How far have those grapes traveled?

It's winter in Europe, but that's not the impression you gather entering the fruits&vegetables section of any supermarket: the choice is as vast as in the middle of the growing season. Asparagus, grapes, berries, peas, tomatoes, fresh basil, and so on. Nothing more "natural": we've become accustomed to the seasonality of fruits&vegetables being neutralized by long-haul airfreight. The Swiss consumer magazine Bon à Savoir (in French) has just published a very interesting analysis of the distance traveled by a basket of fruits&vegetables including 20 basic items (basil, cucumber, salad, grapes, sage, tomatoes, garlic, beans etc) to get to the five largest Swiss grocers. If you read French, the detailed table is below (and the full story is on their website), but overall the fruits&veggies in the basket traveled between 22'300 km and 48'675 km to reach, respectively, the aisles of Casino supermarkets or those of Migros, the country's largest chain. As I already blogged here, 1 kg of kiwi flown fron New Zealand to Europe discharges 5 kg of carbon; 1 kg of Kenyan beans airlifted to Europe "cost" about 3.4 kg of carbon dioxide. Did you say "natural"?