal of preparation first, for to eat raw requires the possession of a strong jaw and set of teeth to match.

Our diet still consists of large quantities of fish, vegetables, eggs and chicken, with the chicken left overs being used to make a delicious risotto using pearl barley in place of rice.

Flapjacks have now been perfected, though Rachael is now bored by them, hence cake will be the next issue to be tackled in the Gemmell household.

"It is pizza, Jim , but not as we know it"

Mum is complaining of spending yet more time in the kitchen away from the kids after work, and although Rachael, Alasdair and Michael are keen to help out, the dimensions of the kitchen are such that there is little room for more than one to do so at a time.

We may have to consider a redistribution of labour, clothes may have to be worn un-ironed.

Our second week witnessed a slight deviation from the 50-50 criteria, in large brought about by our visit to Colonsay - we may add a few days on to the end - however since returning home, we have refocused our efforts and are now firmly back with the programme.

Although our previous diet contained vegetables from the allotment, and some locally bought items, for example eggs, we also relied on supermarket bought, pre-packaged, processed, convenience food to fill in the gaps.

Now in our third week, we cannot conceive of returning to old habits, though we will have to give more thought to time spent preparing our meals.