Friday, August 2, 2013

This week's compost



      1. Chickpeace – Peace vs War Journalism


If you read nothing else of this week’s Compost, take 6 minutes to watch this today I reckon you will find it worth it.

My mate Nadyat El Gawley showed this clip at the Wollemi Common Peace Meal I organised last week.

As a foodie and a peacenik how could I not love it.

Play it a couple of times; first for the beauty of the images; second to consider the points it makes.

      2. Artisan food and urban ‘peasants’” is this more than just a foodie fad?

“But is it right to celebrate producers pursuing a back-to-the-land philosophy as "modern peasants"? After all, there are plenty of people in the world for whom living off the land is a grinding necessity, not a lifestyle choice. Tulloh acknowledges that the title of her book was deliberately chosen to create debate.

"One of the reasons I used the word 'peasant' is that I knew I could be accused of taking a rosy view of life – but it's provocative. If you're trying to raise awareness, it's good to poke people in the eye," she says. "We're grappling with a food system that's not working, and I wanted to highlight the people who are trying to change things."

This from an article re a new book hitting our foodies shelves The Modern Peasant: Adventures in City Food, Jojo Tulloh (this is the second person I have heard of called Jojo – Paul McCartney you have a lot to answer for apart from Mull of Kintyre!). Being somewhat a part of the backyard/rooftop/footpath food in the city mob here in Sydney myself, I am looking forward to reading the book. Tulloh sounds like she is aware of and addressed the incredulity the movement (and I guess it has earned to chops to be called a movement now) faces. I have no illusions that what I and others of the ilk are doing is anything like a solution to food scarcity/sustainability or bringing down agribusiness. For me it is an continuation of what my father used to do in our backyard and what I have always done when I could for the pleasure of the doing and the consuming of what I have grown.

      3. Can we cook ourselves thin?

“Not everybody thinks that home cooking is healthier than eating processed food. Although research has shown that families who cook and eat together are healthier and less likely to overeat, some argue that this is a correlation, rather than a causal link. Others point out that processed food contains added vitamins and other nutrients, and that fast food outlets such as McDonald's are cleaning up their act.

In a recent, polemical article for The Atlantic magazine, in which he accused the "wholesome food movement" of demonising fast-food producers, the writer David H Freedman claimed that the scientific studies on processed foods are inconclusive: "The fact is, there is simply no clear, credible evidence that any aspect of food processing or storage makes a food uniquely unhealthy." Freedman even claimed that the fast-food giants could become our saviours, using industrial processes to make food healthier and cheaply available, if only the health-food lobby would let them.”

Does anyone know of a study/studies that goes further than showing just a correlation? Particularly any studies that looked at how much was cooked in the home x what was cooked x health ?


      4. Claire Hypercalcic Calcarasol and durum wheat

“Durum wheat is very hard, high in protein, and low in gluten, compared to bread wheat. Australia grows the most reliably high-quality durum wheat. It gets snapped up by Italian pasta makers (more than 50% of our exports of durum wheat are to Italy), as well as local ones like San Remo.”

This week’s good Aussie soil is quite a mouthful. And fancy us exporting durum what to Italy. What next, coals to Newcastle?



      5. How to meat a man in New Pork City

“Now, I have a boyfriend, but I do consider myself an amateur matchmaker. And I must say I have never seen such a promising bunch of men in my life. Many of them were extremely obsessed with pig butchery in a way that seemed like they weren’t looking for a significant other necessarily, but truly, I don’t think that matters. It is the element of surprise that men consider charming and romantic even when it is a lie. An enterprising person could so easily sidle up to a man and talk about a shared interest with lines like, “Hey, why do you want that pig to be delivered to you in a field?” or, “I forget what lard is.” “

Vegetarian and vegan alert: This story describes activities that may cause upset J

See, I KNEW I have been looking for love in all the wrong places. I mean, a roomful of men in glasses watching a pig being butchered...watching someone cut up a carrot just doesn’t do it for me.


      6. A new age for golden oldies

No link for this one. I nice short piece from Michelle Rowe, Food Detective, in the Australian A Plus section Saturday 3/8/2013 on the work being done by Peter Morgan-Jones with aged care provider HammondCare on developing the food at its facilities. A tad unsure that using ‘molecular air’ because it has a taste but dissolves on the tongue is a good alternative for people undergoing tube feeding (I’ll have to see just what is being proposed) but using xanthum gum in scones, cake and sandwiches to assist people with dysphagia swallow food better, or using agar agar in jellies for those with a pureed diet who can’t have gelatine sound like great ways to ensure our elderly, and foodies like me entering those years (okay, okay I am still some way off the pureed food) have a better standard of food than my mum gets currently.

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