Apple Season

For those of us who live in the suburbs of Sydney, this is what apple season really looks like. (Not a Pink Lady in sight.)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

It's hard to believe that it is a whole year since I started writing here and I haven't saved the world yet or become famous.

It was last year that I wrote about having seen Food Inc at the Sydney Film Festival and it is only now that it is being released in cinemas here. Talking about this film with friends who are interested in going to see it has made me reflect on what effect, if any, the film has had on me. Certainly I have made a conscious effort this last year to try to make more informed decisions about what we eat as a family, although I would have to admit to not necessarily knowing that much more about the Australian food business than I did before seeing Food Inc.
Last week I attended a session at the Sydney Writer's Festival hosted by Griffith Review and listened to a panel discussion on ethical eating. The panel members – Pauline Nguyen, Tony Barrell, Rebecca Huntley and Sarah Kanowski – were all contributors to the Griffith review Food Chain edition. As with most sessions at the SWF held on a weekday, at lunchtime, the audience were predominantly female, middle aged and middle class. Not surprisingly the panel were talking to the converted and there was much nodding in agreement with what was being said. What concerned me is that simply being earnest and interested is hardly enough. What can you actually DO to make a difference?
Tony Barrell's piece on Nile perch 'How many miles?' I think nicely encapsulates the sort of problems faced by anyone serious about trying to eat ethically and responsibly. The Nile perch on sale in supermarkets in Sydney is fully imported from Uganda. Although the fish isn't native to Lake Victoria it now represents 90% of Uganda's fish exports and the livelihood for fishermen from Kenya and Tanzania. The fish has become so popular that stocks are being depleted, fish processing plants are closing and there is a moratorium on fishing.
As an individual I can choose not to buy Nile perch (I don't think I have ever knowingly eaten any) but that won't stop it being available in the supermarket. Woolworths could make the decision not to sell the stuff, surely customers would buy something else if Nile perch were not available. But what about the poor Tanzanian fisherman – who is going to find him another source on income? And isn't is all too late anyway now that the Nile perch has eaten its way through all the indigenous fish in Lake Victoria?

Too many of the issues surrounding ethical eating involve these damned if you do and damned if you don't scenarios. For example, Walmart is now the biggest seller of organic produce in the USA but giant agribusiness comes at a cost – pollution, food miles, food security, work practises – whether the product is organic or not. (See here for a report on Stonyfield Farm the manufacturers of the organic yogurt featured in Food Inc.). At a household level eating ethically also involves a fair degree of commitment, a certain amount of confusion and can be time consuming and expensive. Just trying to get your head around the multitude of issues is daunting but there are some very good sources of information, like Barry Easterbrook's blog The Politics of the Plate , which at least keep you up to date.
 In the end though I think that all we can do is remain optimistic - if everyone took a small stand, made incremental changes in their eating and buying habits then big changes would be possible. If more people questioned the big supermarkets as to their policies and required them to justify themselves perhaps they would be forced to make some changes themselves. I was interested to discover that Woolworths do in fact have a Sustainability Strategy but I haven't seen it available in any of their stores. In the UK at least consumers do seem to think that supermarkets have a responsibilty to make it easier for consumers to shop ethically (here).

For my part I I have made the commitment not to buy any fresh fruit or vegetables or any meat from the supermarket. Not buying from the supermarket is partly a protest against the control the two big supermarkets have over what Australians eat and partly because I want to support my local retailers and buy real food from real people. This is an easy decision for me to make because I have four independent butchers, five independent green grocers and two weekly growers markets all within easy distance of home, and I don't have to worry over much about the extra I might be paying for the goods that I buy. Not everyone in Sydney is so fortunate.

Food miles, and miles and miles

Last week at the green grocer's the asparagus was from Mexico.

At the Sydney Fish Markets the scallops were from Peru (who knew that there were scallops in Peru?) and the squid had come from Chile.

Can't we  live without scallops and asparagus?

Why have a choice of local or foreign squid?

Wouldn't people just buy something else if none of this imported stuff was available?

Neal's Yard Dairy - Cheese Heaven

There must be people who don’t like cheese. People who would find the idea of visiting a shop where the counter and shelves are piled high with rounds of cheese unexciting, even unpleasant. Such people do not swoon at the rich and pungent aroma, do not beg to be given even the tiniest taste. They are to be pitied.
If you are ever in London and need to visit a little bit of cheese heaven you must make a pilgrimage to Neal’s Yard Dairy.

Here you are not only welcome to browse but encouraged to sample and talk about their cheeses – from something like 70 cheese makers in Britain and Ireland and from Italy and France, made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats and buffalo – the choice is overwhelming. And the staff are unfailingly friendly and knowledgeable.

My favourite was the Stitchelton

a gorgeous soft, buttery blue with a rich complex flavour, produced on the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire using organic, unpasteurised cows milk.  It was divine especially teamed with the most fabulous Eccles cakes I have ever eaten which we also bought at Neal's Yard.

If you don’t know about Eccles cakes – rich currant filling wrapped in flaky/puff pastry and dusted with sugar -you should try them. Named after the town of Eccles (now part of Greater Manchester) where they originated, there is a good, authentic recipe at The Cook and the Chef.

Now that we are back home my latest favourite cheese is a simple guy called Tom from Bruny Island - available at the Eveleigh Carriage Works markets in Sydney.

Holiday Shopping

Although travel is suppose to broaden the mind, in this modern age when most of the world comes to you via one means or another, there is very little about the world outside Australia that comes as a real surprise once you get there. That said I still think travel should be compulsory – if only to get things into some sort of perspective and reaffirm that Australia is perhaps the best place on earth to live even if it is much too far from everywhere else (which is of course half the reason why it is such a wonderful place to be).

Watching all those English chefs on television and reading their books could seduce you into thinking that we were missing out on something here in the Antipodes but you would be wrong. I had naively let myself think that somehow shopping in Sainsburys or Waitrose or Marks and Spencer might just be that little bit more exciting than being in Coles or Woolworths. It isn’t. A supermarket is a supermarket is a supermarket. OK there are a few different products to look at – many more home brand, ready prepared bits and pieces – and the Waitrose magazine Food Illustrated is a much better production and far more interesting than any house magazine you might find at the checkout here but that is about it. The supermarket shopping experience is impersonal and sterile almost by definition.

The best places to shop, and my favourite holiday attractions, are always fresh food markets – where ever they may be.

And in London the most exciting place to spend a Saturday morning is the Borough Market in the shadow of Southwark Cathedral. Not only is the produce here wonderful (fresh and diverse), the market appears to be very professionally run – there’s a map to guide you around (who’s where and when they are open) and a quarterly magazine called Market Life which introduces the stall holders and what they have available. This is perhaps as it should be for a market which can trace its origins back 2,000 years or so and has been operating on its present site for over 250 years.  The market is administered by a Trust, a charity administered by the Board of Trustees, whose mandate is to hold a market for the benefit of the community - now there's a novel idea.

Everything available on the Saturday we were there looked so tempting! From fresh fruit and vegetables, to fish, shellfish, Bresse chickens, rabbits and game birds, pies, pastries and the most seductive cheeses! I could shop here every week!

A Supermarket-free week

One of the great joys of moving house is that I am now within walking distance of a terrific local shopping ‘village’. We are also in easy reach of two farmer’s markets which run every Saturday rather than the second Saturday of every month with an ‘r’ in it or some such other complicated formula which means that you both forget when it’s on and you can’t possibly survive without having to top up the fruit and veg. supply in between times. So I can record that I have gone for a whole week without setting foot in either a Coles or a Woolworths supermarket. I have had to make a few trips to the local IGA for t-bags and milk and the like but surely that doesn’t really count as a trip to the supermarket? At the IGA on the corner you can actually speak to the owner and the staff are cheerful and friendly and know you by sight if not by name. At the local Coles or Woolworths you can do all your shopping, go through the self-help check out and never have to talk to a soul – if indeed there were any souls with whom to converse.
These fabulous mushrooms were at the Everleigh Markets last weekend – how could you resist?

　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Michael Shuman and the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance.

Michael Shuman is the author of The Small-Mart Revolution which is all about how local businesses are taking on and beating the global competition. He contends that locally owned businesses are more reliable generators of good jobs, economic growth and social stability and by being innovative and creative they can take on BIG business and local communities can thrive.

I was fortunate to be able to hear him speak on 'The local food revolution: Why it is happening and how Sydney can accelerate it' at a forum organised by the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance.
To be honest until a friend alerted me to this event I had heard of neither the SFFA or Michael Shuman so the afternoon was something of a revelation.

The SFFA was formed in 2005 and aims 'to coordinate the efforts of rural producers, health professionals, community workers and community based advocates active in developing a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable food system in the Sydney region'. The forum I attended was one of several being held to provide the opportunity for interested parties to identify issues and actions that could be considered at the SFFA Food Summit which will be held on 22nd and 23rd October. The forums discussed issues under four broad headings

• access to healthy food
• planning for healthy food supplies
• sustainable agriculture
• food safety and health

In my capacity as a professional shopper and eater I felt a bit out of my depth given that most of the other attendees were rather more professionally involved in some way with local government, urban planning, community gardens, etc. etc. None the less it wasn't too hard to work out what was going on and to be able to recognise some of the important steps that need to be taken to ensure a sustainable food supply for the city.

What impressed me most was that so much of what Michael Shuman was advocating is already happening here in one way or another - the popularity of local growers markets for example is surely testament to the fact that consumers are aware of and unhappy with the stranglehold that Coles and Woolworths have on our food supply. Our gravest concern should be the fate of these suppliers who farm on the urban fringe. The farmers of the Sydney Basin (the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment on the edge of Sydney's western suburbs) provide 90 per cent of Sydney's perishable vegetables and almost 100 per cent of the state's Asian vegetables. Agriculture in the Sydney Basin is the largest industry in Western Sydney, employing around 12,000 people. We should all be doing anything and everything we can to ensure that this industry remains viable - our future depends upon it!

To market, to market

Last week there was an article in the newspaper which talked about the changes supermarkets were making to attract more customers. Apparently only 60 percent of Australian consumers shop in supermarkets. This statistic came as something of a surprise. Where do the other 40 per cent buy their toilet paper?
It appears that the marketing genii at the major supermarket headquarters have decided that shoppers like the market atmosphere and so they are setting about creating that atmosphere in the local shopping centre. To do this the supermarket is being transformed – wider and shorter isles, better displays, even bringing butchers and fishmongers back into the stores.
Who do they think they are going to fool?

As it happens my local supermarket is one of those flag ship stores where these changes are being introduced. Having changed the layout of the store every week for a month or more the customers now wander the albeit wider isles in a daze unable to locate anything much. Thankfully the aisles are also full of uniformed helpers who are unfailing cheerful and do indeed seem to know where to find things. When I asked for polenta I was told various brands were located in no fewer than four separate convenient locations. Yesterday shoppers were greeted by a very happy chappy in the meat section extolling the virtues of the sausages he was cooking alongside a sign which proclaimed that butchers would be back in-store from next week.
I have to admit to being old enough to remember the last time butchers were in-store at supermarkets. Behind the meat counter you could see the ‘butchers’ cutting the meat and laying it out on the little black trays and then wrapping it in plastic. On the meat display there was a bell you could ring and a real person would come out of the preparation room to talk to you. The big advantage of this set up was that if you only wanted two chops and all the pre-packaged trays held eight chops you could get someone to pack up what you wanted. And let’s face it the reason most people shop at the butcher is not just the personal service but because they desire to buy what they want in the amounts they require.

Apparently the aim of the supermarket management is not just to recreate the market atmosphere but also to re-invent the conversation that buyers have with the stall holders in the market place. Is being able to talk to the man who wraps the meat in plastic the same as talking to the man who raised the lambs, slaughtered them and then drove the meat to the market to sell it to you? Surely talking to the man who unpacks the boxes of tomatoes and arranges them on the display is not the same as talking to the man who grew them. What chance that my conversation with the in-store butcher will be stimulating enough to sustain me through the wait at the checkout?

And could any supermarket hope to re-create the atmosphere of a market? In so many ways the supermarket is the antithesis of the open market and was surely created to be just that. Food markets are noisy and crowded, sometimes a bit smelly, often very messy. The market changes from day to day and week to week – the stall holders change, the weather changes, new products appear and disappear, seasonality is everything and many items are often available in limited amounts. Markets offer the opportunity to compare quality and prices, to taste products, to chat to growers and to meet friends, share a coffee, be entertained by real people rather than mesmerised by piped music and bombarded with incomprehensible announcements. There is a sense of fun and entertainment and surprise associated with shopping for fresh food at the market in direct contrast to the predicability and uniformity of the supermarket.

When I go to buy my toilet paper and toothpaste I do want them to be on the same shelf and in the same place especially given that I can buy all the toilet paper and toothpaste I need for a month in one visit to the supermarket. I’m choosing and buying food almost everyday. Hunting and gathering takes up a lot of my time. I don’t see why it should be reduced to a chore when I could be enjoying the experience.
I can’t say that I am anticipating the return of the butcher to the supermarket with the same excitement as my trip to the market this weekend.

All these photographs were taken in the Campo dei Fiori, Rome.

Fourth Village Providore

More and more I find my enthusiasm for cooking is dampened by the necessity of having to go hunting and gathering. All that struggling for a parking space and then queuing to pay; seemingly so much choice but not really anything that you want to buy. How to avoid the tyranny of the supermarket? I am even more conscious of the need to shop pleasantly because it seems to me that in fact we should be spending more time buying food so that we can spend less time preparing it. That is we should be going to whatever lengths are necessary to buy the best and freshest ingredients we can so that when we get them home pretty much all you have to do is arrange them on the plate and then eat them. Well, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea – buy what’s in season and at its best and then mess about with it as little as possible.
When we lived in Melbourne I shopped at Leo’s supermarket in Kew. At the time I thought this was the one stop food shop to die for – wine, meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, delicatessen, cakes, bread and, yes even washing detergent and toilet paper all to the accompaniment of Andrea Bocelli. Nothing back in Sydney came close.
The arrival of Thomas Dux made a small but significant improvement to my suburban shopping centre if only because it meant that the competition lifted their game a bit. Thomas certainly has a better ambiance than your average supermarket, the range of products is reasonable – good lighting, well laid out, some good cheeses, more organics, friendly and approachable staff and, in my experience, always clean and neat.
Recently however we have moved and I am now in the process of evaluating a whole new array of shopping opportunities.
In the meantime I have been lucky enough to be introduced to the Fourth Village Providore in Mosman. Peter Quattroville and his team obviously know what they are doing! The atmosphere here is fantastic with a proper cool room for the leafy greens, beautifully presented fruits and vegetables, home made jams and relishes, a fantastic selection of vinegars and oils (including their own pressed from olives grown in the Hunter Valley) – a real foodie paradise with an emphasis on local products and the very best of those imported. They sell caramelised roasted tomatoes which are more than worth crossing the bridge for and the cheese room is absolute heaven (and I could happily take the young man who runs the cheese room – Anthony Femia – home with me too!). On my first visit I enjoyed lunch in the cafe area – a delicious antipasto platter which was served on a wooden trencher. All the food looked spectacular and tasted just as good (apparently there are two chefs – one Australian and one Italian and a pizza chef to man the oven which has pride of place).On a Sunday afternoon the place was full to bursting.
On my second visit I was there for a cheese tasting – four super yummy Italian cheeses matched with Italian wines. My mostest favouritist cheese was La Tur from Caseificio Dell’Alta Langa whose headquarters are in Bosia, a village in the mountains south of Alba in Piedmont. Made from a mix of sheep, cow and goat’s milk this cheese is hand made and matured for only a week to ten days. Each little wrinkled round sits in its own paper cup as much like a dainty cake as a cheese. It has a slightly denser texture in the centre and a gooey creaminess on the outside and a mild but deliciously complex flavour. Janet Fletcher in the San Francisco Chronicle claimed this cheese was ‘as close to love as a cheese can get’ and that it ‘provides the kind of sensory experience that makes tasters roll their eyes skyward and lean back in their chairs’ - which I’d say was about right. At the Fourth Village it was teamed with a spicy panforte and a delightfully citrusy quince paste – ambrosia!
The Fourth Village Providore, 5a Vista Street, Mosman