Beyond Beeton» bad food

The truth about the supermarket and what you can do about it

Rachel — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:20:46 +0000

There is something incredibly dreary about every supermarket ever known.

As soon as you walk into one your heart sinks and you become a grumpy trolley shuffler, unless you're one of those crazy basket people that goes to the supermarket at 6am after a brisk jog (in which case you should go away and eat a carrot now and leave us all alone), or you're 2 years old, in which case it is your god given right to chuck a giant tantrum.

photo credit: jumer

The traffic inside most supermarkets is just as bad as roads in any modern city. The same women who can't manage to reverse without an oops or two are let loose here on far more dangerous vehicles without a licence.

You'll find those horrid perky athletic types in the supermarket too - jogging on the spot while contemplating whether they want 5 packets of lean cuisine spaghetti low-fat extra-goo or the smooshed up packets of tofu burgers with added tar that are on special this week.

There's always at least one newlywed couple - arms around each other, romantically deciding whether they should have a bright yellow packet of tacos or frozen lasagne for dinner tonight.

The aisles are set up like one of those awful hedge mazes that landscape architects think are "charming" and "quaint" but there is nothing at all quaint about an entire aisle of noodles served with varying kinds of sludge in styrofoam cups. This aisle is a particularly dangerous one and must be avoided at all costs, lest you accidentally tarnish your ears with the existential rubbish that can only be emitted from first year arts students.

When you run away to safer ground you find yourself surrounded by last year's apples, floury and tasteless. Or maybe they're the potatoes? It is hard to tell.

photo credit: Lab2112

A fact about supermarkets that you should know:

'Fresh' fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves can actually be around a year old when you buy them. The Sydney Morning Herald bought apples from Australia's major supermarkets and sent them to the Sydney Postharvest Laboratory for testing. The tests revealed that the apples were up to ten months old.

Despite common misconception, apples are not grown year round in Australia. In order to meet the year-round demand, supermarkets purchase apples from growers during the short season and then keep them in cold storage. While the cool temperatures can help the apples last longer, it has a negative effect on the quality and flavour of the apple.

So what can you do if you want to eat produce that is actually fresh, full of flavour and nutrients?

photo credit: tanguero (BLOCK, rinse, repeat)

The answer is simple. You need to embrace the slow food movement and buy nearly everything from organic happylands where everyone wears hemp, talks about ecosystems and sustainability and smiles a lot.

The hippies have got it right. The birds sing and frolic as you stroll along at farmers markets or at those wonderful greengrocers that actually source fresh produce. I promise you will taste the difference. Nobody will smack you in the shins with a trolley. You will be able to identify everything on the stands and if you can't, a friendly person over the age of 12 will be able to explain it to you.

So how much extra should you pay for fresh? Almost nothing at all. Sure, the prices look more per kilo but somehow my basket, laden with fresh goodies, costs less than the equivalent from the supermarket.

photo credit: Indiana shutterbug

Fresh lasts longer too, so you won't need to resort to stringy lettuce or frozen peas at the end of the week. Is it any wonder that most kids don't like vegies? Get them to choose the fresh veg from the stands and see what happens next. You can thank me later.

If you can find a quality butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer or farmers market and wholefoods store you will come out ahead financially and have the knowledge that you're supporting your community, your own health and the environment too.

If you haven't got access to a fresh market, have you considered starting your own or a community garden?

How can neon lights and plastic wrapped in more plastic compete with that?

I have restaurant performance anxiety

Rachel — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:02:26 +0000

I love eating and I think I know it all, so you would think that I would happily recommend restaurants to all and sundry. Not so.

I have a serious case of restaurant performance anxiety. Recommending a restaurant makes me feel like I'm standing naked with only my favourite children to protect me - but what if they don't? What if the restaurant is so spectacularly awful (and hell, it is Perth so that is hardly a mean feat) that you think I have awful taste too?

I recently was forced to recommend a restaurant to my cousin and his new wife. This was particularly fraught with danger because she asked me to suggest a good Indonesian restaurant - and she is from Java. (From, as in arrived in Perth 3 weeks ago). Luckily, the recommendation produced under duress (Sweet Java in Grosvenor Street Mt Lawley, in case you are wondering - and if you start going there and I can't get a table I will be very cross) came good. But I can't handle the stress.

On that basis, I'm going to offer up some non-recommendations. These Perth restaurants are so consistently rubbish in my view that I feel secure enough to say it aloud.

Sienas
Sicilian Subiaco
The Olive Tree
The Jolly Frog (this one might be scandalous)
Almost anything claiming to be Mexican
I can't believe I forgot it earlier - Pines Grand (that isn't) Buffet and Carvery

If you disagree, tell me so.

Edit: Thanks to the feedback of the good people of Perth, decent Mexican can be had at The Flying Taco and That Little Mexican Place, both located in Perth's very own little Mexico. You can also have a good time at Panchos in Vic Park or Zapata's in Freo with the addition of a cocktail or forty.

The Good Bad and the Ugly is best forgotten, and the Shed is the perfect example for why most eatingwa restaurant reviewers should not have access to a computer.

Happy birthday to me – recommend a restaurant

Spinach and water are not friends

Rachel — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:35:02 +0000

Before we go any further, spinach doesn't come in boxes. Green icy stuff in cardboard boxes is the stuff of childhood nightmares. Please leave it there.

You need only the tiniest most minuscule skerrick of water to cook spinach. Rinse spinach well and dry the leaves in a half-assed fashion. The little bit of water clinging will be enough.

Pop the spinach in a warmed frypan over a reasonable heat with a drizzle of olive oil, a good cracking of pepper and an itsy bit of salt (sh don't tell my mother). Stir gently then take the leaves off the heat almost immediately, as soon as they start thinking about whether it would be a good idea to start wilting or not.

Serve the spinach on pre-warmed plates with something meaty and lovely on top.

If it turns out crap you did it wrong.