Produce Box Delivery Review: All Good Food

All Good Food box contents

In a bid to make eating local, seasonal produce as easy as possible, I've decided to try out some of the produce box delivery services available in Auckland. I've started with All Good Food because I liked the authentic feel of their website and how easy it was to use. The philosophy behind All Good Food is basically, "We couldn't find reasonably priced organic food and we figured others would be having the same problem, so we thought we'd start up an organic produce delivery service to solve that problem." As well as several sizes of organic produce boxes, you can also order a range of organic and free range meats, and free range eggs.

I thought the small mixed organic fruit and vegetable box (pictured above) was reasonable value for $30 (including delivery). All of the produce looked fresh and high quality. The bananas are Fairtrade All Good Bananas. They helpfully include a produce list on their website in case you don't recognise some of the less common contents of your box. They hadn't got around to updating it in time for box deliveries this week.

The service was  excellent. When you order you can include up to three "wishes"- items that you particularly want or don't want in your box. The night before the delivery I got an email telling me when (approximately) my delivery would take place. The delivery guy was very polite and asked whether it would be OK to drop the box by the apartment door if ever I'm not home at delivery time. They also have cute deals like if you place a four week order, you get a free bag of mixed herbs. It's very straightforward to add extras like potatoes, organic meat or free range eggs to your order. There's a recipe section on the website containing a token two recipes. Perhaps they are changed regularly to reflect the contents of the boxes?

Update
All Good Food still hadn't updated the produce list by the end of the week, and it turns out they don't update the recipes on their site to reflect the contents of the box. Two weeks after receiving the box, none of the ten or so kiwifruit that came in it were yet ripe - not ideal.

Reviews of other produce box delivery services
Naturally Organic
Foodbox.co.nz
Eco-Organics

Demystifying Sustainable Product Certifications - Part 1

Do you know what the certifications on the grocery products you buy actually mean? It seems that there's an ever-increasing variety of certification labels adorning items in our supermarkets and competing for our attention. How are we supposed to choose between products that make competing claims about their ethical and/or environmental kudos? Is there a gold standard, and if not, which is the best kind of certification to choose for key products? I've researched these questions, so that when I'm in the chaos of the supermarket I can make the best choices. I'll share the fruits of my research into the most common certification logos in New Zealand as a series of posts, starting with this one on Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance.

You're most likely to see the Fairtrade logo on coffee, chocolate, tea, spices, sugar and now bananas. According to the Fairtrade Association of Australia and New Zealand, more than five million people benefit from the Fairtrade scheme. Fairtrade provides producers with a fixed, fair minimum price for their produce, which covers the cost of sustainable production. Fairtrade producer organisations also get paid a premium on top of the minimum price to invest in social, economic and environmental development in their community. To qualify for Fairtrade certification, producers must meet set standards, which cover:

• chemical use on crops; 
• labour conditions: non-discrimination, freedom of association, collective bargaining, minimum wage and health and safety requirements; and 
• how producer organisations must make decisions on how to spend the Fairtrade premium.

The Rainforest Alliance certifies operations meeting its set of standards, which focus on the environmental impacts of agricultural activities, such as decreasing contamination of waterways, decreasing erosion, controls on the use of agrochemicals, waste control and water conservation. Farms must also meet labour standards such as paying workers at least the local minimum legal wage, having a non-discriminatory hiring policy and providing sanitary facilities for workers. Unlike Fairtrade, there is no minimum price guarantee for Rainforest Alliance producers. The Rainforest Alliance certification logo is found most prominently in New Zealand on McDonald's McCafe coffee. A considerable proportion of New Zealand's forests are now certified under the Rainforest Alliance's Smartwood program. The Body Shop uses Rainforest Alliance certified palm oil in its soaps.

Next up, a look New Zealand's most prominent organic certifications. Also coming up, a deeper delve into the relative merits of the most common coffee certifications.

Update: Cadbury announces Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade

Back in July I wrote about Cadbury's introduction of palm oil into its chocolate. This month Cadbury announced that it was removing palm oil from its chocolate, and that one of its most popular products, Dairy Milk chocolate, is getting Fairtrade certification. What an amazing response to consumer pressure!

There are lots of groups out there trying to get people to employ consumer pressure against other products and corporate practices - why was this particular campaign so successful? I think it was a combination of a number of factors:

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  Cadbury's high profile and huge popularity in New Zealand. This meant that there was a large consumer base who felt personally connected to the issue. The sheer numbers who got behind the campaign meant Cadbury couldn't ignore it.
  
  
  

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  The issue had broad appeal. Palm oil production destroys the habitat of orang utans. Who wants to be responsible for wiping out a species so closely related to us?
  
  
  

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  But, I think what really made this campaign take off was that the media got behind it. It was on the primetime news, it was in the papers, it was on the radio. Everyone knew about it. And then Whittakers got on board and promoted the issue too to try and steal some of Cadbury's market share.
  
  
  

It is heartening to know that, at least where a perfect storm of circumstances exists, consumer pressure can make a difference. How else can we use our collective power to create positive change?

Takeaway cup ridicule

Image by Unvrs

The other day I bought myself a shiny new thermo-mug. After a year and a half of "disposable" takeaway coffee cup guilt, I couldn't stand it anymore. I went to my regular cafe and proudly presented my new acquisition to the barista when I made my order. She cracked up laughing. I'm not sure if it was the bucket-like size of the mug, the fact it still had the Warehouse price tag attached, or that no one else who frequents my local cafe would consider bringing their own takeaway mug. I'm on politely friendly terms with the barista, so wasn't at all offended by her reaction. But it did illustrate how ingrained some practices are in our society, even when we know the benefits of another option. Why should it be the norm that every takeaway coffee comes packaged in a non-recyclable cardboard-plastic imitation of a mug? Why isn't there more support for people bringing their own mugs along to cafes to get their takeaway coffee in?

Increased awareness of unfair practices in the international coffee industry led to increased demand for Fairtrade coffee. In response to pressure from consumers, a number of cafes now offer Fairtrade coffee. Couldn't increased awareness of environmental issues lead consumers to demand better environmental practices from our coffee outlets? I think a discount for people who bring their own mugs along would be a great step towards making reusable mugs the new norm.

I dare you to take your own mug to your local cafe tomorrow and ask for a discount. Let me know how it went for you.