Food. I’ve been doing more than eating it. I’ve been truly experiencing it and enjoying it in recent days. We’ve had a week in our former home region of Marlborough which brands itself the Gourmet Province. We have eaten fat fresh cherries, luscious apricots, chunks of local smoked salmon, delicious cheese made in the Marlborough Sounds, fresh vegetables drizzled with virgin olive oil. All bought from the wonderful farmers market that celebrity chef Chris Fortune helped set up some years ago. The food is all local, mostly seasonal. It tastes and looks better. Such local markets are now established in many centres. Christchurch has several, including a Saturday morning French market. They provide an alternative to supermarkets, often at lower prices. And you can often ask the grower about what you are buying. We had a delightful chat to the cheesemaker, who told us about her return to the family farm to fill a niche in the Marlborough foodscape. You just can’t do that at Countdown.
Meantime, I’ve picked up a book in the Blenheim house we borrowed from friends for Christmas. The Omnivore’s Dilemma explores factory farming in the US. It’s a very timely read given the plans to house dairy cows in the Mackenzie Basin. I’ll relate some ugly truths about industrial food production in America in my next post-and some rising issues here in NZ. Meantime, if you are on holiday somewhere and you haven’t ventured into a local farmers/food market, go and give yourself a New Year treat.
Sounds fantastic!
The Omnivores Dilemma is indeed a great book. I’m not sure how relevant the “industrial” food section is to New Zealand, but as you say, it seems to be a path we are increasingly exploring. Scary stuff.
Cruel farming practices worry me, chemicals and GE.
Your meals sound great, I hope you had something great to drink with that.
New Zealand’s only entirely-organic farmer’s market is on this morning at Riverton, 30km south west of Invercargill (who’d have thought!)
A lot of those markets have a lot of produce the supermarket buyers don’t take due to quality issues. It pays to shop around at them and pick only the best items. Or you can save money but end up buying fruit and vegetables that don’t taste so good.
If you go regularly you will soon recognise which stalls have the best, freshest produce.
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