Going "Veg" will not save the planet

This has to be one of the more annoying topics that seems to be cropping up on a more and more regular basis. It seems like the extremist animal libbers have found something so complex that their simple babble of "go veg save the planet" cannot be undone by a simple one liner in retort which in today’s "5 sec sound grab" world means that the argument against goes unheard.
As someone who both loves the planet as well as grows and sells meat the notion that eating the product we grow and sell could cause the end of the world as we know it is something worth investigating but I didn't have to go far to basically debunk this statement.
To begin with Lifecycle analysis of the carbon emissions of fish, poultry (and locally in Australia kangaroo) show that all three have lower emissions than coffee, sugar, oils and fresh veg (Wallen et al 2004). In fact a UK study (Fray and Barrett 2007) showed that while there was a carbon emissions benefit to vegetarianism over the average British diet it was only 9% better than just swapping to a healthy locally sourced diet (think CSIRO Healthy living diet)
Compounding the myth is the fact that all these emissions are done with no offset taken into account, as the offsets in agriculture are a notoriously difficult thing to quantify at a farm level, due to measurement issues. However it is indisputable that different farming techniques can add or detract from soil carbon content - thus decreasing or increasing atmospheric carbon.
The basic message delivered here also fails to take into account the ability of developing technology to improve the way we do things. There are a multitude of projects that will reduce emmissions from ruminants that I am aware of including feeding garlic to livestock to reduce emmissions (www.mootral.com) to use of kangaroo gut bacteria in ruminants to pasture sprays to breeding specific genetic lines for lower emmisions
In addition livestock farming is one form of farming that is managed in much more harmony with biodiversity. While field crops and horticulture are grown in vast monocultures with regular sprays of herbicide and pesticide and vertebrate vermin control in general pasture based systems retain trees, shrubs and have minimal input in the form of sprays etc.
Also while we are "saving the planet" we need to ask the question of what will happen to the ungrazed grassland which would be created if we no longer had ruminants grazing them. leaving alone the increased fire risk (which we have seen the devastating consequences of in Victoria recently)the grass has to do something which is rot away - while more grass is undoubtedly grown in a grazing situation than ungrazed the grass that is left has to decompose. If this occurs in an anaerobic situation as much of it will then the decomposing grass will give off methane exactly as if consumed by a cow. More to the point especially in Northern Australia if this grass is eaten by termites then methane will definately be given off giving no benefit over ruminant grazing.
So as a grower who manages their property to increase their soil carbon and has retain large swathes of trees (on our farm we have nearly 2 million trees) and shrubbery and minimising fire risk to my neighbours am I "killing the planet" - no way. And are the "Go Veg save the planet" crew running one big massive con - you would have to say - unavoidably so - TOO BLOODY RIGHT

Sydney Royal Fine Food

Once again we pitted our range of boutique meat products against the biggest in the industry and once again we have proved that our quality approach wins over quantity when it comes to the most important thing - taste,
We entered a total of 5 products ourselves and 4 of our suppliers also entered a total of 7 products in the competition.
Our haul of 1 gold (champion) 3 silver and 1 bronze medal is testament to the quality we product when our entire throughput of all meat in a week is as much as 1% of the size of some of our competitors.
Our suppliers also covered themselves in glory with 2 gold (1 champion) 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
As such we are confident that Feast Fine Foods offers the best range of Australia's finest red meat products

Magill Estate Suffolk Loin

Magill Estate was featured in the "Adelaide Magazine" today here is a shot of our Suffolk Lamb loin

SA State Sausage King

Throw another prize winning sausage on the Barbie!

Feast! Fine Foods has added 2 more SA Sausage King titles to its increasing trophy case. Having won numerous awards for their premium quality farm direct meats over the past few years Feast! has now translated this success into the highly competitive Sausage King awards.

At a gala dinner, for the 2009 AMIC Sausage King, held in Adelaide on Saturday night Feast! secured the coveted gongs in both the poultry and continental categories.

The prize poultry entry is a new sausage in the Feast! range made from coarse ground premium breast and thigh chicken meat with a hint of apple and cinnamon. The continental winner was our Bratwurst sausage made with premium Angus beef and Berkshire pork.

Feast! also won a third placing in the continental section for our fresh chorizo sausage.

The success this year follows the 2008 awards where Feast! also won the Traditional Pork sausage and went on to finish 3rd in Australia.

Feast! will now represent SA in these categories at the 2010 National Sausage King Awards to be held on the Gold Coast in February 2010.

Shiraz and the Chef

Shiraz and the Chef was an event held at "The Lane" vineyard in the Adelaide Hills as part of the Adelaide Hills wine regions "Winter reds" promotion.

Apart from the hor d'ouvres all the remaining courses were matched with Shiraz of one form or another.

We began the night with two neat little appetisers which were a doughy potato ball stuffed with a white anchovy (reminiscant of fish and chips!) and a risotto ball with tallegio and porcini mushrooms which was very earthy and tasty.

Next we sat down to begin the dinner proper which began with thyme cured rare duck breast served with pear jelly and a duck neck sausage. The duck breast was tender and moist yet I couldn't really pick up the thyme and the pear jelly could of done with a bit more oomph. However the duck neck sausage was sensational and a great match with the 2007 The Lane Shiraz

Next for main we had Coorong Angus Beef cheeks which had been shaped into cylinders by wrapping the shredded cheek meat with prociutto - a great look. The Cheek was accompanied with horseradish semolina and a beetroot relish. These two flavours are awesome with beef and the textures Glenn Carr and james Brinklow achieved through this combo made this a truly memorable dish. An interesting aside to this was that the presentation of the cheek was actually an afterthought as the meat had fallen apart a bit after 12 hours of cooking. Testement to the chef initiative as the resultant presentation was one of the best ways I have seen this cut plated. The cheek dish was matched with a yet unreleased John Crighton 2007 Shriaz Cabernet which was my pick of the night on the wine side of things

We finished the night with petit fours and a couple of nice cheeses a local goat milk and brie which were accompanied with The Lane 2007 "Reunion" Shiraz and 2007 Shaw and Smith Shiraz

All in all a lovely night well executed by a couple of talented chefs

The tomahawk

Quay Restaurant Sydney 10 May

We have been supplying Quay Restaurant in Sydney with Suffolk lamb for 12 months now and after much chiding from the better half a booking was made on the weekend we visited Sydney for the 2009 Vogue Entertaining and Travel producer awards. In the past 12 months Quay has won the Syney Morning Herald Restaurant of the Year and the Gourmet Traveller and Restaurant and Catering Association National Restaurant of the Year awards as well as being named in the World's top 50 restaurants.

As such expectations were High!

After scoring a sensational table with amazing views of both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House we took a chance to look at the menu which to be honest was a struggle - there were 4 courses and 4 choices per course and to be honest only 3 of the 16 didn't appeal to me. After much deliberation the meal began

For first course I had the Mud Crab Congee. Sweet crab with a well spiced congee and silky smooth rice porridge was pretty good start to the night but there was better to come! Next I went for the Confit of Pig Belly with abalone and cuttlefish braise. It was an subtle combination of flavours and textures all of which were smooth and unctious in their own way with the belly being cooked to perfection. The surprise in the second course was the dish chosen by Liz a Confit of shaved squid - this was sublime and like no other squid dish i have ever tasted. If I ever get back to Quay and that dish is on the menu I'm having it as 1 forkful was not enough!

At this point we were getting set for "mains" when were surprised by the kitchen with 5 textures of southern rock lobster. As a South Aussie I know that these suckers are good and Quay didn't let me down. The "plate" for this was something I'd not seen before and it came apart to reveal 2 dishes one a consomme over a mousse of lobster and the other a stack with butter poached lobster, lobster and tapioca mousseline and what I discovered later was lobster with egg whites. All in all very clever and very good.

So now time for the Suffolk Lamb - a loin with baby carrots, nasturtims, capers and tiny olives it came with a side of sheeps milk fromage that to be honest I was a trifle worried about apon reading the menu. However it worked - all the ingrediants were allowed to speak for themselves and it was testemant to the chef that the flavours were allowed to out and the fromage was wonderfully mild and complemented the unique flavour of our very special suffolk lamb.

As someone who is not a huge "dessert eater" I finished with the cheese platter which was lovely but it was now that we got our last surprise. The 8 texture chocolate cake appeared on our table. Now I have no idea of the exact 8 textures I was eating - all I can say is that this was the best cake I have ever eaten and it has ruined me for all others as now I know what is possible.

All in all a brilliant night with fantastic service and amazing food