In recent days, the weather in Sydney has taken a turn for the sour and sobering, with great, soppy and soggy clouds releasing their pent up energy in great bursts of rain and thunder. Traffic has become more congested, shopping centres have become havens for huddling and windowshopping in mass proportions (moreso than usual, of course) and many are choosing to retreat to their homes and preferring the icy mantle of cold floorboards and kitchen tiles to the nippy winds, sodden socks and rugged-up approach to arriving at work. There is also increasingly grim news about the “global financial crisis” that has many holding onto their wallets and piling into their bank accounts, as opposed to our usual methods of indulging in all the culinary world has to offer. But even in uncertain times, we can rest assured that the most solid asset that will always guarantee ‘healthy’ returns is the investment in our health, and in the health of ourselves we must be nourished with the recipes of food that are simple but balanced, prepared with a degree of finesse but consumed with a voracious hunger for proper nourishment.
It occurred to me only recently when I was biting through a fast-food chicken burger with the juices flowing down my right cheek and my fingers saturated with chilli sauce – one such sample at a Greek take away shop and another at a corporate chain – that the taste difference between the two was much greater than I originally thought. It’s no surprise to me any more that chicken burger chains offer you french fries and a side drink to wash down that awful flavour of tough, overcooked fillet which is swimming in its own moist and succulent saline and uncooked juices.
It’s no secret that although charity begins at home, and even the most humble of take away outlets has the potential for mass commercialisation, every shortcut you make will only degrade your end product in a number of subtle ways, until it becomes obvious to the consumer that they are no longer eating quality and wholesome stock. It also occurred to me that no other fowl has received such commercialisation and over-consumption in first-world nations; it is commonplace to tenderise and preserve chicken fillets by loading the product with nitrates and saline solutions to keep you coming back for me. Not only is this not good for your own health, it also hints at the terrible practice in raising the chicken in the first place – perhaps these measures are a way of combatting the factory-battery method of mass production for a hungry audience.
The Wild Thyme and Sweet Pea project found its roots when it was plucked excitedly from the garden, washed briskly in a basin of water and lovingly left out to dry in a soothing marinade of vision and ambition ... More »
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