Online veggies
Are you careful to eat local? Do you prefer Mileticova over Tesco? Do you trust either one? Can the internet be the answer for connecting
farmers and veggie lovers? Can
organizations like Foothills Connect help to revive rural economies?
First of all, I didn’t think that the Internet technology can move this far. “Farmer Markets Move Online” If I heard this sentence somewhere else before I wouldn’t really believe it because it is in some ways absurd for me. I can understand online shopping of clothes, accessories or other goods but food, and especially farmer markets are in my opinion a bit too much. From a different point of view, online shopping of these veggies may be complicated in the sense of people not having a computer with an access to the Internet, especially the elderly people. I believe that even people in small villages wouldn’t want to buy fresh fruits or vegetables through the Internet since they can plant their own in their gardens which would be more than the advertised “bio” products. If someone asked me whether I want a kilogram of fresh apples or carrots from the online shop I would definitely argue that I want to see them. Maybe it is not good at all, but I don’t really trust these online shops and I prefer normal shopping in shops I know.
ReplyDeleteEating local isn’t in my opinion a bad idea for people who don’t have time for cooking or for shopping in Tesco or Billa. Though it would be better to choose a normal restaurant rather than a fast-food. Busy people don’t really have a better option to choose. If talking about me, I am quite careful about eating local because there are many cases where different bacteria or illnesses were discovered in restaurants. However, I am not saying that I never sit in somewhere for a meal. Though I always choose something from the Italian or Slovakian kitchen because I am more or less already used to it, and I like it a lot.
If considering Mileticova or Tesco, I believe that Mileticova has a better variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables sold at Mileticova are usually housebroken, not imported like most veggies in Tesco. Though if I want some exotic or not typical fruits which are in my opinion really delicious, I have to visit Tesco in order to get them. Simply, Mileticova is a great market for local vegetables and fruits that can be housebroken here.
I don’t believe that the Internet can be the answer for the veggie lovers and farmers because as I said before fresh markets online seem to me a bit absurd. Though, the online fresh markets can help to compete the large businesses with vegetables and fruit. So I believe that organizations like Foothills Connect can help to revive rural economies. Since the world is still developing in its technology trend, everyone will own a computer soon, so the fresh markets online can possibly have many customers. However, the online veggies are not popular yet, so we need to wait until the issue develops.
I mostly agree with Sabina that distribution of food through internet is not a very good idea, or at least not in this century, since there are many people who still don’t have electricity. I personally, would probably not buy a bag of vegetables through internet. I think that vegetables and fruits are a kind of food which really shouldn’t be sold through internet.
DeleteI don’t really have problem with eating local. I leave my home in the early morning since my school starts usually at 8:00 and I come back home around 9:00. Therefore eating local is not a choice for me. Of course I could prepare something at home and eat it at school later, but I rather prefer sleep than food and preparing three meals in the morning for the whole day would take too much time. I eat local almost every day and I never had any serious problem from it.
When deciding between Miletičova and Tesco, I would probably choose Tesco. I am not afraid of the fruits and vegetables grown at home, but if I would need to buy something I would probably try to save time and buy everything at once. In Miletičov you can buy only vegetables and fruits, therefore I would rather prefer going to a supermarket such as Tesco and save time. I probably wouldn’t mind that the goods are imported.
Personally, I believe that this project is an awesome one. I will therefore disagree with Sabina's claim that such technology has little use. First of all, it is not targeted on elderly people. If it was, nobody would invest in it, because it would not be profitable (because of little internet usage by them). Secondly: that will NOT be an internet store. The project is focused purely on connecting farmers and customers. In other words, it will just give you an idea that such farmer exists and what he sells. Anything other is solely on the farmer. Yeah, buying fresh veggies online would be strange, but connecting to the farmer selling them is perfectly okay. Therefore I believe that such project might be a successful one, but it must have a good kickstarter, design and everything a good website needs, and that is the problem of most of web pages.
DeleteSince I was a child, my parents told me that local food is much better than the one from the supermarkets. They always took me to Mileticova and other fresh food markets where they sell food from local farms. In my opinion, in Bratislava, there is a big difference between a big supermarket and a market. In the supermarkets the workers do everything to make the fruits and vegetables look fresh, for example they spray on them water and they put a special light on them. Moreover, the food is even sprayed on, before it even reaches the supermarket, so it doesn’t rotten and mature because it comes from different countries. On a market like Mileticova, nobody sprays them on with any chemicals. The most fascinating thing about fresh food is the smell and the color. When you come to Mileticova you can smell the food and you can also see its real color.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, these days in many countries small farms bankrupt because of large international producers. In the article it is said that “Smart use of the Web can shift the focus of food retail away from industrial suppliers and toward those in the position to offer on-demand delivery of the freshest food around.“ . I personally, do believe that the internet can make these little farms get more income and create a better, healthier lifestyle for people. Another way, how to keep these little farms alive is to create organization like Foothills Connect. Foothills Connect created a website, where customers can order fresh food from local areas. Additionally, they made sure, that every little farm in the area has access to the internet, knows how the computers work and they created a program where people can learn how to create their own little farm.
No matter how much cheaper the food in the supermarkets is I will always buy food at the market because it’s fresh and in my opinion, fresh food is much healthier, it smells better and it tastes much better.