Jack Harris, an English teacher

I always have eggs, milk and three pieces of bread for breakfast. For lunch, I usually eat rice, beef and vegetables. I never eat chicken because I don’t like it. At weekends I always go to Chinese restaurants, because I like dumplings.

Oliver McShane, a computer game designer (设计师)

I usually get up at 9 a.m. I don’t have breakfast. I have an apple or a banana at ten o’clock in the morning. For lunch, I often have rice or noodles, meat and vegetables. I work at home and usually stay up (熬夜) late working at night, so I always take a nap (小睡) for forty minutes after lunch. I’m busy with my work, so I seldom play sports.

Anita Ramos, a tour guide (导游)

I get up at 7 a.m. I work in the morning and evening. It’s too hot in the afternoon, so I often stay at home. For lunch, I usually go to a fast-food restaurant. My dinner is much healthier. I usually have chicken, rice and vegetables. I always eat a lot of chocolate and it gives me energy (精力) for the whole day.

Nowadays, the food that you buy comes from many different countries. Have a look at your fridge, cupboard, and fruit bowl and check the origins（来源）of the food. Perhaps there are apples from California, lamb from New Zealand, or potatoes from Egypt. You will probably be surprised how far food travels to get to your plate. This journey from “field to plate”, is called “food miles”. A food mile is the distance that food travels from the farmer’s field to the person who buys the food. Nowadays, food often travels thousands of miles to gel to the consumers（消费者）. Why is this, and what are the effects（影响）of these long distances?

Traditionally, farmers sold their food in the local market, so the food didn’t have to travel very far. The consumers also did not travel very far because they went to their local market to buy the food. This was a good system for farmers and consumers. However, there were some disadvantages. For example, consumers could only buy food that farmers produced locally. In addition, they could only get food that was in season. Now, because of modern technology, food comes from all over the world. We do not have to wait for spring or summer to buy strawberries or tomatoes. They are available in winter if we want.

Some countries have to import（进口）most of their food. This is because they have difficult climates. The United Arab Emirates（UAE）, for example, gets 85% of its food from other counties. Even food made in the UAE often uses imported materials.

What’s wrong with “food miles”? Is this not a good way of increasing international trade? I believe these miles are worrying for a number of reasons. First of all, because food travels such long distances, we need more planes. lorries, and ships to move the food. This means we use more oil or petrol, so there is more pollution and more global（全球的）warming. In addition, food that travels a long way is not fresh and usually not very tasty. Tomatoes, for example, are picked early and stored for their long journeys. For this reason, they are usually tasteless when they get to the consumers. Local food has a better taste and it also reduces the amount of global pollution. We need to buy more local food.

Weeks before Tomb-sweeping Day (清明节) on April 4 this year, hundreds of qingtuan (青团) were sold each day. In the south of China, eating qingtuan at the beginning of spring is a kind of tradition (传统). Chinese people started to eat it over 2,000 years ago. It is made of sticky rice (糯米) mugwort leaves (艾蒿叶) and red bean paste (红豆沙), and is famous for its softness, freshness and sweetness.

Making qingtuan makes family members get together at home. It really takes time to make the food. Now, people in the north of China also begin to taste qingtuan. Li Yuan, a 30-year-old reporter grew up in Zhejiang. But he works in Beijing for many years. He really misses the taste of qingtuan. He said “There’s no place like home.” Qingtuan has many different tastes inside it, such as apples and bean milk, to meet people’s tastes. The difference of the taste shows that it’s getting popular across the whole country. People say there is warm weather and green leaves in spring. But if we don’t have a taste of qingtuan, it is like losing the taste of spring.