Our aspiring journalist from London talks about why she wants to see behind the scenes of frozen foods and what she hopes to discover.

What made you want to be a field operative for CoolCookery.co.uk?

A chance to explore British food issues, and get exposed to “harvesting-to-food” process, that is, how does our food get to our table, and is it environmentally sound?

What were you hoping to find out?

I was hoping to find out that there is a minimum of waste processing involved, and that most aspects of cultivated frozen food are environmentally sound.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I am in truth a hoarder in my freezer and secretly love to eat things directly from the packaging while standing beside the refrigerator!

What were your preconceptions of frozen foods, and in particular broccoli before you became a field operative?

My preconceived notion of frozen foods were that they were a convenience food – available to grab at a moment’s notice but always as a matter of speed and costs savings, particularly when I’m feeling quite uncreative. In reality, I had no idea what visiting a broccoli farm would be like, although I was already a big fan of frozen stir-fry ready-made meals!

Why did you think this excursion was relative to you?

I thought it was important to find out where a lot of the processed foods that ended up in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Tesco got to my doorstep – what was the process? How hygienic is it? And was it necessarily a bad thing that it was packaged as opposed to the foods I bought from my local market which aren’t?

What have you learnt about frozen food from your day out?

That although it is marketed as a convenience factor for time-depleted consumers, process of freezing food actually quite intricate. It involves just as much effort and harvesting as organic produce, and has the added convenience of being flash frozen as soon as it’s harvested, which means it won’t degrade as it’s transported by truck to my grocer’s back door!