I feel guilty about eating bananas that come from the other side of the world. When will we have UK-grown varieties?

Any British farmer establishing a banana plantation would clock up a hefty carbon footprint as plants need temperatures above 24C (75F) in summer and 18C (64F) in winter if they are to yield fruit. In the UK this would mean heated greenhouses and electric lights so, in terms of emissions, you'd be better off choosing a banana that has travelled from the Caribbean in a refrigerated ship.

Remember that the way in which your food is grown and transported is as important as the distance it has travelled. The latest research suggests that a sun-ripened tomato from Spain transported here in a lorry is likely to have a smaller carbon footprint than one grown locally in a heated greenhouse.

But don't cast bananas out of your fruit bowl quite yet. There is good reason to buy from the Windward Islands, one of our former colonies, since farmers there are no longer protected by EU legislation, instead competing against cheap, intensively grown fruit from plantations run by multinationals. Worse still, Hurricane Dean destroyed entire crops on several islands last year, notably those producing fair trade bananas. Buy these for a double whammy of ethical goodness (18p each, from Waitrose).

Remember that many fruits grown in Britain are coming into season. Take your pick from rhubarb, raspberries and early strawberries. Next month they'll be joined by cherries, redcurrants and gooseberries. So why not save 'nana munching for the winter months when Britain's fruit basket is less appetising.

My boyfriend is a fan of hemp products. Are any men's face creams made from it?

The Body Shop's Hemp Face Protector looks like the sort of thing that would sit comfortably in a boyfriend's section of the bathroom cabinet. With its grey packaging and a label that carefully avoids the words “beauty cream”, it is clearly designed with the stubblier sex in mind (£8; www.thebodyshop.co.uk).

According to Body Shop, it is a thick cream that is well suited to tough male skin. But I can't help wondering what aspect of hemp has won over your boyfriend. Could it be its intensive moisturising capabilities, since hemp seed oil, the crucial ingredient, is rich in essential fatty acids? Or its credentials as a sustainable product that requires few pesticides and fertilisers? Or is it simply the vague associations with something that you might smoke? (To clear that one up, hemp belongs to the same plant family as cannabis but lacks the psychoactive effect.)

Despite the best efforts of the late Dame Anita Roddick, and Alterna's Hemp Seed Shine Shampoo's (www.luxuryhair. co.uk) commendation in The Sunday Times Style Beauty Awards last year, hemp still struggles to shake off its hippy image.

It doesn't help that many products look like the ones on thehempshop.co.uk. With dreary packaging and a budget feel, its vegan face cream (£12.99) is unlikely to cut it with cosmetic-savvy women.

But, for a less fussy man, unlikely to be swayed by fancy packaging, it could be just the job.

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