Where does my food come from?

Inspired by my good friend Nichole's blog here, in which she talks about all those things that you are not supposed to talk about at dinner (politics, religion etc), I decided to get a little bit deeper on my own blog. One of Nichole's major missions over the past few years has been working with a group in Florida that is working to improve working conditions and wages for the farm workers in America (mostly very low paid, migrant or illegal- sometimes near slave conditions) called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). Nichole's thoughts about where her food is coming from have made me think about this as well.

So let's talk about the economy of Albania and where my food comes from.

Albania's economy is a really interesting case. During communism, the dictator set up a system of almost total isolation. Most of the factories were built with help from the Russians or the Chinese, but by the 1980s relations with both of these powers had been severed. At the end of communism in the early 1990s there was a severe crisis in which many of the factories were looted and destroyed. Still around the country you see empty, torn out, non-functional factories acting as a reminder of what used to be produced. That is not to say that the factories were all that great either- mostly built in the post-war period, by the 90s they were mostly inefficient and out of date. Agriculture production was also very inefficient and out of date in the communist period and after communism ended chaos ensued in the agricultural fields as well. The collective farms of the communist time were split up, but even now nearly 20 years later, there are major issues over property ownership and the small, family plots now used by most of the farmers are inefficient. In the past 20 years investment has entered the country in many forms. Some of this money has been put to good use, but a disturbing amount of it gets lost in the shuffle as corruption at all levels is a major problem.

Although the Albanian economy seems to be strengthening all the time, I still think that it is defined mostly by two main factors: emigration and imports. Except for a few exceptions (mainly fresh food like produce, dairy and milk products), Albanian's economy is highly external to the country itself. After the end of communism, there were massive population shifts within the country to the cities. This was followed by massive exodus from the country of most working age men that could get out (mostly to Greece and Italy, but many to Western Europe and the US also). Almost every family has at least one person living abroad and this forms a large part of the economy through remittances (money sent home). Because of these two factors, the Albanian economy actually exists in large part outside of Albania. Local people can make money in importing, distribution and sales (there are lots of small family owned shops, but that might be another conversation), but the real money is in the manufacture of things, which is done largely outside of the country.

So, back to the main question- where does my food come from? I've found over the past few months a wonderful abundance of locally grown produce. The only things that I see that are obviously imported fruit and vegetable wise are bananas. Because of Albania's temperate and widely varied climate, many other things can be grown here easily, even citrus fruits. This means that there are some constant staples (tomatoes, onions, apples) that may be local or imported and many locally grown seasonal additions. After being here nearly a year, I can tell you when the season for most fruits is here (Cherries- June, Pomegranates- October, Persimmons- November). I have been told that much of the produce that is available here in this part of the country is actually imported from Macedonia (I am very close to the border), which depending on your definition (many people go by 200 miles) is still considered "local" food. Other than this and a few select products, almost everything else that I buy is imported (mostly from Former Yugoslavia Greece, Turkey, or Italy- notice the connection, this is where most of the young men go to work).

Anyway, this is something that I have been thinking about a lot here. There will probably be more to come . . .

Thanks to Courtney for the picture of the Elbasan veggie market.