Fish Mashup and Mad Cow for Dinner?

Would you eat fish that has been caged and fed cow meat or bone meal that could possibly be infected with mad cow disease?

Creutzfeldt Jakob disease can be transmitted through the byproducts rendered from cows.

Scientist are now urging “government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone meal to fish until the safety of this common practice can be confirmed...We have not proven that it’s possible for fish to transmit the disease to humans. Still, we believe that out of reasonable caution for public health, the practice of feeding rendered cows to fish should be prohibited"

There are many health issues associated with aquafarming for the consumer, the fish and the environment.

Eating fish in restaurants (in Manly, Sydney) one rarely can make an informed decision whether the animal is sourced from aquaculture or caught in the wild. The menus do not specify such relevant information. The place of origin can be at times elicited from the staff. The right to know seems an irritating extra to staff and management when any other retailer has to display the content on the commodity.

Traceability in the age of RFID belongs to product integrity.

Ask for certified organic products or just go vegetarian.

Source: IOS Press BV (2009, June 17). Farmed Fish May Pose Risk For Mad Cow Disease.
Image: Henri Le Secq, 1855-1856 via Zeno

Soya semolina with pear compote

GET
1 cup wholemeal semolina
1 litre non genetically modified soya milk
1 tbsp agave syrup

6 organic brown pears
1 cup water
1 tbsp honey

DO
Bring the soya milk to boiling point in a saucepan. Slowly sprinkle the semolina onto the surface while stirring over a low flame. Stir until it thickens. Continue stirring and cooking for about 15 minutes, adding more liquid to prevent it becoming too thick. Add agave syrup. Pour into a bowl and cover. Cool.

In between stirring, peel the pears and core them. Cut small pieces into a saucepan. Pour boiling water over the peeled pears, cover and boil again. Remove from the heat. After 5 minutes stir in the honey. Cool in a bowl.
Serve together.
Image: Meyers Encyclopedia, Peartree 1905, via Zeno

Sydney Restaurants And Risky Behaviour

A Sydney fish market stored its crabs in a toilet cubicle...SMH

We have pointed out the risky nature of eating at restaurants and suggested improvements.
A coackroach in a meal in one of Manly's 'better restaurants' put an abrupt end to 'eating out'. These unsanitary and unprofessional practices are not the exception in Sydney.

"The past 12 months has seen a number of disturbing breaches on the name and shame list, including cockroaches, rats, a band-aid, a cigarette butt and now this case." SMH "The Food Authority... has issued 1,000 fines the past 12 months against 594 businesses." ABC.
A small fine and it is back to 'business as usual'.

Food Authority NSW

Fruit & Vegetables and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Australia

Eat only organic fruit and vegetables

"The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) ." Wikipedia

In Geneva 150 governments have met to advance global efforts to rid the world of some of the most hazardous chemicals produced by humankind, such as pesticides, flame retardants. The list includes "Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane; Beta hexachlorocyclohexane; Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether; Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether; Chlordecone; Hexabromobiphenyl; Lindane; Pentachlorobenzene; Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride." UNEP

"According to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority website, Lindane is still registered for use in Queensland, and is used for the prevention of white grubs and symphylids in pineapples." abc

"Australia refuses to join ban on pesticide". Endosulfan is used "...on a variety of crops, including tomatoes, carrots, beans, sweetcorn, peas, cereals, oilseeds, citrus fruit and cotton.This stance has placed Australia in the minority of major economies still using the pesticide, along with the United States, Brazil and India" SMH

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• UNEP
• National Toxics Network, very informative
  
• Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority

Mushrooms - Saffron Milk Cup & Slippery Jack

Found two unusual mushrooms at the Manly Farmers Market. Both seem to be naturalised in Australia, especially in Pinus radiata plantations.

The one on the left is Slippery Jack (Suillus luteus) and the one on the right Saffron Milk Cup (Lactarius deliciosus).

With the Saffron Milk Cup, remove the stems, wash and cut. Fry in olive oil.
Nami-nami has a' Wild Mushroom & Potato Gratin' for their "bountiful" harvest.

The Slippery! Jack: Peel, wash, check for grubs/worms. Be aware that some people are allergic to them or dispute that they are edible at all. Cut and fry in butter if there weren't too many bugs that turned you off.

Slow Coffee

The dictatorship of speed requires ubiquitous instantaneity. The cup of coffee has to be ready in no time in the home, work-space or 'on the run'. Machines sell this handy illusion. By now there must be mountains of junkspace from electric coffee machines consisting mainly of plastics.
Ever larger machines developed for the service industry and the home market. The person handling and maintaining the automat became the barista. The problem with all machines of production is that they are supposed to 'make money' and some coffee on the side and not be a cost-factor. Unserviced machines, temps instead of an trained barista, chemical residues or rancid milk make for an awful cup. The grinding and treatment of the oily coffee beans, as well as the daily clean also contribute the the aroma of the "beans". Power uncertainty and the need for an array of (cleaning) products put the user in a position of dependence. It is also a good idea to refrain from all plastic parts in any coffee equipment or beverage cups.

If one has time to drink - then one probably has the time to let it drip through. So I propose that a porcelain filter with unbleached filter papers is the most mobile, space-saving and sustainable method. Simply use your hands to pour the boiling water slowly on the gound coffee to release the flavour. A preheated coffee pot helps. Rewash porcelain filter and feed paper filter and coffee ground to the worms in the compost. They love speed and a junk-free world.

Image: Hans Baluschek, 1895, Kaffeklatsch, via Zeno

Reassortment in Meat Biomass

More on the mashup:

• "An unusually mongrelised mix of genetic sequences from North American pigs, Eurasian pigs, birds and humans." or
• "The Mexican swine flu, a genetic chimera probably conceived in the faecal mire of an industrial pigsty, suddenly threatens to give the whole world a fever." Mike Davis, Guardian or
• "The people making these statements know perfectly well that the Mexican flu virus is the very recent descendant of one of the triple reassortants that have been circulating in the U.S. for a decade. " or
  
• watch it all on the M e a t r i x

Flu image of Wordle is licensed under CC

Beetroots with Red Rice and Pine Nuts

GET
500 g Beetroot
250 g Thai Red Jasmine Rice/or Camargue red rice
1 cup of Pine nuts/ Macademia

Dressing:
Some Olive oil
Some Mirin/Lemon juice

Garnish:
Greens leaves of (rucola, parsely etc)
Optional:
Yogurt with garlic

DO
Steam rice. Cook beets and peel. Prepare a dressing from the olive oil and mirin. Pour 1/3 over the cooked rice and the rest over the warm, peeled and cubed beets. Roast the nuts. Arrange green leaves on a platter. Place rice in the middle and the beet cubes in a ring around it. Sprinkle the warm nuts on the rice. Serve hot or cold. Yogurt with or without garlic could be served with it. Feta also fits well.

Image: Beuckelaer, Joachim, 1564, Detail of Market Woman with Fruit, Vegetables and Poultry via Zeno

Macadamia bush cookies

Quantities of ingredients are very flexible with this recipe. The main thing is to get the texture right by balancing other ingredients with the right amount of flour. Increase the quantity of nuts and decrease the amount of flour as required. Who has scales in the bush anyway?

Get
250g unsalted butter
4-5 tbsp bush honey
250g macadamia nuts, finely grated by hand
about 500g wholemeal spelt flour
Do
Beat soft butter with honey. Use more honey if you like.
Mix in grated macadamia nuts.
Add flour gradually while beating until the mixture is not sticky. Knead with hands to get the pastry to a non-stick consistency.
Cool
Roll out on a floured linen tea towel into a flat rectangular shape. Cut out rectangular biscuits with a knife and decorate each biscuit with the knife tip in the shape of a star. Place them on a buttered tray.
Bake at 180° on the second oven shelf for about 12 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of the biscuits). Biscuits should be cooked through but light in colour.
Cool. Store in a tin.
Image: Cézanne, Paul, Detail of The Sideboard, 1873–1877 via Zeno

Guava Compote - The Dorrigo Way

Guava or Feijoa (Psidium) are, like other good foods, cultivated in the neotropic ecozone. Here, on the feet of Dorrigo National Park they are allowed to go 'feral' like so many other flora and fauna.

Collecting the ripe fruit, they exude a strong fragrance filling rooms for hours.

Compote
The scooped out fruit-pulp can be cooked with a bit of water. If you do not like the large seeds, strain them. This is best done (Ad alarm!) with a chinois strainer and the matching beechwood conical pestle. Add a dash of honey and cool. Local wild-foods connoisseurs, who inspired this method of preparation, use the skins and seeds as well to prepare the compote. Serve with yogurt.

Others use the fruit to bake a 'Guava and macadamia torte' or use them for dressing.