Keeping it local

End of World War two saw the immigration boom hit Australia. They brought their skills, they brought their music, they brought their cousins and they brought their food.
Growing up in suburban Sydney I have always been surrounded by international food and ingredients and its no secret that our Australian culinary identity has really grown out of this access and exposure to all types of food from across the globe.
It seems ironic then that the very culture in which we derive all these tastes from, particularly in Europe, adopt a proudly regional and localised tradition in cooking. Recipes and menus are decided upon by the seasonable and regional changes in ingredients. The food of an area is therefore dictated by the freshest and best ingredients..unique to that location.

I love this idea. I love traveling somewhere, experiencing the food and thinking 'I will never taste this again' at least not of the same quality and unashamedly simple form. I think this is largely why the food in Europe is so fantastic. It is a celebration of an ingredient, no fuss simple food.

It is such a shame that Australia has seemed to have lost this sense of local produce cooking in the home. Perhaps even more upsetting is seeing the trend echoed in England, who is just a stone's through from Europe's market mecca. Gone are the morning food markets, gone are the local butcher, baker and candle stick maker, gone is the time capsule of rural living. In its place is a society so built on convenience that the supermarkets are king. The bloody wars between Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda are more cut throat than the current Australian election campaign.

It is a movement sweeping the globe to think international but source local. The issue covers climatic concerns relating to the food mile (click here for more info), general interest in quality flavour, not to mention the fact that there are plenty of struggling farmers out there we can support. Jamie Oliver has echoed such concerns in his recent 'Food Revolution' and self confessed 'lunatic farmer' Joel Salatin was out recently to Australia to promote the importance of local produce. As the Australian restaurant industry is becoming increasingly competitive, I notice this trend beginning to echo in the menus which is a real credit to the Australian culinary community and looks to close this disconnect so many of us have between our meals and the produce.

Being the supermarket slut that I am I am now endeavoring to remove my blinkers and explore the frontier of local produce.
I am currently visiting family and friends in Australia and recently came back from a road trip up the east coast of Australia where I was thrilled to finally be a tourist in my own country,

It was truly a delight watching the landscape of Australia change from dense Sydney scrub to tall forestry followed by sandy olive groves, lush farming land, rolling rows of banana trees, sugarcane plantations and lush rainforest's. As the landscape changed so too did the produce of the small open roadside stalls and my partner Ben often had to think quick as I noticed new rusty blackboard signs promising the bud of new locally grown produce and creations.

One such gem I found was the variety of lemon myrtle products which I have never had before including yoghurt's, biscuits, teas and honey. Derived from a rainforest tree the flavour has hints of lime and lemongrass and whilst most of the forms I came across were in the shape of desserts I am keen to experiment with the 'taste of the rainforest' honey I picked up in Byron Bay in Asian cooking. I will keep you posted...

x laura