SENSE: The Foodie Issue

volume 1

the foodie issue

THE CURSE OF THE CARDBOARD

Escaping the burden of the bland on Newcastle’s coeliac scene.

ARE AUSTRALIAN’S EATING HEALTHIER?

Yes, Yes We Are!

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editor’s

MESSAGE Welcome to the first edition of Sense, The Foodie Issue. We are proud to publish this magazine that represents the love that we all have for food.

This is for the millennial reader who likes their food served with a touch of quirky sophistication. The aim of this magazine issue is to deliver our thoughts and research on popular food trends, behind-the-scenes action and ask questions like “Are Australians Eating Healthier?”

We also aim to deliver our message in a very entertaining and informative way that will provide you with useful tips and knowledge. We hope to challenge your mind and make you look at food with a different perspective.

There are not many people in Australia that don’t start their morning with a refreshing coffee! Navia Gruber takes you on a journey to look at the Australian Coffee Culture and find out how millennials are now the biggest coffee consumers.

Writer and Illustrator Emily Bell tells her personal story of being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease at a young age.

Her article addresses the difficulties Coeliacs have when trying to eat out in Newcastle and gives insight on the places that offer a yummy gluten free menu. Growing up myself with a dad and sister having coeliac disease, I can definitely understand the difficulty of getting the family together and going to a restaurant that will offer food that will suit everyone.

Every issue will feature a “Foodie of the Month”. This month’s makes me very excited because it’s one of my favourite places to go in Newcastle for indulging in everything sweet and yummy. So, on behalf of The Foodie Issue I hope you enjoy this first one, and please let us know of any topics you would like us to feature in the future.

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Thank you

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EVERY SUNDAY AT NEWCASTLE SHOWGROUND www.newcastlecityfarmersmarket.com.au

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contents 6

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CONTRIBUTORS

FOODIE OF THE MONTH

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CURSE OF THE CARDBOARD

PRESSURE COOKING

14 COFFEE

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DONT BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU

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REFERENCE PAGE

ARE AUSTRALIANS EATING HEALTHIER

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ARE WE AVO MAD

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contributors Emily Bell Illustration, writing love picture books and hiking, and will eat anything “ Iwith gluten free carbs and cheese. You can most often

find me roaming local reserves with my border collie or buried in a sketchbook working on side projects.

Sophie Freeman Photography, writing is my first love, but food is a close second. Ham, “ Design cheese, and tomato toasties. Actually, just toasties of any flavour. That includes jaffles. As long as they’re cheesy and full of meat, I’m on board.

Amie Gargan Photography, writing love minimalism in both fashion and design. I’m most “ Ioften seen on Pinterest looking for inspiration. My

favourite food at the moment is Doughheads, and I just won’t shut up about how amazing they are!

Navia Gruber Photography, writing a food and coffee lover who only wants to travel the “ I’m world and have a good time. Yes, I am that one who is constantly caught eating out of the Nutella jar... it’s just too good to resist!

Ellie Gustard Illustration, writing a first year Visual Communication student that loves “ I’m anything illustrated and time discovering the outdoors.

My favourite food is a spinach and ricotta pastie, I mean...where can you go wrong?

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eye candy.

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union street, the junction. www.doughheads.com.au

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escaping the burden of the bland on newcastle’s coeliac scene

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for people with Coeliac disease, eating out can seem more trouble than it’s worth.

A visit to my doctor for something unrelated led to a blood test, in which she discovered an excess of a certain enzyme. I was told that this usually presents in teenagers after they’ve had rapid bone growth, or in people with coeliac disease. Being a lanky girl of fifteen at the time, I assumed the former - but after a biopsy, coeliac disease was confirmed. If I continued in my carb-loving ways, I’d be putting myself at an extremely increased risk of intestinal issues and a number of cancers later in life.

So the diet change began, removing my beloved pasta and pizza and bread and replacing them with less than satisfactory substitutes. Bread made from rice tastes like cardboard, and is often ridiculously expensive. The pasta was claggy and glue-like, and there was no such thing as a decent chewy cookie.

Eating at home was hard enough to adjust to, with two brothers and my parents all remaining gluteneaters. As a diagnosed coeliac, both my doctor and nutritionist stressed the need for care when preparing food. If I ingested even as much as one hundredth of a slice of bread, that small amount of gluten would keep me curled in the foetal position, pain radiating through my torso, for a week. It could take weeks for it to get through my system, and even longer for the damage in my intestine to heal. And to top it all off, increased anxiety, fogginess and the inability to concentrate - not the loveliest combination.

Coeliac disease affects approximately one in every hundred Australians, and it’s a problem that’s not going anywhere. It’s different to gluten intolerance while this can be painful, it doesn’t come packaged

with the health risks of coeliac disease. Wheat allergies are different again, and perhaps more immediately dangerous.

Recently, a food fad has emerged - eliminating gluten from your diet as a way to lose weight or “feel better”.

This is both good news and bad news for diagnosed coeliacs, as the ability to order gluten free food at restaurants and cafes has become more widespread and expected.

“coeliac disease affects

approximately one in every hundred australians, and it’s a problem that’s not going anywhere.

However, gluten free fad-dieters don’t require the strict level of cross-contamination checks as coeliacs.

This can complicate eating out for those who do, leading to situations where a food is assuredly “gluten free” but is still toasted in the same toaster, or fried in the same frier, as gluten containing foods.

With this in mind, I set out to find a few places in Newcastle that can cater reliably to coeliacs.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the best track record with eating out as a coeliac, and my expectations were pretty low. Despite this, Merewether Surfhouse, The Hood, and Zeus Street Greek provide excellent dishes.

After explaining my situation and need for care in preparation to the staff, these three restaurants I found were remarkably accomodating and served delicious, non-cardboard gluten free meals. A win for coeliacs everywhere! (or at least in Newcastle...)

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I was diagnosed with coeliac disease in 2014, a month before my sixteenth birthday. It was the kind of thing that I would never expect to happen to me, a skinny kid who could eat anything and stay as thin as a reed, jumping around and full of beans nonstop. I was a pizza loving, pasta consuming machine, pretty much living on carbs unless mum could manage to coax some meat into me.

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Merewether Surfhouse: Pizza Henderson Parade, Merewether

Zeus Street Greek: The Zeus The Rooftop, Westfield Kotara

The Hood: Green Bowl 188 Union St, The Junction

I was skeptical at first to try the Surfhouse gluten free pizza, because it’s not often you find a pizza place that’s careful about cross contamination. It was good, though - seriously good. Reasonably sized, reasonably priced, and absolutely delicious. I went for the classic cheese pizza, thinking it would help to avoid classic gluten pitfalls like sauces and some cured meats. The staff assured me that the peri peri chicken was also gluten free, and this is another great option that’s a little more flavourful with some heat.

Zeus Street Greek prides itself on serving authentic cuisine, with wraps, chips with feta and oregano, and a selection of desserts. Sadly, the chips are cooked in the same fryer as gluten-containing foods, so it’s probably best to steer clear of those. I tried the lamb souvla “The Zeus” wrap on gluten free pita (which will set you back an extra $3.50) figuring this one didn’t have chips - it’s a delicious mix of spit roasted lamb and “Aegean slaw” with red cabbage, carrot and a tangy dressing. The service was speedy, and you just need to specify for gluten free pita.

Admittedly, The Hood’s selection of gluten free options is quite slim, and it’s more well known for its ice creams and milkshakes. However, the green bowl is a brilliant lunch option if you’re after something to go with one of their drinks (the coffee’s not bad at all here). The dish itself is mainly a grain mix of quinoa and sesame seed clusters, with buttery broccolini and asparagus. It’s vegetarian and definitely not for everyone, but a filling protein-packed bowl with all the plant-based gluten free goodness you’d expect.

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pressure cooking A CHEF COMMITS SUICIDE JUST AFTER HIS RESTAURANT IS ANNOUNCED AS THE BEST IN THE WORLD. BEHIND THE SCENES, OTHER TOP CHEFS ARE SUFFERING TOO. WORDS BY REBECCA SULLIVAN

TWO of Australia’s top chefs say the constant pressure on restaurants to perform and maintain positive reviews “can have serious consequences”, after renowned threeMichelin star chef Benoit Violier committed suicide on Sunday. Violier, who died aged 44, ran the prestigious Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville in Switzerland in Crissier, near Lausanne.

The restaurant was recently named the best in the world

by La Liste, a French government-endorsed list of the 1000 best restaurants across the globe.

Violier was found dead in his home late Sunday afternoon, just days before the release of the 2016 Michelin Guide, the world’s most prestigious culinary guide once described as “the only one that counts” by legendary French chef Paul Boc. Police say they are “99 per cent certain” the cause of suicide was with a firearm.

Violier’s death is eerily similar to that of 52-year-old French chef Bernard Loiseau, the inspiration for main character in the Pixar film Ratatouille.

Loiseau committed suicide in 2003 after speculation his restaurant La Côte d’Or was going to lose one of its three Michelin stars.

Australian chef Neil Perry says restaurants and their staff are under “a lot of pressure” to maintain positive reviews.

His flagship restaurant Rockpool currently holds three Good Food Guide hats and his other venues — Rockpool Bar & Grill, Spice Temple and Rosetta — all have two hats.

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sense My Kitchen Rules judge Colin Fassnidge, who is currently head chef at 4 Fourteen in Surry Hills and formerly of The Four in Hand (which held two hats), says the media in Australia can “make or break you”.

“It really got to me when I was younger, especially when we were starting the Four in Hand. It really plays on your mind because that’s your livelihood at stake,” he said.

The restaurant industry has some of the biggest rates of “drinking, drugs and divorce,” according to Fassnidge, because of the anti-social working hours.

“We socialise around alcohol and all that after work to sort of come down after a shift, and that plays on a lot of people’s psyches. But he says the rise of social media reviews means traditional food critics “aren’t as important” as they once were.

“In Europe they have the Michelin [Guide], so it’s a bit more intense, but here you can get a bad review but still come out the other side successfully.”

Perry, whose restaurant Rockpool has lost and gained hats over the years, says the number of hats or stars a restaurant receives has a direct impact on the number of customers who come through the door.

“Definitely having three hats is a real bonus, especially in a gastro tourism city like Sydney.

“My really good friend Thomas Keller just had a bad review in The New York Times. [Keller’s restaurant Per Se was slammed last month, with one dish likened to “bong water”].

“You just get up and try harder tomorrow. You can’t do anything other than just take it on board and keep on pushing,” Perry said.

As Fassnidge puts it: “There’s more to life than putting dots on plates.”

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp

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“There’s a lot of pressure on us to perform and if you have any kind of mental issues or trouble dealing with pressure, it can mount and have very serious consequences,” he told news.com.au.

“But you have to get to a very dark place in your mind to want to kill yourself. Generally speaking, a bad restaurant review shouldn’t drive you over the edge.”

If his restaurants don’t perform well commercially, Perry says there are serious personal financial consequences.

“Your livelihood depends on it. Your children have to move schools, you have to sell your house and change your lifestyle,” he said. The increasing number of professional food bloggers and rise of peer-reviewed websites like Yelp, Trip Advisor and Zomato means there are more opportunities for a negative review to damage a venue’s reputation.

“It’s just made life more difficult,” Perry says. “Quite often you’ll read things that people say and you just say it’s too hard these days to please everyone.”

sense According to records, the first coffee tree was grown in Northern Africa and spread in southern Arabia, where a custom of roasting beans began around 1200AD. For centuries, the Arabs guarded their secrets of coffee making, and prevented the transportation of the plant to other countries. Legend has it; it was also given to monks to help them stay awake during devotions.

In the 15th century, coffee came to Mecca; the centre of the Islamic world. Here coffee houses were developed and Muslim pilgrims spread news of this wonderful tonic throughout the Islamic empire. In the early 17th century, Italy was the first European country to use coffee. The first of the famous Viennese coffee houses opened in 1683, using sacks of coffee beans that were left behind by the Ottoman Turks, after their unsuccessful invasion to Austria that year.

The espresso coffee culture in Australia grew from cafés owned by Greek and Italian migrants and from these small beginnings, in the post-war immigration boom of the 1950s and 60s, the nationwide obsession grew and became part of the cultural fabric of modern Australia.

I am one of those, you could call, coffee “purists”. I have never in my entire 20 years of living had an instant coffee. Not even a Nescafe blend 43 or Moccona, which are very popular with the older generations, and can be bought in majority of major stores. I have grown up in a family with an Austrian background that has always had pure coffee from a coffee machine. From a very young age, I would grind the beans and froth the milk for my mum and dad.

At about 16 I started to make these coffees for myself.

This was when I realised I had been missing out on so much my entire life.

After travelling around the world, particularly Europe, I believe Australia has the best coffee. Obviously, I haven’t been everywhere in the world, but so far nothing can compare to our quality. Even in places like Italy, it is just not as good. In Italy, an espresso shot or cappuccino are the most common. You either just have a straight shot or one with an extreme amount of airy bubbly frothed milk on top. Even if you ask for a flat white or latte it just comes out like a cappuccino.

Our coffees are predominantly espresso-based, rather than the default filter coffee, which is throughout much of the world. We also tend towards a lighter roast style than in many parts of the USA or Europe. It is because we Aussies are blessed with amazing coffee, that it is a let down when we have coffee on our travels around the world. Dion Cohen, director of Sydney café and roaster Single O, an innovator in the café world says, “Especially in the espresso arena, where we’ve paved the way with sweet intense espresso paired with finely textured milk.”

It’s not just that beautiful flavour and making of the coffee that we excel at, but it is also the coffee art.

Design and detail are what pushes Australian coffee away from other countries. It’s the combination of flavour, texture and aesthetics that we have nailed and it’s quality cannot be seen or replicated anywhere else.

Our coffee nation is one of the few that makes coffee for all different multicultural coffee drinkers. The beverage choice is endless and there are so many new and innovative creations amongst them. We provide milks ranging from full cream, light and skim, to soy, almond and lactose free. We also have the luxury of different syrups and sugars to add to compliment the coffee, if you are wanting something more sweet. In my opinion, coffee is one of the few things in today’s society that doesn’t have or need manipulating with sugar.

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COFFEE. A hot beverage made from the roasted and ground beans of a tropical shrub. It is a drink we Aussies consume on a daily basis and are so lucky to have it. Let’s talk about coffee.

sense More and more young people have now joined this coffee revolution and are seen enjoying a beverage in cafes all around Australia. The National Coffee Association (NCA) found that the daily coffee consumption among 18-24 year olds nearly doubled since 2000. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), most of the younger population are studying some form or level of education, and this number is continually increasing. This is one of the reasons to why the age group of 18-24 drink the most coffee, and research findings show that this number is only increasing.

It is not just the coffee that is good here. We have a culture of cafes that, while diverse, clearly shows an Australian style of café and coffee. Drip and instant coffee has seen a drastic decline over the past few years. This is because the Australian coffee culture that has dramatically grown. The younger population are the main contributors in this café coffee culture.

Coffee has become the beverage that brings people together. Just like alcohol does during the night, during the day the phrase “Let’s grab a coffee” is seen as positive, comforting and a way we socialise. We can spend hours sitting at a table with this beverage and just talking about anything with others, possibly ordering another couple. It is because of the bitterness of the coffee that it is not so overpowering with sweetness like many other drinks.

According to a report published by the NCA, there are many reasons why we drink coffee. The main reasons are obvious; needing to wake up, warm up or gain a much needed energy boost. This is a reason why coffee is mostly consumed in the morning/lunch as it is associated with waking up and needing that morning energy to begin the day. There are also many other reasons to have a coffee, such as needing to focus, relax, enjoy a break, or simply take some time alone or with others.

All these reasons seem to apply to me. I particularly love that moment you walk into the kitchen of a morning and can smell the freshly ground coffee beans. It is so calming and puts me into a positive mood. When you have that first sip, the crema is perfectly golden, and the milk is as silky as satin, I can feel it flowing through my body and I am glowing for the rest of the day. This is the reason why the morning is my absolute favourite time of day.

It gets better when I share this moment with family or friends. Even going to a café in the morning and being in that atmosphere is really something magic. When I am stressed I tend to make many coffees and it does tend to help relax me and put me in a better mood.

Also when I just need a break and that warm bitterness is all you need to get back into focus.

Recent research findings show that coffee is actually very healthy. The Authority Nutrition (who post daily articles based on scientific evidence, written and fact checked by experts) found that there are in fact 13 health benefits of consuming coffee. Drinking coffee: can improve energy levels, make you smarter, help burn fat, improve physical performance, lower your risk of type II diabetes, protect you from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, lower your risk of Parkinson’s, provide protective effects for your liver, lower the risk of some types of cancer and risk of stroke, fight depression and make you feel happier.

But, most importantly, it has the potential to help you live longer. Now these health findings are just an added bonus to my everyday coffee intake!

We, the young generation, are making the most of the amazing coffee our country has to offer. Go and throw out that instant coffee and embrace our coffee loving nation.

- Navia Gruber

life is too short for bad coffee.

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are australians eating healthier?

ACCORDING TO RECENT STUDIES, YES,YES WE ARE

Yes, you read that correctly, Australians are apparently eating healthier. According to consumer trends for 2017, the average Australian will be looking past their beloved high-cholestrol, meat-heavy diet towards more lively and vibrant meals. Venue and restaurant owners in Australia agree with these reports, stating that people are eating healthier and that less healthier cuisines are declining in popularity.

There are outlets such as Boost, Sumo Salad and Frozen Yoghurt, as well as an increased demand in pre-packaged dried fruits and assorted nuts. So maybe we just have more healthy options on the go that compete with our infamous fast food chains.

Alright, you may be thinking, that’s enough of hypotheses, I want some cold hard facts and I’m glad that you asked.

So, go us. But then there is the next question…why is this happening? Wasn’t it only a year or two ago that I saw the ‘put some pork on your fork’ advertisement? Doesn’t Australia pride itself on it’s highly farm-based, meatinduced diet? Perhaps this image is changing. Perhaps this highly media based world that we live in is changing us…I mean, we all take pictures of what we eat, perhaps we are attempting to impress others with our cleanliness?

Or even better, perhaps we’re being encouraged by our Insta-famous celebrity’s meals that often consist of beautifully crafted wholegrains spread across a platter of ornamental Kale.

According to statistics, it is Australia’s breakfast meals and snacks that are improving in nutrition with more Australians opting for options such as health bars instead of the more common sugary snacks and high-carb cereals. Brands such as Kellogg’s and Nestle have seen a market share of 40% drop down to 27% and other food giants such as Coca Cola have similarly seen a fall among Australian society with a decrease of 25% in their sales last year.

So that is the first possibility, but here is another hypothesis...perhaps we have finally woken up. With new statistics proving that coronary heart disease is the biggest killer in Australia for members over the age of 45. What a strange notion is that; gone are the days of worrying about sharks, motor vehicles, bushfires: Australia’s biggest killer is Coronary Heart Disease.

Australia could very well be becoming more healthconscious and finally taking control of their unhealthy habits.

Or there is also the possibility that Australians have more access to readily-made and efficient healthy options in recent decades.

Now for those sitting there rolling their eyes blatantly at this page and these statistics, you have a reason to be doing so. Whilst many recent figures and reports claim that Australia is attempting to improve their nutrition, many studies also disclaim this. It is a heated debate. The well known and trusted CSIRO launched a 2016 survey on Australia with over 86,500 Australian’s involved. The survey was conducted over a 12-month period and concluded that 99% of people involved indulged in too much junk food and ‘skimped’ on their vegetable intake.

So look at it as you will. I am a born optimist, I would love to think that Australia is putting down their carving knives and picking up their delicate silverware to eat some delicious fruit and vegetables with but as for now, the debate is still in the air.

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“do you want gluten-free, low-fat sweet potato fries with that?�

foodie of the month

Eat Doughheads, It’s For Charity!

sense In the age of instagrammed lattes and styled brunches it is easy to forget that a hot meal is a luxury for some.“Having a regular, healthy supply of food is something that can easily be taken for granted here in Australia, but we have to realise that’s not the case for everyone in our community” said Doughheads CEO Anna Farthing.

Soul Café aim to combat this, providing free meals to Newcastle’s vulnerable in their café located on the corner of Hunter and Watt Street. Doughheads’s donation will assist in funding Soul Café’s kitchen however “it’s more than a dollar … it raises awareness and causes a level of engagement which is really cool” said Soul Café CEO Rick Prosser.

Anna’s Doughheads empire began as a modest stall at Olive Tree Markets and now boasts over 30,200 Instagram and 55,829 Facebook followers. The creative director has revolutionised the humble doughnut into a flavour experience in her flagship store at The Junction. Anna credits the brands success to her “no shortcuts mentality, using the highest quality ingredients and always striving to create happiness.”

The support of her customers she calls the “Doughheads tribe” has inspired a charity initiative aimed at giving back to the Newcastle community.

“People don’t come just to get a doughnut, they want to be

”

involved with Doughheads

said Ms Farthing.

Anna’s social media reach will raise awareness for Soul Café’s cause and her initiative will be feeding not only her tribe but Newcastle’s most vulnerable.

Doughheads will be donating one dollar from every

Banoffee doughnut sold in September to Soul Café.

A donations box will also be available in-store for generous customers wanting to contribute but enticed by other delicious flavours.

On the 10th of September, Doughheads partnered with local physique athletes Jak Nelson and Tim Bradstreet for an instore fundraiser. The local lads were challenged to eat their weight in doughnuts and bravely stomached eight each. Novocastrians can sponsor one dollar for every doughnut the body builders ate on their my cause page.

Soul Café not only provide meals to Newcastle’s homeless, but also individuals experiencing mental illness, addiction, violence and financial hardship.

They also support and guide the disadvantaged towards a positive future through their network of community services.

“The meal brings them in, then there are all these other services they can connect with” said Soul Café finance manager Tonya Huen. This initiative helps the vulnerable re-establish themselves as a part of Newcastle’s community.

However, Soul Cafe strives to provide “more than a meal…it’s about community, friendship, a listening ear” said Mr Prosser. “People fall through cracks because everyone has a unique story and so our hope is that we can be under the cracks to catch people.”

Soul Café’s dedication to community was exemplified when a regular guest’s health began to deteriorate.

“I said take him to hospital there’s something not right, they did a head scan and he had a brain tumour.

Five days later they operated on it. Through that journey he’s been reunited with his daughter” said Mr Prosser Novocastrians can get behind Soul Café’s worthy cause through food and financial donations as well as volunteering in their Hunter Street kitchen. You can also support the initiative of Doughheads by purchasing a Banoffee doughnut for the month of September.

“Little things added together helps make the big thing happen” said Mr Prosser.

Indulging in decadent doughnuts; giving back to the community never tasted so good.

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WHEN IT COMES TO EATING DOUGHNUTS, ANY EXCUSE WILL DO, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S FOR A GOOD CAUSE. FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, DOUGHHEADS WILL BE FUNDRAISING FOR SOUL CAFE BY DONATING ONE DOLLAR FROM EVERY BANOFFEE DOUGHNUT SOLD, TO THE LOCAL CHARITY.

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are we avo mad?

IN THE INFAMOUS WORDS OF SIMON COWELL: “IT’S A NO FROM ME”

Ah, avocados. The fruit that was supposedly made famous by millennials, and branded a social media phenomenon, is apparently not as popular amongst the young generation as everyone thinks. According to a study by The Huffington Post and YouGov, people aged between 18-29 aren’t any more obsessed with avocados than people who are over the age of 30. We bloody knew it.

The study, which was conducted on 1000 Australian’s, found that 57% of people under the age of 30 said they dislike the good old avocado compared with 35% of people over 30, who confess to eating the green treat on almost a daily basis. This generation are actually more obsessed with avocados than millennials.

So while the over 30s have been quietly enjoying their delicious avocado lunches, us youngsters have been blamed for wasting our money on avocado toast, instead of housing deposits. But, thanks to the study, we can now confidently dispell any theories that our obsession with avocados is costing us our future.

According to YouGov, only 6% of adults under 30 have splurged on avocado toast in a restaurant. Why? Well, it must be because we’re much more financially savvy than people may think. In fact, 14% of us craft our own avocado toast breakfast at home to be more cost-effective.

So, we’re not saying that us millennials don’t love a good avocado (because we really, really do), we’re just not as obsessed with the healthy fruit as everyone thinks.

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The term avocado is derived from a Nahuatl Indian (Aztec) word “ahuácatl” meaning testicle.

2) Avocados contain four grams of protein, making them the fruit with the highest protein content!

3) Avocado trees do not self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by in order to grow.

Avocados are an Aztec symbol of love and fertility, and they also grow in pairs on trees.

4) Don’t just think of avocados as a savory addition to sandwiches and salads, Brazilians actually add avocados to ice cream.

5) You can tell that an avocado is ripe when they feel heavy and are dark in color. If you want to quicken the ripening process, simply put one in brown paper bag for 2-4 days. You can speed this process up even more by putting adding a banana to the bag.

6) Avocados mature on the tree, but only ripen once they are taken off the tree.

7) Hass is the most popular variety of avocado grown worldwide. The Hass tree was discovered in the backyard of a mailman named Rudolph Hass in Californina in the 1930’s and Hass patented his tree in 1935.

8) On average, 53.5 million pounds of guacamole are eaten every Super Bowl Sunday, enough to cover a football field more than 20 feet thick.

9) Speaking of guacamole, the origin of the word comes from Spanish explorers could not pronounce the Aztec word for avocado, “ahuacatl,” so they called the avocado “aguacate.”

10) Avocados have the highest fiber content of any fruit.

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1) First things first, avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable. They belong to the Genus Persea in the Lauraceae family.

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don’t

bite

the hand that

feeds you

• The “Foodies”: thinking they’ve watched enough seasons of Master Chef to make them qualified to comment on and question anything and everything. You want to know if the napkins are organic?

I don’t know, I don’t care. You want to know if the cow you’re eating was born via C-section or water birth? I don’t know, I don’t care. You want to know the name of the pet dog of the young daughter of the farmer who harvested your peas, and if it was a mongrel or a purebred? I don’t know, I don’t care. And they wonder why they’re on their third marriage.

• The High-and-Mighty: those charming types who deem you unworthy of their time, other than to give you a withering look because of course they’ll be having the boutique sparkling mineral water from the purest springs in Tasmania you ignorant serving wench, how dare you suggest they would tolerate local tap water like some kind of peasant. Well, congratulations on never having to work a day of your life in the service industry but some of us don’t have a slavery ring to fall back on for income.

• The Misogynists: considering women have been accepted as fully functioning members of society for some time, there’s a disturbing number of so-called gentlemen who still refuse to acknowledge the existence of women, even when one asks them a direct question.

These men will generally avoid eye contact and instead address their answer to the closest male employee, whether or not he was a party to the question in the first place. These men almost always fall into another group:

• The Crypt Keepers: those under the impression that being of an older generation entitles them to be incredibly impolite to pretty much anyone born in a later decade than themselves. The saying goes “respect your elders” - but if your behaviour is antisocial, offensive and downright rude I will personally call your next of kin and have them drag you back to the aged care facility from which you escaped and make sure they triple your dosage of whatever it is they have you on to make you easier to tolerate. Hopefully horse tranquillisers.

• The Minefields: nowadays, it’s to be expected that many customers will have some kind of dietary issue - be it legitimate or simply en vogue, just the one intolerance is no longer a big deal. In saying that, if you come in to an establishment with a list of intolerances longer than the menu, you probably shouldn’t be eating out.

Ever. God forbid if in your case “intolerance” is actually “allergy” - general advice here: stick with water. On second thought, maybe bring your own water, just to be safe. And also your portable hyperbaric chamber fitted with a gatling gun-style Epipen dispenser.

Last and most pestilential, • The Coffee-Manglers: to put it unambiguously - if your coffee order is more than three words, this is you. If you launch into a soliloquy of Shakespearean proportions over a four dollar beverage, I recommend you take a step back and examine where you went wrong to arrive at this point. Additionally - don’t even bother saying the words “extra hot”. Unless you have some kind of genetic mutation resulting in a heat-resistant oesophagus, you’ll still have to wait for your coffee to reach a drinkable temperature just like the rest of us.

Consider yourselves warned.

OPINION BY SOPHIE FREEMAN

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EMPLOYEES OF THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY HAVE BEEN SILENT TOO LONG - IT’S TIME FOR THE TABLES TO TURN AND FOR THE NIGHTMARE CUSTOMERS TO EXPERIENCE A ROASTING OF THEIR OWN.

sense

reference

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coffee Design and Article by Navia Gruber Source: Gunnars, K. (2017). 13 Health Benefits of Coffee, Based on Science. [online] Healthline. Available at: http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-13-

curse of the cardboard

evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee#section14 [Accessed 18 Sept. 2017].

Design, Article and Illustration by: Emily Bell

Nourse, P. (2017). Why Australian coffee is the best

pressure cooking Design by Sophie Freeman Article by : Sullivan, R 2016, Australian chefs Neil Perry and Colin Fassnidge talk about the pressure restaurants face, News.com. au, http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/ restaurants-bars/australian-chefs-neil-perryand-colin-fassnidge-talk-about-the-pressurerestaurants-face/news-story/7c038f5b32 3041d935510f8260ea124d, [Accessed 30 Sept. 2017].

in the world – and where to drink it. [online] Australia.com. Available at: http:// www.australia.com/en/things-to-do/food-and-wine/why-australian-coffee-is-thebest-in-the-world-and-where-to-drink-it.html [Accessed 18 Sept. 2017].

Inc., F. (2016). National Coffee Association Report Shows Consumers Drinking More Espresso-Based Beverages. [online] Blog.frankeamericas.com. Available at: http://blog.frankeamericas.com/blog/national-coffee-association-report-showsconsumers-drinking-more-espresso-based-beverages [Accessed 18 Sept. 2017].

are australians eating healthier?

Design and Article by Ellie Gustard Source: Brown, V. (2017). Food for thought: Aussies need to “halve the bad and double the good”. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: http://www.news.com. au/lifestyle/food/eat/australian-diet-worse-than-originally-thought-csiro-studysuggests/news-story/2b55affbb7bdaf14a82ec5d64761722c [Accessed 1 Oct. 2017].

The Sydney Morning Herald. (2017). Breakfast and snack habits: Australians are eating healthier. [online] Available at: http://www. smh.com.au/nsw/breakfast-and-snack-habits-australians-areeating-healthier-20150220-13kamr.html [Accessed 1 Oct. 2017].

foodie of the month Design by Amie Gargan and Article by: Drew, Z., 2017.

Eat Doughnuts, it’s for Charity. Doughheads. Available at: https://doughheads.com.au newsandevents/2017/9/20/ eat-doughnuts-its-for-charity [Accessed 27 Sept. 2017]

are we avo mad?

Design by: Ellie Gustard, Avo Illustration by: Emily Bell Article Source: The Debrief. (2017). Study Shows That Millennials May Not Be As Obsessed With Avocados As Everyone Thinks. [online] Available at: http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/thingsto-do/food-and-drink/study-millennials-avocadosobsession-20170667469 [Accessed 20 Sept. 2017].

GreenBlender. (2017). Fun Food Facts about Avocados. [online] Available at: https:// greenblender.com/smoothies/2098/avocadofacts [Accessed 19 Sept. 2017].

don’t bite the hand that feeds you Design and Article by: Sophie Freeman

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NK+C NEWCASTLE KITCHEN + CUTLERY

delicious, authentic greek food in the heart of the city lamb + pork souvlaki, beef kofta sausages served on soft pita bread with coleslaw and chips gluten free available the rooftop, westfield kotara