Food Travels Long Distances To Reach Consumers IELTS Writing Task 2

Food Travels Long Distances To Reach Consumers IELTS Writing task 2 consists of three sample answers provided below. The task requires the candidates to provide a tentative and argumentative answer to the question. The sample answers comprise two parts: Introduction and body. The introduction is a brief description of the topic. The body contains argumentative statements and tentative answers to support the test-taker's perspective.
IELTS writing task 2 evaluates candidates based on the knowledge and views they have expressed. The areas that candidates are assessed on are grammar, vocabulary, and style. IELTS writing score is marked based on band scores. The band scores range from 0 to 9. Since the topics are very diverse, candidates must go through IELTS Writing practice papers to become familiar with a lot of topics.

Check: Get 10 Free IELTS Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

Topic: Today’s fresh food like vegetables or fruits travels thousands of miles from the rural areas or farms before it reaches customers in cities or urban areas. Why is this? Is this a positive or negative trend?

Model Answer 1:

Fooding is one of the most important basic necessities for human beings. So we need to eat food which gives us proper nutritional value. These days, we mainly consume food that has travelled a long time from their producers. Some people believe that eating locally grown food is good for health and I agree with this view as this will create employment and increase the local economy. Whereas some people opine that consuming local food limits the variety of consumption as people will have fewer choices.

Nowadays, the environment is a major concern for everyone after the outbreak of the pandemic disease. Transportation of food to a distinct place results in the burning of fossil fuel which is harmful to the environment. Also, the prices of petrol and diesel are increasing daily and as a result, the cost of transportation goes up which in turn increases the price of food products. Thus, consuming locally grown food can reduce the cost of consuming fuels and money. Another most important aspect of locally grown food is its nutritional value as locally grown food is free from preservatives. Fruits and vegetables which are locally grown are plucked when they ripen or are ready and this keeps their nutritional value intact. Whereas when food is transported from a distinct place, they are added with preservatives or plucked when they are raw and ripened with the help of medicines like carbide. Therefore regular consumption of imported or transported food will lead to health problems.

However, some people believe locally grown food is limited and not a viable option. People are hindered from consuming food products from other places and thus limits their option for having food. For example, fruits like oranges, apples, strawberries and grapes only grow in cold climates. Likewise, guava and banana grow in moderate or hot climates. So if people start eating only locally grown food then their choices will be limited.

To conclude, I believe giving preference to locally grown food can help in benefiting the health, environment and the economy, but only local food cannot suffice everything so little amount of transported food should be consumed.

Read More IELTS Writing Related Articles

Check: IELTS Actual Test ebooks Combo

Model Answer 2:

In this 21st century, malls and supermarkets are loaded with food products from around the world. Some believe that consuming imported and packed food causes detrimental effects on the health of people and the economy and it would be better if people support local producers and consume their food products. On the other hand, some people prefer imported food products for taste and other stuff and think local food alone does not satisfy them.

On the positive side, transportation and import of food from other countries give us lots of choices. We get the privilege of tasting varieties of food products from all around the world.

For example, we hardly saw kiwi or strawberries from Newzealand and Switzerland. But, now these fruits are available with every food vendor in the local market. Moreover, small farmers and food producers have a chance to expand their businesses globally and therefore it increases the overall GDP of the country. Sometimes it also helps in developing good and friendly relations with other countries which also helps in international cooperation and peace.

On the other end, importing food hinders the growth of the local culture. This can be seen in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan where half of the fruits and vegetables they consume daily are imported. Rich countries like Dubai also import their fruits from Switzerland and therefore the local production has eroded. Another major reason is health, as the food is kept with preservatives or in storage over a long time for importing and this reduces the nutritional value of the food. Also, there are health hazards to consuming these long travelled food as they have a chance to rot. Last but not least, the major reason is the environmental cost. Many food products such as fruits, vegetables and spices travel over long distances by roadways, seaways and airways making the food product more expensive. For example, the price of mango in Dubai is twice the price of mango in India and the only reason is the fruits there are imported from Switzerland. This also affects the environment as huge trucks and ships that transport food emit harmful gasses. Even though trade in food products has existed for decades, a reduction would help the local farmers and producers to gain money and it would also be a good sign for the environment.

Thus to conclude, I believe the production of local food products should be continued for the benefit of farmers and the health of the people consuming it and sideways, the food products which are not possible to produce in the homeland should be imported.

Model Answer 3:

Nowadays imported food items need to travel long distances before they reach the supermarket. There are several reasons for this trend and I would like to speak on both aspects of this trend.

Firstly, food trade is due to the lack of food in some regions. For example, blueberry and avocado grow in Canada and it is not produced or available in India, so people in India need it despite transferring it through airways. Moreover, the import of food is also important and useful for poor countries around the world especially when some countries decide to make donations for them and as a result, it will restrict the hunger in poor countries. Secondly, food transport is useful as one can visit another county they deal with and learn different cultures and traditions. Also imported fruits and vegetables taste good as they are produced with the help of modern technology and equipment. One can store packed dates brought from Abu Dhabi in his refrigerator and use them for a long time. The also reason for food travelling over long distances is overpopulation as local producers are not able to supply according to the demands of the population.

However, transportation of food products has some drawbacks too. To start with, the high cost of transportation to far countries, storage of food for a long period and encouraging people to consume more of imported goods than local food products. All these have adverse effects on the local economy and the environment. As people demand more for imported products the business of the local farmers and producers go down.

To end with, I believe importing food is necessary for all the people in the world and the government must find innovative ways to import food to poor countries, but also they must not forget the importance of local food.