Fast Slow Food

I think there’s a misunderstanding that needs rectifying.

I’ve heard critics of the Slow Food movement say plaintively, “But I like some fast food… like char kway teow and banh mi and pizza.” I don’t think adherents to Slow Food have a problem with a carefully and well produced food item; what they do wish to see the end of, is the absolute dumbing down of once important elements of a food culture. Food variety is going to become as extinct as quickly as the animals and birds we’re knocking off every few years.

Take pizza for instance. There’s pizza and then there’s pizza. There’s unidentifiable fat with plastic cheese and nasty processed meat sort of pizza, delivered by a spotty youth on a motorbike who is no advertisement for the product. And then there’s thin crisp dough topped with a ‘less is more’ essence of tomato sugo, a slice of provolone and a couple of olives. Maybe an anchovy if you’re feeling risqué. And sold with pride by the person who made it.

I’d call the first version fast ‘food’ (I use the word food loosely. Maybe it should be called fast ‘food.’) and the second slow.

Slow food does not dictate that you must grow everything yourself, cook every single dish from scratch, and never eat out. I had the ultimate slow breakfast last weekend ~ delicious ful madammes (Egyptian beans) ~ cooked long and slow with lots of spices and topped with a free range egg. And I had it out, at an Egyptian restaurant, to which we drove by car.

Marvellous quickly prepared fresh food is available all over the world. Pho, flash in the wok noodle dishes, felafel, bacon & egg rolls. All ready to the consumer in the wink of an eye. But it’s their preparation and provenance that determines whether they’re slow or fast. Did the pig for the bacon and the chickens for the eggs grow up in a cage full of its own excrement, choking on ammonia? Was the bacon smoked using a cornucopia of chemicals in a factory with dodgy hygiene standards? Was the rice for the noodles of the pho genetically modified.

The Slow Food movement, if I’m not mistaken, just wants to see respect, care and concern taken over the growing and production of the ingredients that go into our favourite bodily function ~ eating.

In my world, the slow includes: slowing down to think about who produced it, in what circumstances, using what aids, in what sort of factory, to what end. It doesn’t just mean braising something for 5 hours.

Rules to live by:

If it contains more numbers than things you recognise in the ingredient list DO NOT put it in your mouth.

If it’s claim includes less fat, less sugar, less salt, DO NOT put it in your mouth, and at least ask yourself ‘less than what?’

And perhaps the 7 most important words of the 21st century given to us by Michael Pollan: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

And perhaps I’d add one more word ~ SLOWLY. You know your mother would applaud that.

If you believe that alchemy is the transmutation of base metals into gold, I believe that there’s three foods that fit that bill in the ingestion world ~ honey, bread & cheese.

This trio of magic never ceases to thrill me when I take the time out to think about what they really are. And how the same ingredients can taste so different depending on their location, surrounding plant life, humidity ~ just about ever natural phenomenon can have an affect on their taste and texture.

I find it incredible that a bee can collect nectar from a flower, take it home and [according to Wikipedia]… “In the hive the bees use their “honey stomachs” to ingest and regurgitate the nectar a number of times until it is partially digested. It is then stored in the honeycomb. Nectar is high in both water content and natural yeasts which, unchecked, would cause the sugars in the nectar to ferment. After the final regurgitation, the honeycomb is left unsealed. Bees inside the hive fan their wings, creating a strong draft across the honeycomb which enhances evaporation of much of the water from the nectar. The reduction in water content, which raises the sugar concentration, prevents fermentation. Ripe honey, as removed from the hive by the beekeeper, has a long shelf life and will not ferment.”
I mean really, just stop and think about that the next time you’re spreading that delicious viscous fluid on your toast. And show the bee some respect by buying the purest honey you can find. And speaking of toast, when did you last think about bread. Not that junk from the supermarket that’s got all sorts of nasty things in it, but good old fashioned unadulterated bread.

You only need four ingredients ~ flour, water, yeast, salt. I’ve been on a bit of a bread quest for a couple of years now. Surely I can turn out a great loaf of bread. I’ve tried many different recipes, with varying success or otherwise. I’ve bought a sourdough starter from San Francisco, had a rather alarming experience with a Chris Manfield recipe, and finally settled on a Jamie Oliver recipe for a consistently good loaf. Then I found a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day about which I’m positively evangelical. It’s all so simple, and you really get a sense of the alchemical reaction going on in your plastic bucket.

About 18 months ago, we took a bit of a driving holiday to Tasmania, and went scoffing in the land down under the Land Down Under. On one of our sojourns we found Grandvewe Sheep Cheesery . We spent much time there and purchased the range of their delicious cheeses. It seems there’s no Camembaa any more, but there is Ewe Bewety, a cheese described as “made from an in-house adaptation of reblochon & camembert recipes, This cheese presents as a vine-wrapped log. The interior is pure white with a light, chalky consistency.” And… drum roll please… they have now become certified organic producers. Even though Grandvewe have operated on organic principles for the last four years, they’ve decided to make the significant financial leap to certification-dom. Grandvewe is located in one of the most beautiful areas in Tasmania ~ and let me tell you, Tasmania has a lot of beautiful areas to choose from ~ near Woodbridge . Next time you’re passing, do yourself a cheesy favour and drop in to them. We spent a week driving about sampling the best food we could get our hands on and this was one of the highlights. (Travel tip: Buy small esky for car.)

Especially when it contains something worth reading. An American based blog, but relevant to us down here nevertheless. They’re on the blog roll, or click here. Enjoy. I know I’ll be visiting them regularly.

It’s unfortunate and indeed ironic, that only farmed fish can be considered organic, as fish havested from our seas can’t be ‘interrogated for its pedigree’ as to cleanliness of water, diet, ingested toxins, whether the fish has been caught sustainably or not.

Australia’s first organic fish farm, Organic Fish (Australia) Pty Ltd, or Soulfish silver perch comes from the subtropical climes of near Grafton, NSW.

Tim Jones and Anne Montgomery take a ‘whole-of-farm’ approach and adapt their management systems to ensure environmental sustainability. Their stocking densities are about half that used in conventional farming. This helps optimise water quality and ensure the health of the fish. Soulfish silver perch is fed certified organic feed. The fish are not treated with hormones, antibiotics or pesticides and there is no use of genetically modified organisms. Approximately one-third of Tim and Anne’s farm is forested, providing over 14 hectares (30 acres) of habitat for native plants and animals.

CSIRO research has shown that silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) has one of the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids found in Australian fish.

The US Food & Drug Administration has now approved the consumption of food from cloned animals and their offspring. That’s the bad news. (Australia does produce cloned cattle, but sensibly, we don’t eat it). And what’s more those cloned animals may well be eating Genetically Modified feed. Did we learn nothing from CJD?

The good news is that Australian organic meat producers may benefit with increased exports to the USA. Australia has the world’s largest organic certified land area in the world (nearly 12 million hectares at the time of writing, or 29,652,645 acres, for the imperialists amongst us). But therein lies the dilemma. Aren’t we trying to eat local? Now if we export it, it won’t be us that’s eating it, so we can continue to eat as local as we wish, but then we’ll we seen to be not supporting the locavore movement, by sending it all that way across the sea. And if it’s lamb, are we going to export it live? It does my proverbial head it.

And of course, NASA is investigating grow ‘meat’ in a petrie dish. It doesn’t get much more local than that. The way that scenario could play out is you just buy your meat cells in a pack, and grow it at home, next to the fresh herbs, and while the bread’s baking.

Don’t these look delicious?

They’re a selection from the Puppy Patisserie, an organic dog treat bakery. When it’s just got to be the best for your pooch. Some of the flavours include Moroccan Lamb Morsels, Salmon & Sunflower Sniffers, BBQ Chicken Lickin’ Good. And that’s just the savouries. For sweets, try Apple Pie Delites, Peanut Butter Brownie Bones and Canine Candy Bones – Carob & Vanilla Swirls.

Go on, make your pooch’s day. After all, it is Valentine’s Day.

I don’t know about you, but I just haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since blue Smarties were withdrawn from the market over concerns that their splendidly artificial  colour had some link to hyperactivity in kiddies.

But rest assured, they’re back in an all new ‘natural’ form of blue, supposedly sourced from that wonderful seaweed Spirulina. A popular health supplement, Spirulina has been found to be a more palatable alternative to the traditional and so elegantly named colouring E133 or Brilliant Blue.

Nestle, ever the good corporate citizen, has not yet been able to confirm whether the blue Smarties will maintain any of Spirulina’s health benefits.

Here’s an idea ~ hows about giving the kids a Spirulina pill and a bit of good chocolate instead.

Apparently, the Ligurian bees found on Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coast are thought to be the last remaining pure stock of this bee found anywhere in the world. Why is this? Well, seems once Italy joined the EU, those bees just cross bred their heads off with Eurotrash bees without borders. Or something like that. Anyway, down on Kangaroo Island, you will find Kangaroo Island Ligurian Honey, named in 2006 as best organic product – ahead of 75 other entries across Australia at the Vogue entertaining & Travel Audi Australian Produce Awards.

Honey, along with cheese and bread, always seems to me more like alchemy than a manufactured product, and the idea that one is getting a taste of the nectar produced by bees with a pedigree that goes back to the early 1880’s makes it even more special. And as early as 1885 Kangaroo Island was declared a bee sanctuary and no other bees have been imported since.

And here’s some bee trivia: Did you know that bees are truly amazing creatures. They have four wings that they stroke at 11,500 times per minute in flight. Bees have five eyes. A hive of bees needs to fly approximately 90,000kms to produce half a kilogram of honey. 30grams of honey would be sufficient fuel for a bee to circumnavigate the earth.

I’d never really thought about pale piggies getting sunburnt, but they do. I found that out in the SMH Good Living article about Jack and Miriam Neilson of Pasture Perfect up near Tenterfield in New South Wales. I for one, am particularly particular about my pig consumption ~ I think they’re one of the most beautiful and intelligent animals around, so I want to be assured that any pork that passes my lips has been treated with respect, and had a happy life. I like very much the blurb on their website:
Pasture Perfect® Certified Organic Pork, Pasture Raised and Free Range
Naturally, A Better Choice
* We aim to provide excellent quality meat and food, at the same time as improving the quality of life for animal and producer. With a Holistic approach to the management of our herd, and land, we intend to improve the soils and pasture, thus improving the quality of feed available to the animals, and of the food available to you.

I for one, will be checking it out soon.