FOOD
FOOD IS FUNDAMENTAL
Written by: Jade Miles @black_barn_farm
Despite the pandemic panic resulting in the stashing of loo paper, it's actually food sovereignty that we should all be racing to the finish line on.
To be fair, in recent days we've simultaneously seen a global rush on seeds, seedlings , chickens, fruit trees and any other means of self sufficiency so perhaps we should have faith in our human race being more connected to their primal needs than I would have imagined prior to all this.
Don't know about you but I'm kinda excited by the sudden interest in all things 'home based' with the focus on our food, simple living, creation of daily rituals and an acceptance that less really could be more.
Growing and celebrating seasonal food was once something we all took part in because we understood how precarious it is. However, our connection to food has decreased dramatically since the beginning of the industrial system which has enabled long supply chains to dominate. Where our food comes from, it's nutritional value, how it was grown and by who are not questions we are encouraged to ask by the multi national, packaged food corporates who dominate shelf space in supermarkets and luckily for them most of us don't question this disconnection.
Instead we prefer to trust the labels, ignore the boundless packaging and choose convenience and price over provenance and seasonality. Sadly the result is that food is no longer something we celebrate rather it's become a low cost commodity that we happily waste and don't value. Long supply chains make our farmers faceless price takers rather than celebrated champions and while it might enable cheap food now, they are slowly breaking and walking away...leaving multi nationals to fill the gap with more monoculture, more focus on maximising yield and more mechanisation.
The impact of this on rural Australia is devastation, as smaller, family scale farmers are no longer viable. Without a reason to be on the land, they move away from their communities taking with them school enrolments, volunteer capacity, sport teams, community groups and rural vibrancy in general. The impact on our urban populations is inevitable loss of food sovereignty and food literacy, entrenched disconnection from food - where it comes from, what season it grows in, how to grow it, how to cook with it, how to preserve it.
Although situations of calamity are disempowering in many ways, there are indeed silver linings, and one of these is our deep primal desire to be reconnected with the most fundamental of things - food. Every human eats and as an eater we have the ability to make a difference simply by asking a few more questions, re connecting to our food and ultimately making an effort to see it as a resource to be celebrated. If this pandemic is shouting anything from the rooftops it's that we need to find a way to embrace simplicity post complexity and the best way to do this is to get your hands in the dirt and GROW food - After all....its fundamental!!!
When you grow your own food you rebuild eating habits and this mirrors the seasonal cycles. This is how humans evolved to eat and it provides an exceptional way for our bodies to secure the diverse nutrients we need at that particular time of year.
Regardless of what you grow and how much, there’s a few meals that can adapt to suit whatever you've got ready for picking. My favourite of these is a seasonal grab-n-go veggie tart. It changes depending on what we have in the patch but we always have eggs and with little more than a quick dice of a few freshly picked ingredients it can be whipped up for lunch of dinner with just 10 minutes prep and 25 minutes in the oven. Served with Chutney (pear is our fave at the moment!) its perfect
Summer Veg Tart - makes enough for 5 people
• 8 eggs - quick whisked.
• 3 cups of diced, salted and browned off seasonal veggies (zucchini, tomatoes, fresh herbs, silverbeet, kale, corn, spring onion, peas, beans….. what ever you’ve got but if you use pumpkin, potato or carrot, you will need to give them a longer brown off in the pan before throwing them in the baking dish.
• A few dollops of homemade pesto
• Handful of cheese (great way to use up the last of the feta in the pot or leftover cheese from cheese platters if you’ve had guests.
• Mix it all together in the baking dish and cook for 25 minutes in a 180degree oven.
