Quick spelt & pear muffins / Making Easter great again

Our hot cross bun tradition began with pagan Saxons honouring the goddess Eostre.  The cross represented the rebirth of the world after winter, the four quarters of the moon, the four seasons and possibly how many pieces a bun could be feasibly cut, toasted, buttered and shared for afternoon tea. As paganism gave way to […]

Apple, fennel & radish salad-slaw / Hot cross bun regret

Rebirth, renewal & hot cross bun regret Easter with its themes of renewal and rebirth may seem as incongruous with our southern hemisphere autumn as the Sexyland Superstore that’s located near the Essendon off-ramp on the Tullamarine Freeway. But when it comes to produce this time of year there is a kind a renewal, a changing of the guard; gone are the bold stone fruits of […]

Yummy choc coconut balls / A different kind of hero

Lately I’ve been writing about how Easter evolved from its pagan predecessor Eostre. In my wife’s childhood home Good Friday meant strict observance of Jesus’ sacrifice with quiet reflection, house cleaning, no meat eating, no phone calls to friends and definitely no playing.  But for our kids today Jesus’ story is no longer their story – to […]

Madelaine's Eggs, Joe Sgro's Fennel, Hot Cross Buns & You

When Madelaine from Madelaine’s Organic Eggs wheeled her weekly delivery into the Fair Food warehouse on Thursday she was also carrying a big pile of postcards about her Pozible crowd-funding campaign. At first glance (that’s her collecting eggs above) Madelaine looks like she’s barely old enough to drive let alone run an organic poultry farm, […]