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Do tales of expensive tomatoes really protect the public interest?
Published on Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Media are required to walk a fine line between generating interest from their publics while ensuring they are not misrepresenting facts to do this. They also tend to target one aspect of an issue to illustrate a point with the effect that a singular aspect of a complicated issue can become the focus of everyone’s attention. The use of tomatoes as an indicator of soaring food prices is a case in point.

Food costs are rising and hunger is a heart-breaking reality for some people. But selecting an out of season fruit to highlight the issue of food prices won’t change that. Nor does it actually help people. Where has the age-old advice to buy in season and also to use nutritionally-similar frozen and canned as an alternative gone?

Is the price of milk yet another example of consumer expectations being formed by media to generate interest in a story that is now considered a major issue? Is the way this issue is being played out also telling people that milk should be cheaper than soft drinks?

Because so few people actually understand the food manufacturing process, it is not well understood that milk – a high nutritional value fresh protein food – costs far more to produce (think livestock management, cool chain processing, packaging, handling and storage). And because shelf stable soft drinks are simpler and cheaper to produce, their makers are frequently chastised by suggestions they are enticing people to put soft drinks in their trolley in place of milk.

The commentators who see a good story idea with some opportunity to link it to an issue of public good, often don’t present the full picture, and as a result the public’s interest isn’t served because attention to one aspect ignores potentially bigger issues. Perhaps they think people are too simple to understand a more complicated analysis of society?

Now a new dimension has emerged, with media commentators offering their own personal opinion on subjects others have had to spend years studying at university. A weekly food product analysis in a certain weekend paper is a case in point. While it offers some interesting observations on what’s in foods, and clearly scrutiny of food composition is important, the naivety of some of the comments would embarrass a new food technology graduate. And certainly frustrate most nutritionists.

Surely for this and other examples, there should be some level of accuracy and expert input to ensure a better degree of accuracy and perspective? That, to my mind would serve the public good a whole lot better.

Even Shortland Street has medical experts advising them on accuracy and we all know this is fictitious in the extreme. Credibility and impact of the media can only be eroded over time if these sorts of issues are not addressed. Then they really will be unable to protect and defend the interest of the public they represent.
Going the gluten free way
Published on Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Being recently diagnosed by a dietitian as having a gluten intolerance, I wandered along to the Gluten Free Food & Allergy Show over the weekend. It’s an annual roadshow of producers, tasters, and information stalls, all bundled into one room to celebrate the difficulty (and business opportunities) of having a food allergy or intolerance. A playground for kids and adults alike, it was packed with gluten free chocolate, pies, bread, cereals, snacks, pasta, dairy free ice-cream, yoghurt, and milk and more. My best discovery was being able to order gluten free bread from a nearby retailer for delivery – sure it’s expensive as far as bread goes but it gets serious points for convenience.

My recent diagnosis has forced me to learn more about gluten free food and I’m finding it fascinating. There is a huge industry catering for people with either mild or severe intolerances, or allergies. While the most common components of concern are gluten, milk protein, eggs, lactose, seafood, and nuts; the scope is so much wider than this, and the availability and variety of accommodating foods in 2011 is really very impressive.

Last week there was a myriad of gluten free, allergy related articles in light of Allergy Awareness Week and the upcoming show. Allergy New Zealand did a fantastic job of profiling it across all major print publications, though I also noticed themes such as ‘is gluten free healthier?’ and ‘taking the food fad too far’ developing in the media. It seems people who don’t actually have true intolerances or allergies believe cutting out gluten, or other components is fashionable and/or healthier. This fallacy isn’t helped by celebrities endorsing the weight loss benefits of eating gluten or dairy free.

I only have a mild intolerance so it’s not life-threatening if I do cave into a little bread here and there. I do sympathise with people who have coeliac disease, and I’m sure they’d agree with me – cutting out gluten is definitely not a glamorous choice by any means. We are all very grateful that our supermarkets stock our special products as it really does make life, for those of us who need them, so much easier.
Food Week dishes up popular cooking tips
Published on Friday, May 13th, 2011

There’s only 2 more days to go in the inaugural New Zealand Nutrition Foundation Food Week!

Having completed 16 radio interviews and five interactive celebrity cooking demos with audiences of hundreds, and with 600 “likes” on the Food Week Facebook page, Sarah Hanrahan from the Nutrition Foundation is justifiably satisfied with progress so far.

The approach of Just Cook – promoting positive, no stress cooking, with basic, inexpensive pantry essentials and just talking about food in a positive light has been received well by people so far. “It’s so much more practical and well received than telling people what not to do”, said Sarah when we spoke to her today.

With rising food prices and cost of living increasing, many families struggle to manage on an average New Zealand wage (as shown by Campbell Live reporter Tristram Clayton’s reality check in living on a budget), Just Cook, and its message “Just get in the kitchen and cook!” shows it’s absolutely still possible to make healthy, tasty meals in the home without breaking the budget.

Research shows the biggest barriers to cooking at home are time, money and knowledge. Just Cook provides practical tips on how to address these barriers, such as knowing where to add a tin of beans or a cup of oats or to make meals go further for a fraction of the cost, adding good nutrition without compromising taste. The Food List – a handy list of pantry, fridge and freezer foods to keep on hand at all times – is a great guide of kitchen essentials that can help those shopping on a budget prioritise what’s needed. And the Just Cook interactive kitchen houses easy, affordable, tried and tested recipes that cater to any combination of ingredients commonly held in NZ pantries.

The programme also has a schools component for year 10 pupils which will be followed and evaluated in the coming weeks. Students are challenged to produce a recipe on a budget to feed a family of five, using items in the pantry list and a few extra dollars.

As I write this, Sarah is just packing up from the final celebrity chef cooking demo in Britomart, where Masterchef finalist Nadia Lim cooked up a storm from the Food List in the fabulous kitchen provided by Fisher & Paykel.

You can access the celebrity chef recipes here, proof that some of our top foodies have great ideas for inexpensive food!

We welcome any of your favourite recipe ideas or comments for making meals go further on a budget – please post these in the comments section below.
Understanding food
Published on Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

We all need food to survive, but in an age where you can shop for it 24/7, heat and eat it and get it without leaving your car, have we lost our understanding of food?

Having a basic understanding of the components of food and knowing what to expect when specific foods are prepared in different ways shouldn’t just be the realm of food technologists. There was a time when most household cooks understood the food they purchased and cooked. One view is that now we don’t really have household cooks, we have household shoppers and household “food assemblers”. According to Richard Dennis of the Australian Institute on Checkpoint, most of us don’t have a meal plan in mind when we visit the supermarket. He describes convenience as “the enemy of good planning”.

How have we ended up like this? Food was once plentiful and, in most cases, cheap, we were fit and healthy, there was no such thing as global warming, and we just got busy doing other things.

But the halcyon days are no more. Food is expensive, it takes a lot of resource to produce in the quantities we need, and our population has an obesity and diabetes problem. For all these reasons we simply cannot afford to carry on in the same fashion. Throwing away food is hurting us more than just by leaving us with feelings of guilt. Fresh fruit and vegetables have risen more than 12% in price over the last year, and are, apparently, the items most often thrown out. According to Dennis this is partly because we don’t plan our meals well, but also because what we think is fresh often isn’t, so starts to deteriorate sooner than expected.

This lack of connection with food is causing some authorities to question having “best before” dates on labels. But surely the answer is to just engage a bit more with the foods we choose to buy?

Examples include: knowing that yoghurt or cottage cheese that’s past its best before date is going to be OK as long as it tastes and smells OK; knowing how to cook something to preserve it for a bit longer; and storing foods appropriately to help extend their life (eg, apples in the fridge, potatoes in the dark, etc).

Another key thing is to learn how to plan meals ahead, so that we go to the supermarket prepared and just buy what we need. It won’t only save money but it will be good for our waistlines and ultimately, the planet.
One meal, many cultures
Published on Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Recently I was lucky enough to dine at ‘Eight’ Restaurant in the Langham Hotel. When described to me by a friend, the words ‘buffet’ and ‘hotel’ in the same sentence ensured my expectations remained modest, but as it turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. Eight is a buffet of a different calibre – the restaurant houses eight kitchens which we toured through, each kitchen with its own chef-de-cuisine busily cooking selected cuts of beef, fish fillets, curries and favourite sushi delights. The culinary styles included Indian, seafood, Japanese sushi and sashimi, classic American fare, a salad bar, a Parisian-inspired stand of breads and cheeses and a stunning range of desserts (including the chocolate fountain pictured here).

The variety was great, yet helping after helping complemented each other well, because the quality was also top notch. Highlights for me were the freshly made rotis – cooked while you wait, the Indian curries, the divine morsels of barbequed kingfish and the vanilla panacotta to finish.

While this sounds like a restaurant review, it’s not meant to be. The experience just got me thinking about how much the mix and match of cultural cuisines is now considered the norm. We see it at restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and cook it ourselves at home all the time. We often don’t even consider the origins of this fusion cuisine as it’s now so much a part of every day life.

I’m interested to know what some of your favourite multi-cultural meals/dishes are. Please post them up in the comments section below. I’ll start with a few of my favourites; wasabi ceviche, spicy thai beef tortillas and, of course, the butter chicken pie!
The resurgence of ‘Home Grown’
Published on Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Growing fruit and vegetables at home is hardly a new phenomenon. But over the past couple of years there has been a real surge in popularity of home grown produce. It’s been reported that in response to the Global Financial Crisis, the popularity of home gardens has risen in some areas of New Zealand by up to 22% and this trend now is extending far beyond our own backyards.

The advantages of home grown produce are being recognised across the world. A recent survey of 2000 American chefs found one third of them identified restaurant gardens as the most popular trend for 2010. Not only does restaurant-grown produce cost less, but more and more of their customers want to know where their food comes from, and what better way to show them than to take them out to the restaurant garden?

An example closer to home of this resurrection, is the Garden to Table pilot programme, which started in several Auckland schools last year. The programme aims to teach children to grow and harvest produce and prepare meals using what they’ve grown. It was modelled on the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Programme – Stephanie Alexander is a pioneer in food education for children and is visiting Auckland later this month.

The Enviroschools network, which works with one quarter of all schools and kura in New Zealand, has empowered schools to plant their own gardens, as part of their focus on “nourishing our natural systems” since the late 1990s. It’s been wonderful to see schools across a range of deciles getting involved, and now the Garden to Table project is closing the loop by also bringing in cooking skills. Along with teaching children gardening and cooking skills which can be taken home, the children are given the opportunity to enjoy sharing meals with their classmates, teachers and volunteers, and enjoy the social time that comes with sharing a meal – something that is equally important in developing lifelong healthy attitudes towards food.

The resurgence of home grown produce can only be a positive thing, both for the environment, our communities and hopefully our waistlines. However, we mustn’t feel guilty about purchasing fresh, canned or frozen fruit and vegetables from the supermarket. For most of us this is still a necessity, especially for produce the average home gardener would be challenged to have on hand year-round! It’s also important to take a practical attitude towards growing produce and plan ahead to ensure you can use what you grow. My flatmates and I created a vege garden last year, but just as all our produce flourished, we went away on holiday. By the time we got back, our broccoli had flowered and our herbs had been attacked by slugs!

If you don’t have access to home grown produce, the next best thing may be the hundreds of fruit trees and other edible morsels dotted on public land throughout New Zealand! Check out the map to find the nearest one to you!
Challenging nutrition paradigms
Published on Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Many of you will have heard of the nutrition professor, Mark Haub from Kansas State University who’s currently undertaking an experiment on himself to see if he can lose weight while eating an energy restricted diet of junk food. Last I heard he had indeed lost weight (4.5 kilos over three weeks) following a diet of mainly “Little Debbie Pecan Spin Wheels for breakfast, Hostess Twinkies for lunch, birthday cake for supper and Doritos for dessert”. I share the concerns of food-ethics.com with respect to how this experiment and its results will be covered in the media.

The main point Haub’s trying to make is that if energy in (no matter what the source) is less than energy out, you will lose weight.

Fair enough point, but he also wants people to question the idea that eating fruits, vegetables, low-fat protein and whole grains is the only way to lose weight, saying:

“It’s unrealistic in some areas of society to expect that you can find fresh broccoli, tomatoes at a price that is affordable. If somebody can get their nutrients from a supplement and then they get their fuel from whatever is available, does it matter that they’re not getting fruits and vegetables and whole grains?”

Call me old-fashioned but I find this far less easy to accept. I note the ‘fine print’ of his experimental diet does include some plain vegetables for nutrients and milk for protein.

On the other hand he does have a point; the affordability of healthy food is a key issue.

At the Dietitians NZ conference recently there were numerous discussions and media attention on “food stress”. That is the stress caused by food insecurity and the affordability of healthy food. Access to, availability of, and even knowledge around healthy food is not the issue for low income households. The real issue is the need to spend up to a third of their weekly income on purchasing a basic “healthy food basket” – which is simply not affordable on a low income. This explains why filling, cheaper, and invariably higher energy, low nutrition density foods are more popular with low income households.

It makes you wonder how ethical current healthy eating messages really are for the very groups who seem to need them most. Price discounts on healthy food may work in the short term (as seen in the SHOP study), but, even this study indicates that over time, the effect starts to wear off. A simple solution could be the current call to remove GST from “healthy foods”, but we simply do not know whether this will have the desired long term effect on consumption patterns. Anecdotal information from Australia would indicate not.

The experts agree that we don’t have enough research to provide answers, but in the meantime what should be done? Should temporary rolling price discounts on “healthy food basket” items be made mandatory? How would this work practically? I’d love to hear your views on this.
Te Mahi Kai – The language of food
Published on Friday, July 30th, 2010

This week is Māori Language Week, themed The Language of Food. What better way to engage the Nation than to create synergies between Te Reo Māori, one of our three official languages* (which only 4.7% of us can speak fluently), with the act of meal preparation and eating. It’s something that we can all relate to, be it having a love of food, a passion for creating our favourite dishes or the mere survival instinct that kicks in and forces us to eat.

New Zealanders are getting behind Māori language week in their own ways – Dr Pita Sharples led a celebrity cook-off at the Wellington launch; ‘boil-up’ is featured this week on some of our hospital menus and our television presenters are giving lessons in Te Reo Māori while we watch the weather – despite our struggles to figure out where they’re up to on the map. The Australian-owned Progressive Enterprises supermarket group (Countdown, Woolworths and Foodtown) is also getting behind Māori language week, providing Māori translations of traditional Kiwi recipes, measurements and shopping lists in Te Reo, and investing in Māori Language Week advertising. It’s encouraging to see the promotion of Te Reo Māori move beyond the traditional realm of Parliament and Education, towards a potentially more inclusive meeting ground like the supermarket.

This year’s Māori Language Week is teaching us a few things about successful communications. The food theme highlights the value of finding common ground and experiences, no matter what our background, ethnicity, or religious beliefs are. This week’s execution also reminds us to make use of less traditional avenues for reaching and effectively communicating with target audiences. As PR practitioners, we must remember that just as food is all about communication, communication is all about engaging our five senses – taste, smell, touch, sound and sight.

Our day jobs may be all about words, but as Māori Language Week shows us, we naturally communicate in a myriad of ways.

* New Zealand’s three official languages are English, Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language
All hail the cheese roll
Published on Thursday, June 17th, 2010

They’re celebrating and exploring the science of the cheese roll in Dunedin this month. I love cheese rolls, and reading about this makes me want to rush home and cook up a batch of these warming winter treats.

Winter food is all about comfort, warmth and sustenance. Soup is a great example of this (and a perfect food match to those cheese rolls!). All those great staple classics like lasagna, shepherds pie, macaroni cheese and casseroles come into their own at this time of the year.

For those from the southern end of New Zealand, the humble cheese roll is so much more than a tasty snack. It’s part of our heritage. It’s about memories of Grandma and family times. It’s about sharing with friends and social occasions. And for those north of the cheese roll divide, there are other food favourites which fulfill this role in life.

The powerful social role of food cannot be underestimated. Recently I read some consumer research showing that the majority of people prioritise good nutrition when choosing what to eat at home or in routine situations. But unsurprisingly when asked the same question in relation to times when they’re socialising or eating with friends, good nutrition became less of a priority.

When communicating about food and nutrition the power of food’s traditional social role in our lives cannot be underestimated. These messages mean very little if they fail to acknowledge people’s behaviour and feelings around food, especially in social settings. Excellent nutrition communication needs to provide ways and means of achieving the same warm fuzzy feelings around healthy eating.

And for those of you who’re dying to experience the magic of the Southland Cheese Roll to warm you up this winter, here’s a great recipe.
Has the world already reached Peak Health? If so, who’s to blame?
Published on Monday, May 10th, 2010

The concept of peak oil has spread into the health sector, with public health professionals now talking about peak health in the same vein. This draws important parallels between our health as humans and the health of our planet – the two, as we have known for some time, being inextricably linked.

So have we already reached peak health? Are we therefore now heading down the slippery slope away from it? If, as experts predict, today’s children will not live as long as their parents (due to increasing obesity and its ensuing chronic diseases), perhaps we are.

And if we have surpassed peak health, who or what is to blame? Having recently returned from a largely finger-pointing and teeth gnashing Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) conference in Canberra where there was much discussion on peak health, I know that many believe the blame lies with food manufacturers and marketers.

“How can they truly have the health of consumers as their main objective, when their main objective is to make a profit for their shareholders?”

That old chestnut.

In fact all organisations are constrained by financial realities, whether this involves making a profit, breaking even or maximising value for money. The ever present clamour for public sector funding to undertake health research is but one example of how money makes the world go around in the public as well as the private sector. We all need to make a living to feed and house our families, but most of us feel better in our work if we know our employer genuinely cares about us and others.

Actually what motivates businesses is far more basic than money. It’s survival.

At the NZ Food and Grocery Council’s half yearly meeting last week I was heartened by what John Doumani, General Manager for the Fonterra business in Australia and New Zealand said about how to build immortality into brands. He suggested that unless companies prioritise their objectives in order of customers first, employees second and shareholders third, they will not survive.

Looking after your customers means looking after their interests, in particular their health. Same for employees; after all, no one enjoys work for a company which puts shareholders first above all else. Ensuring customers are happy and healthy, and employees feel great about the company they work for will satisfy shareholders in the long term. Any wise and sustainable food manufacturer knows this.

Still, it seems that food manufacturers struggle to do anything right in the eyes of public health critics. Even affordable foods, developed (at great expense) by food companies to provide high levels of the nutrients commonly missing from diets in developing countries, were criticised at the PHAA conference. It left me questioning what food companies could possibly ever do right for such critics.

What do you think food manufacturers, and others can do to help us regain peak health?