Local food!

As the name suggests, local food is domestic food that is produced locally. Local food is produced by using ingredients and labour from the region. This means that the origin, producer and manufacturer of local food are well known, and that the activities are simple, safe and easy to understand for the consumer. By favouring local food, you also support the local economy and work, while reducing your carbon footprint. The carbon footprint decreases when there is less need for transport and packaging. A shorter food chain is easier to supervise. Less additives and pesticides are needed in a short chain. There are many advantages to using local food.

The City of Lappeenranta, SATU (saimaantukipalvelu) and local bakeries

Long-term work with sliced rye bread and flatbread has borne fruit in Lappeenranta, with small local bakeries (Pulli and Korpela) investing in a bread cutting machine. Cutting and handling bread requires skill, because sliced bread will start to dry out immediately. With a little practice, bread slicingwas optimised and now everyone in the city-owned schools and day.-care centres in Lappeenranta can enjoy local sliced bread. The bakeries also optimised their bread distribution system, thus cutting down both transport costs and emissions.

REKO food ring and the local food ring

Local food distribution channels operating in the Lappeenranta region include, for example, the REKO food ring on Facebook, and the Food Ring through its website

How REKO works:

The basic principle is very simple; the goal is to bring producers and consumers together. In REKO, food rings operate as closed groups on Facebook. Accepted producers make announcements, with delivery every week or every other week, and consumers place orders as comments under the announcements. The producer delivers the ordered goods according to the agreed delivery schedule, to the agreed location, where the consumer picks up the order and, as a rule, also pays for the goods upon pick-up. REKO is free for both producers and consumers, with administration being handled on a volunteer-basis. REKO Lappeenranta has a delivery point in Joutseno as well as in Lappeenranta.

From the producer’s perspective, the difference between using REKO and selling goods at a market square is that the producer is able to see the orders in advance. For consumers, REKO is like a community event; for instance, both producers and consumers often exchange news and information about the products at the delivery points. The goal is to ensure as steady a supply and wide a range of products as possible, to the consumers. The extent to which consumers are consulted, for example, about bringing in new producers, depends on the ring. In Lappeenranta, the goals of the offering and steady supply were achieved earlier; however, over the winter, the producers’ offering have considerably diminished (the participating producers have sold out their stocks and new producers have not joined in). The only thing that is absolutely forbidden in REKO is resale – each producer only sells his or her own products.

How a food ring works

Lappeenrannan ruokapiiri ry aims to help the region’s food producers and interested buyers find each other. The food ring conveyes its members’ orders to the producers once a month from September to May. Dates are agreed upon for picking up the goods at the Sammontori delivery point. The food ring is constantly looking for new producers who are interested in joining the ring – the food does not have to be organic; all local food, i.e. produced in South Karelia, is welcome. You can apply for food ring membership by sending an email to ruokapiiri.lpr@gmail.com