Food and Eating When Not Lcoal

For all of my soapboxing about food when I am at home, I fully concede that the rules don't apply when on the road.

When I was in Western Australia a cheese sausage was a usual option. Nutritional value: zero. Ability to be called food:  well doubtful at best. Would I ever eat one in any other circumstances - hell no!

And then there was the sausage rolls from the Williams Roadhouse (southern roadhouse not the one oat the northern end of town). Homemade, huge, filled with real meat and flavor. Nutritional value: zero. Caloric value: calories don't count when you are on the road.

In New South Wales I discovered the joys of "Service Centres" which are a collection of fast food outlets, a fuel station, toilets and sometimes even a shower randomly placed down the highways (being that most towns are by-passed these days).  And it is in these havens of celebrations to all things wrong with the world that I have discovered my lastest road food - Subway. Nothing organic, nothing local or free-range, just a multi-national doing its job.

And I make no excuses for my indulgence - my choice of sandwich has been the pizza (hold the marinara sauce) fresh with swiss cheese, all the salads including jalepenos, salt and pepper and chipotle sauce. I know salami and chipotle make no sense but that is one of the joys of road food.

The Politics of Food

Writer and Masterchef judge Matt Preston made a particularly insightful comment about the politics of food the other day. His focus was on how Australia still upholds European ingredients (truffles, foie gras etc) as the peak of food perfection when we have a number ourselves.

I have extended that thought and now consider the political nature of all food. Whether it be those who have much, and those who don't have enough; to eat meat or not; food miles; ethical growing methods; price; water usage, fair trade ... the list goes on. However you look at it, food is a political issue.

And even for the consumer that ignores all else and just wants to pay the least amount possible for their food, it is political.The politicians know it and the supermarkets know it. An example I saw in the catalog of one of our big supermarkets (the one with a W) was extolling the benefits (cost and taste) of their beef as the cows had spent 100 days being fed quality grain. Sounds much better than admitting they were feedlot animals lol. And then there is the fast food company that quickly mentions in their jingle that their chickens live in fields .... when the company that supplies them doesn't sell free range products. Don't tell me they weren't buying into the politics of food.

And then there is the politics of health claims of food products which i haven't even begun to discuss here.

I look at the marketing of food differently when I have my "politics" glasses, as well as the "sell sell sell" glasses on.

Fruit and Vege Boxes

I have joined a local initiative and received my first box today. It is part of the "eat local" efforts. So for $30 I have enough fruit and vegetables to last me nearly two weeks - so very exciting. I can get it weekly but as there is only one of me, I think I can extend it.

All the food is seasonal and within the food miles (yay). This time we got potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, parsley, cucumber, bananas, apples and tamarillos. Actually I am sure there is one or two more things - that's right - pumpkin :-)

So tomorrow I shall make my famous (with me anyway) orange vegetable and chickpea curry (vegetarian). And then I shall have enough for Saturday (election day). Actually I might even cook up a few dishes - I am thinking about a pasta with a creamy mushroom and parsley sauce - to put in the freezer. And I could even make a parsley pesto, or twice baked potatoes stuffed with herbs ... hmmm, so many possibilities :-)

I just remembered, there is some very fresh ginger in there as well - I will put some in the curry but then I am thinking about maybe making a ginger syrup to serve with a fruit salad made up of the bananas and tamarillos. And a ginger, apple and cucumber salsa which would go beautifully with (say) a pork chop.

I think I am going to love this :-)

Where is the Real Food?

Cloned animals - cows specifically have been declared as safe to eat in the UK. Now I say up front that this has been going on in South America and parts of Asia (?) for ages so it is perhaps less of a novelty and more of an inevitability than anything else.

Nonetheless I am struggling with it. Not the notion of cloning per se - lets face it, much (read "most") of our grains and vegetables come from cloned seed (think GMO) - but for ethical reasons. And I admit I have only had 24 hours to think about this so while my opinion is fixed, my reasons are yet to be concreted.

I understand that the meat and milk from cloned animals can be proved to be ok for human consumption, or at least not detrimental. And I understand that the future of food security for nations, and the planet, is dodgy to say the least and cloning of food products is possibly our only solution to maintaining our present diets. I understand that farmers have bred animals for centuries for characteristics that are beneficial to their market and that cloning can be seen as a speeding up of this process. I understand that a cloned animal can have an equal quality of life as that of a "naturally bred" animal.

What I don't understand is why we NEED cloned animals.

Our diets have changed significantly in the last fifty years, not always for the best but lets leave that argument for another day. Our portion sizes have increased significantly. Our expectations of all food all year round, and always priced cheaply seems to have become the norm.

As a result we have needed to resort to increased processed food, GMOs, fake meat and the like. "And the like" now includes cloned animals.

When will we start focusing on seasonal produce, farmed ethically and sustainable, and priced fairly? When will start focusing on REAL food, with real nutrients, with little to no processing?

Image: "Cows in the morning" by mrak9

For further info do a Google search or check out the BBC

Pork Problems

Okay so I have now worked out how to buy Australian bacon (look for the pink square) not that I have found any of it yet but then I started to think about the living conditions of the pigs that will be in my bacon (or chops or whatever).

I don't want my food to have lived in a concrete cell with no experience of rutting and grass and sunshine. Yes I need to find free range pigs for the same reasons I need to find (real) free range chickens.

Back to google and the phone book lol - if I am having trouble finding a home for a chicken, I know that a pig is going to be impossible lol

Image: "Ferdinand the Pig" by sekundek

More Chicken Bits

It is all too hard! Well no it isn't, it is all just giving my brain a workout. I have a response back from Lilydale and they have assured me that their fertilizer and bedding are all recycled into fertilizer.

That is all good but somehow it isn't good enough. So I now have a two pronged plan - if I need to get some chicken for something (say the birthday dinner party) I will get Lilydale.

Part 2 of the plan is to find someone with a chook pen that I can chuck a couple in every now and then and raise them for me in exchange for a fee (I don't have the land or mobility to keep my own chickens). Then it will just be a matter of chopping their heads off (I can do that) and dressing them (I can do that too). I haven't found anyone with a pen yet, and I haven't found where to buy the birds so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that the world keeps turning if I don't eat chicken.

The Chicken Update (and Beef and Pork)

Since deciding some months ago to only buy free range (preferably organic) chicken my consumption has dropped from a few times a week to maybe once a month. Two reasons for this - the product is harder to source, and I have decided to pay a fair price for the product (about double what cage birds cost) so it is less easy to fit in the budget.

So, I have been buying Lilydale chicken on the occasions that I do buy it but some further research has made me pause again. Their stocking rate comply with the FREPA standards (not the "new and improved" free range standards that give the birds an area not much bigger than their body size to stand on - still better than cage standards but not my idea of "free range") but it has been pointed out by my ever wise food guru (that would be you Graham) that the amount of manure produced is unsustainable for the land they are grazing on.

So now I have written to them to find out what they do with it. And chicken is again off the menu until I work it out. On the same subject, I have found a producer that fits into my Food Mile goals that is now selling their product in Coffs - I will give them a call tomorrow re stocking rates and manure to see if they are a viable alternative.

All bacon and ham purchases are also on hold until I can find a supplier that can guarantee that the pork is not a subsidized imported product - I think I have a lead there. And my beef is still grown on a farm 6 km down the road. And no I don't eat a lot of meat anymore.

PS - I know the Isa Brown is an egg chook not a meat chook but it was so pretty lol

Two Thoughts on Food

First thought: If we import such a huge amount of pork from Canada (some say 85%, others 50%, lets just agree on 'a lot') where is it?

The major supermarkets brand their pork cuts as "Australian" so it isn't their. My reasoning is that it must be in the ham and bacon. Now I have done a random survey over the past few weeks and all of the products I can find are labelled "Made in Australia using local and imported ingredients" (or variations of that). I understand that processing is required to turn pork into ham or bacon and that additional ingredients are required and that, as such, it does comply with our labeling laws but .... I mean take a piece of bacon, remove all the pork (from Canada) and there isn't a whole lot left to be called Australian! Something has gotta give on this one ....

Second thought: I am contemplating food security again. I may be wrong but it is my impression than we have pretty much learnt all we can to maximize production of our conventional crops using techniques and inputs to improve soil, encourage growth, and minimize the impediments of weeds and pests. That isn't to say that all farmers across the world use these techniques, or that they can't be tweaked for future improvements.

As we look to the future, to feed the future global population we will need to move away from "conventional" and into what will be the "new-conventional". This obviously includes the increased reliance on genetically modified food, vertical farming and food substitutes.

On this last point, they have almost perfected fake meat that tastes like chicken - and before we all say yuk and admit that we would never eat that, think about all of the other fake food that we eat - olestra, saccharine, cheese in a can, the list goes on. In fact any prepared food contains ingredients that would never go into the real recipe and we would never choose to eat.

It may be easier to reduce food waste and change our attitude to food but that is too much to ask. I honestly am beginning to think that my generation might be the last that will remember "real food" - I have already ranted about the younger generations (say anyone under 30) not knowing about real milk, what a real tomato tastes like, not knowing how to cook from scratch and how most of them accept GM readily (or with complacency), and all the rest.

The world is a changing and the more I think about it, the less I like this aspect of it.

Seasonality

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts from the BBC relating to agriculture and food security and the like and it has got me thinking. What applies to the England doesn't necessarily apply here in in Australia but bear with me.

The concept of something being "out of season" appears to have been eliminated for it will always be in season somewhere on the planet, or seasons can be replicated using hothouses and polytunnels, or the effect of the seasons can be minimized through breeding programs (genetically engineered or otherwise). There may be a variation in price through the year but generally availability won't be affected. I know when I was working with the lovelies they had no concept that there was a season for the growing of any particular crop.

As a result of this our expectations around food have changed and our diets and lifestyles have followed suit. I mean why both bottling your own tomatoes when you can buy them fresh all year around? I also acknowledge that there are social and economic issues including both parents generally working outside the house and having less time for these pursuits, house blocks being much smaller that the traditional quarter acre so there is less space for vegetables and fruit trees, and the overall urbanization of the population. Is this a chicken and egg situation? Not sure ....

I also acknowledge my passion for food within 100-miles of home is another layer of consideration. And I know that I have contradictory views in that crops like rice should not be grown in Australia for the simple reason of a lack of water but I like to eat rice. I also know that Australia exports large quantities of agricultural products and that changes to that would have a big impact, both socially and economically, on  individuals and the country as a whole. Not to mention the importance of balance of trade between nations and the existing treaties in this area. I also know that the size of this country and the range of weather experienced means that we are more able to produce food and less reliant on international imports.

So where is this all leading? Well if we, as a country, want to have food security as we progress thorugh the 21st century we are going to have to consider some questions before any answers can be found. Do we want to be self-reliant when it comes to food security or are we happy to collaborate with others? Are we really willing to consider the environmental costs of our food requirements (farming on marginal land, land clearing, water availability, various forms of pollution generated)? Do we want quality food, or food for the lowest price? Are we willing to make changes to the way we eat or live? What foods are now "basic" and we need to ensure they are "secure" and which ones are not? Are we willing to continue to subsidize some aspects of the agricultural industry to sustain communities and the individual farmers? I am sure there are more.questions but these were my starting points.

The reality is that I can find no outcomes to the proposition of food security until the answers come in. I know my answers - and acknowledge the contradictions that included in them. I think we as a nation need to have the conversation .... after there has been considerable education on the current realities of agriculture, and we re-connect with our food and its sources (yes the milk issue is still there lol). And we probably need to have the conversation sooner rather than later because the inevitable change that will occur will take time.

Carbon Footprint Update

Now that I am no longer a "worker" in the traditional sense of the word I have just updated my carbon footprint details.

I am now emitting approximatley half a tonne of carbon each year ... well a little bit over: 0.53 tonnes. Now I could be cocky and say it is waaaaaaay under the average for Australia but it would still take 2 planets to support everyone if they lived like me.

I do buy at least 5 trees each year and only need to buy one to offset my emissions, so I am 8 trees in credit that way but next weekend I will need to buy an additional 5 trees to specifically offset my American trip from earlier in the year. Yes I could use my exisiting credits but I want to offset the trip separately.

So, I am happy with the results but there is still room for improvement. I was contemplating saving my shower water for use on the garden but that isn't really practical with my back being as it is so my goal is to increase my percentage of food bought with consideration to Food Miles and to further cut down my meat consumption.

Just an update .....

PS: I used both the 1degree calculator and the WWF one to come up with my totals.

Asparagus Musings

One of the advantages of the arrival of spring is fresh, local asparagus.

Now I usually expect to be able to make my first purchase in about the second week of September but as spring sprang early this year I have started my search. I can buy asparagus from the US and Peru (I didn't even know we imported things from Peru) but none from Australia - let alone anything from within my 100 mile zone of preference.

Sigh ....

And did I mention I even have an asparagus peeler (bought for $2 from a garage sale) that is ready to go?

Nostalgic Saturday

I know I only read my brother Graham's email for the first time this morning but it made me Nostalgic for so many things, I just had to include it today. I didn't include ALL of his photos, but you get the idea :-)

"Sorry for taking awhile to give you an update on chicken No1. (Graham is growing chickens and this, his first, comes in at a delicious 1.8 kg!)

Here it is before and after (sorry about the picture I must have been shaking with excitement)

I just slow roasted it in the oven on 140 for a bit over an hour. I did absolutely nothing to it other than put a bit of olive oil in the baking tray and covered it with foil. I have had trouble finding time to put it on as most nights I am getting in around 8.30-9pm (got to love day light saving) by which time the last thing I feel like doing is putting on a chook to roast. It’s been sitting in the fridge in its little vacuum bag so on my way home from work the other day I thought I will put it on as soon as I get home and I can watch it before I go out to milk the cows. So I popped it on and got busy doing other things and I think I left it on a bit long. When it came out it was all golden and yummy looking, not to mention the amazing smell. I could have eaten it right away but the cows needed to be milked so covered it up put it back in the turned off oven. After milking the cows I processed another 5 chickens, with the borrowed plucker and stumbled back inside at 9.15pm.

Now I really don’t think I gave this chicken a fair go, I was tired, I had just processed 5 chickens which involves all the yucky stuff (I had washed my hands 2 or 3 times), it was possibly overcooked and it had cooled down to room temperature. I thought what am I going to do with it, the idea of eating chicken was not very appealing, actually eating anything wasn’t appealing. I decided I would just cut it up so could put in sandwiches add it to a curry make a pie or something. I started off with the legs, the meat was quite dark but not dry or tough, I could just pull the meat off with my fingers, then the thighs, wings and finally the breasts. There was quite a pile of meat and my curiosity got the better of me so I tried a little bit.............................., it wasn’t that good, it was great! It melted in my mouth the flavour was unbelievable it was undoubtedly the best chicken I have ever had. I tried another bit and you know what it was just as good. The first piece obviously wasn’t a fluke. By the time I finished cutting it up the pile was a bit smaller than when I started. I bagged it up into little bags and put 2 in the freezer and 2 in the fridge. People don’t know what their missing out on when they buy a factory chook. I was a bit worried that after all the work I had put into them they wouldn’t be any good but I am happy.

So I have got about 30 to go. I had a bit of trouble getting the scalder and plucker set up. My fist attempt with it ruined 2 of the three I did. It wouldn’t pluck and it tore the skin. I skinned the two and boned them out so I didn’t waste them. The water was too cold it needs to be at around 60 degrees C to loosen the feathers for the plucker. It’s an old hot water system that I cut the top off and it couldn’t keep the temp up so I have put a gas ring under it to solve that problem. The plucker was making a mess of them. The legs were getting caught in the hole where the plucked feathers go out. I don’t know how the owners get on with it but I made some modifications and it works well now. It takes about 10min per chicken from when I go and get the chickens out of the paddock to having them bagged up in the freezer, so I have only been doing 5 or so a night. Hopefully this weekend I will get them all finished. I am using the kitchen in the cottage for bagging and freezing them, it saves carting them over to the house and there is room over there for the freezer. It's not full yet!

The eggs are coming in pretty regularly now, I’m getting 5-6 a day from the 8 hens. We couldn’t keep up with them so the other week Nancy took 3 dozen to work to give a way as a bit of a promotion and today she took the first dozen that were getting paid for. I weighed them and they came out at 900g net so I think I should call them extra jumbo, the lid wouldn’t actually shut! At $6 a dozen my first customer was very happy.

I haven’t shown you any pictures of the veggie patch because there wasn’t much to see. I haven’t been able to weed much and my plan is not to do too much anyway, but until the plants get bigger it’s a bit hard to see them.

You can see the corn, some spinach, peas, the brown lines are tomatoes, the green is grass, I haven’t put up the trellis yet.

The pumpkin, squash, zucchini, cucumber, watermelon and rockmelon are all taking off, it’s hard to see them but we’ve been picking artichokes and the beans are really taking off as well.

The veggie patch is approximately 80m2 only half is planted the rest is access. I planted medic and Lucerne in between the beds which I mow for mulch. There is corn, potatoes, eggplant(2types), kale(6types), peas, asparagus, tomatoes (8 types), Spinach (2 types), radicchio, cape gooseberry, carrots (2 types), Beetroot, Salsify, artichokes (2 types), self sown lettuce, Self sown Tomatoes, Fennel, Celery, Leeks, Beans (5 types), cabbage (2 types), garlic, parsley, dill, collards, Pumpkins (4or5 types), Squash (3 types), zucchini (3types), watermelon, and honey dew melons. There will be something that I have forgotten so I will apologise to all the plants that I have forgotten and just say that I appreciate their contribution to the gardens diversity and ultimate sustainability!

Mulberrys aren’t far away either just think jam, pies, icecream........and then there will be figs, its almost too much to think about."

Hmmmm....

I have just got off the phone to Sunrice to ascertain what proportion of their rice is grown on the Ord. They inform me, quite happily, that all of their rice is sourced from the Murray-Darling system.

Ok, I declare I am picky about food miles, food and lots of other things but in this day and age of water management, not to mention the 10 year-ish drought we are coming out of, when the Murray-Darling irrigation system is so over-allocated, when Adelaide is screaming for water for human consumption, when wetlands are dying, WHY ARE WE GROWING RICE ON THIS RIVER????

Obviously I will never knowingly buy the product again - it is an absolute travesty of resource wastage! Okay MG, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in again, think 'calm blue ocean'...

This one phone call it has solved my rice 'problem' I will be buying Asian rice, where they have the water to grow the crop. I will advise of a specific brand when I have done some more research. That will certainly be more environmentally sensible than allowing this abomination to continue, with my consumer dollar, for one more minute.

Okay MG, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in again, think 'calm blue ocean'...

General Update

I have been eating big salads with a small piece of meat and a wedge of Turkish bread (from the freezer store supply) this week as my main meal. I haven't eaten much else although I did make Auntie Julie's zucchini slice for lunch yesterday. By eating fresh food it is not only healthier, but also easier to determine food miles :-)

Items that I have purchased this week that are outside my 100 miles:

• Funky lettuce - abut 4 big handfuls with more to buy today (I do have lettuce planted but it will need a few more weeks before I can start harvesting)
• Wonton wrappers (no local option)
  

Yes, there has only been two items - and I haven't actually used the wonton wrappers yet :-)

I got some great local vegetables too - tomatoes (vine ripened), cucumbers, zucchini - yummy! I also got some locally smoked ham, and local, organic and free-range eggs for the zucchini slice. Dorrigo feta was the crowning glory on my big salads (funky lettuce, tomato and cucumber).

Coffee - well it is still coming ...

So, now I get to the hard stuff.

• I don't have any more flour and haven't resolved my quandary about this one (the wheat is a bit outside the 100 miles but I haven't followed up the milling yet) so, as I don't need any flour for now, I am letting this one sit but I will have to resolve it sooner or later.
• I have almost finished my bottle of balsamic vinegar. Real balsamic vinegar comes from Modena, Italy and nothing else will do. Okay, I would only get a couple of bottles a year but... Is this a luxury good I could do without, or is it a kitchen essential? I am wavering (at this moment it is an essential) but the answer will determine whether I buy another bottle or not.
• I have almost finished my bottle of olive oil - Jingili from Western Australia - highly recommended. I don't appear to be able to find an alternative within 100 miles and as I regard this as an essential ingredient do I minimize the miles and get one from this side of the world, or do I go for a straight replacement (and if I do, does that make it a luxury item?)?

Add to all of this, the latest research indicates that just counting food miles might not be the best way to minimize the environmental impact of the food we eat. Some of these considerations I have already come across eg rice from the Murray-Darling, the Ord or overseas.

One example they gave, which got me thinking, was that if you live in London, it is more environmentally friendly to eat lamb from New Zealand than lamb local to London. This determination was reached when one considered all of the input required to the lamb from paddock to plate including fertilizers, water and the like. And even taking into account the shipping of the lamb from New Zealand, it still came out miles ahead - no pun intended.

As I live in a little food bowl here (with lots of water), and there is a good range of organic produce available, I am not going to factor in all of those other bits in the decision making process of what to buy. For a start I don't have the resources or the energy, and secondly I am sure that given the specific circumstances of the area, local will come out best. But in determining the purchase of things like lentils or chickpeas or whatever, some preliminary thought in the direction of the bigger picture would probably resolve a lot of my little issues.

Yah! I Am Not the Only One :-)

Yes I have found someone else who eats local - well took up the challenge for a month anyway. ABC reporter Kim Honan has even diaried her experience (long live the ABC) :-)

So what have I learned from this trail blazer - lots. Firstly I have been calculating on 100 km but I can actually look at 100 miles (160 km) so that gives me a couple of more options that I has sort of been considering - like a cheese factory 154 km from home that makes a regualr cheddar. Secondly she has mentioned a number of suppliers that I can follow up with including a chicken producer based near Stuart's Point and a Dorrigo yogurt. Thirdly, and most improtantly, this CAN be done. Yes it takes work but it is possible.

Other considerations raised by Kim are :

• The 90% rule. If I get it right 90% of the time is that okay? It would certainly be helpful for buying rice, bread and legumes. If I am going to do this "forever" as opposed for just a set-period challenge, it would probably be practical but how much of the integrity of the process if compromised....
• Many local producers use ingredients from outside the 100 mile zone due to unavailablity of the produce locally. And example was a honey flavored yogurt - the yogurt was all local but the honey wasn't. The way around this would be to apply the 90% rule but I am not totally sold on that yet.
• Yes you have to ask a million questions about whether ingredients are "really" local. It gets tiring and some people get an attitude. Many folks really don't have a clue, or care.

I do have an update on sourcing local produce but as I have a few more leads now, I will save that for another post....

Food Miles Update

First of all, this takes work - lots of work. And time, I think it will get easier as time goes on, but for now I must confess that sometimes I can't be bothered and just take the easy way out.

Fruit and Veg: I can pretty much buy it all locally and conforming to my 100 km from home policy. The big change is that I no longer go to the store to buy (say) potatoes, celery and carrots. I need to go and see what is available on the day and change my food plans accordingly. The organic food from the markets is a bit expensive but I will buy what I can afford and know I am supporting my local farmers and the planet. At this stage I am about 20% organic. I have also planted some lettuce, more herbs and an eggplant so I will be harvesting them in due course.

Eggs: No problem buying free range eggs locally - I have quite a few options.

Meat: One butcher sells beef from farms 10 km away so that gets the big tick. I haven't had confirmation on lamb, pork or chicken but the research is continuing. Haven't looked at sandwich meat because I don't usually eat a lot but I will need to do that at some point.

Flour: I have found a source of locally grown, organic wheatbut haven't had a chance to find somewhere to get it milled yet. I am sure the local health store will know but I just haven't got around to asking them. This also means that I haven't started making my own bread yet (although I did buy some locally made wood-fired sourdough - not that the flour would have been local) but that will come in due course. I will get a sourdough starter going at some point so I can eliminate the need for yeast. I am using up my existing flour supply to make pasta.

Cheese: I have found a local feta but am struggling to source a local cheddar (or other 'everyday' cheese). Haven't given up yet. Also contemplating the other delicious varieties I love so much as to whether they become (say) a once a year treat or whether they get the flick ....

Milk and Other Dairy: I would buy about 1 litre of milk a year so I might have to suck that one up. Butter, well it would be worth looking around to see if someone makes it locally but haven't got to it yet. Actually, thinking about milk, I will need to buy more when I start making my own yogurt so I will need to follow that up.

Bubbly water: Having a hard time not buying this - love it so much - but it is getting better. I always make sure I have plenty of ice on hand and I am keeping cold water in the fridge so that is helping the switch. (such a silly thing to get stuck on).

Herbs and Spices: There is one local source for pepper but otherwise I will have to just live this one. Okay I can buy some Bush foods but most of the spices come from overseas and I can't think of a way around that.

Coffee: I have found a local-ish coffee producer but I notice that while their beans are all Australian, they aren't single source. Last night I lashed out and had three cups of coffee - that would be my normal weekly consumption so, again, I might just have to make do here.

Other items: Rice is not grown locally but, from memory, it is grown in the Ord River region. I have decided to buy that (once I find it) simply because there is an ocean of available water there so it is not placing stress on the environment as it would if I bought it from land irrigated by the Murray River system.

Wonton wrappers, spring roll wrappers and noodles - no idea yet. Yes I could make my own wrappers easy enough although I am trying to work out whether I could really be bothered. I haven't found any noodle source and that isn't something that is as easily home-made. Will I need to consider this as an exception and significantly reduce my consumption?

My other consideration is storage space. For example I can source some great corn at the moment - and I do love my corn - but I only have a very small freezer. So do I buy a new freezer to store the corn (considering the footprint that that will have) or do I just eat corn seasonally? I can't do without tomatoes but I can bottle them when the season rocks around. But I don't really want to bottle corn and pickled cauliflower doesn't have the same versatility as regular cauliflower. Hmmm, more thought needed here.

As I look through here, I realize that a lot of my "little exceptions" actually make up a really long list. Will have to put some serious thought into that too.

Food For Thought

I did a bit of a grocery shop this morning - been a while since I did one this big and I paid extra attention to my food miles.

My latest considerations : I could only buy one brand of canned tomatoes that came from Australia - and that had a 50% price premium over the Italian brands - and it wasn't from my state let alone my neighborhood. I use a lot of canned tomatoes so now I have a choice of not using them, or reducing their use considerably, or concede that my food miles will be higher for doing so. And then I started to think about how far the can had traveled!

I realized that while I intended to drop my food miles to almost nil, practically that is almost impossible - at this stage anyway.

I was actually buying the tomatoes for a black eyed bean soup, and to restock the pantry. I then realized that I don't know of anywhere in Australia where they grow black eyed beans, and they weren't in the supermarket so that put paid to that option.

I got some red wine vinegar - a choice of three brands, all from Italy. Sigh, I gave into that one.

I went to buy some general (non-olive oil). I usually avoid canola oil simply because of the GM debate so I looked at everything else. None of the options available (yes I was in a major supermarket) had a pure Australia oil - all were made from 'Australian and imported' product. I even reverted to looking at the canola items but that was no different. Well I would only use a couple of litres a year so I will stick with my Australian olive oil instead.

The last decision I made, of any importance, was to not buy my Paul Newman's Ranch Dressing. I love the stuff but the ingredient list is way too long (and with way too many non-natural products) so I got some buttermilk instead and will make my own tomorrow. Now this is nothing against Paul Newman - all dressings are in the same boat - including the vinaigrette styles (which again I will now be making instead of buying) and in cutting out the 'numbers' this was an easy choice.

I went to buy packaged pasta but I then considered I really only use packaged product for fuel food, and not for actually savoring, or 'real' food. I left the pasta behind and shall make an effort to continue to make my own pasta - and avoid eating anything just for 'fuel'. To be honest I am not sure how sustainable that will be in the long run but I will make a strong effort.

I discussed this with Brother G and, at his suggestion, I think I have decided to keep a look out for a little mill so I can make my own flour. This will provide me with additional nutrition but I will also know exactly where my flour comes from - when buying a bag of grain you can invariably trace it to a specific farm - I just don't know where the supermarket product comes from so I can't even guess at the miles involved - lets face it 'Product of Australia' doesn't really help me narrow much down :-)

I have also decided to bottle my own tomatoes so will continue to purchase the Australian canned product until the local season kicks in later in the year at which time I can make a year's supply.

I am also going to make a supreme effort to get all of my fruit and vege at the local growers market. That is going to necessitate a complete overhaul of how I eat - probably making more vege-style soups with product that doesn't last the distance between markets but I can live with that - imagine real soup made with real sour dough (using my own starter and my own flour)....

When I decided to be more aware of my food miles, are reduce them where possible, I didn't actually realize what a big and complex job it actually would be. But I have made a start and shall continue to do what I can where I can. Shall continue to update as I can :-)

In the meantime I have a lot of research to do :-)

Food Miles Confession

I got some of my favorite gnocchi earlier this week and cooked it up yesterday. After I finished eating it I thought to check where it was made. Yes my favorite gnocchi is from Italy.

I just cannot justify the food miles in getting such a very basic product to my table so I commit here and now to make my own unless I find a product with *very* minimal food miles that is made in New South Wales from NSW potatoes. Yes I have considered the loophole that the potential company might source their potatoes from (say) Western Australia.

Okay it is only a small sacrifice but I am getting serious about my food miles. I can't make an informed choice all of the time but I certainly will when I can :-)

Food Miles Decisions

I have resolved my coffee quandary - assuming that quality and price are comparable, I shall be purchasing my coffee locally. And I may have found an organic coffee farm closer than Byron Bay too - even less miles :-)

I am still meditating on my love of bubbly water - yes I can drink lakes of it. Now it is Australian but there are food miles involved in getting it to me - not to mention the bottle it comes in. So I have decided to treat myself to one bottle a fortnight (as a transition) and otherwise I shall be drinking water, re-using existing bottles - from the tap. I am thinking that icy water might be an equal substitute so I shall give that a go. All in all reducing my food miles to nil.

I have heard of a restaurant that sources EVERYTHING withing 10 miles of the kitchen. I love this and shall have many posts on it to come. But I have figured that if a restaurant can successfully run with that basic criteria then surely I can do that too - or at least give it a damn good try.

Again I shall post my decisions as they come along :-)