Who Gives a Fork?!
Written by Bliss Boaden
Hi, I’m Bliss. I’m part of Team Pepe Saya. The other day Pepe and I were discussing how Australia’s got talent but not the kind Simon Cowell would be interested in it’s even better than that. Over the past few months of travels through Australia and abroad both Pepe and I have had the privilege and honour of meeting a great many inspiring producers, artisans, chefs and foodies. People who are actively pursuing their passion for food with good and honest intentions. People who have strong convictions and live by what they teach. People with an eye on the future and not just their future but our future. People with integrity who are working hard so we can all share the benefits of a robust and diverse food industry. People like Pepe’s new mate Costa Georgiadis who champions sustainable practices, who passionately promotes his beliefs about lifestyle and who has dedicated himself to making a change amongst his own community and who lives what he teaches. What a guy! Now, as an only child I am all for looking out for number one, but if we all did it all the time i’m not sure we’ll like the out come in the long run. Let’s take Australia’s food industry for example, I recently returned from a trip to California where I was blown away by the diverse range of really delicious sustainably produced products. Everything from honey to horseradish, beer to bread and fish to flowers and not just in farmers markets but in homes and on menus. I hate to say it (but i will because this is my little rant) but we’re missing out folks. I know there are thriving farmer’s markets here and I love them too, however what we’re missing is the follow through. We all make great choices on the weekends as we stroll through the market but what are we eating (and how was it produced) on Wednesday night, or Thursday lunch time? Have you seen Finding Nemo? There’s a scene where Dory gets caught in a net with a whole load of other fish. It’s stressful, all the fish are scared and the net is being hauled out of the water but Nemo shouts to the fish to ‘swim down’ together. As a group the fish are too powerful, the net breaks and they swim away free. That’s what we have to do, take control and make a change…together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUTt0LMhyas It boils down to this: do you really give a fork? Be you passionate home cook, chef, farmer or backyard gardner; the choices you make with regards to the food you eat and where it comes from are important and have the power to influence the shape of the Australian food landscape. So as my mum used to tell me everyday, ‘Make good choices!’