(welcome)

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday November 15, 2008

There's something interesting happening. In backyards from Seattle to Sydney, people are getting their hands dirty and rediscovering the joy of growing their own food. Edible community gardens are popping up everywhere, from tower blocks in London to skid-row areas in Los Angeles and affluent North Shore neighbourhoods. Top chefs are experimenting with vegetables from their own backyards. Architects are sketching out vertical gardens for Beijing apartment blocks and the rooftops of San Francisco buildings.

New buzzwords are being tossed around like home-grown salad leaves - "locavore", "foodprint", "victory gardens". And we increasingly want to know where our food has come from, how it has been produced, and what its environmental "foodprint" is.

And, in the midst of the financial crisis, the "real food" trend has dovetailed with a return to comfort food, the basics - and a need to make our dollar stretch further.

The real(food)handbook is about producing our own food, caring about where the food we buy comes from, turning to tried-and-true techniques in the kitchen, and eating our meals mindfully in the company of people we love. the(sydney)magazine team has had some fun producing the handbook: for a story on keeping chickens, we cajoled three of the city's top chefs to adopt some chooks for a month. Read about it in The Chook Diaries on page 12. Jane Strode has created a fabulous old-fashioned afternoon tea on page 28; and Quay chef Peter Gilmore shows off his vegetable garden on page 42. If you're inspired now to twiddle your own green thumbs, turn to page 61 for tips about growing citrus trees and, if you're one of the city's many apartment-dwellers, read our story on how to create an edible garden on your patio or balcony on page 64. And, finally, turn to page 68 for a guide to the Good Food Affare at Castle Hill Showground.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the real(food)handbook -

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@smh.com.au.