Monday, May 11, 2009

Plum sauce

Can't have tomatoes? Then Barker's Plum sauce is just the thing - gluten free, it can be used for dipping and more or less in place of tomato sauce. We even tried gluten free pizza at the weekend with the savoury plum sauce as a base. Good on Barkers!

Just about all of their products are gluten free - and they are very good at limiting the additives and junk.

Why no interest here in new zealand regarding additives?

When there moves in Europe to ban some of the food additives, I thought more would happen here. Now my eldest has started school it is really intersting to see what sort of food goes into the lunches. I hear lots of parents complaining about what their kids will eat - namely that their diet is somewhat limited. I rarely hear of other parents of the 5's and unders saying how they love their fruit and veges and are keen on hummus and the like.

Here it is still very easy to buy additive laden foods that masquerade as healthy foods for kids. I really did think that manufacturers would take a bit of notice what was happening in the UK. To be honest, some did and changed sugar levels, swapped to natural colourings etc - but there was no big public outcry.

Parents who borrow my copy of 'they are what you feed them' which is so well researched and readable - and now very dog-eared - are amazed at what is in the food that they feed their kids - but find it very daunting when everything in the pantry seems to have 'forbidden nasties'.

I actually look back at the days when we only had to contend with a few e-numbers as bliss. Now my husband and younger daughter have gluten intolerance, etc etc.

Food that is fresh tastes better. As for the kids - they love going to the orchard and picking which apples to have, tastings at the cheese shop and helping with the baking. It's just the simple things which are so much pleasure.