Some evenings I listen to the radio before dropping off to sleep. Sometimes it happens I doze off and hours later I am woken by the sound of the presenter’s voice going on about something. One night a week or so back, I heard the words: sheep, wheat, barley oats and dairy, in no particular order.
This was enough to stop me from reaching out and turning the radio off. I tuned in. I listened for a minute or two and then reached out for my trusty notebook and pen. The program was about Australian produced food and the program might well have been presented especially for me.
First up was an interview with a representative from the Rural Industries Research And Development Corporation. The talk then ranged over many topics, truffles and essential oils in Tasmania, bush tomatoes in Central Australia and broad scale farming. Tasmania grows saffron, wasabi and quinoa; all very well, but not items that you would find on the shelves in my pantry.
Here in Victoria we have the Meredith Dairy yogurt and Shaw’s buffalo mozzarella and yogurt. I have tried both the Meredith Dairy sheep yogurt and the Shaw’s buffalo yogurt and I like them both but I would say Meredith wins in the taste stakes by a short half head.
Queensland produces a number of more exotic food items, such as dragon fruit with its bright red skin, white flesh and black seeds. Vanilla pods, tomato peppers (small, round, red peppers looking very much like a tomato) and finger limes also come from Queensland.
And coffee. In Queensland. This will definitely be investigated.
Every state grows olives and Australia produces good quality olive oil. The conversation, which is now talk-back, moves on to ramble around from eel farming, to native fish in water filled disused open cut mines and an old chap on King Island who talks about seaweed which was once used for gelatine. Beach cast kelp is still harvested and milled for export to Scotland, but not I suspect for food purposes.
A new crop of Australian food, the Kakadu plum, seems to be the food of the moment and is referred to as a super crop. An online search for the dictionary definition of super food informs me it is:
a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being.
When the talk wanders off to other places where people take the opportunity to promote their host farms and suggest olive growing is a tax dodge, I lose interest and I reach out and press the off button.
Showing posts with label bush tucker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bush tucker. Show all posts
Monday, 1 April 2013
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
The value of nutmeg
In history class today we learned nutmeg was once the most highly valued spice; more valuable than gold, as it says here. I followed this up by searching around for more history on nutmeg.
In the 15th Century nutmeg was much sought after and once the Portuguese nailed it for sailing around the Cape of Good Hope to the Spice Islands they had the market cornered. This form of transportation saw the end of the traditional overland spice routes.
The Portuguese achievement was short-lived as the Dutch and the British were keen to get in for their take. What followed was a difficult time for the unfortunate people of Banda, home to the nutmeg tree. The Dutch, in their pursuit of controlling the production of nutmeg in the East Indies, put down any local resistance, usually at great cost to the islands inhabitants.
During the 14th Century in England half a kilo of nutmeg cost the same as a cow or three sheep and the British were very keen to obtain nutmeg and share in the wealth. When the English tried to horn in on the spice trade in the East Indies the Dutch beheaded those merchantmen they caught trespassing on what the Dutch saw as their territory.
Nutmeg is never, ever going to be on the Ausfood list; so what has this to do with Ausfood? It’s a very tenuous link indeed but here it is. Time passed and more explorers and adventurers, some better navigators than others, sailed the Europe - East Indies route.
In the very early 17th century William Janszoon, in the Banda Islands at the time, was ordered to explore the coast of New Guinea. According to Wikipedia at this time Janszoon landed on what we now know as the Cape York Peninsula. Everything went well at first; the Keeweer people allowed them to land but were not interested in the food and tobacco the Dutch offered.
The Keeweer people preferred their own bush tucker. At that time the indigenous people were able to get all the food they needed from the land; nothing was imported and everything , as we now think of it, was Australian.
The original Ausfood.
In the 15th Century nutmeg was much sought after and once the Portuguese nailed it for sailing around the Cape of Good Hope to the Spice Islands they had the market cornered. This form of transportation saw the end of the traditional overland spice routes.
The Portuguese achievement was short-lived as the Dutch and the British were keen to get in for their take. What followed was a difficult time for the unfortunate people of Banda, home to the nutmeg tree. The Dutch, in their pursuit of controlling the production of nutmeg in the East Indies, put down any local resistance, usually at great cost to the islands inhabitants.
During the 14th Century in England half a kilo of nutmeg cost the same as a cow or three sheep and the British were very keen to obtain nutmeg and share in the wealth. When the English tried to horn in on the spice trade in the East Indies the Dutch beheaded those merchantmen they caught trespassing on what the Dutch saw as their territory.
Nutmeg is never, ever going to be on the Ausfood list; so what has this to do with Ausfood? It’s a very tenuous link indeed but here it is. Time passed and more explorers and adventurers, some better navigators than others, sailed the Europe - East Indies route.
In the very early 17th century William Janszoon, in the Banda Islands at the time, was ordered to explore the coast of New Guinea. According to Wikipedia at this time Janszoon landed on what we now know as the Cape York Peninsula. Everything went well at first; the Keeweer people allowed them to land but were not interested in the food and tobacco the Dutch offered.
The Keeweer people preferred their own bush tucker. At that time the indigenous people were able to get all the food they needed from the land; nothing was imported and everything , as we now think of it, was Australian.
The original Ausfood.
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