Hello Rosie and Robert......and little Pekins ~
Congratulations on your awards at the recent ceremony and, in spite of what we may think is authenticity in this realm, for many people newly engaging with these activities, it is the start of their journey. 'The longest journey starts with the first step' and this situation reminds me of watching any one of my five sons learning to walk.
Those first steps are wobbly, tenuous, unsteady and unsure.....it is only through repeatedly practicing those steps that confidence is gained.....a knowing that what they are doing over and over and over and over again is taking them into new places which reveal new opportunities for learning and knowing and this process is repeated ad nauseum.........as we continue to do through life except we've replaced learning to walk with a host of other [usually emotional and mental] activities.
Food Connect is a mentor. From the beginning, you have been different and being different usually attracts attention - not always positive but, I maintain there is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is NOT being talked about!! Being a mentor is about being available and, via the actions of eating, you are mentoring and inspiring thousands of people to take personal responsibility for their lives and the impacts their decisions have on their own health, the health of our landscapes and the ultimate future of our precious planet.
Be assured that in your own unique and special ways, you are making a profound difference to how the world can function and all cheers to you...........together, in our own wonderful and effective ways, we can make even small dents in the Coles and Woolworths of this world - and don't we love doing that!!
Best wishes, cheers and feastings to you and Food Connect,
pennie scott
Bush Goddess Foods
Organically nourishing souls & soils
[From the southern half of the continent]
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
GM-Free Chefs Charter
Can't believe how much time has passed since the last posting....the simple explanation is - the Bush Goddess has been frantic as the business is really starting to grow.
I love knowing many enterprises originated on the kitchen table with what we'd call amateur tools and systems which worked well enough to give the business its tenuous start.
Well ~ we've outgrown the kitchen table and now deep in contemplation regarding how we proceed with the next phase of expansion which includes upgrading infrastructure (vehicles and storage) to cope with the 300% increase in the amount of produce we are now handling each week. Not only has this occurred from new clients choosing to purchase the wonderful and GE-Free goods we source from passionate farming families, our Product Range has also increased substantially as we discover new suppliers AND, they discover the Bush Goddesses and ask us to promote their products - WHAT FUN !!
Integral to the Bush Goddess Foods ethos is providing guaranteed GE-Free foods to restaurants and educating chefs as to how to ask the right questions (from other suppliers) to ensure all the tucker they use is GE-Free.
Today, we attended an event in Canberra sponsored by Greenpeace, a tireless and intrepid campaigner against the commercialisation of GE-Food Crops. About forty people, representing many different organisations attended and heard presentations from Michelle Sheather (Greenpeace), Kyle Prowse (Chef and owner of Sage Restaurant), Michael Moore (Public Health Association) and Juliet McFarlane,(co-founder of the Network of Concerned Farmers).
Yesterday, Greenpeace released the results of a poll of 1200 participants surveyed regarding their views on GE-Foods with 90% declaring they do not want to eat them. This is very important feedback in regard to the almost non-existent labeling on food products at present as consumers are demanding more explicit information on foodstuffs so they can determine if and how much genetically engineered ingredients there are in that product.
Food Safety Australia & New Zealand (FSANZ) is the organisation responsible for determining what and how much information has to be included on any food label and they deem the regulations at present are adequate. This is in complete contrast to all the polls conducted by the True Food Guide - the only publication providing accurate and updated information from food manufacturers as to their stance and commitments to avoid all genetically engineered foodstuffs.
This is a call to action - to seek more passionate activists to write to the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, and ask him to reconsider his support for GE food crops so Australia can exploit the present (for a few more months) status of a relatively GE-free country so we can be one of the few - if not the only - large grower of GE-Free canola......a highly sought after product as it is in diminishing supply.
Please also write to FSANZ demanding more explicit labeling on all local and imported foodstuffs so the full extent of GE products are obvious and declared....the, and only then, can consumers make informed choices about what they really are eating.
Until all this happens, you can be sure you are eating GE-Free foods if..... you grow them yourselves; you buy Certified Organic; you know exactly where your foods originate and how they have been grown and from organisations who loudly and proudly proclaim they only deal in GE-Free produce......such as Bush Goddess Foods.
This is only the start of the iceberg as there are the contentious issues of chronic illnesses and woeful states of (preventable) ill-health and the links to highly processed and manufactured foods containing soy and corn derivatives....... the most widely grown GE crops in the world......
We shall continue........and all comments are welcomed to expand the debate and the knowledge on this subject.
Cheers and GE-Free feasting,
the bush goddess
I love knowing many enterprises originated on the kitchen table with what we'd call amateur tools and systems which worked well enough to give the business its tenuous start.
Well ~ we've outgrown the kitchen table and now deep in contemplation regarding how we proceed with the next phase of expansion which includes upgrading infrastructure (vehicles and storage) to cope with the 300% increase in the amount of produce we are now handling each week. Not only has this occurred from new clients choosing to purchase the wonderful and GE-Free goods we source from passionate farming families, our Product Range has also increased substantially as we discover new suppliers AND, they discover the Bush Goddesses and ask us to promote their products - WHAT FUN !!
Integral to the Bush Goddess Foods ethos is providing guaranteed GE-Free foods to restaurants and educating chefs as to how to ask the right questions (from other suppliers) to ensure all the tucker they use is GE-Free.
Today, we attended an event in Canberra sponsored by Greenpeace, a tireless and intrepid campaigner against the commercialisation of GE-Food Crops. About forty people, representing many different organisations attended and heard presentations from Michelle Sheather (Greenpeace), Kyle Prowse (Chef and owner of Sage Restaurant), Michael Moore (Public Health Association) and Juliet McFarlane,(co-founder of the Network of Concerned Farmers).
Yesterday, Greenpeace released the results of a poll of 1200 participants surveyed regarding their views on GE-Foods with 90% declaring they do not want to eat them. This is very important feedback in regard to the almost non-existent labeling on food products at present as consumers are demanding more explicit information on foodstuffs so they can determine if and how much genetically engineered ingredients there are in that product.
Food Safety Australia & New Zealand (FSANZ) is the organisation responsible for determining what and how much information has to be included on any food label and they deem the regulations at present are adequate. This is in complete contrast to all the polls conducted by the True Food Guide - the only publication providing accurate and updated information from food manufacturers as to their stance and commitments to avoid all genetically engineered foodstuffs.
This is a call to action - to seek more passionate activists to write to the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, and ask him to reconsider his support for GE food crops so Australia can exploit the present (for a few more months) status of a relatively GE-free country so we can be one of the few - if not the only - large grower of GE-Free canola......a highly sought after product as it is in diminishing supply.
Please also write to FSANZ demanding more explicit labeling on all local and imported foodstuffs so the full extent of GE products are obvious and declared....the, and only then, can consumers make informed choices about what they really are eating.
Until all this happens, you can be sure you are eating GE-Free foods if..... you grow them yourselves; you buy Certified Organic; you know exactly where your foods originate and how they have been grown and from organisations who loudly and proudly proclaim they only deal in GE-Free produce......such as Bush Goddess Foods.
This is only the start of the iceberg as there are the contentious issues of chronic illnesses and woeful states of (preventable) ill-health and the links to highly processed and manufactured foods containing soy and corn derivatives....... the most widely grown GE crops in the world......
We shall continue........and all comments are welcomed to expand the debate and the knowledge on this subject.
Cheers and GE-Free feasting,
the bush goddess
Monday, July 14, 2008
The three major political parties in the Australia and the US
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading the transcript of an interview with American author, Gore Vidal - a feisty and provocative person who has challenged the numerous US Administrations he has witnessed during his 80+ years.
One comment really struck home with me and I quote -
One comment really struck home with me and I quote -
"Most people think there are only two political parties in the United States but, in reality, there are three; the Republicans, the Democrats and Business."
In Australia, exactly the same situation exists and, once we understand this, it is much easier to appreciate why certain decisions are made by governments.
The power of the lobby is alive and well and it seems that it is business as usual for the Rudd government. Like many other people, I was excited to think we could see a vastly different political landscape with the new government and, that the exhortations Rudd had made to be accessible to all, to show no favours, and that egalitarianism would prevail were just hollow claims.
I've been around the political scene for a few years now and know how the system to meet politicians works. However, I am deeply disappointed that two of the new Ministers are being kept in the dark by their staff - the traditional gatekeepers.
In February and March this year, I called the offices of Tony Burke (Agriculture) and Peter Garrett eleven times over three weeks and spoke with the patient receptionists who, by the end of this were becoming quite short-tempered with me. I had been seeking to meet the respective Chiefs of Staff but not one 'phone-call was returned (and still haven't been).
I was calling as a private citizen, representing only myself and it seems that if one isn't attached to a major organisation or corporation, the doors are firmly shut. In contrast, Tony Burke seems to have had a never-ending trail of genetic engineering
proponents who have persuaded him to adopt genetic engineering of foods as the only viable option to climate change, food security and increasing the amount of food on the planet.
This is not only disappointing but downright limiting. If this is the policy being implemented, it is seriously limiting on many fronts - biodiversity of all species is compromised as monocultures continue to proliferate; human health is compromised as fewer foods are grown; agri-businesses grow even bigger as they control more chunks of the food-chain; the commons are bought up by corporations and sold-off for profit; seed stocks are controlled by fewer and the planet loses vitality.
It is sad that mere individuals do not have access to these decision-makers but indicates only too well that information flows into these essential authorities is filtered.
I shall persist as that is my middle name....
The power of the lobby is alive and well and it seems that it is business as usual for the Rudd government. Like many other people, I was excited to think we could see a vastly different political landscape with the new government and, that the exhortations Rudd had made to be accessible to all, to show no favours, and that egalitarianism would prevail were just hollow claims.
I've been around the political scene for a few years now and know how the system to meet politicians works. However, I am deeply disappointed that two of the new Ministers are being kept in the dark by their staff - the traditional gatekeepers.
In February and March this year, I called the offices of Tony Burke (Agriculture) and Peter Garrett eleven times over three weeks and spoke with the patient receptionists who, by the end of this were becoming quite short-tempered with me. I had been seeking to meet the respective Chiefs of Staff but not one 'phone-call was returned (and still haven't been).
I was calling as a private citizen, representing only myself and it seems that if one isn't attached to a major organisation or corporation, the doors are firmly shut. In contrast, Tony Burke seems to have had a never-ending trail of genetic engineering
proponents who have persuaded him to adopt genetic engineering of foods as the only viable option to climate change, food security and increasing the amount of food on the planet.
This is not only disappointing but downright limiting. If this is the policy being implemented, it is seriously limiting on many fronts - biodiversity of all species is compromised as monocultures continue to proliferate; human health is compromised as fewer foods are grown; agri-businesses grow even bigger as they control more chunks of the food-chain; the commons are bought up by corporations and sold-off for profit; seed stocks are controlled by fewer and the planet loses vitality.
It is sad that mere individuals do not have access to these decision-makers but indicates only too well that information flows into these essential authorities is filtered.
I shall persist as that is my middle name....
Monday, July 7, 2008
Book Review:
I've just finished reading In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan and I have to say this is a REALLY important book.
Since I commenced my training in Naturopathic Medicine back in the '80s the links between 'the epidemic of chronic diseases' and poor nutrition have always fascinated me. Heavens, back then there wasn't even half the range of manufactured 'foods' there are now so the incidences of preventable diseases has grown exponentially since then. I have to admit some wry amusement at the naming of the respective state and federal departments of 'Health'. For we healthy people, we have no need for them whatsoever so they really ought to be named truthfully as The Departments of Illness and Accident.
Anyway, looping back to the original tenet of the book, Mr Pollan chronicles the rise of Western-diet-created diseases really commencing in the early 1970s with foods being dismantled into nutrients with various villains identified, such as saturated fats from animal proteins. In spite of very little evidence to support the hypothesis, the American Heart Association recommended a 'prudent diet' of less cholesterol and saturated fats from animal sources to reduce the rate of heart disease. Well - what a furore that caused from the red meat and dairy industries! Now, this is where some important linkages between the power-of-the-lobby and development -of-policies starts to become interesting. Pollan includes an example of the power of the sugar lobby in Washington and, I quote:
I've just finished reading In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan and I have to say this is a REALLY important book.
Since I commenced my training in Naturopathic Medicine back in the '80s the links between 'the epidemic of chronic diseases' and poor nutrition have always fascinated me. Heavens, back then there wasn't even half the range of manufactured 'foods' there are now so the incidences of preventable diseases has grown exponentially since then. I have to admit some wry amusement at the naming of the respective state and federal departments of 'Health'. For we healthy people, we have no need for them whatsoever so they really ought to be named truthfully as The Departments of Illness and Accident.
Anyway, looping back to the original tenet of the book, Mr Pollan chronicles the rise of Western-diet-created diseases really commencing in the early 1970s with foods being dismantled into nutrients with various villains identified, such as saturated fats from animal proteins. In spite of very little evidence to support the hypothesis, the American Heart Association recommended a 'prudent diet' of less cholesterol and saturated fats from animal sources to reduce the rate of heart disease. Well - what a furore that caused from the red meat and dairy industries! Now, this is where some important linkages between the power-of-the-lobby and development -of-policies starts to become interesting. Pollan includes an example of the power of the sugar lobby in Washington and, I quote:
Only the power of the sugar lobby in Washington can explain the fact that the official
U.S. recommendation for the maximum permissible level of free-sugars in the diet
is an eye-popping 25% of daily calories. To give you some idea just how permissive
that is, the World Health Organisation recommends that no more than 10% of
daily calories come from added sugars, a benchmark that the U.S.
sugar lobby has worked furiously to dismantle. In 2004 it enlisted the
Bush State Department in a campaign to get the recommendation changed
and has threatened to lobby Congress to cut WHO
funding unless the organisation recants.
U.S. recommendation for the maximum permissible level of free-sugars in the diet
is an eye-popping 25% of daily calories. To give you some idea just how permissive
that is, the World Health Organisation recommends that no more than 10% of
daily calories come from added sugars, a benchmark that the U.S.
sugar lobby has worked furiously to dismantle. In 2004 it enlisted the
Bush State Department in a campaign to get the recommendation changed
and has threatened to lobby Congress to cut WHO
funding unless the organisation recants.
Pollan also identifies the rise of 'nutritionism' from food 'scientists' and extended in the popular press, waxing lyrical about selected pockets of components as either ideal, useful, deleterious or dangerous. Think of the proliferation of (often conflicting) Low GI, low-fat, high-fibre, high-protein, low-carb, high-calcium and high-antioxidant regimes purported to deliver a myriad of health benefits. Whole, naturally-grown-in-healthy-soils, unwaxed, unprocessed and with Low HI (Human Interference) objects are rarely spoken about in their complete form - it is all about the component macronutrients instead. This reductionist science misses the importance of the life-vitality - that mystery which is peculiar to Nature and cannot be put back together after dismantling. Why are so many technical-based scientists so fearful of Nature? The advice provided In Defence of Food is to shun any foods your grandmother wouldn't recognise, ignore any products with more than five ingredients and especially if they are unpronounceable and even more so if products contain high-fructose corn syrup. Eat more leaves - fresh, green leaves and eat meals - at the table, similar to the French and Italians and embrace the food culture. Wisdom from Wendell Berry on the problems of monoculture from his essay "The Pleasures of Eating" -
More on this point -
"But as scale increases, diversity declines; as diversity declines, so does health;
as health declines, the dependence on drugs and chemicals (necessarily) increases."
as health declines, the dependence on drugs and chemicals (necessarily) increases."
"Eating with the fullest pleasure - pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance - is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend."
In Western cultures, the past two generations have been encouraged to ignore intuition and instincts and instead, rely on 'scientific' sources for information on health and food manufacturing industries for 'nutritionally enhanced foods'. However, the evidence of ever-increasing incidences in asthma, obesity, cardio-vascular diseases, behavioural disorders, chronic fatigue and cancer and year-by-year increases in Department of 'Health' budgets to combat them suggests something is awry.
It is time to reawaken and TRUST our instincts to educate and nourish us and to encourage our intuition to provide the wisdom to guides us to what is perfect for our bodies. This is about reclaiming control over food science and manufacturing industries, learning about healthy soils and how they are vital to human and planetary health and growing our own foods......even on a minute basis.
Cooking from scratch is a survival technique...almost a subversive act.....an experience with the sensuous, perfect, luscious, voluptuous, delicious and simply beautiful creations we call whole foods.....and we are the artisans in our own kitchen-studios......producing works of nourishment and love.
It is time to reawaken and TRUST our instincts to educate and nourish us and to encourage our intuition to provide the wisdom to guides us to what is perfect for our bodies. This is about reclaiming control over food science and manufacturing industries, learning about healthy soils and how they are vital to human and planetary health and growing our own foods......even on a minute basis.
Cooking from scratch is a survival technique...almost a subversive act.....an experience with the sensuous, perfect, luscious, voluptuous, delicious and simply beautiful creations we call whole foods.....and we are the artisans in our own kitchen-studios......producing works of nourishment and love.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The smells from the kitchen of The Bush Goddess are fabulous......we've been preparing delicious ecological and organic food for a catering gig tonight and the menu includes:
- tiny organic Thai chicken rolls in proper butter puff pastry (no trans-fatty acids from commercial pastries which use emulsifiers and other ghastly short-cuts)
- individual roasted pumpkin and garlic tartlets with a quinoa (gluten-free) short pastry
- Guacamole and crudites
- An antipasto platter of smoked organic meats and small goods with olives
- The internationally famous Bush Goddess Desert dukkah, extra virgin olive oil and very good Turkish bread, and
- A platter of in-season pears and apples from our wonderful orchardist near Orange, NSW
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Foods Ain't Foods
Greetings from The Bush Goddess ~ a passionista for healthy soils which produce nourishing and flavoursome foods which don't cost the earth. When I ask some people if they know where their food comes from, they stare back in disbelief - probably wondering if I am mad and haven't anything sensible to do with my time.
"The price of fuel and energy, mortgage-rate rises and how my children are doing at school are far more important matters at present" is a frequent response. "And anyway, why does it matter? Food is food - it's all the same, isn't it?"
And at this point, dear readers......is where I ask a few more probing questions to determine how much {or how little} knowledge people have about the quality of the stuff they put into their mouths at least three times every day. I have to confess I am appalled at the lack of interest - often called apathy - about how the amazing human body functions, even when fed crap yet all hell breaks loose when the poor organism starts developing symptoms and affecting the day-to-day habits of the owner.
How often do you think about your body - yes, every bit of it.....the lungs, brain, heart, kidneys, liver, testes, ovaries, eyes, mucosal membranes, ears, skin and stomach, to mention a few bits and pieces we all rely on....until something goes wrong.....a pain in the knee, a weepy eye, a persistent cough, headaches, diarrhoea or stomach cramps. All of a sudden, our attention is focussed on this recalcitrant section of "us" which has stopped functioning.......but, do you ask why is this so?
I am staggered at the resilience of the human organism in the face of the ABUSE most of them receive every day. The most obvious abuses are from cigarettes, excessive alcohol, trans-fatty acids, synthetic food colourings, flavour enhancers, preservatives, synthetic vitamins,multiple-processes so the original food is almost totally de-natured, pasteurisation, heat-treatment and over-cooking.
With an abundance of research demonstrating the majority of diseases in Australia are preventable, I am still staggered the link between the processed crap masquerading as food AND these illnesses hasn't been made. When will the respective state and federal departments of Agriculture (substitute agri-business here) and the Department of Illness (health is not the focus of this department) have a bit of a gabfest, take off their blinkers and join a few dots....????
"Look at this Beryl.....the rise of childhood asthma has increased in areas which also have higher usage rates of agri-chemicals."
"And, Cedric......if you correlate the rates of Ritalin being prescribed and the amount of processed foods being eaten by these children, by golly, there could be something linking the two together. I wonder....."
Perhaps this is the start of enlightenment...otherwise known as personal responsibility.....which leads to activism and taking control of one's destiny........LET'S GO..............
"The price of fuel and energy, mortgage-rate rises and how my children are doing at school are far more important matters at present" is a frequent response. "And anyway, why does it matter? Food is food - it's all the same, isn't it?"
And at this point, dear readers......is where I ask a few more probing questions to determine how much {or how little} knowledge people have about the quality of the stuff they put into their mouths at least three times every day. I have to confess I am appalled at the lack of interest - often called apathy - about how the amazing human body functions, even when fed crap yet all hell breaks loose when the poor organism starts developing symptoms and affecting the day-to-day habits of the owner.
How often do you think about your body - yes, every bit of it.....the lungs, brain, heart, kidneys, liver, testes, ovaries, eyes, mucosal membranes, ears, skin and stomach, to mention a few bits and pieces we all rely on....until something goes wrong.....a pain in the knee, a weepy eye, a persistent cough, headaches, diarrhoea or stomach cramps. All of a sudden, our attention is focussed on this recalcitrant section of "us" which has stopped functioning.......but, do you ask why is this so?
I am staggered at the resilience of the human organism in the face of the ABUSE most of them receive every day. The most obvious abuses are from cigarettes, excessive alcohol, trans-fatty acids, synthetic food colourings, flavour enhancers, preservatives, synthetic vitamins,multiple-processes so the original food is almost totally de-natured, pasteurisation, heat-treatment and over-cooking.
With an abundance of research demonstrating the majority of diseases in Australia are preventable, I am still staggered the link between the processed crap masquerading as food AND these illnesses hasn't been made. When will the respective state and federal departments of Agriculture (substitute agri-business here) and the Department of Illness (health is not the focus of this department) have a bit of a gabfest, take off their blinkers and join a few dots....????
"Look at this Beryl.....the rise of childhood asthma has increased in areas which also have higher usage rates of agri-chemicals."
"And, Cedric......if you correlate the rates of Ritalin being prescribed and the amount of processed foods being eaten by these children, by golly, there could be something linking the two together. I wonder....."
Perhaps this is the start of enlightenment...otherwise known as personal responsibility.....which leads to activism and taking control of one's destiny........LET'S GO..............
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