But there’s no need to drag your tired body up the road. Here’s a recipe for you!
Mercimek corbasi
Serves 4

1 medium onion, diced
1 large potato, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup red lentil (picked over, washed and drained)
6-7 cups of chicken stock (ideally homemade)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Garnish
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of something red and hot (either red pepper flakes or a long, mild fresh chilli)

To serve
1 lemon

Here’s how you make awesome
Heat the olive oil in a pot at medium heat; when warm, add the diced onion.
Sauté for ten minutes or until soft and translucent; add the diced carrots and potatoes and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and stir until thoroughly blended.
Add the red lentils, chicken stock and pepper.
Stir well and cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are soft.
Blend the soup until smooth.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.

Garnish
In a small frying pan, place the butter and melt over low-medium heat.
When it begins to split, add the chilli and fry for 1 minute.
Pour the melted butter and chilli over the soup.

Serve with lemon.

The soup is delicious with a spinach/yogurt dish or Mediterranean green beans or even plain green beans dressed with olive oil and lemon. You know, something fresh and green. Turkish bread if you have it and hummus too.

Share the deliciousness you made
If you make this soup, or a variant of it, please tweet a photo to me @Flavourcrusader or email me info AT flavourcrusader DOT com and I’ll post it here.

@Katster904 says: Lentil mushroom & carrot soup with #HomeBaked sourdough.

I don’t know why this shocked me so. As a child I remember seeing plucked chickens that my Nonna had herself dispatched, dangling from the washing line in the moonlight, patting rabbits destined for the pot, and helping with the pig carcass that hung waiting to become cacciatore, cotechini and more.

Sausage making day in particular was eye opening, and real. I learned about the origins of food by getting my hands dirty. Into tubs of pigs intestines we thrust our hands to pick out the slippery casings. As children we watched our parents and grandparents hoist the pigs body up high, helped set up the mincer and cut up lemon wedges to cleanse the casings. We all tried our hand at making a sausage.

I come back to these conflicting experiences to help explain my relationship with food, and to the pig.

Perhaps it was the wobbly, white flesh I objected to. Coarse, tasty sausages; fresh, dried or preserved in rendered lard from the same beast might be more appetising. I can still sense the sneaky thrill of tasting a fresh sausage that had been cooked up to “test” the balance of spice and salt in the mixture.

Perhaps it was the pale, rubbery skin. Though now one of my favourite kinds of sausage is Cotechini, made from skin, fat and a little offal. Rich and gelatinous, if you are lucky this meal would also include small rolls of skin, secured with a toothpick like some macabre canapé, all cooked in the red sauce. Want.

It was probably the pigginess of it all. They were feet. Hard to get past that as a fact. Despite having seeing the pig’s head in a pot, the liver resting on a plate in the refrigerator and the bones being used to flavour sauce, the trotters jarred me to the point of refusing pork for a while. I got over it, obviously.

I now take on the task of teaching my children about the origins of their food. It is so easy to avoid the subject of meat especially when you must field questions like “Mummy, do real chickens make the chicken we eat?” Hmmm.

We’re getting there, but I do pine for these family food traditions that teach hands on. These grainy old photos are of sausage making days gone by in my family. The memories have been fun to share.

These experiences have contributed to my desire for a food system where the animal is treated with care and dedication, and respected in the end by eating it all. Even the feet.

Blog: Spooky Girl
Twitter: @Spooky_girl

If you’d like to tell your food story, hit me up @flavourcrusader or email me at info AT flavourcrusader DOT com

This is a parody account of the Twitterstorm by a Maccas staffer.

If you had your chance, what would you ask?

CC image by Like_the_Grand_Canyon

I need your advice! Below is an internal strategy email. The solution is borderline incredulous… a little bit lah-lah land. Would be a GODSEND! Let me know your thoughts!

We need to grow. Subways has overtaken us as the world’s largest fast food chain. (SRC)

Growth needs to be fast. It takes us five years to scout store locations, gain planning approvals and build; our competitor requires only a few months.

Expansion through store locations is not the answer. Expansion through our current customers is. “Season ticketholders” visit our store weekly. “Fair-weather fans” visit us 1.3 times monthly and make up 55% of our business. (SRC)

The problem is (as you all know):

Supersize Me and Fast Food Nation highlighted issues with our food and corporate practices.

People interpreted our silence about these accusations as guilt.

We began a myth-busting campaign a few years ago. We even attempted to hijack the fresh, local, seasonal movement in the United States.

Yet negative perceptions continue to colour our brand.

• News coverage continues to be barbed and cynical. No matter what we feed them, they always mention McJobs or the obesity issue.
• Evidence of consumer sentiment can be seen in their highjacking of the hashtag #McDstories

Our opportunity lies in increasing sales to fair-weather fans by continuing to dispel negative perceptions about our food.

We need to tell our story, yet without the newspapers or consumer social channels.

****

George from Planning floated an idea of creating an advertisement in the style of a reality program to encase our new brand messages. He seemed to think it was vital that the advertisement be perceived as a “real” documentary. He believes an aura of “factual” will help overcome barriers.

Thanks!

Cheryl-Ann Jones
Senior Marketing | Innovation
McDonalds Australia

McDonald’s “Gets Grilled” airs on Channel Seven tonight at 9.30pm. The program was funded by McDonalds and they admitted they were involved in the editing process. CRAPTASTIC!

Which is rather minimal. I’ve decided to put a cover image submitted by you, dear reader. Ideal are blessed photographs from the garden or farm. Have happy animals? Show us! And gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Also lovely would be cooking photos. Or a dish if you please. Send large, wide photos to me.

I’ll try and put a new one up every Friday, see how we go. If you do the markets on the weekend, send your photo and let me know where and when the market is. And what you’re selling. Or just share what’s happening on the farm. Okay!?

Winners like us on Facebook :)

The inaugural photo was from Merri Bee Organic farm in Western Australia. Thanks Bee, Stewart and Lee!

Contribute your food photos. Scenes from the garden, farm, kitchen or dining table. Food photos (produce or dishes) communicating vibrant, earthy and delightful. Size, try for at least 900px wide and 500px high. Email photos to info AT flavourcrusader DOT com

Before the age of 20, I didn’t question anything I ate. A steak was a steak and an egg was just an egg. Then one day I experienced a moment that altered my whole perception of food. It was a 30-minute Hack segment on Triple J about abattoirs. The reporter was inside and describing what was going on around him. I made my mind up immediately; there was no way I could eat meat again and cause suffering to these animals.

My vegetarianism changed my whole outlook on food. Suddenly I was inspired to cook for myself, be creative in what I was cooking and think more about where my food was coming from. I was struggling for information and constantly confused by the abundance of labels suggesting the product was fair or sustainable in some way. I decided to clear up the muddiness with my blog, the thoughtful eater. I try to encourage people to be more connected with their food, whether this means making food yourself from scratch, knowing where it has come from or better understanding its health attributes.

One of my first cooking inspirations was Kylie Kwong’s cookbook “It Tastes Better”. Inspired from one of Kylie’s recipes, I’ve chosen to cook a kipfler potato salad with a garlic and tahini using biodynamic eggs from Paul and Virginia Kurtz’s farm in Oberon.

The ideals behind biodynamic farming are beautiful and have inspired my approach to food. It’s based on the idea that we are all interconnected and that the natural cycles of the earth should be followed when farming. I was fortunate enough to visit their farm and was overwhelmed with how happy the cows, goats, chickens and sheep were. These are the practices I feel like we should emulate so that our food is brought up in an ethical manner which not only is good for the animals but tastes delicious as well!

I hope that the future of farming can move away from the processes that are currently occurring within the industrialised food industry. I wish that people would demand higher quality, well-grown meat and produce and appreciate that this comes at a slightly higher price. Education is key. I think nutrition and food should be taught at schools so that from an early age, people understand where their food comes from and can make informed decisions for the rest of their life.

And when it all gets too confusing I like to refer to Michael Pollan’s words of advice “eat food, not too much, mostly plants” :)

Blog: Thoughtful Eater
Twitter: @thoughtfuleater

If you’d like to tell your food story, hit me up @flavourcrusader or email me at info AT flavourcrusader DOT com

Describe your dish
Almost vegetarian nasi lemak—a simple Malaysian inspired meal with the mandatory white rice (even better with coconut rice), vegetables including the wonderful Asian staple Kang Kung, eggs, roasted peanuts and a spicy tomato sambal.

How does your dish portray your relationship with food?
I concocted this dish after visiting Malaysia in 2009, borrowing the sambal from a cooking class I’d done in Bali a couple of years earlier. It’s a bit of a hotch potch but comes together well. What’s more it always looks impressive when you plate it up.

Like me it’s “almost” vegetarian and reflects my diet well (a dairy-free pescetarian) and my burgeoning love of Asia. I cook instinctively, using what’s on hand, rather than slavishly following recipes. I enjoy making stuff up. I cook this when the weather is hot and there’s tomatoes in the garden

What inspired your food behaviour?
Growing up my mother was my kitchen mentor. She died earlier this year and I talked of this in her eulogy, She taught me how to bake cakes and begin every savoury dish by sautéing onion and garlic. Even when my diet changed those basics continued to served me well. I’d developed the confidence to know how a recipe should taste and the techniques necessary to make it happen.

Eleven years of living in numerous shared houses, in three different countries, helped me develop my new way of eating. My home in London was particularly extraordinary, far from being a starving kiwi, I ate the best wholefoods diet ever! I’m sure it was living with naturopaths and how well they ate, that inspired me to become one.

What I eat took a sharp turn when I began listening to my body. This was when I stopped eating emotionally and began observing how food made me feel, I had to get over my denial and give up dairy. I’ve felt so much better since.

When I moved to Melbourne in 1987 to study naturopathy I was lucky that the communal house I moved into was one of market worshippers. I’ve more or less shopped at Vic Market ever since. It’s the closest thing I have to a religion in my life.

In 1991 I was part of a group of houses that set up a food co-op, buying from one small, family run, organic farm in the Grampians. It revolutionized my relationship with what I ate and changed my attitude to food for life. Though at the time I remember being sad to learn that avocados didn’t grow in Victoria at the best of times, let alone year round!

These days, bloggers have replaced the role of housemates, as they continue to inform the way I view food, cooking and eating. I’m also loving having my own garden, however small. At the moment I’ve fallen in love with sorrel. My octogenarian neighbour grows it and got me hooked, now I’ve got my own stash. My latest discovery is how the citrus-y green flavour can transform a fresh veggie juice.

What do you wish for the future of food?
The disparity of food scarcity in some corners of the world and abject waste in others, distresses me. My greatest wish is that everyone, regardless of income or geography, has access to fresh, nourishing food.

Of course for this to happen a whole new consciousness around resources generally needs to change. I believe the personal is political. Every person who becomes aware of what they’re eating, how it’s grown and how their body responds to it, is participating in a revolution.

In my utopia the manufacturers of sugary brown drinks and fast food chains go broke, communal vegetable gardens replace the space currently occupied by major supermarket chains and “organics” are no longer an issue because all food is grown this way.

Website: Gill Stannard
Twitter: HerbalGill
Blog: Confessions of a Food Nazi

If you’d like to tell your food story, hit me up @flavourcrusader or email me at info AT flavourcrusader DOT com

Steady, aim… Lisa shared a post about the subject. Watch her ideas spread across the digital landscape. Nice.

Describe your dish
This red curry with Thai eggplant is a recent dish of mine and I’m a little bit in love with it, because its not that I invented a new veggie Thai curry, but because I just used a bunch of beautiful fresh ingredients I had bought at the markets that day. I’d never bought or cooked with Thai eggplant but bought them anyway; plus I incorporated sweet cherry tomatoes, green beans, kumera, baby corn, red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk and fresh herbs. The flavours and textures in the resulting curry combined into something unexpectedly special and it was so easy to make. I love it when that happens. I served it with brown rice that I’d cooked and frozen a few weeks ago, so the whole thing took about 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

How does this dish portray your relationship with food?
I am an unashamed “foodie” and absolutely love trying new restaurants and dishes. For me, food adventures are one of life’s great pleasures. When I’m not trying restaurants and eating out (from zero to twice or three times a week), the rest of the time I’m very diligent with exercise and food, making dishes from scratch and ensuring I eat a truck load of fresh fruit and veggies. They’re the staple of my diet so I’m always looking for a killer recipe using fresh ingredients that’s simple and quick. This one nailed it.

What inspired your food behaviour?
Two things. As an operator of farmers’ markets I now understand how important it is to support local food growers and eat what is in season. I used to blindly buy cherries from the supermarket, imported from the US in winter if I felt like them; or garlic imported from China. Now I buy mostly local and what is in season: it’s cheaper, usually has travelled less to get to my shopping bag and it forces me to get creative. Not to mention supporting our local farmers!

The second thing came from reading Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food. I’d generally had a “natural is better” outlook but this book confirmed it and was such a light bulb experience reading that book. In Defense of Food totally changed my attitude to eating, cooking and shopping. Whilst I’m not vegetarian, I do cook a lot of vegetarian dishes and I feel I’m still on my “journey of health”, navigating my way through my great love of food and dining out whilst being as healthy as I can the rest of the time.

What do you wish for the future of food?
It saddens me that so many people eat processed food and don’t realise how much the health of themselves and their children are in jeopardy as a result of what they put in their bodies. I know everyone is time-poor, however I think we are losing our “cultural memory” about how to create simple, tasty and healthy meals from scratch, like our parents and grandparents did. I’d love to live in a world where people question their food sources more; read labels; shop less in supermarkets and more at farmers’ markets; and make the decision to eliminate as much processed food from their diets as possible. As consumers we have enormous power – and if we start voting with our wallets, supermarkets, food producers and governments will start to sit up and listen. We might also experience “an epidemic of health”.

And obviously as an operator of farmers’ markets I would like more people to shop at markets and give supermarkets a miss, because the other thing I would love is that for small local farmers to thrive and continue to be able to make a living from growing food. I know that farmers’ markets are growing in popularity and that more people are questioning their food choices, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Facebook: yrlocalmarkets and bondijunctionvillagemarkets
Twitter: yrlocalmarkets
Blog: yourlocalmarkets

If you’d like to tell your food story, hit me up @flavourcrusader or email me at info AT flavourcrusader DOT com

***
UPDATE: The co-op have found a home in Kyabram and have officially launched. You become a member of the GV Food Cooperative (lifetime membership $50) or make a donation.

The first project of the Cooperative is to establish a cooperative food hub in the Goulburn Valley to replace some of the jobs lost by closure of the Heinz tomato factory at Girgarre. To find out more click here. ***

Well the town aren’t taking it sitting down, they’re developing the Goulburn Valley Food Hub – based on the Girgarre site. This will include:

• tomato and other fruit processing
• an organic dairy processor (and at least two other processing ventures who subscribe to the sustainability ethic)
• a regional training centre
• a regional distribution centre
• a food waste/composting recycling enterprise
• a small forestry venture (using recycled water)

Or, for more info contact:

Tony Webb
Senior Lecturer
School of Natural Sciences
UWS

E-Mail: tony.webb@uws.edu.au
Phone : (02) 4570 1958 or Mob: 0418 212 632

cc photo by GimmeFood :)

“I believe that any fundamental change to our food system has to begin with a very simple question, and that question is how does it taste? A focus on taste will lead us to make better decisions about how and where we grow our food, how we distribute and store it, how we market and how we prepare it, and even the policies we enact to ensure a better, more wholesome, more sustainable and certainly a more delicious future for everybody.”
Mitchell Davis