Well, it has been two weeks since I got a box because I forgot to put my order in by 7pm on Sunday night – oops!  But it meant I was really looking forward to receiving this box.  Am excited about the eggplant this week – not sure what I am going to cook with it, but possibly a moussaka or a vegetarian lasagne – stay tuned and I will post the recipe and a picture.  I have been eating lots of spinach at the moment and am looking forward to it again this week.  Passionfruits are for Dad cause he loves fruit salad with them on, so I got extra.  Trying this lot of eggs and liked the sourdough grain bread so much last time that I got it again.

There are some big questions I was faced with when buying tomato paste the other day.  This is the tomato paste I ended up purchasing because it is organic.  However, it has been imported from Italy.  So how do I know if I am better off buying the organic imported version or the locally produced conventional version?  Do the health benefits and on-and-around-farm environmental benefits of less pesticides and chemical use on the organic version trump the food miles and carbon emissions involved in flying the organic tomatoes around the world???  Or would I be better off with the chemical laden and environmentally questionable version from a local farm with fewer food miles and emissions?  Any comments?  Can anyone help solve my dilemma here?  Or is this another case of having to make a dicey choice?

P.S. If I had the choice, I would buy the local organic version – of course!  But unfortunately there was not that option at the About Life Natural Market Place in Rozelle.

Did you know that commercially produced cut flowers have up to 1000 (that’s right one thousand) times the chemicals that you find on commercially produced fruit and vegetables????  Think carefully before you smell the roses.

But chemical use is not the only concern.  In Australia, most of our commercial cut flowers are grown locally, except around Valentines Day or Mothers Day when the demand exceeds the local supply.  During these times, flowers are imported just like food is and all the issues surrounding your food choices also apply to the flowers you buy.  Flowers are imported from developing countries such as Kenya, Columbia, India, Thailand and Ecuador.  The quality and ethical standards for such things as workers rights, child labour and pesticide use in these places are often undefined or unregulated.

Start asking your florist questions about where the flowers are from, what chemicals are used, does the farm they are produced on adhere to ecologically sustainable practices and if they do not know the answers to these questions, ask them to find out and tell your florist that they matter just as much as for food.

This picture is of an organically produced rose for commercial sale in India and possible export to the UK.  The UK and EU have already started asking the questions above and shops such as Marks & Spencer now label their flowers with country of origin.  Wouldn’t it be great if Australia did this too.

Organic production is better for us all – the environment, our health and our world.

Since learning that meat consumption is one of the main contributors to our global environmental problems (after the horrendous human population explosion of course) I have been making a conscious effort to eat less of it.  I am afraid that I have never been able to completely convert to vegetarian (my best effort was in 2007 when doing some of my PhD research in India where I got through 3 months pure vege).  But I do try to eat less meat during the week.  To do this, I make sure I buy the best quality meat I can find that is organic or freerange (as in the case of pork which is very hard to get organic due to the high cost of production).  I have smaller portions with lots of organic vegetables or in this case, for my spaghetti bolognase, I use much less meat and substitute with mushrooms!!!  It tastes fantastic and leaves a smaller footprint.  Anyhow, here is my recipe (serves 3):

225g organic beef mince

1 medium organic onion, diced

250-300g organic mushrooms, finely diced

400g can organic diced tomatoes

2 Tblsp organic tomato paste

1 Tblsp organic olive oil

sprinkle of herbs (oregano, thyme, basil)

water

Heat the olive oil in a nice big pan and cook onions until browned, add the meat and cook until browned then add the mushrooms and cook until starting to soften.  Add the diced tomato, tomato paste, herbs and enough water so as to have a nice consistency and simmer gently uncovered for about 40 mins to an hour adding water if it starts to dry out or stick.  Serve with spaghetti and Parmesan if desired.

About 250-300 calories per serve of bolognase.

P.S. the fantastic bowls are made by a friend of my family in Armidale – Rick Hatch – these ones have lasted over 15 years and are so nice to eat from

On Sunday I went to the Dank St Festival in Waterloo – which unfortunately got rained out – however, this meant that I went into the fabulous Dank St Depot for lunch.  This picture is of the fabulous Porchetta lunch that I ordered and a vodka and organic Parker’s blood orange juice cocktail.

Now, Dank St Depot is no ordinary restaurant – Jared Ingersoll is the celebrity chef, and a fabulous guy – but there is more to my choice to eat at Dank St Depot than the fabulous food (it really is something special) and the celebrity chef who takes the time to talk to his customers……  Because I am still a poor uni student and I can’t afford to eat out very often at all, especially fine dining, I have to make my choices as to where to spend my money carefully.  In this case the choice is clear to me – Dank St Depot is a restaurant which ensures that all the produce is sustainably sourced and produced with integrity and passion.

I first became aware of Dank St Depot and Jared Ingersoll through my friend Ray Marshall (who passed away this year and who was one of the best people I have known).  He and his wife Kerry (who is now running things on her own) have a biodynamic chicken farm in the upper Hunter.  My family and I would help out at the markets on his stall if his regulars were unable and look after the farm on occasion if they needed to go away (a rare occurrence when working so hard on a small farm).  Anyhow, Ray was passionate about his product and inspired me a great deal.  Dank St Depot is one of the fine dining restaurants that Cornucopia supplies and this is how I heard about it.

So I was thrilled to be eating there on Sunday this week.  I had heard about the whole pig that Jared received the week before on Twitter (which I am afraid I look at too much these days – interesting though!) and all about what he was doing with it and how he hung it for days and then chopped it all up telling us what he was going to do with all the pieces.  So I was delighted when it was on the menu on Sunday as I knew exactly what I was getting and from where.  The Pork is freerange and from Tasmania and was sourced through Urban Food Market (see link on side tab).

The meal was spectacular, I was very satisfied and loved that I know the whole animal was used, no waste at all and that no food is ever wasted at Dank St Depot as Jared has recycling, compost and ways of using as much as possible in his cooking.  Thank you Jared for enabling an ethical fine dining choice!

P.S. sorry about the rotation of the picture, I can’t seem to get it to rotate on this blog site…

Organic box delivered on 21st October.  Lots of goodies this week and I got a few extra things as well.  Yummy organic grainy sourdough, oranges to make juice (I love using 2 oranges, hand squeezing and with lots of pulp – yum!), half a pumpkin and a bottle of water.

This was my lunch today and it is nearly all organic, just the ricotta was conventional because I could not get any organic.  I think I will have to exchange the ricotta cheese for a nicer version.  But it was yum and low calorie.

1 piece wholemeal Lebanese bread

1 Tblsp tomato paste

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 spring onion, finely chopped

6 black olives, chopped

50g low fat ricotta

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Spread the tomato paste over the bread and evenly place all other ingredients over the base.  Cook for 15 mins or until lightly browned and the edge of the pizza is crisp.  Enjoy!

Approximately 220 calories (serves 1)

I just went to the movies and saw Julie & Julia (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/julieandjulia/site/#/Home).  I loved it and it has re-inspired me to get on with my blog and get into doing what I set out to do on here.  I want to show my organic box each week and some of the recipes I make with the ingredients from the box.  But, I also want to explore the whole organics story in Australia – the pro’s the con’s – who is doing organics well – what on earth is going on with labeling and regulation – why organics is important for our health, for the environment, for farmers – who is cooking with organic produce and why – what people want and where to get it from.  So, in the spirit of the Julie & Julia movie, I need to set a goal and stick to it for this blog.  So, to start with, I am going to put my weekly box contents up each week and at least two recipes.  I am also going to put at least one feature story per week on a “hot topic” that is of interest to me and I hope others out there.  The first goal is to do this for the rest of 2009.  So, tune in and enjoy!  I would also value any feedback or requests for info.  I have some great contacts in the industry and the academic world – so fire any question at me and I will endeavor to find a suitable and rounded answer.  Jas xoxo

Another one of my yummy breakfasts using organic box produce and biodynamic eggs.  I just use two eggs to scramble with a drop of lite milk and a pinch of salt and pepper.  In this one I diced a few mushrooms finely and put them in the scramble to cook.  I steamed the spinach and laid the scramble over it.  This is a high protein breakfast and keeps me going strong until lunchtime (if I have a coffee for morning tea….).

Approximately 210 calories.

This weeks organic box from Abundant Organics in Sydney.  They continue to be fantastic quality and value for money.  They also give you a breakdown of what is in the box and which Certifying Body it has gone through.  I need to do a big discussion on here about organic certification in Australia as there are a lot of issues.  For starters, there is more than one which is crazy and then they all have different standards.  Then there is the issue of voluntary v’s mandatory codes of practice and how that impacts what we get.  But I am impressed that Abundant Organics gives the certifying body for each item in the box.  This week the potatoes, bok choy and pink lady apples were certified by NASAA.  Corn, carrots, broccoli, shallots, celery, snow peas, tomatoes, avocado, onion, mandarins, grapefruit, bananas, kiwifruit and granny smith apples were certified by Australian Certified Organics (which used to be BFA = Biological Farmers of Australia).  Oranges were BioDynamic and the lettuce was organic Food Chain.  So that gives you an example of how confusing it could be.