Too busy to read?

Food transport only really becomes a big problem when things get put on an aeroplane. UK examples of this can include grapes and berries from California, fresh tuna from the Indian Ocean, baby vegetables from Africa and, perhaps worst of all, asparagus all the way from Peru. (You can't eat flowers, but many of them also travel on planes so the same rule applies.)

putting food on a boat, even from the other side of the world, can enable a relatively sustainable food supply. What turns out to be a fairly small transport energy demand comes in return for an important flow of nutrients from places with plenty of sun and fertile land to highly populated places that are unable to meet their own food needs. Nor are a few hundred road miles a disaster, although the fewer the better, especially when it comes to heavy stuff like beer.