What are we eating?

There's been two aspects of food running in the news lately. One is that so much is being imported - take for instance small brand-name crackers, made in China. What about dried fruits (which used to be one of our proud products)? Even our garlic is imported from China for goodness sake! Fish in the supermarkets labelled "fresh", but I ask you, are we so stupid to believe their word "fresh" especially when the label then says, "imported from Korea"? Who's kidding who?

Look at any food stuffs and it's difficult to work out where the food (whether processed or not) is grown and packed. Why are so many labelled with the words, "made from local and imported ingredients", but nowhere does it tell you what is local and what is "imported"!. In fact even the suppliers can't tell you - or won't! But why when a country had so many successful manufacturing companies of every food imaginable, does it see fit to allow those companies to die or become part of overseas empires, and to rely on imported foods? Yet another great Australian company passed into the hands of foreign investment only this week. There can't be too many left which are dinky di Aussies! In fact I'd be surprised if many people know of any authentic Australian foods now.

The second aspect of food was in a recent newspaper. It seems the ridiculous hike in food prices has even surprised the critics. During the past 18 months prices in staple foods - bread, milk, rice, fruit, vegetables etc have risen more then three times the prices of fizzy drinks, hamburgers, and general junk-food. (I don't include fast-food because all of us know there's a big difference!). So surprise, surprise, people who are on low or no incomes (single parent families, the elderly, and in fact the majority of us) find they have to buy food that isn't quite so good for us, than it is to buy food that will nourish us and keep us healthy. This means more people are eating foods which fill us up, rather than do us good!

As a result of the on-going drought conditions here, and the drying up of many of our major rivers, even the Government is suggesting that farmers walk away from their irrigation farms! Where's the sense in that? The land, and Australia is the driest continent, is drying up even moreso. Farmers have recently been bulldozing their orchard trees as well as grape vines, in order to try something else. No water! In some areas farmers even have to apply to their local councils or state government and have to pay for a permit to actually pump water from their own dams! The areas where crops and pastoral families have survived for generations, is changing. Another suggestion is for fruit growers to "move" to other States - i.e. further north, in order to take advantage of the tropical rains. I'm a city girl (but that doesn't make any difference) because I see what is happening to farmers, yet common sense tells me that something strange is going on, and it's not only here in Australia.

So the drought, coupled with the disastrous bushfires that have swept across the southern states while the northern states are being floodbound, means that more and more farmers are going broke. Less and less food being grown. Less meat and meat products being produced. Less fishing being allowed. Less choice for the homemaker. And with stringent water restrictions many people who would like to grow their own fruit and vegetables find that without water they can't.

Where to from here?