Making a Meal of It by Jane Willcox and Rosemary Cadden
Smart ways to buy, store and use up food
Robyn Lewis
Making a Meal of It – Jane Willcox and Rosemary Cadden [©Wakefield Press]
I read a shocking statistic recently: approximately a quarter of food produced in the world is wasted. With the world's human population passing 7 billion in August 2011 – a significant percentage of whom go to bed hungry each night – this should give us all food for thought.
The frugal amongst us will be horrified. The equivalent of 25% of your household food budget is a lot to be throwing in the bin, compost or landfill. Every week.
How much forest clearing in Brazil could be avoided if we managed our food supplies better? How many fish and livestock spared? How much water could flow down our rivers, how many hungry people could lead more fulfilling lives? Makes you a bit depressed thinking about it, doesn’t it?!
Well, let’s think positively, and look for some answers. While some losses are unavoidable due to weather, it's obviously not in the interests of producers or middlemen to allow such wastage. So, where is it happening?
The answer lies largely in our own kitchens, mainly at the bottom of our refrigerators. Yes, all that dried up celery, mouldy fruit, half-finished yoghurt and whiffy meat adds up.
With growing awareness of the need for sustainability, Making a Meal of It is a manual for our times. Not since the World Wars has the need to better manage our food supplies been more apparent, even if your only concern is your household budget. And just as 'charity begins at home', so does conservation – in the broadest sense of the word.
Journalist authors Rosemary Cadden and Jane Willcox met twenty-five years ago at a function, where Rosemary was impersonating a haggis! Perhaps the national Scottish dish permeating her being; her philosophy is 'waste not, want not'. Jane went into TV, and in her words, 'devours food porn'.
But apart from their mutual love of food, both want to do their bit for the environment, cut the count of black bananas, stale bread and slimy coriander they discard, and enjoy some extra cash in the process.
The result is Making a Meal of It, a user's manual for making the most of the food we buy, catch or grow, 'full of tips, ideas and simple recipes. How to buy the best, keep it fresh and make use of every bit – and, when you forget, how to restore and revive.'
Even if you live on a diet of Champagne and caviar, you still want to store those truffles to retain their freshness and flavour. Just as you may cellar your wine to drink at its peak, food is the same, and it has an optimal use by period.
Learn why you shouldn’t store zucchinis in the fridge (those soft spots), what to do with the other half of the avocado, if it’s safe to eat the green bits on your potato (answer: they won’t kill you, but if you are a woman wanting to become pregnant, definitely not).
Fresh is not only better, it might also save you from food poisoning. There are also tips for freezer storage, another essential for staying healthy.
But far from being a boring, preachy manual that our grandmothers might recognise, Making a Meal of It is surprisingly fun. Think waste warriors, not Mrs Beeton.
The book is divided into chapters for each fruit, vegetable and food item, from apples and asparagus, through chicken, eggs and meat, to rice, tomatoes and zucchini.
Each chapter has a brief into, then tips on buying (I wonder if I can get my husband to read this?!), storing, using (how much you need per person), and then the most space for ‘using up’ – what to do with those stray bits and leftovers before they turn into slime and migrate across the kitchen floor.
There are recipe hints and ideas too – but no photos; this isn’t a celebrity chef book. It’s like your parent’s culinary wisdom (or what they might have missed out on too) in a small paperback, illustrated with line drawings but most of all packed with tips and hints. Think ‘Buying and Storing Groceries for Dummies’ – written in a very similar style, and containing the high quality information we’ve come to expect in these guides.
Making a Meal of It would be a great gift for any young person setting up house or living in a shared household, and a great reference for the many of us in single person households, where it’s sometimes difficult to buy and live economically. You’ll never throw out wizened mushrooms again.
It’s also a great guide to using the spring and summer gluts of produce. CHOICE magazine consumer advocate, foodie, journalist and TV presenter Indira Naidoo describes it as ‘an essential guide for every household’.
Keep this book on hand in your kitchen, and when you look in the fridge and find a forgotten piece of pumpkin, you’ll have more than a dozen tasty, healthy ideas for what to do with it, and a lot, lot more.
Making a Meal of It by Jane Willcox and Rosemary Cadden is published by Wakefield Press (Adelaide, SA; sc, 228 pp) and retails for RRP A$24.95.
VisitVineyards.com and Winepros Archive subscribers can buy Making a Meal of It from our book partners Seekbooks, at 12.5% discount (postage extra), here »
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