Food prices have risen – a topical issue of course. Revolutions have happened when food prices reached the triggering point. Politicians have always known that the population must have access to affordable food. Subsidised food is so normal to us now we have little idea just how much it actually costs to bring it to our table. For many years we have had the luxury of wasting food also because there is such excess. How difficult it is for us to transition to the real life reality of what food costs!
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A story from a customer struck a cord when I thought about this topic. We were discussing the craft of lacemaking as an old tradition. I had recently met the folk showcasing the Limerick lace traditions and was amazed at the fine work and detail involved. How skilled people were and this is an important tradition to protect. In any case she told me of her grandmothers story of being a child with siblings in Mayo making lace all winter long and working hard to save for a cow. Months of detailed work by candlelight, I guess, with the prize at the end of a living food source. Milk, butter, cream…I imagined the longing for this prize. The achievement and satisfaction to have earned this valuable prize. Alas the story did not end well as the cow died soon after! How devastating this must have been. The fact the story carried on through the generations echoes the enormity of the impact. It is no harm to be reminded though of how valuable food actually is. Butter will never taste so good.   

Anne Maher

Blindboy ran a great podcast recently about unstainable meat. A gifted story teller weaving the history of Pigtown as a sustainable food system compared with the current system of cheap food that is far from sustainable. It’s gorey and bloody and while he certainly warns folk of the sensitive nature of content it is a fascinating listen. Pigs sustained Limerick. The Limerick Ham was a delicacy and highly prized, the offal was an inexpensive nourishing food for all. Skills in butchery were valued. Pigs provided food and a living. It seems ridiculously simple that a single food source could achieve so much. We cloak ourselves now in the righteous indignation of animal cruelty to prevent ourselves dwelling on the reality of this lifestyle familiar to Limerick older generations. Imagine going back to this type of life again? Local foods expertly processed to nourish. Local foods that provide a living and a lifestyle. Imagine that! Fruit & Veg won’t be enough to fit this model. Soya is not local…and its production is not sustainable. We need meat.
 
For that there has to be death. Our local butchers are that conduit. It’s time to cultivate their importance again in sustainable food systems.

​Anne Maher

It was hard to believe it possible that some people had to endure 3 weeks of no electricity in recent weeks after the storm. All in all a reminder that we are grateful to have had a minimal impact from the weather this time. We are mindful that our suppliers have had varying experiences also. Not all good. Our food is so precious and valuable as well as vulnerable. How many people actually truly know this? Immersed as we are in products that pretend to be food, it is easy to be conned into believing that there is plenty of food.
 
Until there isn’t.
 
Electricity supplies the power to store much food supplies and sadly there was a lot of food wasted because that support was not there. We are ill prepared for such disaster preparedness. Adverse weather events happen. They always have and always will. Advanced warning systems allow us some preparation time.
 
What do we do in the preparation time? How about we start to get our act together and learn more preservation techniques that do not rely on electricity to maintain?
 
I rely on my freezer at home as do most folk. Recently though I have been looking at YouTube videos showing how to bottle meat. Homesteading influencers take up my social media attention with their innovative ideas and recipes. They could be on to something!

Anne Maher

It was quite surreal to be cut off with snow and watch the unfolding catastrophic wildfires in LA happen in real-time. To lose everything in an instant. In a crisis what do you do? What do you grab at the last minute to escape with your life? For many, they acknowledged that possessions were not important and that people and pets were. The stories that emerge afterwards though take my interest. Managing to feed people in crisis situations is a business. With war zones and famine zones, disaster relief is not uncommon. Tailored though to each culture is the challenge. What will this event bring forward as lessons to learn regarding how we live our lives? Will LA be rebuilt with a completely different food culture? Are the previous homeowners queuing for handouts getting what they need to nourish them through the difficult time that is ahead? For now, with the TV cameras on the celebrity culture, it is early days. We can never take our food culture for granted. When disaster strikes we need access to the basics. Food and shelter. Deliveroo and Just Eat may not cut it. It will be interesting to see how the new systems develop.
 
For what it's worth I am struck by those houses that withstood the blaze. Or rather the insights of the owners who set up systems to protect their houses. Unlike many who relied on the insurance only or waited for the government to solve the problem. Setting up generators to pump water from the pool to the roof to prevent ignition. These were relatively cost-effective ways to withstand the ferocity of the inferno. The lesson from this? Take charge. Don’t rely on the system to protect you. Find ways to protect your house. What a metaphor for our health! 

Anne Maher

You will no doubt have noticed that Raw Milk ( it deserves capitals) is not on the shelf these days. The cows are having a break from lactation and will be back in the spring as the days get longer. A common commentary is that Sean had us spoiled with raw milk provision all year round so that to now do with out shocks us out of our complacency. Tory Hill dairy was popular  and delicious! We miss it! But what a lesson to learn.
 
Real food is not that straightforward anymore. It involves effort and commitment from not only the producer but the consumer also. Supermarket shopping has lulled us into a false sense of security with the wide variety of products continually available. Abundance replaces just enough and our instincts suffer. We loose track of seasonality and natural rhythms. We loose touch with the natural hunter gatherer in us.
 
My sense is that the break from Raw Milk will be a good thing. Like fasting it will be a reset. Our bodies will be grateful when it returns.. In the meantime if you cannot hold out that long it may be no harm to get yourself out to an organic farm and buy direct. Get those hunter gatherer instincts fine tuned again. Real food takes effort. When a local farmer produces fantastic food close by we really need to be grateful. Perhaps deprivation is the tool we need to improve our gratitude index… 

​Anne Maher

I admit to loving winter stews at this time when the nights are long and dark. Slow cookers are just the ticket and if it comes to a choice the air fryer will lose every time.

Filling and nourishing and can hide a few select “special” ingredients…I run the risk of repeating myself on this topic each year.

​It’s not just the flavour and value, it’s the timing. The realisation is I have more interest and motivation to cook in the morning, than in the evening after a day’s work. The chopping, slicing and dicing seems easier and less daunting at 7am than at 5pm. How rewarding to walk in the door to aromatic smells of dinner ready...not quite the private chef but damn it’s close. I figure I can then spend some saved time to catch up on Instagram chefs like Straker instead! Bon appetite! 

Anne Maher

“I have a terrible sweet tooth” she says innocently, when I ask the question. The information is offered as a signal that a suggestion of an alternative approach will not be entertained. It is that childlike admission that addiction has taken hold and society will understand and accept it. Reverting to a childlike state is part of the show. Tut tut. How can one scold a child in this situation? Or more likely how can you expect a child to take an adult responsibility for this scenario? The insidious poison of sugar is everywhere and we are trained and groomed to accept it in so many, many ways. What if we learned to see it in another way…?
 
Sugar has often been compared to cocaine in terms of how it lights up the reward centres in the brain. Would we see sugar differently if we thought of it as cocaine? Would we make as many excuses for being addicted to it? Or would we actively seek rehabilitation?  
 
Let’s see how this would work. Let’s swap a sugar scenario we are familiar with. Instead of the word  “treat” I’ve put the words “line of coke” in place when you picture these scenarios…lets go.  
 
Scenario one: A visit to the pharmacy/credit union/bank/post office etc with your small child: Those bottle of lollipops on the counter when the teller says: would  you like a little line of coke?
 
Scenario two: Children’s birthday parties! When those party bags are distributed before you depart and the host says: Here’s a little party bag for you all with a few lines of coke inside..
 
Scenario three: Trick or treat trips around the neighbourhood with a variety of drugs dispensed from each house with a few lines of coke included.
 
I had better stop this because there are too many to imagine. Don’t get me started on cake sales!  If you find yourself slightly offended or miffed at the thought, then it’s a case of gotcha. That is how I feel about sugar. We should be highly offended at how insidious it is for our children. They haven’t a chance if society endorses the drug pusher.
 
Cigarettes were once very socially acceptable until they weren’t. Alas its not that straightforward as they have returned disguised as vapes and the shop fronts that sell them have names like Candyland!
 
Don’t be surprised or baffled with growing cancer rates, chronic ill health and mental health problems when we continue to endorse the innocence of the culprit hiding in plain sight. 

Anne Maher

I had an awful realization recently. What happens when you no longer have control over what you want to eat? Now this is not as simple as it sounds. Ok, as a child I might be arguing for all day cornflakes if I could go back to that place but hear me out. There are so many factors at play when it comes to being able to access the food you want or need. An ideal scenario is local nourishing food. This seems straightforward and logical. The issue though is what is nourishing? What is local? What is food? Things we took for granted have been eroded so profoundly by the multinational food industry we no longer know what is what. Ultra processed food has seduced us with the convenience and diluted our appreciation for the value of real nourishing food. The problem being that policy makers also loose this knowledge and make decisions about my future diet based on business as usual. Hospital food for example is not noted for its healing properties any more…

Working at The Urban Co-op is like living in an oasis. I have choice. What happens as I age and I am hostage to being fed the standard fare complete meal plans recommended by my local pharmaceutical company… doesn’t bear thinking about. 

Anne Maher