Grown Here Not Flown Here
These games were created by Allan Bogle, the Sustainable Food Places Co-ordinator for Derry City & Strabane District Council. Allan has kindly shared them with us. His presentation is available to download below and has useful images and details, making it a ready to go activity.
Part 1: Carrots (or any seasonal, locally grown fruit or vegetable)
- Hold up two “identical” carrots (I’ve also used apples and potatoes).
- Ask the group what the two vegetables have in common—they’ll suggest words like “orange,” “crunchy,” etc. (I usually share a list of replies my own children gave me—they tend to be very similar).
- Then comes the “big reveal”: one carrot was purchased at a local farmer’s market (no food miles), and the other from a supermarket (with lots of food miles).
Part 2: Mollie’s Lunchbox 
(This started in my daughter Mollie’s class- so naturally, as any good father, I wanted to embarrass her!)
- This is essentially a participant sorting game. Each child selects an item from “Mollie’s Lunchbox,” and the group works together to decide how far it has traveled to reach them- standing in a order, furthest-to-closest (Make sure to cover any country-of-origin labels.)
- I then sort them into the correct order, I highlight a few that could be seasonally grown locally but are still imported in supermarkets, helping them see the illogical nature of this.
I’ve run both exercises successfully with children as well as adult groups.
I hope this gives you some ideas—please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!