Day 5

We went to have lunch at Locavore, a restaurant in Stirling that sources their ingredients locally (within 160km) but they are closed till 14th January. Our second choice was the Organic Market Cafe - they were very open to discussing what was local on the menu, even though they were extremely busy as always. I am pleasantly surprised by the attitudes we have encountered as we go about asking our questions about food sources. So far everyone has been very willing to go out of their way to answer our questions, or find someone else who can. The staff at the Organic Market Cafe were very helpful and knowledgeable about their food. We ate focaccias made with Laucke's flour, home made (predominantly local) pesto, (assumed local) tomatoes, and local Bocconcini cheese. I had the locally smoked ham (not sure the source of the meat though) with home made relish and (not local - but delicious) cheese. We drank our own rainwater as we did not want to ask any more questions about the sources of their juices!

We explored the market shop thinking we were bound to find some local produce - however, there were slim pickings, it seems the majority of our organic and biodynamic packaged foods come from interstate or overseas. We did find a good selection of Four Leaf grain products (although where these were grown is unknown as yet) and Macarob - carob sauce grown and processed near Burra. The staff were very helpful and found us some organic lepinja (Turkish Pide) bread made they believe with Laucke's flour in (Picadilly) Adelaide (we will need to check with the bakery though), we bought 2 loaves and picked up a breadmaker from my parents (one that we had given to them a few years ago - what goes around.....?) so we can make our own Laucke's bread!

When we returned home I looked through our pantry, not one of our cans of organic food is from SA. Not tomatoes, beans, lentils, chick peas, or coconut milk, even the tuna - wouldn't you think that tuna would come from Port Lincoln? - Nope - Thailand! John West and Greenseas dolphin friendly in spring water, all from THAILAND.

I am a bit shocked and embarrassed, when I shop I am so busy looking for Biodynamic or Organic/Wholemeal/no MSG/no Phenylalanines/no artificial flavours or colours or Fair Trade - I don't look at where it comes from (sometimes I also look for Australian made but it is not a priority - until now ofcourse). I realise my main focus is my health & my family's; not the health of the planet. But actually the two are strongly linked but one is a short term goal one is longer term and bigger picture.