Like a chicken?

Schnitzel and Cacciatore - (coop from Rentachook)

It took me a while to settle on a term that described my food philosophy accurately enough to encapsulate what my blog is about. And then, gazing out at my chickens foraging in the garden, it came to me.

After all, free ranging for chickens is all about freedom. A chicken should never be made to eat only factory pellets, it should have the opportunity to scratch and forage and try lots of different things. Mine happen to love watermelon. But enough of that, what has that got to do with me?

I don’t want to ingest, or feed my loved ones with loads of factory-processed, flavourless “food” packed with preservatives, and it makes me sad when other people choose this path. I want to eat food that has been mindfully prepared and I want to serve this kind of food to other people.

Some people in the food industry would seek to mislead us with buzzwords and jargon about what makes good food. Words like “farm fresh” and “all natural” have been heavily abused in our supermarkets to the detriment of consumers and their families. Misconceptions about wholesome food lead some people to think that only hairy hippie types eat such food, and that lifestyle couldn’t be simple or chic.

A chicken that leads a real free range life, produces the most flavourful and vibrantly yellow-yolked eggs you will ever see, far brighter than anything from a supermarket shelf. I believe that good food has the same effect on people, they are happier, friendlier and produce great beauty in all areas of their lives.

Food! Glorious food!

Standing in the vegie patch I stared at the cabbages with impatience. I tugged my beanie down over my ears and stomped my gumboot.

“Well... When?”

My father then began his speech, tapping the top of the cabbage and talking about hearts, hardness, sun, rain... The rain soaked the cabbages but Dad’s words could not penetrate my grumpiness.

The huff disappeared several weeks later when we sat down to eat Mock Chow Mein, made from our own cabbage! I had helped of course, shooing the chickens out of the garden when they “flew” over the fence, washing and chopping the vegetables and setting the table.

From a very young age food has been an important part of my life, in all stages of production, and oh how I love to eat! A fact which is attested to by the fact that my clothes never fit well for very long.

Which is why I am writing this;

- I need a reason not to just stick to my favourites.

- Food is the only thing I can talk about constantly without getting even slightly bored!

- I need to write because I feel like maybe I’m a writer trapped in an English teacher’s body, and I can’t let my enthusiasm for writing and reading continue to stagnate under my “work”.

I am committing myself to a minimum of two and a maximum of three blogs per week.

I am allowed to talk about anything I like to do with food at any stage of development.