Whole Foods Market / Boycott

Not great examples there. There are a number of British vineyards (and Northern French vineyards), and olive groves. Tomatoes are a native plant, and are tinned in the UK. And pasta is made from wheat flour, egg and water. As far as I recall, wheat is occasionally found to be growing next to hedgerows and by farm tracks.

There is no such thing as chocolate.

I'm not aware of any UK tinned tomatoes, I've only ever seen imported, dried pasta (actually what I was referring to) generally does not contain egg, it is made from durum wheat, every pack of spaghetti, fusili and conchiglie you will find on general sale is made in Italy or from imported wheat.

Vines are grown in the UK and wine is produced in small quantities, wine from grapes grown in the UK make up less than 1% of the UK market ( do not forget that wines labelled "British Wine" though made in the UK is fermented from imported grape juice) and despite what enthusiasts say, quality is generally low, "lesser" grape varieties have to be used such as "Muller Thurgau" that are more suited to our climate, If England were to produce even only 10% of the UK market in wine, people who prefer to buy local would have to accept a massive drop in qulaity and huge rise in prices...when was the last time you drank English wine? if you mean the "buy local" mantra, stick to cider, yoiu'd have to check with beer as the UK hop-growing industry is pretty much extinct and they're imported pelletised from Europe.

There is a single olive grove in the UK which is yet to produce any olives... I've seen Ginger in the hothouses at Kew Gardens and I've grown all manner of semi exotic fruit and spices (including cumin) myself, this does not mean you could create a financially sustainable spice farming industry in the UK. Indeed it is possible to grow more exotic produce in northern climes, which is why (strangely) most of our peppers come from Holland a country with a similar climate to us, they use huge heated greenhouses to achieve this, I'm not sure how green this is.

Tiswas they are great examples, and you didn't deal with tea, coffee, chocolate, although your comments are correct, they are classic "exceptions proving the rule".

A recent example of how things can change is the UK bread industry, until around 15 years ago most of the wheat used for british loaves was imported, mostly from Canada, however the use of new strains of wheat and climate change have allowed UK farmers to produce wheat that meets the minumum protein requirement to produce the kind of bread that UK consumers like to buy and now UK millers use around 80% Uk grown wheat, this is the sort of thing that can make a huge difference, possibly more than a small percentage of our citizens choosing to "eat local" for a small percentage of what they consume weekly... and should be encouraged, the impetus behind this change was probably purely economical and had nothing to do with consumer pressure. Unfortunately though this year, though yields have been high, the protein levels have dropped and millers have once again had to turn abroad for decent wheat.

Is anyone going to take up the UK only diet? it's a tough ask, similar to becoming a vegan I would imagine, a lot of sacrifices to be made, seems no-one hear wants to take it on fully, would the whole UK population? the last this came close to happening was during the war as the enemy was making it difficult to import. There was little variety, and there was shortages leading to rationing (which actually extended many years into peacetime after the war) since then the population has grown and the amount of land given over to agriculture has declined, the UK is probably not capable of producing enough food for it's citizens even if they were happy to eat a restricted diet, so the "eat local" thing will probably remain a "hobby" for a minority of concerned thinkers who are prepared to make plenty of exceptions.

BTW tomatoes are not mative they are sub-tropical in origin