September 16, 2011

Hi there,

Do you ever get the feeling that you are losing chunks of time? We joke that ‘someone’ is cancelling a day here and there, maybe a whole month!

Certainly we lost August, and if you are looking for the August newsletter, it didn’t happen because everything else just swallowed up our time. Much of it has been spent drinking coffee – well, writing about it, and photographing it for our Sydney Café Culture iPhone and iPad app. A new update is due out in a couple of weeks and next newsletter we plan to offer a few of you free downloads.

We’re back on track now. Our caffeine levels have subsided and we have much to tell you and lots for you to read and enjoy.

You may have noticed, that we are slowly substituting ARFG for  our full name: Australian Regional Food Guide. It’s on our Twitter logo and it pops up other places too because it’s a long name, and we’re all busy people.

Do please Follow us on Twitter (@arfguide). We’d love to RT (that’s ‘retweet’, to non-tweeters) any of your regional food news.

Check out this month’s newsletter. It’s packed with prizes, info, and cries for HELP (that’s from us, mainly).

DON’T FORGET to check your own listing on the website, make sure nothing has changed and please consider taking out a Premier listing. They look good, cost very little (and anyway the fee is tax-deductible) and now it is forever, no renewals.

The feedback we got after the last newsletter told us that you appreciated the newsy pieces that gave you ideas and inspired you. There are more this time too.

But the best news of all, is it’s Spring, the weather is warming, the seasons are turning, and new buds are appearing everywhere.

Let’s look forward to a wonderfully productive season ahead for us all.

Cheers,

WE NEED YOUR HELP, AND WE CAN HELP YOU.  LET'S GET TOGETHER!

We have been thinking around those regional news items. Some things we are sent are just too ‘local’ to put on the Home page news, but they are important at a state or regional, or even a town level. We want to start using the State and regional pages more. What?!! You didn’t know there were any? Just click on the map of Australia on the Home page, on the right, below the menu bar, and you’ll find plenty of interest.

WHAT’S MORE …. PRs and marketing people this is for you. While we like to mention your upcoming events  and news, it is time-consuming. If you would like to have your event or function or some other item displayed more prominently, for a moderate fee we can do this on the site. Please contact us to discuss how and where we can best do this.

ALSO we need more and more ARF Guides to keep us up to speed with regional producers, openings, closures, events and lots more. There is something in it for you too. Sign up to help us out and we have a very special reward for you.

NSW PRODUCERS you could be missing out on a subsidised listing on the Australian Regional Food Guide site. NSW DTIRIS (NSW Department of Trade & Investment, Regional Infrastructure & Services) is currently offering fully subsidised listings for approved NSW regional food and non-alcoholic beverage producers on this site to help regional producers find new markets. For information on eligibility and how to apply for a subsidised listing click here. BE QUICK! There are limited spaces available.

OH, NO! ARE YOU MISSING?

Is your business MISSING from the listings on the Australian Regional Food Guide site? DID YOU KNOW you can enter your own details on the free listing site? You have space to put in a short description of what you do too.

Please tell all your local producers or restaurants to make sure they are listed as well. The only real requirement is that you must either grow or produce something locally, or showcase local products. 

WE ARE NOT ALONE

A few weeks ago we travelled to the Blue Mountains for the launch of the latest Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Trail. This project is one of the best in the country and ideally placed, so close to Sydney, so that city people can take a day in the country, experiencing country generosity and loading up with fine produce.

But even near a mighty city like Paris there are things happening too. Read about it by following this link.

The Australian Regional Food Guide lists over 350 farmers’ markets and doubtless there are even more in this country. Most organisers are diligent in promoting their markets, but here is something that suggests that the market can become a tool to build tourism in your area.

The USA has many proudly agricultural states and this link offers some really great pointers towards building your farmers’ market customer base and increasing the rural tourism industry in your region.

THIS MONTH’S  PRIZES

SBS is known for presenting a constant line-up of fine television series that feature food from around the world. This month we have four DVDs valued at $29.95 each, made available by SBS (www.sbs.com.au) as prizes to the readers of this newsletter.

The many fans of Maeve O’Meara will have been glued to their screens this year for her French Food Safari co-presented with charismatic French-born chef Guillaume Brahimi from Sydney’s Guillaume at Bennelong restaurant at the Sydney Opera House.

Likewise Lyndey and Blair Milan’s Taste of Greece was an amazing mother-son production that either had viewers salivating or booking a trip to Greece. Or both.
WE HAVE TWO DVDs from each of these programs to share with you. Simply be one of the first four Australian residents who has not won a prize this year to TELL US what the ‘SBS’ in this television channel’s name stands for (don’t get tricked!) AND one producer of Greek OR French style produce listed on the Australian Regional Food Guide website.  Email us the answer, as soon as you know it, along with your address.

LAST MONTH'S WINNER

Margarita Carrick from Pine End Organic Farm, Belimbla Park, NSW was the lucky winner of the Breville Milk Café milk frother valued at $149.95, which is designed to deliver creamy milk for coffees  in a flash. We asked her to name TWO places in Australia that grow coffee (she nominated High Trees Estate Coffee in Lismore, saying ‘we buy our coffee from them - it's fantastic and Certified Organic to boot!’ and Hills of Byron Gourmet Coffee) and to name one other piece of coffee-making equipment made by Breville. She told us that Breville also makes  Coffee 'n' Spice - a Grinder for coffee beans, herbs and spices, Model CG2B.

Claire Douglas from FrouFrou Cordials in Albury won the double pass for the Meander Tours from Masala Meander, and Beacon Holidays, by telling us that Ozganics (listed on this site) make Indian sauces and that Beacon Holidays also offer tours in Turkey as well as East Africa.
CONGRATULATIONS, Margarita and Claire!

HAVE YOUR SAY

Most of us eat cheese, and some of us make it. If you are concerned about the right to buy and consume raw milk (non-pasteurised) products in this country, please read on:

Call for comment on raw milk products proposal and GM application (19 August 2011)

Food Standards Australia New Zealand today called for public comment on a report looking at permissions for raw milk products in Australia and an application for food derived from a genetically modified soybean.
FSANZ Chief Executive Officer Steve McCutcheon said Proposal 1007 was looking at whether or not permission should be given for raw milk (non-pasteurised) products to be sold in Australia.

“The assessment of these products looked at what production and processing measures and product characteristics are needed to provide a high level of safety for consumers,” Mr McCutcheon said.

“In its second assessment report, FSANZ is seeking comment on its recommendation to permit non-pasteurised hard to very hard cooked curd cheeses. This will involve changes to the Food Standards Code relating to storage time and moisture content requirements.”

Mr McCutcheon said FSANZ would continue to look at permissions for other raw milk cheeses through a new proposal that will use technical work already completed through P1007.

“Other raw milk cheeses are being considered separately because a wider range of processing measures and product characteristics need to be considered.

“The assessment work for P1007 concluded that raw drinking milk presents too high a risk to consider any permission in the Code. In the new proposal, FSANZ will also be reviewing the current exemption that allows raw goat milk.”

FSANZ is also calling for comment on Application A1051, which is seeking permission for food derived from a genetically modified soybean with a tolerance to the herbicides glyphosate and isoxaflutole, to provide a broader weed management strategy.

FSANZ’s latest notification circular also contains information about approvals of Application A1026 – Minimum Alcohol Content for Wine, and Application A1042 – Food derived from Herbicide-tolerant Corn Line DAS-40278-9.

You may also be interested in seeing P1007 – Primary Production and Processing Requirements for Raw Milk Products, and
Raw Milk – questions and answers

THINKING HATS ON: No prizes - just for fun.

1. What European nation consumes more spicy Mexican food than any other?
2. What was margarine called when it was first marketed in England?
3. What is the most widely eaten fish in the world?
4. What was the first of H.J. Heinz's 57 varieties?

5. Where did the pineapple plant originate?