Non-stunning slaughter - Animals are counting on you to be their voice

As you know, a big decision will be made this week when primary industries ministers from around the country meet in Melbourne to decide whether to close the loophole on non-stunned slaughter in Australia.

I'm writing to invite you to an important rallyorganised by Animals Australia on Thursday evening at the MCG, where the ministers are due to discuss their decision on this issue. Already 14,000 Animals Australia supporters have written to these ministers imploring them to show mercy and remove the exemptions that are allowing some abattoirs in Victoria and South Australia to cut the throats of fully conscious sheep. We need your help to send one last and all-important reminder as the ministers arrive for their dinner meeting, that caring Australians are depending on them to make the right decision.

• Where: Gate 2, Melbourne Cricket Ground
• When: 5:45pm, Thursday, 27th October (finishing 7pm)
• What to bring: Just yourself, we will have plenty of posters for people to hold
• More information: Call the Animals Australia office on 1800 888 584

Miss, of all the cruelty I have seen inside abattoirs, non-stunned slaughter of animals represents the single greatest cause of distress, pain and suffering I have born witness to.

Fortunately we understand that several ministers are already of the opinion that non-stunned slaughter is unacceptable, which means there is real hope to end this brutal practice in Australia. This rally may be the tipping point that gets the others over the line.

Please join our experienced campaigners for a peaceful gathering on Thursday evening and help us ensure that all animals in this country are extended this most basic legal protection.

I hope you can join us, Lyn White Campaign Director

P.S. You may be aware that the official meeting of the primary industries ministers will be held on Friday morning. We are rallying at their Thursday evening dinner meeting as it is expected that their position will be determined at this time. I hope you can attend, but even if you can't, you can have your say on our website right now.

Local Harvest

 

LOCAL FOOD BENEFITS COMMUNITIES & THE ENVIRONMENT

Local Harvest is a new national initiative aiming to help people find local sources of food and grow their own.

A national directory for finding food co-ops, swap meets, community gardens, farmers markets, box systems, organic retailers and more by simply entering your postcode.

DIY alternatives for food production and meeting essential needs, including resources for growing and making your own.

Take up the Local Harvest Challenge, where for one week you attempt to reduce the 'degrees of separation' from your food. Based on the Household Action Challenge run in previous years.

There is a fantastic similar resource existing for the USA found at www.localharvest.org on which this project has been based.

 FOR MORE INFO 

ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT INITIATIVE

PLEASE GO HERE

Oz history in food: Australian Family Recipes 1868 to 1950

I love a bit of food history.  Food history is not only quaint and historic recipes.  Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons: Australian Family Recipes from 1868 to 1950 by Victoria Heywood is a social history of lives gone by.  As of the first of this month, a wonderful contribution to Australian food history has hit the bookstands.  

Click to enlarge

Victoria came across many weird, supposedly edible, things in 17 years travelling the world as a journalist, but none so strange as some of the dishes she encountered back home in Australia when researching Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons. In a writing career spanning 20-odd years, Victoria has written extensively about food, sex, health and travel for magazines and newspapers both here and abroad, and is the author of numerous other books.  One that would be of interest to Oz Tucker lovers is:

More about this book here

Bring the family down for a FREE sausage sizzle and 

some other tasty treats from original Australian cookbooks 

and hear Victoria Heywood chat about her new book:

• Where - Westgarth Books, 77 High Street, Northcote
• When - 12-1 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011
• Phone - 9482 7117

GARAGE SALE : RINGWOOD, VIC: FRI-SAT 7/8 OCTOBER 2011

Favourite Focaccia ... alla Pugliese

This is a detour of Oz Tucker into a favourite recipe of mine - 

from the Italian genre.

@tammois is looking for a good excuse to start the fire to-day.  I suggested Focaccia alla Pugliese was an excellent excuse and offered to send the recipe.  She has taken me up on the offer, so I scanned the pages and thought I would post them here as well.  Please pop over to her site Tammi Tasting Terroir. I think you'll love her.

Click to enlarge the scanned pages below