The cost of ethical eating

On 22nd December 2018, on page five, The Australian ran an article by John Lethlean about ethical Christmas eating that featured a photograph of me at our butchery. In a remarkable act of image-making wizardry, the photographer managed to make me look marginally more animated than the large ham I was cradling. (Given the fact that we were at the pointy end of several months of very hard work leading up to xmas and I am as photogenic as a sock, this was a truly impressive feat.) 

As self-described evangelists for the virtues of sourcing produce from regeneratively-run, ethically-managed farms, we were grateful and very pleased to see The Australian run a story that explored ethical eating.

However, we couldn't help arcing up a bit at the headline  - 'Ethically-sourced Chrissy food will cost an arm and a leg'. We understand that the sub-editor was looking for a hook and that tapping into stereotypes about value and exploitation is an easy way to attract attention. But we're convinced that the public at large is ready and able to cope with a much more nuanced and honest conversation about the true cost of cheap food. It's time to jettison the patronising scare-mongering and start a much more robust conversation about value, health, food security and fair access to nutritional food.

Read our post last Christmas about notions of value, health and the definition of luxury.