When I recently received an email from Mia at Eat Feed telling me about their weekly foodie podcasts I was delighted. Having spent years involved with Cork Campus Radio, I love listening to radio, especially when I’m working from home, and RTÉ Radio 1 is the station I most miss while here in New Zealand. Although familiar with the whole idea of internet radio, being a regular listener to Seattle music station KEXP, this was my first introduction to the Eat Feed show which is presented from Chicago by Anne Bramley.
Although there is no shortage of small weekend markets in and around Christchurch, the one thing missing is a proper farmer’s market. A couple of weeks ago, however, I read an announcement in local newspaper The Christchurch Press – which does a fantastic food section every Thursday – about a farmer’s market starting up this Saturday, 3rd of September, at the Supervalue Carpark, which is just off Canterbury Street in Lyttelton. Lyttelton is a harbour community, just about half-an-hour’s drive from Christchurch, and was one of the original ports of entry for English settlers arriving in New Zealand in the 1850s.
Although there is no shortage of small weekend markets in and around Christchurch, the one thing missing is a proper farmer’s market. A couple of weeks ago, however, I read an announcement in local newspaper The Christchurch Press – which does a fantastic food section every Thursday – about a farmer’s market starting up this Saturday, 3rd of September, at the Supervalue Carpark, which is just off Canterbury Street in Lyttelton. Lyttelton is a harbour community, just about half-an-hour’s drive from Christchurch, and was one of the original ports of entry for English settlers arriving in New Zealand in the 1850s.
Even though I came late to the month-long challenge – think last week! – I’ve really enjoyed having to focus on Eating Locally. New Zealand, and especially Canterbury, is a particularly good place to be doing this.
Bread is very important to me. I love it fresh, I love it stale and ready for toasting, l love it with cheese, I love it in particular – fresh or toasted – with good salty butter. I love the way it mops up your plate after you’ve had a particularly tasty tomato pasta dish. I love the yeasty smell from the breadmaker as it cooks yet another loaf of homemade bread. I love making my own Brown Soda Bread and, most importantly, eating it. In short, I can’t fathom a life without bread. That was why it was so important, after I moved to Christchurch – before the coming of the breadmaker – to find a local source of decent bread. The only time I ever use slice pan or a sliced loaf from the supermarket is when I’m temping and need something quick and easy to make my sandwiches for lunch. But it’s not something that I’d chose as part of my normal daily life.
There are so many things that you can’t go near when you’re trying to Eat Local. I had written this piece about Spanakopita ever before I started this challenge but, pressed for choice on Saturday night, it was something I happily turned to. I had spinach and onions from Canterbury, feta from Karikaas, ricotta from Zany Zeus (North Island but still New Zealand!), nutmeg (and couscous for the accompanying salad) from Piko, our brilliant local wholefoods/organic shop but I must admit failure with the pastry, which was Australian. If I had been a bit more organised ahead of time I could have made my own but still, it didn’t turn out too badly!
I’ve just discovered the Eat Local Challenge posted by Jen on her life begins at 30 blog. She invited fellow food bloggers to make the commitment to eat local during August. In her own words:”For the month of August, I would like to invite all bloggers to join me in taking a challenge to eat food local to where you live. You will be able to build your challenge parameters yourself, and set reachable goals for the month. Ths goal of this time is to eat as much local food as possible, and to really pay attention to where your food comes from.”Typical that I should discover this as the month ends but it did put me thinking.
