Where did last night’s dinner come from? Yes, I know, it came out of the oven, and before that the ingredients came from the supermarket - but where did the food actually come from? What was the air miles total for the dinner your family ate?

What we are talking about is the distance that an item of food has to travel to reach your larder or fridge. We’ve always known that our Jaffa oranges come in from Israel or that sardines come from Portugal, just as Spam comes from Argentina and raisins from California. Nowadays though a surprisingly large number of foods are transported a very long way before they get onto our supermarket shelves and from there into our shopping baskets. Many of these are foods which can in fact be found much nearer home, and in many cases here in Britain.

Simon Butcher of property specialists Strutt & Parker says, ‘Our food is travelling further than ever before, and certainly part of the momentum comes from the big supermarkets. They operate in a world market and they choose to source their products from around the world. They have decided that consumers want strawberries and lettuces all year round.’

So why is this a problem? Why does it matter that basic foods such as apples and lettuces are transported half way round the world?

There are several extremely good reasons why excessive food miles are a bad thing. One of the most important is environmental; if foodstuffs are unnecessarily moved by plane (as they often are) and then by truck, they are contributing considerably to carbon dioxide emissions. Since 1978 the amount of food transported by lorry within the UK has increased by a quarter, and each load is carried half as far again. The amount of food transported by air has increased by 140% since 1992, and although that only accounts for 1% of all food miles, it’s responsible for 11% of food mile-related carbon dioxide emissions.

Then there’s the question of freshness. The freshest food is always the tastiest and the healthiest, yet we are eschewing foods grown locally in favour of food imported from the other side of the world. Just look at the statistics; 95% of all fruit eaten in the Britain is imported, as is 50% of all vegetables. Nowadays, thanks to modern farming methods, there are few types of fruit which can’t be grown in the UK, and hardly any vegetables. It’s not so long ago that were just about self-sufficient in terms of fruit and veg.

There are other, less obvious arguments too. Security is one; we have seen air transport severely disrupted in recent years and, in these uncertain times, it hardly seems to be a good idea that we are so dependant on food being flown into the UK.

It’s also true to say that we are becoming increasingly divorced from the natural world, and though it can be very convenient to be able to buy fruit and vegetables which would otherwise be out of season here, it does cut across the natural pattern of things.

‘It isn’t just the desire for all year round availability that leads to huge food miles’, Simon - who is a Farm Business Consultant with Strutt & Parker – points out; ‘Fish caught in the North Sea is flown to China to be processed and is then flown back here, nicely packaged, to be delivered to our supermarket shelves.’

Of course, everyone has the right to buy whatever food they want, and from who ever they want. The point of the food miles campaigners is to make consumers aware of the situation and to gently suggest that if you and I agree that it’s a good idea to buy low mileage food. It’s actually very easy to do so. Whether it’s ordering an organic vegetable box, buying food from a farmers’ market, a food festival, or a farm shop - or simply picking up a sack of locally-grown potatoes at a filling station - it is possible to almost eliminate food miles on a lot of produce.

As Simon Butcher says, ‘British farming has been in recession for half a dozen years and this is a very good way for our farmers to point out the advantages of buying their produce rather than imported food. The onus is on the farmer to fight back; it’s not a good idea to stick up barriers. It’s far better to point out the great advantages of fresh, locally-produced, low air mile food.

‘Part of this process involves giving food an identity and not just treating it as a commodity; identifying potatoes both as King Edwards and as being grown at Manor Farm. Farmers are also getting closer to their customers and have the chance to learn from them.

‘Most importantly I don’t get any impression of this being a fad. Two separate markets are developing; one is the mass market, and that will always be there, and the other is of a more niche market, serving local food to more discerning consumers.

‘These two markets are complementary, and interestingly, the supermarkets haven’t been slow to spot the public’s awareness of food miles. They are starting to stock – and flag up local produce, and that’s nothing but a good thing. The producers want it, all the different retailers want it and the consumers certainly want it; tastier, fresher, locally produced food is back.’