- The Good Food Guide is going national this year. Presumably budget cuts, centralisation, bla, bla, bla ...
- The War on Waste aired on tv this week. Australia is the fifth highest at generating municipal waste in the world. That is a disgrace. Enough with the take away cups, enough with the plastic bags, enough with vegetable matter (one third of our bins is made from food waste - get some worms), heck, you can even recycle your mussel shells these days. Get involved.
- It raises many questions about what it is we actually need. Michael Ruhlman’s latest book Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America takes a look at the extravagance behind modern supermarkets. (The NYTimes also took a look at it.) Did you know that an American supermarket will have 40,000 products stocked in its isles? “Food manufacturers have found that they can increase demand and sell more products if they give you more variety. For instance, barbecue sauces: Caribbean jerk, sesame ginger, Hawaiian, teriyaki ... when's it going to end? There's got to be a limit as to how much we can actually absorb and choose from.” Our culture of consumption is terrifying.
- Apparently you’re also all eating too many avos. The Brits can’t figure out how to eat them without stabbing themselves, the yanks without pillaging the forests of Central America, and young Aussies without sacrificing a roof over their head. "Avocado smash" has become a global synonym for hipsterfication, and eating it gives off the same small-l liberal reek that sipping chardonnay once did.” Muu and I are safe, the rest of you ought to take a long hard look at yourselves.
- There is something apocalyptic about the idea of a frozen store of all the world’s seeds, and something even more terrifying about the idea of the ice melting and flooding the joint. No seeds were lost this time, but let’s be a little more thoughtful about sealing the door, no?
- Of course, there’s always the good too. I have a crush on LA’s “guerrilla gardener” Ron Finley. “It kinda ain’t about food; it’s about food justice. If you aren’t eating healthy, nutritious, vibrant food, how’s anything in you gonna grow?” He's right - hunger isn't an issue of charity, it is absolutely an issue of justice - and you only have to take a look at a few of the articles above to know we can all be doing more to even up the ledger.
Postcards:
Ok, I have a little personal announcement - I’m writing a book, a book on all things meat. I’m writing it with my former boss and buddy Anthony Puharich – it’s all very exciting. There’s a lot to research and a lot to write. Any meaty articles, recipes or must read books you know of would all be warmly welcomed into my inbox.
To sweeten a deal that definitely did not need sweetening, I am upping sticks and moving to the Mediterranean. Over the six months, I plan to make my way around the edge of that sea – when I’m not thinking about flesh, I want to understand how the water in between impacted the lands on its edge – an idea of terroir that is bound by the sea in the middle more than the lands, religions, languages on the rim – I’m thinking Ottoman, Levant, Mahgreb (and, of course, France). To that front, where should I go? Who should I visit (butcheries, farms, markets but also Med must-visits)? And if you’re coming over, let’s play.
I leave in three weeks, but will continue to write this missive from afar. The content won’t change, save for a little gloating at the bottom when applicable/when I can't help myself.