foodie

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Taking back control

Submitted by sproutnewb on Tue, 2011-04-05 18:42

The easiest way to start “greening” your life begins with taking closer look at the choices you make on a daily basis. Through making simple alternative choices in our everyday routines we can lower our carbon footprints, support local providers who are more in need of support than large corporations and invest in our own health. Something that is even better than making alternative choices when buying goods is an effort to become more self sustainable through making certain products instead of buying them. I decided to put this theory to the test by listing the products I used in one day and looking at healthier and environmentally friendly alternatives to them: Instead of…

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getting the culture of bread-making started

Submitted by sproutscout on Tue, 2011-04-05 13:43

What I’ve learned about sourdough is that you don’t need specialised flours to make a good loaf. If you are on a budget you can buy ordinary white bread flour sold at supermarkets, it is the process of sourdough making that transforms the flour and makes the loaf a nutritious one (although you might have to face your eco-conscience when buying flour that isn’t sustainably produced).

Hundreds of years ago bread was denser, heavier and took anywhere from three days to make. Isn’t technology wonderful that it takes supermarket chains only three hours to make a loaf of bread?

Do you find yourself irked by such a proposition? In fact, what the arrogant bread-making innovators did in transforming the baking process, is transform the loaf into an item almost wholly indigestible by the human system.

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adhd – i've always said, it's about diet and here's a study to prove it

Submitted by sproutingforth on Wed, 2011-03-30 14:33

A new study reported in The Lancet last month found that with a restricted diet alone, many children experienced a significant reduction in symptoms.

I recently found myself on the couch. In an educational psychologist's office. I won't bore you with the details of how I found myself in such a position, but suffice to say the debate turned to ADHD or ADD and medication very quickly.

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be a conscious consumer

Submitted by sproutnewb on Mon, 2011-03-28 14:29

Cape Town's Canal WalkCape Town's Canal WalkI recently moved to Cape Town after living in much smaller cities for most of my life. Despite adjusting to the changing landscapes and different people I noticed that there is one kind of place, no matter where you are in the world, where you know what to expect. The big sale sign, special offers, all too familiar brands, those standard price tags, the florescent lights and suggestive mannequins in the windows - shopping malls and stores are the same whether you’re in Cape Town or Polokwane! The familiarity was comforting at first but it was not long before concern grabbed hold of me. Let me explain why:

What our shopping malls say about us
Imagine if, in 2000 years from now,

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fair cape free range, not as free to range as you might think

Submitted by sproutingforth on Wed, 2011-03-02 09:38

It appears all is not as it seems with the cows down at Fair Cape Free Range (the 'happy, healthy' ones that 'live in super comfort in spacious surroundings').

Muriel Gravenor, a concerned consumer of said milk, emailed us last week with a different take on Fair Cape Free Range's trademarked milk. It seems that these cows are grateful simply to be in a shed all day long and the area in which they are free to range is little more than a glorified feedlot.

It's a pity we can't all visit the farms from which our food comes; get a first-hand take on just how what we eat is treated, before we ingest it. It might help us get a handle on all the marketing speak through which we have to wade on a daily basis, whilst we try to make a decision about just what is good for us.


earth fair market now also at st george's mall

Submitted by sproutingforth on Wed, 2011-02-16 09:39

I am a fan of the Earth Fair Market. It's location in Tokai makes it a really easy 'pop in and grab' place to stock up on fresh, organic and local food on a Wednesday evening and Saturday morning.

And now, the indoor market is getting an outdoor equivalent in the city bowl, St George's Mall, just opposite the cathedral (what a setting).

when
Every Thursday from 12.30 pm to 6.30 pm

where
Upper St Georges Mall, off Wale Street

Jacci Simpson, the market's organiser is very excited. As she says, it's been eight months of getting approval and permits and it is the closest we will have in this country to a European style street market.


jane's delicious kitchen review

Submitted by MichaelE on Wed, 2011-02-02 12:16

Jane's Delicious KitchenJane's Delicious KitchenJane's Delicious Kitchen – Harvesting, preserving and cooking seasonal food - by Jane Griffiths is a South African cookbook, that is the sequel if you like, to the bestselling Jane's Delicious Garden.

The book is beautifully produced and provides an eclectic mix of recipes that show you what to do with the wonderful fresh produce you've grown, having been inspired by Griffiths' first book of course! The recipes in the book are structured around the seasons, and focus on Griffiths' favourite seasonal ingredients from her garden. Jane's Delicious Kitchen (JDK) heavily features Griffith's abundant organic garden – which produces the fruit and veggies that have starring roles in many recipes in the book.


rosemary hill market introduces family friday evenings

Submitted by sproutingforth on Wed, 2011-01-26 11:37

Rosemary Hill Farm Market has been around for two years. They're trying something slightly new as of this weekend, with a focus on family and food. They're also moving the market to Friday evenings in order to accommodate this.

Rosemary Hill is just that, a hill on a stretch of gorgeous organic farmland only 10 minutes outside Pretoria, or 45 minutes from Sandton (considering it takes at least that to get across Jo'burg, it isn't far).

The farm has been organic since 1978 and grows African potato, sutherlandia, rosemary, lavender, artemisia, lippia, spearmint, eucalyptus and other plants from which they distill essential oils. They have a herd of Nguni cattle and grow other crops like pecan nuts, as well as vegetables. Next door to them is the Max Stibbe Waldorf School.


our share of the harvest

Submitted by sproutingforth on Fri, 2011-01-21 11:21

We received the most beautiful peaches and figs yesterday from Hoogwater Farm via the food collective. These have to be the biggest and juiciest peaches I've tasted in a long time, and the figs, well....

The Food Collective isn’t a business, or a formal organization. It encompasses the friendship, koffieklets, food activism projects and support group of three women called Kate, Pia and Liz. We became friends through our work founding and running Slow Food Mother City, and the relationship developed into weekly (or bi-weekly. And market visits. And cherry-picking road trips) sessions where we generate ideas, projects, and websites, support each other’s fledgling business ideas and also recipe- and plant-swap, complain about our menfolk, and drink tea.

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pitiful pregnant pigs need your help

Submitted by Guest on Wed, 2011-01-19 10:45

pigs in stalls: pic- huha.org.nzpigs in stalls: pic- huha.org.nzDear Friends,

South Africa’s pregnant pigs are trapped in metal cages that prevent any movement forwards, backwards or sideways – not just for a day, or a week, or a month. But, for life!

Their suffering is relentless. View this footage of pregnant pigs hidden away on a factory farm in the Cape Winelands.

Please join Compassion in World Farming (SA) in its call to Mr Simon Streicher, CEO of the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation, to join the world movement to phase out sow stalls.

As consumer pressure helps pregnant pigs break free of sow stalls around the world, the future for South Africa’s breeding sows who produce the 10 000 young pigs that are slaughtered weekly in SA for their ham and bacon, remains a secret.

Late in 2010, Australian Pork Limited voluntarily agreed to heed the call by consumers in that country, to begin a

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