Setting the rules

When you undertake a task and you are the person in charge of, as well as the person as undertaking the task, it is always easy to set the rules. You set them to suit yourself and who is going to notice anyway if you don’t toe the line.

The business of toeing the line is one of the reasons I decided to set up the In Search of Ausfood blog. There is only a very, very slim chance that anyone will take me to task as that requires readers and as readers, at this point, are virtually non-existent this is something I’m not unduly concerned about right now.

Right now my main concern is the decision around the guidelines I will follow next year when the really serious business of eating Australian gets underway. To this end I've made the following decision; stringent measures will be set in place.

It will be 100% Australian or nothing.

There I've put it out there for everyone to see.

Already I hold the opinion that by the end of this year I will be well and truly fed up with looking at the trickier items that are marked product of Australia but may have, for example, palm oil in the ingredient list. Australian palm oil producers? Where?

Anything I eat will have to be clearly defined on the label whether it is a grocery shelf line or meat or vegetables and fruit. If there is no signage in the shop (or on the website) then I don’t buy the product. The statement often made to me about “all our meat or all our fruit and vegetables are Australian” when there is no clear evidence, won’t wash for me in 2014.

It should make for easier shopping if I have a list of stores where I can rely on Australian labelled food products. And as for the limitations imposed by my guidelines, I shall just have to live with them. It may mean repetition or it may mean I will have to be more creative in my approach to recipes and menus.

As far as I am concerned all of the above can only be a good thing.