Food Philosophy

My goal is to try to inspire people to think about what they eat, how it’s grown or reared, and then offer some ideas of what to do with it in the kitchen. I believe that the modern food production model is flawed. It concentrates on things other than the eating quality (and hence nutritional quality) of our produce. The industrial food system wants things to grow rapidly, to survive being trucked a long way, to be able to be stored a long time, and to look good on a supermarket shelf. Flavour, and to a large degree texture, are minor aims in that major plan.

To know and trust what you eat, to get the most flavour out of every meal, it helps to get close to the source of your produce. Ideally (and frankly it’s not a very practical ideal) you grow your food yourself. And if you can’t grow it, then hopefully you know the person who does grow it. Buy locally, swap with your neighbours. Plant herbs if that’s the only thing you can nurture from the soil and you’ll see just how different home grown can be. Eat seasonally, and buy direct from the grower when you can. (Thank goodness for the explosion of farmer’s markets across the nation and the modern world).

We already have the worst of industrial farming – the worst sprays, the most severe animal confinement, and culpable use of antibiotics and growth promotants. Every decision you make, when you have the luxury of choice, every time you choose to buy ethically produced, local, seasonal produce not only keeps artisan producers in business, it can only help make the world a better place.