One degree of separation

My husband gave me the 'Gourmet Farmer' series 1 DVD for my birthday earlier this month, and we have been thoroughly enjoying working our way through it. Matthew Evans (Sydney food critic) takes you on a journey as he moves from the big smoke and rat race, to a farm in Tasmania, where he grows his own food, mixes it with the local foodies and cooks up some inspiring meals. If you've ever seen River Cottage (Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's empire), its pretty similar, just as enjoyable, and he calls ingredients by their aussie -known name (zucchini instead of courgette, eggplant instead of aubergine... you get the idea)! Both these guys are great inspiration and source of information for food lovers, or people like us who are eager to increase the productivity of our little farming plot and get that pendulum swinging further in the direction of self-sustaining, rather than supermarket reliant!

http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/gourmetfarmer

Matt Evans introduces his vision for food sourcing:
to either:
 1. grow it himself,
 2. source it directly from the grower, or
 3. source it from someone who knows the person who grew it by name.
The idea is that the food has up to only one degree of separation from the farm to your source, none if you can help it.

This had me thinking. Could we be getting more of our food from growers that we can actually talk to? I headed off to my local butcher this morning, and was pleased to purchase beef that he grows on his own farm in Kotupna (about 40 kms from where I purchased it), and pork that his friend and neighbour grew. 

This got us onto a conversation about free range chicken. He sells Hazeldene chicken, which he said isn't free range, although advised that he can buy in free range chook - but usually cant sell it as well as his Hazeldene's products - for one simple reason. Free range costs more. If I want to buy it, I have to commit to 6kg minimum lots. Better get a deep freeze.

Think about the difference in eggs that come from free range chooks, compared with cage or "barn' chickens. Non-free range eggs are pale and anaemic looking.  They don't have that gorgeous bright orange yolk. And their taste doesn't compare. The same applies for the meat that comes out of them. Do you really want to eat meat from a bird (or any animal for that matter) that has spent its life in a cage too small to build up enough speed to raise a sweat!? Never experienced natural light? Thanks, but I'm not putting that in my body. For me, the argument is ethical, as well as nutritional.

So the butcher tells me this morning that the local supermarket chain selling free range chicken in those bright green plastic trays is in fact, 'gas flushed'. He explained this means that all the air is removed from the meat (kind of like the cryovac process), then preservative gas is pumped back in, which doubles the shelf life. Hmm. Delicious?? Ok... what are my alternatives? Grow it myself. Get the free range from the butcher which has a total kill to plate life of 7 days max. Yep, let's do that.

I'm going to have a go at living Matt Evan's philosophy grow it, get it straight from the grower, or someone that knows the grower. The supermarket will be the exception (the back up plan), not the rule.

Wish me luck!


Snow peas from our friends' garden, picked last night. Total carbon miles = 8.

Eggs from our gorgeous happy girls, including one super sized (101g) laid this morning. Tomorrow's breakfast. This is what I love about nature! Imperfections. Blue egg from the Araucana.