Posts Tagged ‘Food Inc’

1. A Fish Supper

   Published on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
   I love my neighbour, I’d be stupid not to. His name is Greg and he cleverly caught the pictured four and a half pound snapper on the Hauraki Gulf on Sunday.

   He and his cousin went out at dawn, apparently pausing somewhere about 40 minutes from our houses, to pull up ten fish and casually make their way home again.

   Yesterday, on Labour Day Monday, Greg made a fragrant bed of manuka shavings, rubbed the biggest of the catch with brown sugar and salt, and smoked it.

   We ate the fish still warm from the smoker with dill potatoes, bread and butter and a salad of greens from my garden.

   It was a wonderful meal; the fish was moist, perfectly flaky with just the right hint of smokiness.

   In New Zealand we are so close to where our food comes from we sometimes take it for granted.

   We shouldn’t, we are blessed with the best food in the world. Wild, farmed or cultivated, we have enviable standards of production, a stunning range and seasonal freshness.

   But one doesn’t just have to hunt and gather for the good stuff, our supermarkets, green grocers, butchers, bakers and fish mongers are a treat.

   For a comparison and a reason to thank our lucky stars go and see Food Inc, an American documentary that seeks to highlight the underbelly of US food production and agricultural processes. It’s a frightening portrayal if indeed it is a fair and accurate one, well worth a look.

2. Food Inc only a point of view

   Published on Monday, June 22nd, 2009
   The movie Food Inc will be screened soon in New Zealand. It’s likely to excite a few, exasperate others, and cause many more to think about the future of our food, where it comes from and what the future holds,  especially the growing number among us who have little or no idea about where our food comes from.

   This movie will remind us how important it is to consider the origins of what it is we put in our mouths and feed to our children. As such Food Inc should be regarded as part of a wider debate on food production.

   From what we’ve seen and read, the movie is based on a brace of conspiracy theories relating to food production ownership and food quality.  The past is portrayed as good and present as a pastoral fantasy.  As always, the truth will be somewhere in the middle.

   The film makes the point that today’s food industry bears little resemblance to that of 50 years ago.  That’s probably not a bad thing when we compare the meat freezing companies of New Zealand 50 years ago with those of today. I know the environment I prefer, so there’s no nostalgia there.

   There are conspiracies, and some are potentially damaging to New Zealand, such as the romance spun by the food miles lobby.  Food miles are a thinly veiled trade barrier, the major victim of which are the poorer emerging nations.  Food miles are also in the philosophical mix of farmers markets which in most instances are too “rich” for the average punter. The Otara market is more realistic.

   The thing to remember with Food Inc is that much of it is about another country, and won’t apply here – after all we can still get meat with bones (as I’m sure you still can in the US).

   Parts of the New Zealand food industry have suffered before from imported shows about food.  Jamie Oliver did a huge disservice to our chicken nuggets when he banged on in his school dinners programme about their very different composition in the UK.  Here nuggets took a hit that was not justified.

   For those inclined to see Food Inc, remember it is a point of view, not the only view.

   www.safefoodinc.org

   Food Inc Official Trailer