The resis have been thinking about how we can be more connected to the rural areas and people who supply our food. This partly came about from conversations with our guest Michael last year, who was a farmer in Shepparton. He talked about how hard it is to make a living from farming, and that as a farmer he couldn’t afford to eat fresh local stuff, and had no time to grow his own, so he had to go for what was cheapest from the supermarket. That seems really unfair!
In response to this, we are looking into buying meat in bulk from a local farmer. We think this might help us to be more aware of where the meat we cook and share comes from, and support farmers who can feel under-appreciated by folks in the city. It’s more expensive than the big supermarkets, but if we can pass that money directly on to the farmers, especially if they know they have regular customers who care about how the animals and the land are being treated, then we hope we are contributing to a more integrated relationship between land, food and people.
With this in mind, in our wish list we are asking for cash donations to go towards a guest meat fund and will use this to order directly from a farmer who is set up to receive orders in this way (such as Cherry Tree Organics which supplies beef, chicken, pork and lamb, and Yarra Valley Game meats which supplies kangaroo). If you know of any other suppliers, feel free to let us know! And if you want to contribute to this fund, please indicate this when you donate.
- Samara
