NO PALM OIL NOVEMBER - Week 4

Date: Sunday 6 December

St Andrew’s Day (sadly no vegetarian palm oil free haggis) and the end of November and week 4, means the conclusion of a month of living without palm oil. (Apart from the covid pandemic necessity of using soap for hand washing (though at least using bars of soap, though I just found a palm oil free, rice based soap in Oxfam ), I managed to succeed with my challenge quite easily.  But then, I have the time and the specs to read the labels and to buy avoiding palm oil.  This is not the case for busy shoppers or for anyone not able or willing to afford the more costly alternatives, or for small children who have seen the adverts for yummy, creamy, squishy, chocolate filled or covered treats. Buying biscuits, pastry, bread and ready meals from the big producers - without palm oil as an ingredient is almost impossible. 
Thank you to the smaller, independent companies who stick to traditional recipes.  Thank you to “the Ethical Consumer” for clear information and guidance on this global tragedy.  There was so much to find out about the big companies for whom profit overrides the health of our planet - dominant in the food and cosmetics industries and learning about the many exploited workers, mostly women who are spraying chemicals or planting or harvesting palm oil. Ecosia, mentioned in the supporting image is a great search engine which puts its profits into tree planting has many projects projects worldwide including reforestation in Indonesia.
Thank you to Marion for helpful links!

Ending on some good and interesting news about the University of Guelph in Ontario (near to our twin town of Fergus) where successful work is being done on producing equivalent fats from other ( liquid ) vegetable oils, which have a significantly reduced cardio health risk. 
Perhaps there will be opportunities for us to use oil crops which are grown here in Scotland such as rapeseed. Something to follow up since agricultural practices are being reviewed at the moment.
... and finally, my trip to the Food Warehouse at St Catherine’s shopping centre in Perth to check out the new Iceland store. Absolutely worthwhile!!  There are other brands which fill the aisles, but there are plenty of Iceland’s own products.  All of these are palm oil free and packaged without plastic!  The prices are extremely competitive.   The manager confirmed that Richard Walker, the owner is a real eco warrior.  Shall write to him as he deserves a lot of praise for what Iceland is doing.
So, buying local, shopping for local produce is best, as is baking and cooking with locally grown ingredients, but good to know that there are ethical and delicious ready meal opportunities (Iceland passed the grandson pizza test with flying colours).

Thank you for your support, everyone 

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