Another Country Diary

The apples are next in the garden cycle. As the possums move along the branches at night, they're falling off with a thud onto the car roof. The wind does the same. I'll pick them today. We'll store some for eating fresh, but I think I'll dry most of them and make a little jar or two of apple sauce.  

It doesn't work on possums.

After slashing the garden bed edges ready for mowing (again) I headed into the kitchen, drew up the stool, put some music on (good old vinyl records-the CD has finally had it after 8 years) and started to cut and peel. Jan had picked up a bucket of apples from the ground and I'd picked the branches of the plum tree that were outside the bird nets. It's preserving time, heeehah!

While I was picking the plums, four rosellas flew up into the gum trees and I had to get the camera to record these intense colour correspondences. Snap. Actual un-retouched images folks!


There's another bucket or two left to pick tomorrow, but I turned the plums into sauce. I've never made sauce before so I picked two recipes from the Women's Weekly Preserves book (they oughta know) for Plum Sauce and Plum and Chili Sauce. They turned out very tasty, the levels in the two opened part jars went down considerably with the sausages we had for dinner and the remains of the cold roast pork for lunch. The sauces were reasonable simple to do, taking about an hour to cook, so I'll keep the recipes for next time.

The apples are being peeled and cored and the dryer has been running continuously. It takes about eight hours a batch. Kate's been home, so as fast as I fill a jar, the rings have been eaten. Another couple of batches and I'll be ahead I reckon. She said "Can I have a jar of them in my room?" Sure!

Today class, I'd like to discuss Show Food. That's not Slow Food, but the food served at shows, events and regional fairs. 

While there's certainly been some change in what's offered, (at the Canberra Show there were a couple of the ethnic food stall tents that are seen around the local craft markets), alternative food is a minor attraction to the masses.

At the local Bungendore Show (see 27th Jan), the CWA always run the food canteen, a steak and sausage sizzle where you can always get 'a good cuppa tea and a jam scone'. At the Canberra show it's run by the local Rotarians. They do it with a bit more hoopla and constant loudspeaker announcements, 'Feeling hungry? What about a bargain 50c off these steak sandwiches with onions before the burn, with sauce of your choice'. Their customers look just like the volunteer workers, who are turning the onions into neat piles on the hot plate. And their customers wear hats so that places them firmly from the outskirts of town.

No, the big food sales are from the caravans that sit along the side show alleys and the fairground rides. They are dispensing a  'becoming traditional' food that has changed only slightly over the years. The overseas graphic influences (American) are sometimes less obvious, but there's a strong adoption of the Union flags and red and white stripes. It's from these vendors that we've been given Donuts, Southern Fried Chicken, the Waffles and Dagwood Dogs. My memory of when many of these were introduced, puts them in our postwar infatuation with all things American. (I can remember making the first Australian Kentucky Chicken TV ads as a junior agency TV producer at John Clemenger's in the late 70's. We couldn't even remotely see how successful it was going to be, especially in a world where the Greek fish and chip shop that sold roast chicken was king. Don't blame me for my part in the downfall of real food, it was a cultural thing and would have happened anyway.)

The hot chips, fairy floss and toffee apples seemed to have always been there and are probably as much British as American. Drinks have moved from glass bottles to cans and plastic bottles, but it's pretty much the same sugary lemon, orange and lemonade (but now with lots of Coke). As evidence of holding to a tradition, you can still buy a paper cup of some green or red coloured drink from a glass dispenser with a rotating paddle. Donuts were always cinnamon and sugar dusted, now they're also jam filled and iced. You can buy red and green toffee apples and pre-packaged fairy floss in three colours that still dissolves in your mouth, even if it doesn't have the warm burnt sugar smell of the fresh version.

It's all quite nostalgic and there's some case to be made for show food on that level. There's minor quibbles. I'd happily buy a 'battered sav on a stick' but calling it a 'Dagwood Dog' jars somewhat. And why can't we do great 'pomme frites' or a 'croque monsieur' like the French street vendors? I can't make any case for the quality or the healthy nature of show food at all, but that's not the point. This is comfort food so closely linked to the experience of the colour and noise and the  Laughing Clowns, that it will never change.