Recently I was called by a third party to be interviewed by an ABC journalist to discuss the issue of what constitutes free range for a possible Tasmanian Stateline program This is an issue that is very important to me & one that is surrounded by confusion as to what actually constitutes free range.
On the surface I was OK about discussing this but then I gleaned that the thrust of the program was to be about exposing one or two producers who are alleged to be selling product that is not free range. This made me uncomfortable & I know one of the producers who had been targeted. I use the word targeted because that is how I feel the show will pan out-that it will be less about the issues of confusing labeling and more about an expose on someone who is allegedly being dishonest.
Whilst I would never condone the misuse of the term free range I feel that all avenues to contact the person(s) who are supposed to be doing this should be fully exercised before running what could be a very damaging story for the producers concerned. The person who called me agreed that this story had the potential to be very damaging & I asked, ‘Is that what you want?’ The reply was ‘No’, which was a relief to hear. I then suggested that this person contact directly the person(s) involved & try to resolve this before the story goes to air.
I understand the motives of the person who contacted me. They feel that their product which is free range is being undercut & devalued by other producers who are using the term free range when in fact they are apparently not so.
The ethical argument here is a no brainer which I fully get. If the labels are incorrectly stating the provenance of the ingredients-then they should be changed to comply, simple as that.
However beyond that, another issue emerges & it could be argued that the motive behind bringing this issue to the forefront & in this case statewide TV show is all about competition between rival businesses.
The question I keep running over in my head is why go to a TV show to get your point across when you haven’t actually contacted the principle person(s) who are allegedly at fault?
I would suggest that the parties concerned have more in common than they think-both are committed to producing quality products & both are passionate about this. There is room for everyone to thrive in this state if we all realize & understandthat there are many of uswho share this passion. This negativity is far too quick to rise to the surface, read the toxic comments on the Mercury website regarding the recent success of the Agrarian Kitchen & Leo Schofields subsequent response to understand the level of venom that exists out there.
I pondered this all day yesterday as I visited several farmers in the area who between them rear, goats, pigs, rabbits & cattle. I witnessed first hand the condition these animals are reared & have to say that in my definition they were free range, with the exception of the rabbits. This is curious because I’m not sure what governing body actually decrees what really is free range & what isn’t? Someone out there might be able to enlighten me. What is does highlight though is that the disparity of views as to what actually constitutes free range.
Another issue brought up by my caller regarded the producer who imported supply of their raw ingredient from the mainland & that somehow this was being dishonest because it was not mentioned on the label. This is not unusual; in fact the example I used to illustrate this point is the Christmas ham. Apparently we in Australia import a huge amount of frozen pork from countries like Canada to be processed here into hams to keep up with the demand over the festive season. Apparently one way to know if your ham is Australian according to my friend Elaine Reeves, is that if it is sold on the bone its Australian because we don't allow ham imported here on the bone.
Public perception is a curious thing though, a well known & respected poulterer here in Tasmania has made a deservedly great name for their product but many people believe that it is also free range but my understanding is that it isn’t. Does this stop me from buying the product?
Another issue I would like to bring up is this increasing chasm between the ideals of humanely rearing animals for consumption & the realities of intensive farming.
Food cost money, good food costs even more money. In my opinion many people simply cannot afford to eat what you & I would call ‘good food’. Does this mean that those who can’t afford ‘good food’ are being unethical? Conversely are those who can afford it ‘elitist’?
I am noticing a bit of consumer backlash against the notion that if all your food purchases aren’t of the sustainable, organic, local or ethical kind, somehow you are not being a good person. This is yet another hurdle for the less well off to deal with, carrying the burden of guilt because they can only afford the dozen eggs at $2.50 rather than the happy chooks dozen at $6.50. More than ever we are made to feel even worse about food.
Just a few thoughts for you to ponder.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A nice happy ending for a change
One bright sunny day in Smallville, Meg came up with an inspired idea.‘I like food & restaurants’ she thought. ‘Why don’t I write about them on a blog?’
And she did. She loved to eat out & she posted on each place she visited.
Pretty soon, other people started reading her blog & then one day someone actually commented!
Meg was thrilled to bits. ‘Wow’ she said to her trusty sidekick, Betty the Terrier, ‘Blogging sure is fun’ ‘Woof!’ barked Betty.
Meg ate & typed, sampled & posted & sipped & wrote; pretty soon she was getting comments from, well, just about everybody
But soon it wasn’t so sunny in Smallville & dark clouds of dissent rumbled.
And she did. She loved to eat out & she posted on each place she visited.
Pretty soon, other people started reading her blog & then one day someone actually commented!
Meg was thrilled to bits. ‘Wow’ she said to her trusty sidekick, Betty the Terrier, ‘Blogging sure is fun’ ‘Woof!’ barked Betty.
Meg ate & typed, sampled & posted & sipped & wrote; pretty soon she was getting comments from, well, just about everybody
But soon it wasn’t so sunny in Smallville & dark clouds of dissent rumbled.
Until one day she recieved a nasty comment, followed by another & then another.
‘Heavens Betty, some people are so mean!’ said Meg, Betty whimpered.
It seemed that some people were not happy with Meg’s blog.
‘Some people aren’t happy with my blog Betty?!’ she said sadly. ‘All I’m trying to do is tell people about all the lovely things I have eaten but instead all some of them do is be nasty’ the tears welling in her eyes.
Then in a flash she came up with another inspired idea
‘I know’ she cried ‘I’ll just delete the ones that are nasty!’ Betty yelped in agreement
Pretty soon it was all back to normal, once again the sun shone brightly over Smallville with Meg at her keyboard & her trusty Terrier Betty by her side
The End
Monday, March 15, 2010
New parents & Ex smokers
This is an observation of mine that has been gathering momentum for quite some time. I have collected enough evidence to pose a question which will define this observation & perhaps some of you might recognise it also.
Why do some new parents all of a sudden morph into ultra conservatives?
From being urban professional types buying or renting in the inner city where edgy meets grungy to then fretting about the same neighborhood having used syringes everywhere when little Bronte comes along
Or being empowered young men & woman free to express their sexuality & defend the rights for others to do the same to feeling threatened by the over exposure to the sexualization of daily life.
Enjoying food in all its diversity to micro analyzing every goddam ingredient like it’s a deathtrap in a can
Are these just signs that these people have just grown up, got with the program & finally become responsible adults? Does having born children re-born parents into completely new beings in the process?
I don’t mind that these changes take place, what I do mind though is the absolute certainty & self-righteousness that goes with it. People suddenly feel empowered to take their views to the extreme & in the process I reckon they’re at risk of being zealots.
Like the ex smoker who get agitated whenever someone innocently lights up & begins to bang on about how impolite, unsocial able, inconsiderate it is not to mention the health risks blah blah….
Right now you got a kid al of a sudden you’re gonna go all Ralph Nader on us, do you get a uniform with your new role as constable of the ‘Fun Police?’
Over the weekend I was curious to read about Mia Freedman’s about face on the issue of the overly sexual nature of marketing, TV & popular culture & its effect of young girls particularly. Firstly I agree with her. But I’ve always thought this, way before I had kids. She however was a magazine editor who made her livelihood in the very business she is now affronted with. Sure you can have a change of heart, who hasn’t, better late than never but I think it’s the ‘kid factor’ happening.
Looking deeper into this I think it has to do with how other people, adults view you as a parent. Perhaps these people need reassurance that they are on the right path? So in order to receive this affirmation we must display all the right signs that we are good parents. Some people take this as a cue to start berating & lecturing everyone who’ll listen of their new & righteous value system. What most people come to realize as parents is that nobody knows what they are doing as parents; we all just make it up as we go along.
Yes they are some conventional wisdom but that doesn’t prepare you for the curveballs that life throws at you. These curveballs are the defining moments.
Often I find myself rolling my eyes when I am subjected to a lecture on why such & such has decided not to eat this or that for the baby’s sake-do people forget that zillions of other people have had kids as well & though a wonderful time in your life, is not really that remarkable in the great scheme of things. Boy I must sound grumpy or in the very least like a grizzled veteran.
When it come to food I am truly amazed at how prescriptive new parents become, forensically pouring over the ingredients vigilantly scouring for hints of lurking menace-Shit it’s the same can of baked beans as it was before baby Jack was born!
Also I giggle at the earnestness & almost monastic like dedication to making sure everything young Tarquin consumes is bio dynamic, organic or free trade-Like the baby cares! Yes yes yes I‘ve spruiked these products before but the point about this particular issue is that there seems to be yet another ‘pressure’ applied top parents that if they don’t follow this dietary regimen, then they are not being good parents!
I mean what did our parents feed us? The answer? Whatever they thought was OK. Lately we seem to be drowning in information overload, informed choices yes, unnecessary guilt inducing psycho-babble, No thanks!
In closing, please remember new parents, many, many have tread the path before you & whilst not wanting to diminish your time of wonderment, hearing your zealous beliefs is a bit like enduring those dreaded holiday slideshows & I’m SO over it.
Why do some new parents all of a sudden morph into ultra conservatives?
From being urban professional types buying or renting in the inner city where edgy meets grungy to then fretting about the same neighborhood having used syringes everywhere when little Bronte comes along
Or being empowered young men & woman free to express their sexuality & defend the rights for others to do the same to feeling threatened by the over exposure to the sexualization of daily life.
Enjoying food in all its diversity to micro analyzing every goddam ingredient like it’s a deathtrap in a can
Are these just signs that these people have just grown up, got with the program & finally become responsible adults? Does having born children re-born parents into completely new beings in the process?
I don’t mind that these changes take place, what I do mind though is the absolute certainty & self-righteousness that goes with it. People suddenly feel empowered to take their views to the extreme & in the process I reckon they’re at risk of being zealots.
Like the ex smoker who get agitated whenever someone innocently lights up & begins to bang on about how impolite, unsocial able, inconsiderate it is not to mention the health risks blah blah….
Right now you got a kid al of a sudden you’re gonna go all Ralph Nader on us, do you get a uniform with your new role as constable of the ‘Fun Police?’
Over the weekend I was curious to read about Mia Freedman’s about face on the issue of the overly sexual nature of marketing, TV & popular culture & its effect of young girls particularly. Firstly I agree with her. But I’ve always thought this, way before I had kids. She however was a magazine editor who made her livelihood in the very business she is now affronted with. Sure you can have a change of heart, who hasn’t, better late than never but I think it’s the ‘kid factor’ happening.
Looking deeper into this I think it has to do with how other people, adults view you as a parent. Perhaps these people need reassurance that they are on the right path? So in order to receive this affirmation we must display all the right signs that we are good parents. Some people take this as a cue to start berating & lecturing everyone who’ll listen of their new & righteous value system. What most people come to realize as parents is that nobody knows what they are doing as parents; we all just make it up as we go along.
Yes they are some conventional wisdom but that doesn’t prepare you for the curveballs that life throws at you. These curveballs are the defining moments.
Often I find myself rolling my eyes when I am subjected to a lecture on why such & such has decided not to eat this or that for the baby’s sake-do people forget that zillions of other people have had kids as well & though a wonderful time in your life, is not really that remarkable in the great scheme of things. Boy I must sound grumpy or in the very least like a grizzled veteran.
When it come to food I am truly amazed at how prescriptive new parents become, forensically pouring over the ingredients vigilantly scouring for hints of lurking menace-Shit it’s the same can of baked beans as it was before baby Jack was born!
Also I giggle at the earnestness & almost monastic like dedication to making sure everything young Tarquin consumes is bio dynamic, organic or free trade-Like the baby cares! Yes yes yes I‘ve spruiked these products before but the point about this particular issue is that there seems to be yet another ‘pressure’ applied top parents that if they don’t follow this dietary regimen, then they are not being good parents!
I mean what did our parents feed us? The answer? Whatever they thought was OK. Lately we seem to be drowning in information overload, informed choices yes, unnecessary guilt inducing psycho-babble, No thanks!
In closing, please remember new parents, many, many have tread the path before you & whilst not wanting to diminish your time of wonderment, hearing your zealous beliefs is a bit like enduring those dreaded holiday slideshows & I’m SO over it.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
I love the mornings
I love the mornings
They start with so much promise.
The street is empty save for a man who shuffles from dawn to dusk, where does he go at night?
The newsagency is stirring, doing the early paper runs but his sign isn’t out yet.
I scan the car park as my Ute turns off the street.
Out of the Ute & past the bins, next door’s mangy cat scrambles away
The key into the lock & I’m in.
The room looks big & it’s still warm from the night before.
I turn the coffee machine on & the element hums
Then I flick on the till
& then the music, this time, Amy Winehouse, she’s still singing about rehab.
I move to the darkened kitchen & check the breads still snoozing under their doona
My, they’ve grown overnight-great!
The oven gets flicked on in the pastry section whilst sacks of flour stand like extras
One day, they dream, I will become bread.
Sadly, not today.
The second oven is switched on.
The dishwasher lurches into life at the flick of the lever & another day of repetition waits.
I move all the pots & pans from the benches to the floor, arrange the bins.
I start spooning muffin mix into parchment moulds & deliberate three flavours
Set the timer, then its time to wake those dozy sourdough loaves.
They will awake to 180C for one hour & will be re-born in the process.
To borrow a line from ‘Alien, “In an oven, no one can hear you scream”
Bread in, muffins in, it’s time to absorb the message book.
‘Lady rang about sunnies she left on table three’
‘Wine rep called, such & such needs the 23rd off & the tap needs fixing’
The element on the coffee machine has heated.
Like a dog channelling ultra high frequency sound-I know when it’s hot enough
The ritual begins & I make my first coffee for the day.
None of them, no matter how many I consume throughout the day, ever surpass that glorious & deep satisfaction that I experience from that first cup.
I take it upstairs, past the till, past the ovens & their alluring smells, out the door & up the steps & sip it, savouring each mouthful whilst taking in the view of the paddocks as the town wakes up. It’s my time.
Everyone will be here in half an hour & the day will really begin.
They start with so much promise.
The street is empty save for a man who shuffles from dawn to dusk, where does he go at night?
The newsagency is stirring, doing the early paper runs but his sign isn’t out yet.
I scan the car park as my Ute turns off the street.
Out of the Ute & past the bins, next door’s mangy cat scrambles away
The key into the lock & I’m in.
The room looks big & it’s still warm from the night before.
I turn the coffee machine on & the element hums
Then I flick on the till
& then the music, this time, Amy Winehouse, she’s still singing about rehab.
I move to the darkened kitchen & check the breads still snoozing under their doona
My, they’ve grown overnight-great!
The oven gets flicked on in the pastry section whilst sacks of flour stand like extras
One day, they dream, I will become bread.
Sadly, not today.
The second oven is switched on.
The dishwasher lurches into life at the flick of the lever & another day of repetition waits.
I move all the pots & pans from the benches to the floor, arrange the bins.
I start spooning muffin mix into parchment moulds & deliberate three flavours
Set the timer, then its time to wake those dozy sourdough loaves.
They will awake to 180C for one hour & will be re-born in the process.
To borrow a line from ‘Alien, “In an oven, no one can hear you scream”
Bread in, muffins in, it’s time to absorb the message book.
‘Lady rang about sunnies she left on table three’
‘Wine rep called, such & such needs the 23rd off & the tap needs fixing’
The element on the coffee machine has heated.
Like a dog channelling ultra high frequency sound-I know when it’s hot enough
The ritual begins & I make my first coffee for the day.
None of them, no matter how many I consume throughout the day, ever surpass that glorious & deep satisfaction that I experience from that first cup.
I take it upstairs, past the till, past the ovens & their alluring smells, out the door & up the steps & sip it, savouring each mouthful whilst taking in the view of the paddocks as the town wakes up. It’s my time.
Everyone will be here in half an hour & the day will really begin.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Savour Tasmania slips under local radar
I know I've been busy but I was just wondering if I dozed off & missed something.
Apparently Savour Tasmania is on again this year. They have secured some amazing Australian & overseas talent for the event which is exciting.
Trouble is I had to find out about it on Twitter last week & from the mainland newspapers today.
Can anyone tell me if there has been a local news story alerting us to this event because I may have missed it?
It will be on in Hobart 27-30 May & Launceston 4-6 June.
Just two months away.
Received an email just now that confirmed details & bookings info will be available on the Savour Tasmania website in late March.
Apparently Savour Tasmania is on again this year. They have secured some amazing Australian & overseas talent for the event which is exciting.
Trouble is I had to find out about it on Twitter last week & from the mainland newspapers today.
Can anyone tell me if there has been a local news story alerting us to this event because I may have missed it?
It will be on in Hobart 27-30 May & Launceston 4-6 June.
Just two months away.
Received an email just now that confirmed details & bookings info will be available on the Savour Tasmania website in late March.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Position(s) Vacant
Hi all.
The Red Velvet Lounge needs a skilled, passionate chef or cook to work Frid & Sat evenings from 3pm to about 11pm for a new project. The job may evolve into a couple more shifts but that depends on the person. Its an exciting opportunity for the right candidate
Also, calling all Gardener's. I am seeking the skills of a qualified gardener for another project I have in mind. It would probably be a part time position but could evolve as these things tend to do!
Living in Cygnet would be advantageous for both positions
All enquiries to: silvercreekfarm@bigpond.com
The Red Velvet Lounge needs a skilled, passionate chef or cook to work Frid & Sat evenings from 3pm to about 11pm for a new project. The job may evolve into a couple more shifts but that depends on the person. Its an exciting opportunity for the right candidate
Also, calling all Gardener's. I am seeking the skills of a qualified gardener for another project I have in mind. It would probably be a part time position but could evolve as these things tend to do!
Living in Cygnet would be advantageous for both positions
All enquiries to: silvercreekfarm@bigpond.com
Trade Secrets
My friend Victor at Foodtrail has made a very good point in a comment on my last post, Rabbit Tutorial which has got me thinking again.
He asks:’ why am I giving away my trade secrets?’
Good question & one that I’ve wrestled with over the years. It’s also one that bobs up occasionally when I have been asked to do cooking demos or hold a class now & again.
A large part of me, the generous side, feels totally at ease if not energised at the prospect of me being able to equip someone with the knowledge to be able to cook something.
A smaller part of me, the miserly part which gets anxious about professional protection is challenged by this notion of giving, an experience forged by nearly thirty years of hard graft, away for free.
Years ago chefs were a very secretive bunch & some today still are. I would say that many people might be surprised that chefs generally don’t swap recipes & share information as such. I think this might be because our ranks contain mostly men & we are a competitive bunch at heart. I cannot say if woman chefs share info any differently though.
So my question to you dear reader (actually I hope there is more than one of you out there!) is this:
Should chefs give away their recipes or not?
He asks:’ why am I giving away my trade secrets?’
Good question & one that I’ve wrestled with over the years. It’s also one that bobs up occasionally when I have been asked to do cooking demos or hold a class now & again.
A large part of me, the generous side, feels totally at ease if not energised at the prospect of me being able to equip someone with the knowledge to be able to cook something.
A smaller part of me, the miserly part which gets anxious about professional protection is challenged by this notion of giving, an experience forged by nearly thirty years of hard graft, away for free.
Years ago chefs were a very secretive bunch & some today still are. I would say that many people might be surprised that chefs generally don’t swap recipes & share information as such. I think this might be because our ranks contain mostly men & we are a competitive bunch at heart. I cannot say if woman chefs share info any differently though.
So my question to you dear reader (actually I hope there is more than one of you out there!) is this:
Should chefs give away their recipes or not?
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