Posts by: Sally Ayhan
Two weeks on from the inspiring talk from Michael Pollan, my thinking about food has changed. It’s simplified. In the past, I’ve swung from gourmand to calorie counter, always chasing the best option for my interests at the time. Gluten-free, anti-oxidant, vitamins and minerals were words that would jump out at me with instruction to be [...]
In less than a month since Woolworths launched their new campaign ‘Australia’s Fresh Food people‘, the supermarket giant has come down harder than ever on the Australian suppliers and producers who provide their ‘fresh food’. With Coles and Woolworths dominating 80% of the market they can squash independent rivals by initially offering lower prices to consumers and [...]
The Australian Farm Institute released research that found only 28% of Victorian farms made enough profit to support their own families. That’s crazy! Its even scarier when put like this: 72% of Australian family farms don’t earn enough to support the family on them. To think that we’re talking about the people who get [...]
Last week, Woolworths decided it wants us to get to know their supply chain. So much so that they have changed their whole branding concept, catch phrase and website. They’ve dug deep on the marketing front. But does this mean the dominating food bodies are listening to what people want and answering the demand for [...]
I never understood the value of a pomegranate until I lived in Turkey. To be entirely honest, I’m not sure I really knew what a pomegranate was. I knew that it made good juice and thats about it. As it turns out, the absence of pomegranate in one form or another on a Turkish [...]
“Nearly half of the world’s population are aged 25 years and below, and it is these young people, and in particular young women and Indigenous peoples, who are most impacted by the broken food system”. (OIYP) Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) is part of the global discussion surrounding hunger, waste and environmental degradation across the globe [...]
Food professionals are in a tricky business. Regardless of what the industry; restaurants, producers, farmers, or market sellers, the consumer dictates what is bought and sold. Not only that, supply and demand of the food industry is perhaps the most challenging aspect. Determining how much fresh produce needs to be ordered for a restaurant, grown [...]
GOAT BISTEEYA (Morocco) Many people said this was a standout dish, a mix of sweet and sour; the filo pastry layered with almonds contrasts a sweet crunch with the spicy goat mince stuffing. The dusting of icing sugar is typical of minced pastries in the middle east and I remember vividly the sugary lamb borek [...]
20 years ago, it would be fairly common for an Italian family of 30 to gather in a suburban Melbourne back yard to make their yearly Passtata stock. They’d have their boxes of roma tomatoes, their ‘Passapomodoro’: a manual mincing machine ready to churn through the hundreds of blanched tomatoes, and most importantly, they’d [...]
“Every age has a different flavor,” my father in-law says to me over the phone from Istanbul. It’s my 29th birthday and the bittersweet taste of my 28th year passing me by so quickly is replaced with the quiet wisdom of my Turkish in-law. From the moment the day starts the flavors come. Bundled [...]
Who is the Food Anthropologist?
Sally Ayhan is a freelance writer and presenter based in Sydney.
She is foraging for stories behind the food we eat and the culinary choices we make. Quirky food experiences, eating trends and sustainable food practices are just a few of the things she writes about on this here blog. So, go ahead, have a play and a feel, get comfy and if you're gagging for the first read, subscribe below for the latest updates.
