Locavore, Carnivore, Vegetarian or Vegan?

Recently I met a few people with whom I'd attended secondary school. 40 years on and we had all travelled different paths & had a great time comparing notes. One of the things that I have been reflecting has been the different attitudes to food which were expressed that afternoon.
The group included myself - a meat producer & carnivore although vegetables, fruit etc constitute a large part of my diet; a coeliac; and a vegan but the person with whom I'm actually identifying is a 'locavore'.
Our health, food experience and adventures, animal welfare knowledge & assumptions are among the contributory factors to our food choices these days. Gone are the days for many when there was no choice but to eat in season and whatever was affordable - with sweets & cordial as treats.
I've said it before that my childhood was extremely rich and we neither realised nor appreciated it. Our farm was pretty well self-sufficient as was normal in those days. Our grandmother and mother were beekeepers; our Dad loved both fishing off the rocks (The Old Head of Kinsale was a favourite spot) and accompanying friends of his who skippered pleasure boats out of Courtmacsherry. We also learned to pick & dry carrigeen; and picked, cooked & ate mussels; periwinkles and cockles. Dad knew a local lobster fisherman who had no outlet for his crab so there was a bit of bartering for crab for us and tractor diesel for his boat. Meat; fish and potatoes were the order of the day generally and milk puddings. As soon as the blackberries appeared, we were all despatched with buckets to start picking! These are just a few of the foods we enjoyed at home not forgetting the brown and white soda breads which were made at least every couple of days, and plenty of cakes and biscuits for those like me with a sweet tooth and for the lunchboxes. I wasn't the only girl in our primary school who could cook &/or bake although we never spoke about it because it was so normal.
I'm becoming very critical of what we have in our store cupboards. More and more, I'm checking whether I'll actually use a product before I buy it. Dubliner & Gubbeen are staple ingredients with Clona Creme Fraiche & Sour Cream; Buttermilk; and of course butter. - these are all ingredients I use at least weekly. I'll post some recipes using these products in my recipe blog shortly.
Where am I going with this? Well on Thursday, 13th September, we will have our third annual seminar on Food: Fiction, Fads & Phonies. At this stage, I know the speakers:- Bill King; Elke O'Mahony and Andi Plaster. How do I know these people? Blame Twitter, primarily. I know these people are passionate about food - provenance, quality & integrity. The seminar isn't a food bashing exercise but a chance for everyone to learn and explore this fascinating topic. By the way, another couple of speakers are to confirm so it will be a very full day.
The food that attendees will eat is a celebration of some of the best from the area. Some of our food service outlets will provide plates of food for lunch which will focus on particular suppliers. The only problem is that everyone will have to choose a plate. Last year, many people took photographs before anything was eaten just because it looked so good. At the breaks, people will enjoy Mella's Fudge; Glenilen Lemonade; Carbery Cheese and maybe even some Rosscarbery Black and White Pudding or Biltong.
Finally, there was an unfortunate error in the official A Taste of West Cork programme and the seminar cost is actually €50 and booking via Eventbrite
This seminar is food for the body and inspiration for our future.
One more diary date: an Open Air Harvest Thanksgiving to which all are welcome will be held in The Deanery, Rosscarbery, on Sunday, 2nd September at 3pm at which the speaker will be Bishop Pat Storey and it will be followed by a barbecue. It doesn't matter if you're a regular church goer to any church, this is a chance to reflect on the year to date and enjoy a bit of company too.
Until next time
Avril