trashzilla

I have been reading a couple of inspiring NZ books on foraging: the 2012 full-colour Find it Eat it by Micheal Daly, which includes recipies from this travelling chef; & Gwen Skinner's 1981 Simply Living - a gatherer's guide to NZ's fields, forests & shores - which includes recipies, formulae for cosmetics, medicinal uses & lots of other interesting info. I like what Micheal has to say on the subject: "Wild food grows at its own pace: it evolves continuously to live in harmony with its environment. Once necessary for human survival,most of us have now lost the knowledge of how to gather & eat wild food.Many of the plants we know today as weeds (wild greens) are both edible & very nutritious. Most wild plants contain more nutritional value than does cultivated food." Today Laurie & I dodged the spring showers & hunted around in a back alley near the beach - we found & identified several edibles with the help of the books, &a

Often I find things left behind after the local Sunday market. My latest find was these two oat bars, still fresh & with seals & packets intact...?

Latest freegan find: 2 kg pickled pork, still cold from the chiller - looks like cold meat sandwiches for the next two weeks!

The annual inorganic roadside trash collection has begun in my area. I cruised around in the van on Sunday & scored a 25kg bag of cement. This year there are even more people trawling through the kerbside offerings - most of them after scrap metal, but there are lots of other goodies and freebees out there as well.

A recent freeganing trip netted a 350grm tub of (still chilled) chicken livers. A while ago while trash trawling I found a well-used copy of Leah W. Leonard's 1951 book of "Jewish Cookery" on p. 301 is the recipie for molded chicken liver ( a firm favourite with my Jewish friends): "Combine broiled chicken livers,hard cooked eggs and greben. Run through food chopper, season to taste with salt, pepper, celery salt or garlic salt, add chicken or goose fat, or salad oil. Use as a canape spread.Top with tiny bits of pimento or green pepper, minced parsley or water cress, or stuffed olive. Or press into a well-greased mold. Unmold on shredded greens and garnish." OR on p. 382 Leah gives the recipie for "Chopped Liver and Peanut Butter"!: "Two parts chopped liver to 1 part peanut butter makes a delicious spread".

A friend has groceries delivered weekly from the supermarket. When the delivery arrives, last week's veges get thrown away. We brought these home last night: mushrooms, apricots, an avocado, a pack of celery, & some spring onions.

A quick dive into a local dumpster provided me & extended family with the best part of a tray of eggs - we will have them scrambled, fried, poached, & boiled for a couple of weeks....

Let the Hunger Games Begin Celsias.co.nz reports: "The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America’s counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions.  This, in turn, will boost food prices domestically and abroad, causing increased misery for farmers and low-income Americans and far greater hardship for poor people in countries that rely on imported U.S. grains. This, however, is just the beginning of the likely consequences: if history is any guide, rising food prices of this sort will also lead to widespread social unrest and violent conflict. In 2008 a similar scenario led to “food riots” in more than two dozen countries, including Bangladesh, Cameroon, Egypt, Haiti, Indonesia, Senegal, and Yemen. In 2010 a surge in food prices resulted in widespread soci

This is farmed salmon, but will still make a delicious addition to pasta dishes or my favourite green curry noodle soups. Tossed into the trash last night, they were still cool from the chiller.

An awful lot of stuff ends up in the landfill - a result of our "throw-away" society mentality. Saatchi and Saatchi have branded New Zealand as "100% Pure" - yeah, right. This is just some b/s dreamed up by CEO Kevin Roberts - this is the man who, by his own admission, often buys "Head & Shoulders Shampoo" - in spite of the fact that he has no hair. I cannot help but wonder if similar reasoning compels him to buy "Tampax" also? Anyhow, join me on my adventures in the trash, as I haul out stuff to recycle, make into art, give away, and eat - yes eat. Some 30% of the food grown in this "clean green" paradise goes to waste, from supermarket shelf to dumpster. This in a country where people are going hungry and children are suffering illness caused by malnutrition through poverty and bad eating habits (aka McDonalds et al). To kick things off, here's some tucker I found last night: 1.4kg bacon & 6 eggs - all still fresh