Tuesday 2 November 2010

A common ground


Found this little snippet of info while surfing the net:

"A Common Ground is a collaboration between the guys from Gourmet Farmer: Matthew Evans, Nick Haddow and Ross O’Meara with the artisan growers, farmers, fishermen, winemakers, brewers and producers of Tasmania.

We want to re-connect people who love eating great food with the great people who produce it. We feel that both the producers and the diners are equal sides of the equation and we aim to honour both.

A Common Ground is kind of a restaurant, but one that roves our regions, hunting and gathering, meeting the growers and makers, learning from them about their produce and passing this on to the diners.

The calendar for A Common Ground will feature a series of long table lunches. We set up our table right in the places where the food comes from – a field of potatoes, an olive grove, a jetty, a greenhouse, a paddock.

We will cook you a slow meal that will showcase the regions produce in way that is often talked about but rarely done. You might be sitting in a field surrounded by the same carrots you are eating. At your table might be the local farmer that raised the lamb or caught the fish on your plate.

All ingredients will come from the region’s. This is real food.

To be informed about future events, please send an email to eat@acommonground.com.au"

I believe their first event is on in Stanley on 27th October 2010.

link to the website is here.
Posted on by Rita
25 comments

25 comments:

Mount Gnomon Farm said...

Fantastic idea! What better way to get consumers connecting with their food?

If they end up dining in a pig paddock, just watch for pigs gnawing at your shoes...and cows slobbering on your shoulder could be an issue too!

Anonymous said...

Yet again another idea copied from elswhere check out Outstandinginthefield.com from the USA. Can't this guy do anything original?

giggles said...

Its an idea that been around for a while now, most notably in America with this outfit called 'Outstanding in the field'
http://outstandinginthefield.com/
In this latest Tasmanian incarnation (it has been floated before by some earlier visionaries)
I wonder if it might be just another spoke in the wheel of the Gourmet Farmer vanity project?
On the website it says that the first event will be filmed.
Surely this will atract every TV wannabe out there and as such will no doubt make the event a sell-out in more ways than one.
This brings me to the crux: is this just another Gourmet Farmer/BI Cheese Co vehicle- construct with that terminally masochistic Ross doing all the work, or will it continue beyond series two? Lets see.

seen it all before said...

Hi Rita. I had to laugh reading this and agree with the earlier comment about the copying of an idea.

Some people make a sustainable farm with cooking school.

He makes a make believe farm and makes a tv show

A noted Aussie chef writes a classic cookery book.

He appropriates a word in the title of her book that she has made her own.

Someone rears rare breed pigs and gets some traction making valued added products

He learns from that person and all the while is setting up his own version of a similar business

Someone floats the idea of a travelling farm based food event.

He pops up with exactly the same idea, later on.

Many people contribute their acquired foodie knowledge generously over the years

He exploits that knowledge without official acknowledgment in the state in which he lives nor the people that he has drained along the way

Anonymous said...

I don't know who you are seen it all before but thankyou I think I am one if not two of the people you are talking about, I thought it was just me and I was going crazy thinking maybe I was just being a prat for being so vocal about him but reading this and other comments maybe I'm not so crazy after all.

just asking said...

Sorry, Off topic Rita but am I to understand that Paul Foreman is cooking at Cooleys hotel, a venue noted for steaks and fish and chips?
Did he not complain to every sympathetic ear that he was 'forced' to do the same at Peppermint Bay?
Whats the difference now?
More money perhaps?
Marque IV via Peppermint Bay via Cooleys Hotel?
Geez, thats a bit of a reality check/fall from grace isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Hey anon-you're not crazy!
You are also not the only person affected by him.
I offerered my expertise willingly and made myself available only to have that bloke totally ignore me later on and pretend that nhe has never met met me! WTF!
Dont worry though, everyone here knows the show and him is just total bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Wow the vitriol. Sounds like tall poppy syndrome at play here Rita.

Bri said...

Does it matter if it is original or not? It doesn't claim to be. I think it's a wonderful idea.

Chances are someone did it before Outstandinginthefield, too...

Anonymous said...

Its not tall poppy syndrome at play from my end just a bitter taste left in my mouth by sharing my passion for what I do the information and solutions to problems that I shared that took many years to gain and over come and the lack integrity show in the end. I wish him all the success in venture but dont take the piss out of people and not expect them to voice an opinion and by the way he know how I feel as I have made my feeling clear directly to him.

Anonymous said...

who'll do the cooking-ross is the only chef-but then he does most of the work already-

Anonymous said...

based on my observations at the markets I tend to agree with the comment Ross appears to do most of the work with the least amount of "kudos".

Anonymous said...

Rita do your research on these people and you won't like what you find. Australians know what's genuine and ME & NH are big time power hungry 'players' looking for short cuts to prestige.

(ROSS GET OUT OF THERE!)

Anonymous said...

Is anyone else in shock at the act of animal cruelty on last nights eposide of Gourmet farmer...My god that poor cow died of Mastitis. .
What happened to the calf?
Was there a vet? Because I cannot inmage that a vet from the huon valley could not treat mastitis which is easily fixed. OMG OMG OMG!!!

Anonymous said...

Animal cruelty is rife on this show. This person is fast on his way to factory farming. He pretended to cry over the pigs he killed in the first season. But then rushed straight out and got a whole lot more to kill. Talk about major disconnect. Clearly - the more animals he can kill the better he likes it. And from the current adds for the show he is now moving on to killing a whole lot of other animal species. You would think with all the produce available he could have gone for a non-animal sustainable living experience/gourmet experience. Did any of these animals want to die? No, of course not. So taking their lives is a wanton act of animal cruelty. Someone should introduce him to vegan food. Clearly as a chef/food critic/whatever, he's never heard of vegan food. I don't watch the show anymore even though I am setting up my own sustainable plot. He's got nothing he can offer but cruelty to animals. Wish they'd make a series on Brightside farm sanctuary instead. Much more educational.

Anonymous said...

I’ve been watching the new season of Gourmet Farmer Rita and I think the wide-eyed irreverent tone which endeared me to the show has now been replaced by one of a self-satisfied smugness.
It’s now more about Gourmet and less about farmer in my opinion.
These lunches seem to be primarily about extracting as much money from the public as possible. In fact in last Thursday’s episode, at least three references were made regarding the need to ‘justify’ the high price of the food and we were about to see why they had their own doubts.
I’m surprised that we the viewers were allowed to see the disorganisation, ill-preparedness and at time negligence of the trio as they bumble along trying to work out what they’ll serve for guests who were intending to fork out $170! Let me tell you that as a hospitality professional I was shocked at how disorganized they were and the disregard they showed for their guests, ultimately it demonstrated to me that the only thing they were interested in was the money. Rest assured viewers genuine hospitality professionals don’t gamble with solid organization or have a laid back attitude to your money like these people clumsily portrayed with their shambolic event.
It demonstrates clearly why the trio are no longer working full-time in this field as it requires the kind of sustained stamina that they obviously can’t muster. The easy way out is to do a few events here and there and still get some credit without having to really put anything on the line like real professionals do everyday. Real chefs, whom the host has had a malevolent relationship with over the years, perhaps as he never made his name as a chef and spent much of his time deriding them in print as a reviewer, do these sort of events daily.
My partner and I were moved by the disconnect between these foodie ‘elite’s and the everyday person when the local person asked how can they justify these prices when all this food is available to us locals all the time? This hits the nail on the head. I am becoming uncomfortably aware the more I watch this show about how removed from the realities of farming it is and is more concerned with validating the foodie credentials of its host. For a show supposedly about farming, this series seems to ignore this aspect and instead concentrates more on hunting wild animals, killing them brutally and then finding out a way to make money from them. In fact if you listen, the money reference or lack of it is a reoccurring theme as is the one of constant death. Again I must ask: when these lunches are being organized, the trips down the river, the fishing and the dinners with friends, who is looking after the farm?
In a future episode he jets of overseas to ‘discover’ the food culture behind slow food.
I thought the show was about humbly living and learning off the land but instead it’s become a self-satisfied tour de force of preachy foodie wankerism and I’m switching off.

Anonymous said...

someone does something that people like and promotes tassie in a time when the state is struggling to find it's economic way and all we can do is knock em down.
...nice

Anonymous said...

Hey I'm not in Tassie & I agree that the show is wanky.

Anonymous said...

I think some of the criticisms are valid on a content level. Though it might be a good marketing tool for Tassie I dont think ths was its objective so to say its good for Tasmania is not the point, rather is it a good show for the audience

Anonymous said...

if people weren't watching it? it wouldn't be on.

Anonymous said...

Thats funny! So your logic explains the SBS news & ABC programming in general then!

Anonymous said...

how can gourmet farmer justify $18.50 kg for sausages which is made for him by the butcher in cygnet who sells exactly the same snag for considerably less thats not what I call being honest

Anonymous said...

I was shocked today to see the Common Ground/Bruny Island Cheese van in the line at Kingston Maccas today(wednesday) at about 1.15pm whilst waiting for my wife at the Pet store carpark? I couldn't tell who was driving though.

Anonymous said...

THAT IS SUCH A BAD LOOK! OMG! HOW EMBARRASSMENT!

mcdonalds said...

this is just hilarious. really?