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

The Olympics are over for another 4 years and like most huge events involve quite a bit of planning in order to cater for the masses that converge. I find it fascinating to follow how catering is carried out for these large gatherings. Feeding troops going to war, feeding astronauts in space there is such a science to it all. Policy initiatives such as the Dig for Victory during the second world war are seen as a positive legacy decision as they focussed on nourishment. Japanese war rations led to the development of flavour enhancers (msg) in our food making foods extra tasty. The food industry thrived on this development. Population health less so.

Big events now showcase the thinking de jour re food and the policy futures we face. Would there be lots of cricket burgers with tofu toppings? I was curious to see how it would fare out. Time will tell the full story but there are smatterings of information to suggest that the proposed menus did not meet the needs of the athletes and there was an underestimate of the demand for meat and eggs. Was it assumed that the athletes would go for the diet that is purported to save the planet and be mostly plant based with limited eggs and meat so their logistical planning ordered accordingly? Take this as a sign. The ideology and reality are not aligned. Elite performance needs elite food. Athletes are learning through practice what works for their performance. By all accounts the Irish contingent were a credit to the country and we can bask in the glory of the medal acquisition this year. I would love to find out what our athletes actually chose to consume while in Paris but I am fairly certain  they had good grounding in real food from Ireland first. 

Anne Maher

A recent article in Nature reported on a Sumatran orangutan healing himself with a known medicinal plant poultice. Fascinating as this story is, we are certainly reminded again that nature has had the answers long before our experts put on white coats and told us to trust them.
​
The ability to observe nature in real time is a privilege and this is where gardeners and farmers who are custodians of the land are so valuable to our society. To observe the seasons and how nature interacts with the production of food is rather remarkable. Such wisdom is priceless.

Just because the technocrats have made extreme wealth by creating imitation food products in the recent history, convinced us to consume them, hooked us on the addictive property of them and made us chronically ill in the process I am not giving up hope.

Real food can heal us and if we look hard enough we will remember the innate wisdom to find the answers. 

Anne Maher

It’s a race to see who will come up with “The Answer” to the problem of our pesky farmers and how they are destroying the planet… I am not the only one who sees a different perspective.
 
For now though it may be starting to become apparent that an orchestrated and well meaning campaign is underway to nudge us all in the direction away from agricultural practices as we know it. As we move increasingly towards a technological age – the 4th industrial revolution it brings to mind the challenges that must have been faced by pastoral farmers who were “encouraged” to accept the mechanisation of the Industrial Revolution. We are where we are.
 
The narrative though is such that a psychological nudge is deliberately used to create a scenario of farmers effectively giving up their right to farm and perhaps relieved to do so. (Mass evictions are not so trendy these days). The nudge factor is effective instead. Slower, but insidious and ongoing. Let me give you an example. Here is a phrase from a company website for a product called solein.
 
It’s time to enter the era of sustainable food production to liberate our planet from the burdens of agriculture.
 
The burdens of agriculture?! Liberate?! I imagine the person ( or AI bot) that came up with that is a bit removed from the land.
 
Solein is a protein made from thin air they say… what’s not to like. This is factory farming at its best. Alternative protein sources shunting out the need to farm animals like beef and chicken.
 
Add this strategy to a public health measure where animals are culled ( avian flu, foot & mouth)
 
Demonise farmers for being cruel with select investigative journalism. Amplify the story with social media. Reinforce with the bureaucratic research and legislation and voila…
 
Lets eat more Ultra Processed Food and feel great to save the planet…etc etc
 
Life is never so simple. The process of bringing real food to the table is a spiritual transformation that science cannot replicate in my opinion. The connection to the land is part of our health journey. Protect them and nurture them. Don’t demonise them and erode their spirit to continue. They are our connection to this earth and ground us in ways we will never understand.
 
A packet of protein powder made from thin air just doesn’t have the same power.  

Anne Maher

When you change to the routine of consuming real food over ultra processed many things begin to happen. Aside from the health benefits ( of which there are many!) One of the striking changes is how often you shop. Here is the deal.. Less is more. A little and often etc. We have certainly noticed patterns change with customers. They tell us that they can manage better, waste less, plan better, eat better. It did get me thinking. Aside from the transaction it offers more opportunities to engage and connect for people. This cannot be a bad thing. Providing as many opportunities as possible for this engagement is important for our health.

Of course you can go shopping to a 24 hour supermarket if you want to. But I am talking about markets with real food available constantly. Let’s just say it is probably the case that at any time of day or night you could get your hands on a can of coke. Can you say the same about raw milk? Can you say the same about organic grass fed beef?

I believe we apply our supermarket habits of shopping once a week to the market stall model and assume once a week is enough. Speaking with our US friends in Weaver St North Carolina they tell us that the norm there is once every three weeks for general shopping. All I can picture is the huge task that is to face. Not to mention very isolating. Our experience here has taught us that people enjoy the little and often approach because we have facilitated it to happen. Increased social engagement of shopping enhances the experience of accessing nourishment. We are social beings and need this now more than ever. 

​Anne Maher

Spring time though late after a long winter is more than welcome. As nature bursts forth its latent potential the growth of the grass will be eagerly welcomed by the farmers eager to get animals fed outside again. 40 shades of green or the green green grass of home? Either way this is real food for many animals that we rely on in our food system. We need reminding regularly that our farmers are our source of food. It seems ridiculous to state the obvious but alas as the years move on we disconnect with the reality that we rely on them. Pardon me for being the harbinger of doom here but imagine if the supply lines were cut off to our island and trade routes were interrupted. Let’s say through adverse weather or conflict. Apparently we have three weeks of food supply available. Forget the toilet paper supplies! How resilient are we to cope with a major shock? This is a question I often ask. Our consumption patterns of UPFs signal our rising risk. On the plus side we have embraced gardening and growing with more enthusiasm than ever. If nothing else it reminds us how much work is involved in getting food to the market and justifies an appropriate value of the food. We have a lot to do. Building our networks of local supply again. This is not a tick box exercise on circular economy. This could be life or death. 

Anne Maher