Many of us routinely travel our own country, connecting dot-to-dot the roadside service stations or stereotyped fast food outlets. A chicken burger is a chicken burger, and you can bet the ingredients have flown thousands of miles to an outlet near you.
How satisfying to renew acquaintance with the real taste of a tomato grown just metres away, or bread baked the 'old' way without artificial boosters, from freshly ground flour. If we venture to taste organic meats, local game, free-range eggs, sheep's yoghurt or pick a bucket of berries for dessert, we are doubling our delight.
Travelling with children adds the bonus of seeing them lay down benchmark standards of just how a newly harvested potato or carrot should taste, the texture of crisp-from-the-tree apple, the pungent smell of oysters, opened as you watch, and the tactile joy of downy peaches. Better yet they begin to appreciate the time and labour and skill that goes into providing even the simplest meal of bread and cheese, fruit and wine.
Yet it is really quite possible, with a little forethought, to shop right at the source, and this works particularly well if you are travelling in a caravan or using self-catering accommodation.
Many local councils now have a food and wine officer or similar person whose job it is to promote the local produce. These people are often instrumental in setting up farmer's markets, encouraging growers to become part of a Food Trail, or even just making sure their homemade chutneys and jams and honey are on display and for sale in the local Tourist Information Office.
These people will often co-ordinate regular food fairs or celebrations that spotlight the food and wine of a region. Watch out for advertisements for these and if possible get yourself to them as they are a lot of fun. It is often the easiest way to find many producers together and many of them will have their goods for sale. Ulladulla, Mudgee, Griffith, Byron Bay and Orange all host regular annual events that last over several days or even several weekends.
When you visit a new area, look for regional food and wine brochures that will lead you to the farmgates where you can buy locally. You can easily create a whole meal in many areas from locally grown foods such as farm fresh eggs, venison sausages, fresh walnuts, trout pate, cherries, greens, and farmed yabbies. The benefits are twofold - local industry (both food and tourism) benefits, and you get to enjoy fresh-from-the-source food that never tasted so good.
If there are no leaflets, look for books that cover the entire country such as the Australian Regional Food Guide, or From the Farm Gate, or local state guides such as Apples to Zampone for South Australia, or Sydney Sources, a book that covers some regions closer to Sydney.
It doesn't really matter how you go about it, so long as you become aware of this vast and virile industry - which is truly a 'growth' industry - around the country. As you travel around, dine simply, dine economically, but most importantly, dine locally. For if you do, you will come to appreciate the land you are visiting.
As you savour the unique produce of each place, you will almost certainly taste the sunshine and rain and smell the good earth that raised it. Most importantly you're sure to develop a profound respect for those who rise early and work long and hard so that the nation may be fed - and not just fed. Banqueted, abundantly and gloriously.
4WD
