Taste for Travel

Taste for Travel: A sensational title which encapsulates the two things you love to do.  How long have you been blogging and what drew you to it initially

Food and travel are inseparable.  Taste for Travel was launched just over two years ago.  I've always been interested in journeys, as I've done a few of my own, but I'm even more fascinated by other people's journeys: what they discover and how travel changes them.

I love writing about my own backyard as much as I about other people's.  My first book "Asylum: Voices Behind the Razor Wire" told the stories of asylum seekers fleeing from persecution and torture and their journeys through Australian detention centres.

Blogging about travel and journeys on a less traumatic level than that was also a welcome antidote to my austere diet of editing disaster news in my day job.

How or what lead you to discover the delights of Orange Grove Markets

I was excited to discover Orange Grove Markets: my daughter used to work close by and she encouraged me to visit.

Orange Grove is a gorgeous yummy example of community connectedness, and a showcase for innovation and sustainable products.

When I lived in Greece, I would go to the weekly produce markets down the road to get my fresh fruit and veg, and have a gossip with the locals.  Markets are a meeting place and a vibrant experience for the whole family.

Children should be encouraged to taste and explore food sources and meet the people who make them.  Too many of their (children) food selections are pre-cooked or packaged in hype.  Markets are a tradition and a key to survival in many cultures, almost unchanged over the centuries, and have an even greater role to play today.

Some travellers go to museums, I go to markets.  As I said in the post on the market in Aix-en-Provence: "Supermarket food shopping is a disconnected task.  There's nothing communal about it except you're in a store with other people also pushing trolleys.  You have no interaction with the producers of the food you choose to buy".

We live in a concrete jungle, but visiting an open-air produce market reconnects us to the earth.  I find it holistic.

Your blog is a great mixture of not too many words so as to distract and just enough photos to entice.  Is it difficult to maintain this balance or is it as adage says "a picture is worth a thousand words", thus letting the photos do the "talking" as it were

Thanks for your observation.  The internet is awash with information and flooded with blogs and pictures. It's tough to get people's attention and hold it long enough to draw them back.

Attention spans can be very short now, and I try to keep the blogs succinct.  My rigorous journalist training is a handy tool.  Every word and every picture counts.

People want to discover places for themselves and shape their own experiences, not be told every detail in advance.  I hope I just provide enough information to entice.

What struck you most on your visit that prompted the blog initially

The almost carnival atmosphere at Orange Grove: the colour, tempting aromas, variety, value for money and chatting to the stallholders.  Each has a story to tell.  I only just scratched the surface

How would you sum your personal experience at Orange Grove Markets in 5 words

Community, innovation, delicious, fun, more-ish

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Wanna see what she wrote about?  Too easy! Simply click "here"

Massive thank you to Taste for Travel sharing some time, insight and most of all for sharing her love of our markets via her blog!  Honestly if you haven't already, you really should take the time to read what she writes....definitely makes you want to get out there and try EVERYTHING!

Dear Asparagus

We LOVE the title of your Blog. What were the reasonings behind it

I don't remember exactly how I came up with "Dear Asparagus".  I think I just wanted something quirky and food related, and that seemed to fit.

How long ago did you join The Land of Blog and drew you to it initially

I had been reading blogs for a while and loved seeing what everyone was cooking & eating and where they were eating out, so decided to start my own as a procrastination from the HSC (which was a few years ago now).

On of my friend started getting bored when I continually told her what I was eating for breakfast etc ("and I soaked the oats overnight"...) so I decided to have my own outlet to write all of these things that perhaps others might want to read.

I don't particularly mind if nobody reads it though.  For me it's there as a diary and I can refer to it, or look up a recipe I've written.

At the same time, it is nice to have followers and comments and it's like, "hey! Somebody likes to read what I write!"

Do you find yourself easily distracted during your day job (and study), wanting to simply drown yourself in food and all its glory

Haha!  Food is very distracting, especially when you work at a food market!  I suppose lots of my study breaks are for eating purposes and I always find myself the night before an exam preparing more elaborate meals.

Surely it counts as food chemistry study!?!

During every interview we have had for our own blog, we have noticed that the number one all time fave vegetable is kale.  What (in your opinion) is it that keeps it consistently at number one on the organic hit parade

Yes, kale is everywhere!  You walk through the markets and everyone is carrying bunches of it.  I love kale for its versatility: whether it's the base for an omelette, added to a minestrone or baked as "chips".

Quick tip: roughly tear the leaves and "massage" them (yes! that's right "massage them") for a minute with sea salt, olive oil and lemon.  They soften and taste less bitter (see recipe here: Kale Chips).

If you could sum up Orange Grove Markets in 5 words what would they be

Molives, community, early starts, friendly, you-must-try-the-pork-or-beef-roll-from-the-butcher's-lunch

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Huge thanks to Dear Asparagus for not just writing INCREDIBLE blogs but there are some sensational recipes just a waitin for you to try!

Dear Asparagus "Eat Your Freaking Vegetables"