Ethical food still not cheap as chips

Sydney City is developing an Ethical Food Policy, meaning Council functions will use food that is cruelty-free, healthy, and locally produced. While this is good news for local growers, some want ethical food to be made affordable for public housing residents in areas like Waterloo and Redfern, where poor nutrition is a major health issue.

“You find that most Housing Department residents really have lousy diets,” said Greens Councillor Irene Doutney. “They tend to eat a lot of really crap pre-packaged food and fast food, and that’s just so bad for people.”

“My thought was that the City could actually supply a nutritionist and simple recipes to supply good, natural food.”

Organisations such as the Food Distribution Network currently provide cheap, nutritious food to elderly and socially disadvantaged residents, but there are not many options for other low-income earners.

The Carriage Works markets, held at the Eveleigh rail yard, already provides ethical food choices, but the prices are too expensive for many public housing residents.

“Having seen the prices charged in these so called producer markets, I think they’re out of the reach of public housing residents,” said Waterloo public housing tenant Ross Smith.

“Why buy a six dollar bunch of celery or an eight dollar bunch of celery when you could go down to the local fruit and veggie shop and buy it for two dollars?”

Ms Doutney agrees that the ethical food sold at the Carriage Works markets is too expensive for many public housing residents. “You won’t find people from Morehead St in Redfern…or the Waterloo high rises actually going to that market. There would be very few who could afford those prices,” she said.

Ms Doutney said she would like to see Council adopt their own regular market, probably in conjunction with other local charities, to make sure residents can have access to ethical food at affordable prices.

But Mr Smith said he was skeptical about the Council’s plans: “If the Council is interested in supplying benefits to locals, where’s the employment source on the markets for the locals? They don’t grow anything in the inner city!”

Source: www.alternativemediagroup.com/ThreadView.aspx?tid=16218#post_16218