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THERE’S A LOT of talk and concern these days about food – what’s in it, where it comes from, how healthy is it?
Whether you’re a total health nut or slightly more laissez-faire about what you put in your mouth on a daily basis, it’s no secret that our food isn’t always what we think it is.
From the addition of unpronounceable chemicals (for reasons we’re not totally sure of) to the use of genetic modification and the unknown effects that will have on our health and planet further down the line, knowing where your food comes from, and what’s in it, is a topic of great importance – and one that’s more and more in the public eye.
One person who cares very much about what goes into not only her own food but the food she sells to the public is Fiona Falconer of Wild About, an organic, award-winning seasonal range of chutneys, relishes and pestos.
We spoke to her about her products, poly tunnels and permaculture.
How did it all begin?
Fiona, her husband Malcolm and three children (now four) moved from London a few years ago, and bought a smallholding in Wexford. Malcolm had been raised on a small farm in Wales himself and with Fiona set up the permaculture gardens. Both keen ecologists, they wanted to create something that was sustainable and seasonable while supporting both the environment and the local economy.”
How is Wild About different?
“What stands us out from the rest of the crowd is we grow the produce ourselves on our permaculture farm – we have a five-acre small holding. We don’t import. What we don’t grow, we source locally. We look out the window and see what’s out there, and that’s what we make.
“My husband’s the chef – he has an amazing palate. He keeps an eye on what the Michelin chefs are doing and gets his ideas for combinations from them.
“We believe passionately that Ireland has the best ground source on the planet. We really do. We’ve such good soil, the right climate, we can’t compete with the ‘pile it high and sell it fast’, so we really should make quality, high-end food that we can sell to the rest of the world with pride.”
What is permaculture?
“Permaculture is like organics but it’s a step further – I actually have a problem with organics because you can fly organic mint in from Israel. Permaculture is about heritage, environment, your immediate local economy. That’s our ground base ethos – local, seasonal and wild. We grow most of our own produce. Everything’s made by hand. We don’t take in any pre-prepared vegetables or anything like that. It literally goes from ground to pot to shelf.
“Because of the way we work, we don’t import, we work seasonally so our range actually changes in line with the season. So you don’t get the same product on the shelf 365 days a year, and that’s part of our ethos also, to bring seasonality back to the forefront and get people to understand it a bit more.
“We don’t use any chemicals in our land, and in our kitchen we just use sugar and vinegar. So we strip the ingredients back and just let the produce sing their own song.”
What’s your most interesting find?
“Nettles are incredible – they help lower blood pressure, they clear the uric acid from your kidneys, they’re used to treat gout, arthritis, prostate, psoriasis, they lower the glycaemic index, they lower cholesterol, they’re packed with iron, they’re packed with polyphenols, which are antioxidants, packed with Vit A, B1, B2. They grow in every hedge in the country and they’re free, it’s crazy that people don’t use them.”
“Last year we started growing nettles from seed in a polytunnel – my neighbours think I’m absolutely nuts.
“Our bestseller is a raw nettle pesto – it’s absolutely unique in the market. It’s really great with fish (hake/haddock/cod – baked in the oven), chicken and pork. It’s great dolloped on to a salad.”
You started off your range with chutneys and relishes, so tell us – What is the difference between a chutney and a relish?
“You could dine out for years on ‘what is the difference between chutney and relish’ – there’s no defined distinction between them. I would call a chutney something that’s gloopy and condensed, whereas a relish is lighter. That’s my own understanding.”
Why are people so into knowing about where their food comes from now?
“I think there is a tangible need to reclaim our food for ourselves. In the ’70s, all our neighbours had little areas in the back garden where they’d grow lettuce, cucumbers, courgettes, stuff like that. In the North Strand they even had pigs in the back garden. And then the supermarkets came in and taught us how to eat and we went like lambs up and down the aisles.
“The whole interest (in food and cooking) has changed – since the boom, there’s no housing shows any more, it’s all chef shows. I love it when people come up and ask me, at the stall, ‘where do you get your veg from?’ It shows their interest in what they’re eating.
“The only way we can change the quality of our food is knowledge.”
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so nice to see this becoming important for people. The food industry is rampant with additives, conservatives, all sorts of short-cuts to make production bigger and cheaper. I mean, why the hell is there milk in ham? Can they not just boil a lump of pork, slice it and package it?
Packaging is another issue that seems to me to be out of control…sooo much plastic. But that’s for another day.
Well said Lorcán! I care deeply whats in my food and where it comes from. Be great to see every town with its own thriving food market encouraging farmers and landowners in the surrounding lands to produce real healthy food. So many pluses.. better food for all, more local employment, stronger community, healthier soil and land too. Yes Permaculture is the future and there really is no alternative.. regenerates land, soil, forests, wildlife, cleaner rivers, far healthier food, community empowerment and independence and so much more. Organic growing is just the start.. do your own research into Permaculture and learn how it solves most of our problems.
I too have an issue with packaging. However like it or hate it, plastic packaging is the material that our society has chosen and in the end there’s nothing inherently wrong with plastic, just our management of it. Plastic had many advantages and it dramatically reduces food spoilage, which is good for the environment. Plastic can be made from plants: it doesn’t have to be made from fossil fuels. It can be carbon neutral, biodegradable and sustainable.
Thought this was an interesting read. Makes me want to do something with the little plot outside my house. But for now I’m going to take a walk down the road with my rubber gloves and pick some delicious nettles.
Nettle Beer Anyone . . .http://www.wildabout.ie/nettles.html
The title made me interested in the article. Sadly the article just turned out to be a really long ad. :-/
Sorry you thought that Logan, and I totally get how beaten down we get by media manipulation. This was an interview I did about our food and how we grow it. We are a very small Artisan Food Producer, we are not a big multinational. We have a 5 acre smallholding where we grow using permaculture techniques, We don’t use any chemicals on our land or in our kitchen.. We sell at farmers markets and now in Supervalu through the Food Academy, an initiative by Bord Bia, the Enterprise Board and Musgraves, aimed to bring small producers like ourselves into the mainstream, giving us the opportunity to grow our business and for us to spread an ethical and environmental ethos. What it has meant for us, is the bigger platform had given us the means to service a debt in moving up a notch, employing someone and taking our business to the next stage. This is not an advert by a large multinational. This is an interview with a genuine small producer. Good Food Ireland Producer of the Year. All Ireland Farmers Market Champions and Guild of Irish Food Writers Award 2015.
No, it’s an advert by a large supermarket chain, piggybacking on your business. You are the product here.
I wish you well, which may surprise you, and I’d try your product too, because I’m lfortunate enough to be able to occasionally buy food because I feel like, rather than for reasons of nutrition or hunger – unlike a great number of people. But I’d do so a second time not because it’s organic, or because of the permaculture, but if it tasted nice.
The other stuff is marketing for an affluent picky market, who want to feel virtuous and superior about what they eat, rather than, you know, full. The same ones who are now filling the coffers of those making exorbitantly expensive (though not so bad in Lidl) gluten free food for people who are not coeliacs and have a ‘food intolerance’ that does not really exist.
Organic/permaculture/chutney is never ever feed large populations and is a distraction at that level. It is of no interest to those feeding people on a tight budget, but serves to make them feel guilty that they are not doing as well as they should.
Organic is irrelevant when it comes to nutrition. If you are doing it for principle and can afford to, fine. But if you can’t afford it don’t feel the least bit guilty or deprived.
Also, this always makes me laugh like a drain
‘.. we really should make quality, high-end food that we can sell to the rest of the world with pride.’
So, we should not import food – cos ‘the environment’, health etc – and we should eat and buy only Irish food preferably locally grown. But meanwhile, we should export away like good things – to hell with the environment – and people in other countries should definitely not eat and buy locally, they should eat our better food.
Hilarious.
This article has cheered me up no end.
‘You could dine out for years on ‘what is the difference between chutney and relish’’
I can honestly say I’ve been on the planet for over 5 decades and never been in the least bothered by this conundrum. If it came up when I was dining out, I’d question my choice of company.
Katie I would agree with you there but from a quick google search (your fault for peeking my curiosity and thus lowering my integrity) from what I can see basically ingredients (same can be in both) and cooking time (which can vary in both) and original origin of the names the product of which now probably has no resemblance to what it was after being messed around with all these years.
Mostly now I think the trems Relish would be used by Americans and Chutney by the English, also Relish would sound more “posh” over the “workingman’s” Chutney and both are basically the same with the ability to make or break a sandwich or burger.
Must bring this up at my next dinner party methinks……. Hmmm maybe not
Love Nettles, many of our native hedgerow foods have incredible medicinal properties . . . and they’re FREE !
Great article. Permaculture and Organic food is the right direction for our little country as we produce enough to feed everyone without Importing (or exporting) our food! There’s more and more courses cropping up all over the country from day courses to full on 2 year degrees. Accessibility is key!
Avoiding Trans Fats (man made) can reverse Diabetes Type 2. US average intake is 2.2 Kgs per annum …. daft!
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/fda-trans-fat-ban-118003.html
Surely this is an ad. Is it a paid for advertisement, if so surely that should be written somewhere?
It’s brought to you by SuperValu and there’s a #Sponcered.
Just saw the “Sponsered” on the pic attached to the article on the home page but there is nothing (that I can see) in the article and I must be missing the “Brought to you by Supervalu” because I can’t locate that.
A wonderful example of ‘ad blindness’ Tricia – I love it. Took me a minute too, but there is a little thing at the top beside the titles, and a big red thing at the bottom of the article. When you see them, they are obvious, but like you I at first just automatically filtered them out as ads.
Message to Journal advertisers: Your banner ads are pretty much invisible, even the big red ones. On the other hand, a lot of people don’t notice articles are sponsored. Just bear the comments in mind when creating your copy…
Ha. I only just now noticed the MASSIVE banner ad at the top of the page. So that’s 3 ads, and the one I noticed last is the biggest.
This just gets funnier and funnier.
There was a pattern of red/green thumbs here that was quite normal, all comments were green and red to a natural degree..
Then all of a sudden it changed – like, completely, within about 5 minutes. Any comments not in abject praise of the article are now red-thumbed to death, old and new (banal) favourable comments are green thumbed to the heights.
The PR company are on the ball anyway and earning their crust, have to give them that. Expect this comment won’t even last long.
I imagine the people who click on and read this article would mainly be the people who have an interest in organics/ permaculture and whatnot so they would obviously red thumb comments they don’t agree with. I wouldn’t get too paranoid over the thumbs
Not paranoid at all, amused.
Usually get mine in tesco or lidl
I find Aldi occasionally good too, though I do rate Lidl the best of the three.
have your say