Pulling a carrot out of the ground can spark many emotions – hope, excitement, pride and perhaps even dismay (if you end up with a gnarled and broken one). What draws growers to try their hand at carrots is the nutritional profile and universal appeal of this root vegetable. Highly versatile, you can mash, purée, boil, roast, fry, steam, stew, pulp or juice carrots, or simply eat them raw.
You won’t find many homes in the inner city that have intentionally shrunk to make way for a larger garden, but that’s what happened behind a bright red door in Northcote, Melbourne.
The rise of vegetarianism and veganism in recent years has made it easier than ever to follow a plant-based diet. Tofu, tempeh and a whole bunch of milks that didn’t come from a cow are readily available at supermarkets, and even the most far-flung pubs and restaurants usually have at least one non-meat eating option.
With plant eaters being spoilt for choice these days, spare a thought for the original vegetarians, who couldn’t chuck a tub of Tofutti into their shopping basket or fry up a dish of mock meats.
It’s estimated that there are over 6,500 native food species in Australia – how many have you tried? You’ll probably get a chance to sample more, with the popularity of indigenous foods making it likely more will appear in restaurant menus and supermarkets in the future.
The Plummery sounds like a sprawling countryside property. Its garden beds grow an abundance of vegetables, with surrounding fruit and nut trees underplanted with shrubs, herbs and flowers. Bubblegum grape shades the house and there’s a greenhouse with bananas and babaco. A quail aviary sits by the side of the house and on the southern side are avocados, feijoas and a cherry guava.
Growing garlic may not be too tricky, but growing farmers can be. To help young prospective farmers gain the skills and experience they need in the field, Farmer Incubator was established in Victoria in 2013 by Paul Miragliotta. Melbourne based landscape gardener Per Staurup soon joined the small group due to his interest in “making sure there are good farmers out there and that people who deserve the chance to do it can”.
Eight billion dollars. That’s the staggeringly high cost of edible food that Australians waste each year, according to Do Something’s recent Food Waste campaign. It’s a figure shocking enough to put you off your lunch. But for Georgia Hutchison and her friend Tullia Jack, it was the perfect inspiration to put on lunch – in 2013, they started Open Table, a non-profit organisation that actively addresses food waste and social isolation by hosting free community dinners using salvaged food otherwise destined for the bin.