Love Food Hate Waste assignment
Investigation on Fairtrade food
What's this all about?
This project is accosiated with the year nine investigation on current environmental issues, and what we can do to make the world a better place. In food class, we are specifically looking at recipes that are better for our bodies and the earth; surrounding organic, free range, local and homegrown, and fairtrade produce. For this investigation, I have chosen to look into fairtrade food, which is an important issue is Australia. The Fairtrade market in Australia and New Zealand continues to grow. Despite 2009 being one of the most difficult economic years on record, retail sales of Fairtrade certified products in Australia and New Zealand increased by 58%, and in 2010 ,Fairtrade Certified sales skyrocketed by almost 200% to close to $150 million. In 2012, retail sales of Fairtrade certified products in Australia and New Zealand were estimated at $238 million. But still many, including some popular food brands, still use labour and slavery to produce products.
So what can we do?
Although Fairtrade ingredients can be more expensive, they are obviously a better option in terms of buying food that is produced slavery and unethical methods free! Products are far cheaper for businesses to produce if they aren't fairtrade, but going fairtrade shows that you care more about human rights than your excessive income. Trying to buy fair-trade is a step everyone can make in the right direction, and can mean hundreds of families across the globe eat a healthy amount and earn a living wage! Especially look out for fairtrade chocolate and coffee products, as cocoa and coffee beans are usually picked using slavery and unethical processors. If you're unsure if a product is fairtrade, look for the 'Fairtrade' symbol (centre above) on the packaging. This means that the product meets specific requirements and is legally classified 'Fair-trade'. For information you can visit;
Design task
Ideas:
1. Mocha cake
This cake is closely related to my topic, as cocoa and coffee beans are the two ingrediants that are most commonly farmed exploitedly. It is also very yummy, and cooked and cooled in 90mins!
2. Green Tea Cupcakes With Lemon Icing
Like the recipe above, tea, especially green, is often not fairtrade, and so this green tea cupcake recipe is perfect. It is easy to make, light and I can buy fairtrade tea bags to make it ethical!
3. Mississippi Mud Cake with Coffee Cream
This recipe is similar to the first one, though it is richer in chocolate, so a real choice can by made to make it fairtrade, which might change the flavour.
This recipe relates to fairtrade as bananas and blueberries are often produced using slavery, especially during the months when they are not in season in Australia, and they are imported from a developing country.
This cake is super healthy, nothing to do with my topic, but a bonus. It has quite a bit of Cocoa in it, and like I mentioned before, cocoa is an ingrediant that is often not fairtrade.
This recipe is nicely associated with the chocolate cake, and can even be added within the layers. Both the cocoa and the avacado can often not be fairtrade in the seasons they are not in season