National Academies Forum Symposium on Food and Drink in Australia: Where Are We Today?
5 - 6 July 2001
 Report by Joanna Jenkins
The symposium’s first session concentrated on food production. Max Bourke, chairman of Rural Funds Management Ltd., presented a paper on sustainability and intensive agriculture. Bourke believes that it is possible to have sustainable irrigation farming and that it is necessary, in fact, with continued population growth. He does not believe that organic farming can feed the world. Bourke outlined a series of "quality components for agriculture," which include protection of agricultural soils and biospheres and conservative resource practices, with an emphasis on high quality agricultural products, attractive landscapes and ethical behaviour in regards to people, livestock and the environment. Unfortunately, the second speaker for this session, Tim Marshall, was absent. Marshall was scheduled to speak about organic farming and would have been able address some of the concerns about organic farming raised by Bourke.
The second session concentrated on the issue of genetically modified foods. Dr Judy Carman, of Flinders University’s Research Centre for Injury Studies, spoke about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and human health. Carman, quite alarmingly, demonstrated the lack of independent scientific testing on the effects of GMOs and claimed that animal testing has been less than rigorous and not designed with humans in mind. Carman believes the benefit of GMO consumption is dubious and that GM foods should be treated as harmful unless proven otherwise.
The second speaker for this session was Dr Mark Lonsdale, Program Leader of the Weed Management Program at CSIRO Entomology in Canberra. The CSIRO program aims to analyse the ecological risk posed by GMOs. Lonsdale outlined some of the potential environmental risks that include the spread of changed genes to wild plants, increased resistance to insecticides and changes to agricultural management practices that may cause degradation or loss of biodiversity. Just as Carman is sceptical about the benefits of GMOs for humans, Lonsdale is sceptical about whether GMOs provide any environmental or ecological benefits.
A debate on fast and slow food followed lunch. First, Professor Richard Johnstone, from the University of Technology Sydney, spoke about "the velocity of food". Johnstone claims that fast food is fast in every way – it involves no time, no thinking, no knowledge and no recipes. No attempts are made to recreate fast food meals at home, and it produces and evokes no memories. Traditional, "slow" food, on the other hand, is tied to memory and reflects a desire for continuity and for history. Fast food reflects a desire to move constantly forward into the future, gratifies our hunger and then is instantly forgotten.
Michael Symons, gastronomer and independent scholar, painted a picture of fast food that casts it in a more evil light. Symons believes that fast food represents a despicable institution at odds with the nurturing of the home of which meals should be a part. Fast food outlets, like McDonalds, are the modern day equivalent of institutions such as that presented by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist. Children are mistreated by these institutions as employees with few rights and as consumers who are shamefully targeted by advertising. Fast food companies are guided by market forces and cost cutting and would be equally incredulous if we, like Oliver Twist, asked for "more".
The last session of the day pitted the seemingly opposing notions of regionalism and globalisation against one another. Both speakers, however, left us with the distinct impression that these movements do not necessarily always work in opposition. Barbara Santich, food historian and lecturer in gastronomy at Adelaide University, spoke on the topic of regionalism which, she claimed, is developing against the backdrop of globalisation. Regionalism highlights that a food is "of" one particular geographical place. Regional foods, then, are produced in a geographical region and have characteristics that can be associated with particular customs of production practised in that region. Regionalism means that the region is more important than the individual and that community is more important than competition. Regionalism encourages difference whereas globalism encourages sameness. Thus, they can coexist because they cater for different markets.
Professor Kym Anderson, Executive Director of the Centre for International Economic Studies at Adelaide University, followed with a paper on globalisation and its effect on the Australian wine industry. Anderson reminded us that, historically, the growth of both the world and Australian wine industries is due to globalisation. The reduction of tariffs after Federation and the post-World War II immigration of European wine lovers have been integral to the growth of our wine industry. Although the Australian wine industry is currently booming, economic indicators suggest that in the next five years the prices for premium Australian grapes and wines will decrease. Anderson is confident, however, that as grape growers and wineries are diversifying into areas such as tourism and e-commerce the future for the Australian wine industry is still bright.
Though it was too early to start drinking alcoholic beverages, the discussion on Friday morning turned to beer and wine. Dr Brett Stubbs, Research Fellow in the School of Resource Science and Management at Southern Cross University, claimed that beer’s status as Australia’s national drink is in decline. Statistics show that beer consumption is falling, there are fewer breweries in Australia owned by fewer companies and these companies are diversifying into wine production. Although the decline in Australians’ interest in beer cannot be denied, Stubbs is not entirely pessimistic about the future of beer in Australia. He forecasts an increased interest in imported beers and home brewing. Also on the rise are small-scale brewers (regional breweries, pub breweries and microbreweries) that provide beers of high quality with more variety and a greater range of flavours. Stubbs thinks that the future of beer in Australia is likely to be characterised by an emphasis on quality rather than quantity.
The second speaker, Dr Graham Jones, senior lecturer in Oenology at Adelaide University, fascinated us with a description of chemical and electronic "noses" used to profile wine aromas. These "noses" are designed similarly to the human nose and can provide measures of particular attributes, such as the amount of oak or any impurities, in the aroma of a wine. They can discriminate between different grape varieties, treatments and years of production and can generate some chemical information about the factors that contribute to varying attributes.
The last session focused on the benefits and popularity of Asian diets and the Mediterranean diet. Dr David Cox, of the Consumer Science Program at CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition, presented a paper about the influence of Asian cuisines on the food choices of Australians. As Asian cuisines and diets vary enormously, Cox concentrated on the Chinese diet and examining particularly the dietary benefits of rice and soy as key components of that diet. Cox found that the Chinese diet (and these ingredients particularly) scored well in terms of Western ideas of healthy eating. He believes, however, that the increase in the popularity of Chinese foods such as rice, stir fried meals and soy milk has little to do with Asian influences or health concerns, but rather that these foods fit in with our increasingly "time-poor" lifestyle. Cox claims too that the desire for variety is another big influence on the increased popularity of Chinese foods in our diet.
Dr Patricia Crotty, independent scholar and former dietician and nutrition program manager, gave a fascinating history of the influential "Seven Countries Study" that highlighted the supposed benefits of the Mediterranean diet. The original intention was that the study would explore the relationship between the diet of middle-aged men and the risk of heart disease. Well known to us all are the results that concluded that the Cretan man had the healthiest diet in terms of coronary health, which led to the world wide scramble to have olive oil in our cupboards. Crotty believes, however, that the most interesting aspects of the study have yet to be investigated since the differences between the culture and lifestyles of those involved in the study need to be examined to obtain a more rounded view.
Joanna Jenkins is studying journalism at the University of South Australia.
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