local suppliers

Turriff's farm shop and nursery in Broughty Ferry have been around for almost 50 years. They grow and sell a whole host of their own produce. When I visited last week they were selling their own peppers, kale, carrots and lettuce, supplemented by plenty of fruit and veg from local suppliers. They were selling off a load of their green tomatoes really cheaply - good for making tomato chutney. I spoke with the staff there and although they hadn't noticed a rise in demand for local food, they had witnessed an upsurge in people buying vegetable and fruit plants to grow at home.

In contrast, Clementine's is a new business, having only opened four months ago in Broughty Ferry. As a small grocers, they try to bridge the gap between providing locally grown produce with more exotic fare such as pineapples and kiwis. Co owner Carole is really passionate about food and has noticed that customers have a keen sense that something is wrong with the food we eat - although they don't always know what they should be doing differently, and are often confused by the difference between local, fair trade and organic. The parsley I bought (loose, no packaging) was from just up the road, on a previous visit they had bay leaves from a local garden - no fixed price, just a donation to charity.