At Slow Food Perth’s recent forum on food security various authors were mentioned by the panellists. Australian author Julian Cribb, who has just released his book on “The coming famine” article can be read here and Jeremy Harding’s article in The London Review of Books refers to some of the topics that were discussed at the forum. In the Atlantic Wire article “Is this the end of cheap food, various authors and comments can be found that highlight the issue from different points of view.
VICTOR Arguinzoniz is the said to be the best grill man ever. His restaurant, Etxebarri, is in a Basque farmhouse about 40 minutes from Bilbao in the village of Axpe. The seasonal use of local produce is reflected in the menus which are written daily. David Pynt, Terra Madre delegate from Perth is there for a 4 month work experience during which he will take time off to go to Terra Madre in October.
RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an immediate inquiry into the destruction of the world’s largest seed bank repositry, the Pavlovsk centre. In a follow up in the Guardian, John Vidal, environmental editor, explains further.
The station was established in 1926 by Nikolai Vavilov. During the siege of Leningrad, 12 scientists chose to starve while protecting the diversity amassed by Vavilov, even though the seeds of rice, peas, corn and wheat that they were protecting could have sustained them.
The Pavlovsk seed bank in St. Petersburg future hangs in the balance, the plants planned destruction is sparking fears for the future of food security. Slow Food has joined the protest against the planned destruction of Europe’s largest repository of rare berries and fruit. The Russian Government plans to demolish the building to make way for apartments. There are tens of thousands of living varieties of fruit and other crops, 90% of which are not found anywhere else in the world. Read the full story.
KEEPING a 2,500-year-old tradition alive resulted in an 18 course meal in July in Jerusalem, this was the culmination of decades of research by the dinner’s organizers Greenspan, a dentist, and Ari Zivotofsky, a rabbi, both 47.
“We have such a rich tradition but because of commercial food production, the only things slaughtered today are those that are financially feasible and grow quickly.”
Dishes included sparrows, doves, deer, roasted elk and grilled cow udders. Pheasants flown in from Rome were rolled into cinnamon pastille pastries. Greenspan and Zivotofsky found three kosher butchers, from Algeria, France and Israel, who remembered how to properly slaughter guinea fowl. A team of rabbis and academics explained each course to the guests. Read the full article
IN her article Eating for a better future Avleen Masawan explores all the topics surrounding food choices from sustainable eating, waste, farmers markets, food miles and some of the solutions towards achieving a more sustainable food situation.
PERTH’s Christ Church Grammar School Centre for Ethics director, school chaplain and Anglican priest Frank Sheehan believes that understanding food, knowing where it comes from and restoring our dissipated connections with farming are the keys to a journey fundamental to every human.
Canon Sheehan was one of six panel-members at a forum convened by the Centre for Ethics and Slow Food Perth in the school chapel on 24 August 2010 to examine questions of ‘Food sovereignty: what’s on your plate?’, attended by more than 80 people. The other panelists included Spencers Brook organic farmer Annie Kavanagh, Western Australia’s former agriculture and food minister Kim Chance, spice magazine editor Anthony Georgeff, Murdoch University food academic and author Felicity Newman, and rural parliamentarian Max Trenorden MLC, Member for the Agricultural Region in the state’s Legislative Council.
Slow Food Perth co-leader and forum moderator Jamie Kronborg said the panel grappled with some important issues: the food production and supermarket-driven, bar-coded delivery ‘chain’ and its effects on small, seasonal producers like Annie Kavanagh, the encroachment of concrete on urban-boundary farmland, Frank Sheehan’s ‘spirituality’ of understanding food and where it comes from and the restoration of our connections with the land, and Felicity Newman’s challenge to extend into the broader community ‘knowing where food comes from and why that’s important’.
The forum set out to examine ‘food sovereignty’ – the right of local people to decide what they grow and eat – in an Australian context. ‘It is a term well understood in communities with a long tradition of small-scale farming,’ said Jamie Kronborg. ‘In Australia, where big farming tends to dominate, and our place in a global market means that once-seasonal fruits and vegetables are available year-round, ‘food sovereignty’ might be seen as irrelevant. But a burgeoning interest in knowing where your food comes from – who grows it, is it local, and how was it grown? – together with a heightened awareness of the cost of ‘food miles’ and the effect of genetic modification in staple crops, is encouraging support for local farmers’ markets and prompting questions at the local butcher and grocer.’
In the wake of the forum, the panelists wrote:
Annie Kavanagh: ‘I came home buzzing mainly with all the things I forgot to say! It was such a great experience being able to sit down with an intelligent bunch of people and discuss things that matter for a change. I met some really interesting people too which is always a bonus. Thank you for the opportunity to take part.’
Anthony Georgeff: ‘Thanks for organising it and helping get the ideas out there. And thanks, fellow panel members; I could have quite happily snuck out to the audience and had a relaxed listen. Much to concur with and learn and also much to think about. Was a pleasure.’
Felicity Newman: ‘…If you have reached only one new person you should feel pleased with the outcome. That session grappled with such important issues. I also meant to say it was just great to meet Kim Chance – such an inspirational figure.’
Teresa Scott (CCGS Ethics Centre): ‘ Many thanks… A shame more people weren’t there. Wonderful idea having it filmed – we’d love a copy of it if possible.’
Slow Food Perth member Helen Paynter, a teacher at a Slow Food-Millennium Kids’ Food with latitude programme participating school, said that the forum ‘was a really good one with great speakers who obviously had much information to give the audience’. ‘My head was buzzing on the way back home,’ she said, ‘and it was so good to have a lively conversation with the woman who came along with me who, as she said, ‘has never given a thought about where her food comes from as long as she could get it at Coles’.’
Information
- Christ Church Grammar School Centre for Ethics
- Food academic and activist Raj Patel defines food sovereignty
- Susanna Wong’s forum blog report
- ‘Food sovereignty: what’s on your plate?’ was filmed. Slow Food Perth plans shortly to post the footage on this website
NINE year old Holly Gare of Cottesloe has written this beautiful award winning story about a tomato.
“Hello, I start off as a little seed and then I grow into a little green tomato, then I grow into a big rosy red tomato. I like to see all the little children around me playing. Sometimes I talk to the other plants that are near me and all the little bees…Buzz! Buzz! And chat to other insects too. I like to feel the cold water trickling down my red skin but when it’s hot it is like a big oven against my skin. I get all bitter in Summer and I get all cold in Winter and in Autumn I get covered in leaves but in Spring it’s just right for me and I love to see all my insect friends around me. I listen to all the trees swaying in the breeze and the sounds of all the plants getting watered drip drop drip drop onto their stems. Summer is horrible. Why does it have to be so hot? When I was a big ripe tomato a big hand came down and pulled me off my vine and put me in a box with a label on it saying “Boatshed.” Then somebody picked me up and brought me to Cottesloe Beach. Gobble, gobble. I was gone but when they spat out the seeds they started to grow into a big tomato”.
‘FOOD sovereignty’ – the right of local people to decide what they grow and eat – is a term well understood in communities with a long tradition of small-scale farming. In Australia, where big farming tends to dominate, and our place in a global market means that once-seasonal fruits and vegetables are available year-round, ‘food sovereignty’ might be seen as irrelevant. But a burgeoning interest in knowing where your food comes from – who grows it, is it local, and how was it grown? – together with a heightened awareness of the cost of ‘food miles’ and the effect of genetic modification in staple crops, is encouraging support for local farmers’ markets and prompting questions at the local butcher and grocer.
Join Christ Church Grammar School’s Centre for Ethics and Slow Food Perth for a forum on food sovereignty – ‘What’s on your plate?’ – in Claremont on Tuesday 24 August 2010. The panel includes the school’s Centre for Ethics convenor and senior Anglican priest Canon Frank Sheehan, farmer Annie Kavanagh, Murdoch University food academic and writer Felicity Newman, magazine editor Anthony Georgeff, Australian Landcare Council chairman and former agriculture and food minister Kim Chance, and parliamentarian Max Trenorden. This should be lively, challenging and informative.
Event details
Date: Tuesday 24 Aug 2010
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Christ Church Grammar School chapel, Queenslea Drive, Claremont WA 6010
Entry: gold-coin donation to Anglicare
THE annual – and truly local – community food and wine celebration known as ‘Flavours of Chittering’ will again be held in the beautiful Lower Chittering valley on Sunday 12 September 2010. The valley is renowned for its citrus, beef, honey, wildflowers, berries and alpacas, and all of these will feature in a market ‘hub’ at the Lower Chitterng village hall and green.
Slow Food supporters and members offering tastes of Chittering will include farmers Sid and Edith de Burgh of Baramba Beef, biodynamic vegetable growers Wayne and Margaret Brock, Alix Frew of Heirloom Farm vegetable, salad and herb seedlings, Maggie Edmonds from Maggie’s Place, Catherine Lee of Regans Ridge organic olives and Patricia Tew of Food Symphony. The Bindoon Bakehaus will also have its scrumptious bread available at village ‘hub’.
Chef Emmanuel Mollois will host cooking demonstrations, there will be guided walks and winery tours, and a long-table lunch prepared with local, seasonal ingredients by Cantina 663′s Michael Forde at Western Range Wines.
Beyond the market ‘hub’, visitors will be able to explore the valley and its wineries and enjoy lunch. Wineries open for the festival include Briery Estate, Hartley Estate, Jylland Vineyard, Kyotmunga Estate, Riseborough Estate, Stringybark Winery and Western Range Wines.
Event details
Date: Sunday 12 Sep 2010
Time: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Location: Lower Chittering Valley and village hall and green, Chittering Valley Road, Lower Chittering
Hampers: available on order from Sorelle Deli T 08 9274 1401
Web: Flavours of Chittering
Information: event brochure PDF
Contact: Nelson & Julie Mews T 08 9571 8850 or email
