Looming crisis in Australian seafood supply

On February 11, 2012, in the nose, by pauline
0

NICK Ruello talks to ABC’s Bush Telegraph program presenter Cameron Mitchell about the looming crisis in our Australian seafood supply. Seventy two percent of seafood eaten in Australia is imported says Ruello who is an independent seafood consultant, listen further to the discussion.
Noted also by the Australian Marine Conservation’s recent posting on their web site, “World Heritage Shark and Chips” that Sharks are leaving the Great Barrier Reef in vast numbers. But they are not leaving to find food or a place to breed. They are leaving in boats with their fins hacked off and their flesh packaged up as frozen meat, and often their flesh ends up as ‘flake in Australian fish and chips shops.

Tagged with: • • •
 

Saving Australian farming

On January 31, 2012, in the nose, by pauline
0

THIS year 2012 is The Australian Year of the Farmer and a dedicated web site has been set up so one can learn more about this not for profit, non political organisation. The Australian Year of the Farmer aims to reach out to every Australian to involve and bring together rural and urban communities, schools, farming organisation, suppliers and the producers. There will be year-long program of events across the nation.
Australia’s farmers should be recognised and celebrated: for feeding the nation and for leading the world in farming techniques and innovation. Read more.
Save Australian Farming organisation’s web site suggests we break the habit of doing our weekly shop at one of the two big supermarkets. Grow our own vegetables and schedule a weekend visit to one of the many Farmers Markets that are springing up around Perth.

Tagged with: • • • •
 

Small changes make a difference

On January 19, 2012, in the nose, by pauline
0

CAROLYN Steel, architect and author of Hungry City used to think about the city through its built environments, now she thinks about it through food. She wants us to to see cities that have food at their centre. For Steel this is one of the most urgent tasks facing the potential 5 billion or 61 percent of people that will be living in cities by 2030.
‘Because we don’t see food’s influence, we leave it up to Coles and Woolworths and Tesco,’ says Steel. ‘We no longer value food.’. “Steel believes that this invisibility leads to unrealistic expectations of cheap food – and allows us to ignore the land and water degradation that result.
“80 percent of global trade in food now is controlled by just five multinational corporations. And if we look to the future, it’s an unsustainable diet.
Further information from Carolyn Steel’s “Hungry City” web site
Journalist Alan Saunders from ABC’s “By Design” poses the question “How can we change things? “Small changes make a difference, ‘sharing food, knowing where your food comes from and cooking it seasonally and locally. Listen to interview

Tagged with: • • • • •
 

Regenerative Agriculture in Australia

On December 27, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

ABC Bush Telegraph interview with founder Tony Coote of the biodynamic Mulloon Creek Natural Farm and founder of the Mulloon Institute is an amazing positive story of regenerative agriculture in Australia. The institute serves as a research centre for regenerative agriculture. Listen to interview.
The Mulloon Institute is a not for profit organisation that develops knowledge through its research and education programs, that is then used by the farm managers to improve the farming methods being applied, showing that they can be proven to work at a farm scale. Read more and listen to Tony Coote explain his story.

Tagged with: • • • •
 

City agriculture

On December 7, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

INDUSTRIAL sized roof top garden planned for Berlin, this massive 7000 square metre former factory roof is earmarked for a sustainable garden producing both fish and vegetables for local residents. This could be a model for future city farms. Read further

Tagged with: • • • •
 

Food sovereignty versus food security

On November 28, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

WHAT is the difference?
Food security simply aims to ensure that people have sufficient
food to eat. It is not concerned about how this food
is produced, nor the means by which people might
attain this fundamental right. By contrast, food
sovereignty requires not just that everyone is properly
fed, but that the food system that feeds us is just and
sustainable.
Read further from the World Development Movement’s campaign on the speculation of food.

Tagged with: • •
 

Food Rescue launched

On November 11, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
4

THIS just and worthy cause “Food Rescue” was launched last night by the Governor General Malcolm McCusker AO QC, his wife Tonya and founder Jacqui Jordan. Food Rescue has already provided 45,000 meals to the homeless shelters, women’s refuges, youth crisis accommodation centres, drug and alcohol crisis centres, struggling families and the aged community. Food Rescue is the missing link between thousands of tons of fresh nutritious food thrown into landfill each year by the food industry and the thousands of hungry and disadvantaged Western Australian people in need.
The Food Rescue blog is full of up to date news on important issues around food. Read more about this valuable social, not for profit organisation that is now in place to show compassion for all humanity and the environment. Thank you Jacqui and your team for all your hard work and an uplifting evening.

Tagged with: • •
 

Small store succeeds

On October 27, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

A fine example of a small store influencing how people think about food is found in Sam Mogannam,s Bi Rite store in San Francisco. Slow Food’s San Francisco Convivium interviews Mogannam on film about the rise of the small store and peoples increasing interest in where their food comes from.
San Francisco Magazine notes, that ever since Mogannam took the reins from his father and uncle, sales have grown by $1 million every year. No wonder other retailers want to visit and see what all the fuss is about, especially in an economic time when it is not rare to hear about small businesses that are losing that kind of money each year. Bi-Rite’s sales have increased exponentially from $1.25 million in 1998 to $13.8 million in 2010.
Bi-Rite seems to be ahead of the curve on exceeding not only consumer demand for more locally produced, sustainable, fresh food, but consumers’ desires to learn about where that food comes from and how it is produced. Read more

Tagged with: • • • •
 

Gaston Acurio

On September 12, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

AISHA Spiers reporting in the September Monocle magazine on Gaston Acurio, highlights the impact this pioneer of Novandina cooking has had on restoring Peru’s cultural pride. Acurio has put Peru on the gastronomical map over the past decade. His culinary institute, situated in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Lima, is a testament to Acurio’s belief that chefs have a moral duty,”The institute embodies the reason that as chefs in a poor country, we must accept the challenge of adding value and developing the great resources and people that surround us”.
Peru is not only the birthplace of the potato, of roughly 4,500 varieties of potatoes on Earth, 3,000 are indigenous to Peru, but for hundreds of years it has been a blend of foods from four continents.
Acurio saw an opportunity to unite the country’s cooks, he believed that chefs could lead the way by breaking down the divide between traditional cooks and modern chefs. He and his team visited small farms and street food vendors in order to build a trust through the entire food industry in Lima
Peruvian Cuisine is one of the main driving forces of Peru’s rapid economic development in the last 15 years, and growing national pride, read further

Tagged with: • • •
 

Innovators

On August 24, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
0

GUNTER Pauli, economist, innovator and entrepreneur was interviewed on ABC Big Ideas last week about the philosophy of his Blue Economy. As he introduced the Blue Economy, he paid tribute to the people who have influenced him over the past 40 years. People such as environmentalist Lester Brown, Hazel Henderson of Ethical Markets, Carlo Petrini founder of Slow Food. Gunther highlights that we have accepted over the years that what is good for you costs money but as he says, so many cannot afford it. But his philosophy is that whatever is necessary for life should be cheap and whatever is indispensable for life should be free and part of the commons.
Gunter has also written an article “Future Biotechnologies” where he discusses food and GMO issues.

Tagged with: • • • •
 
« Previous Entries