Bath Farmers Market

http://www.bathfarmersmarket.co.uk/

I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

SOLE for the soul

or:

There's more to eating locally than you think.

I'm here in Greece. Specifically in Mykonos. More specifically in Psarou Beach.

Psarou Beach looks like this:

Which is what most people think Greece and its Islands look like. And it does. I know this, I took the bloody photo. But this isn't all.

Greece is a bloody hard, rocky, barren, goddamn difficult palce to eek out a living. Moreso now with the oft-reported and usually over-hyped "Greek-led second wave GFC"

Behind the glam and the night life and the minor celebs and the dancing all night and the naked lovelies adorning the beaces, is the harsh, sun baked reality of Greece.

Quite literally like this:

All that grey 'stuff' behind the azure-blue-and-white Cycladic architecture is where the locals ply their farming trades. And it's bare, sun-baked rock. 

So. to Cavo Psarou.

It's owned by friends of mine, I will admit that up and foremost. Cos and Petroula have run the family-owned resto since 1993. It's been in Petroula's family since the 50's.

Cos and Pet have a severely physically disabled son, and the only access they can get to appropriate and reasonable health care for him, is in Athens.

So every Tuesday morning, Petroula and her son fly to Athens for 4 days a week, for him to get therapy. It's difficult, and it's costly.

Costas and their daughter stay and run the restaurant. And every day, they watch ships and planes fly in crates of caviar and sushi for the endless appetites of those frequenting more "known" venues.

Petroula hasn't the faintest idea what sushi is. She learnt to cook as a child, and then started working in the kitchen of Cavo when she was 15. Her food, and that of the restaruant reflects all that is SOLE. Apart from the very basics of flour, sugar, salt and a few other 'bits', every single thing you eat at Cavo is grown on the family farm at Drafilki. The lamb, goat, most of the beef, the vegetables, the olives, the olive oil, the oregano, the beans, the sweet baby zuccini's. The whole freaking lot.

And it's all grown without pesticides, because they just can't afford them. Like farmers in PNG, 'organic' is a term that is unknown amongst locals here.. it's just food.. As Mani says "why you put chemicals on things that just grow?'

And they reap all of the above out of the rocky, thankless soil of the hinterland of Mykonos, far away from the wanker-azzi oonce-ooncing down on the sunlounges, hoping for a glimpse of Adnan Khashoggi's grandaughter.

They serve:

Chicken souvlaki, on home-made pita, with kale and garlic, and beans in tomato sauce.

Greek salad, with all the ingredeints, including the fetta AND the oregano that adorns it, from the farm. The sparking mineral water is from a small supplier in Athens.

local octopodi, pickled in their olive oil, with bread from a bakery in Mykonos town, and beer from Athen's first (and currently, only) microbrewery.

And as I sat there, yesterday, soaking up the sun that is as heavy and thick as honey, I saw at least half-a-dozen tourist walk in and order cheeseburgers and fries.

Or eschew the food, in favour of a sushi platter and Stella Artois at N'assos.

This isn't a post designed to tug at the heart-strings. NONE of the family would want that.

But next time you holiday. Whether it be on Mykonos, or Crete, or Ibiza or Bali or Maldives, or Portsea, just take a moment to think about where your tourist dollars (or euros) are actually going. WHO they're helping, who they're harming and what kharma you're wracking up along with those holiday calories. Sometimes a child's access to affordable and appropriate health care depends on your choice of lunch.

pg and sticky are proud to announce....

SOLE Mama's blog and forums!

Or click the cute little widget to the right!!

It's a little project we've been working on for a while now, but we've finished BETA testing and now we're ready to unveil our little baby!

The list of suppliers is kinda specifically for Victoria, but we have included plenty of links and forum rooms for other Aussies.. and even overseas SOLE sistas and bruffers... SOLE Mama doesn't care where you live... advice on growing or sourcing the good stuff and cooking it is universal!

AND, IT'S EVEN GOT A CHAT ROOM FEATURE!!!

We'll be adding links and other information as we grow!

There's lots of stuff to read and enjoy, so get over to SOLE Mama's, join up (it's free and takes about 1 minute!)

Feel free to share the links with other SOLE-minded folks, or anyone who just wants to drop by for a cuppa!

It's not about defining SOLE, it's a place to share whatever SOLE means to you!

Drop by and help SOLE Mama and the gang get to the Heart of SOLE!

Oh, and if you'd like to help out be getting the cute little widget you see in the side bar to the right, just let me know and I'll send you the code!

S.O.L.E foods

Many other bloggers are talking about this. Sometimes called the Localvore movement, Ethicurean, whatever label you want to put on it, it's a growing "movement" to think more ethically about our food.

S. sustainable
O. organic
L. local
E. ethical.

Read some futher ponderings here:

Stickyfingers.

Grocer.

The Age.

And before y'all accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon, here's what I want to know??

What does all of this mean, in the real life of real women? Those of us in the 'burbs struggling to make our kids eat ANY vegetable, let alone an ethical one?

Those of us living from pay to pay, with kids in schools, with mortgages and rents?

In short, how does one bring ethical issues in food and sustainability to Glen Waverley? Or Craigieburn?

Here's what I do:

I buy from Aussie Farmers Direct, who guarantee me that my milk comes from the Warnambool Dairy (thus supporting a co-operative venture and local dairy farmers), that my bread is baked in Dandenong.

I use the cardboard boxes from my orders to compost and grow veggies in. I currently have several boxes, down my sideway, where they get the run-off from the spouting, in which I am growing pumpkins, parsley and potatoes.

I water these with the collected shower water when they need it.

I ask questions. To my grocer. To my butcher. And if they can't tell me where they source their product from, I find one who can. If enough of us suburban mums ask our butchers "where does this come from?", maybe they'll start wondering why and THINKING about the products they supply us with.

I can't afford a green water collection system, but I CAN buy a couple of big plastic containers from Bunnings and whack them in the garden beds, to collect rainfall for the dry days.

I can go to a farmers market (and I am not naive enough to think that ALL foods there are SOLE food, btw), but I can buy cheaper and better and a lot more ethically from the Ferntree Gully market, than I can at Safeway.

I eat in season. I refuse to by tomatoes or lettuces or asparagus in winter. I refuse to by gas-packed meat from Coles or Safeway. EVER.

When I can afford it, I buy local meats. When I can't, I buy something that gives me the best return for my dollar, the best "bang for my buck".. a chicken that can be roasted, used for sanga's the next day and the carcass turned into stock.

I talk to my kids about the choices I make and why I make them.

I rob Peter to pay Paul. I buy home-brand flour, so I can afford recycled loo paper. I pay more for ethical, environmentally friendly cleaning products (and make some of my own), and pay it off by shopping at Aldi for dogfood and canned tomatoes. I buy an organic pineapple for a fruit platter, at my local green grocer, but I pay it off by using non-organic Coles cabbage in my stews.

I TRY TO BE INFORMED ABOUT MY CHOICES AS A CONSUMER.

So, tell me, dear readers. What do YOU do?? HOW do you do it? What more can WE do??

If you want to debate the ethics or the perceived "wankiness" of this movement, some of the links above are the place. What I want this post to be is a place where we can list places, ideas, THINGS that we can do, out there in Mortgage Land, out there in "do I pay the gas bill or eat ethically" land... out in the real world.

It can be done, I know it can. Eating ethically and sustainably on a normal family income, making normal family choice. It's NOT about eco-friendly larks vomit. It's about being aware, and making sure our suppliers of food, out in the 'burbs; the butchers and the grocers and the bakers KNOW that SOLE foods are not just important in the rarefied atmosphere of urban hippies, but to you and I as well.