My first Street Food Australia lunch

Today marked the first day a Street Food Australia bike hit the streets of Brisbane and I jumped at the opportunity to support the organisation by scoffing down a plate of fresh, delicious dumplings.

 The menu.

Broadcasting on Twitter that they would be serving steamed dumplings from their bike on William Street opposite the Casino, I trudged over the bridge into the CBD to grab some before they all disappeared.  Two guys – Billerwell and Lucus - were manning the bicycle under the shade of a tent. I treated myself to 8 dumplings for $10 (or you could get 4 for $6); four pork, chives and ginger and four chicken, pongu mushroom and 5 spice. Splashed with some soy and a little black pepper chilli sauce, they were fresh hot and tasty. A perfect lunch.

 Lucus serving out my lunch (above) and Billerwell enjoying his own (below).

SFA will be in the same spot, on William Street opposite the casino by the Victoria Bridge, at lunchtime on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday this week and presumably for weeks to come. In time, they will be joined by more bikes selling international cuisine that is cheap and tasty and even better, supporting an excellent cause. If you work in the CBD I strongly advise you head along and give them a try. 

 I could eat this every day.

Five for Friday no. 57

Read about the Think, Eat, Save Campaign. 

 

Andrew Davies, the man who adapted the beloved 1996 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice is adapting War and Peace. Any other classic adaptation nerds out there excited by this one?

New bar opening on Caxton Street. For those of us who like to be a little bit classy pre-game. 

Vintage couples in love. Not sure I will ever get a couple-photo charming enough to be found in a list like this. 

And some website hilarity for my friend Sarah - You had one job to do.

Street Food Australia Launch

Late last year I pledged money to support Street Food Australia’s Pozible Campaign. It’s a terrific project genuinely worthy of support and I along with hundreds of fellow supporters was very excited when the project successfully raised the $20,000 they were aiming for and production on the first of their street vending bicycles could begin.

In short, the project aims to give disadvantaged migrants to Australia, including refugees, an opportunity to start their own business preparing and serving street food. Training in basic business is provided and Street Food Australia (SFA) support the vendors for 2 years to get their business off the ground and running successfully, providing people with a self-sufficient hand-up and a real opportunity to start a new life. According to their website, ‘We (SFA) are working with a quadruple bottom line which targets economic, social, ecological and cultural sustainability.’ If that ain’t worth your cash I don’t know what is.

An official SFA dumpling cart.

Last night was the launch of the Street Food Australia Project in Brisbane held at the IMA in the Judith Wright Centre. When I arrived at 6:40, the IMA terrace was heaving with people. Even the streets outside and Glass Bar were thronged. 

The crowd outside the IMA.

Scrumptious Reads. Totally worth a visit.

The Scrumptious Reads supported book bike. The best shot I could get in the crowd.

There were four food stalls and one bar. Food on offer was Indian paratha, Banh mi, tequila smoked ribs with corn cobs and dumplings. Everything looked and smelled delicious! I couldn't wait to try everything. Yes, I could have fitted in one of everything, I was that keen.

Street Food Australia: a Pozible Campaign

Why do we have no street food culture in Australia? It is one of my gripes about this country (which I love, don’t get me wrong) that we have no street food when most other countries in the world have. Street food and the culture that surrounds it is democratising and enlivening. Anyone and everyone can stop to grab a quick, cheap bite of something simple and delicious at their local hole in the wall or street stand. It exposes you to different people and cultures you may not otherwise come in daily contact with. Carts, like cafes, enliven footpaths and public spaces. Which brings me to a Pozible Campaign I can really get behind. 

Street Food Australia is a start-up social enterprise dedicated to helping migrants start their own business in the food industry. This will not only bring some vitalising and enjoyable street food to citizens such as ourselves, it will give people in need of a fresh start a hand up and the possibility of an independent income.

There can be no arguing that Australian cuisine is truly international. Lacking our own solid national culinary identity, we love to indulge in the cuisine of other cultures. We have Indian takeaway on Tuesdays, tapas on Fridays and treat ourselves to the most deluxe of Japanese and French cuisine when we treat ourselves to a special meal out. If you go to ‘modern Australian’ restaurant, you are more than likely to see those French, Japanese and Spanish influences splashed across your main dish. I for one would be delighted to walk down a Brisbane street as spot a dumpling cart or one serving Afghan, Burmese or Sudanese cuisine.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity to provide meaningful assistance to people who deserve a chance to start a new life in Australia. As a side benefit, we get to further expand the culinary diversity of our tables and palates.  If you're interested to read more about or are already keen to support - check out the campaign on Pozible. Depending on how much you give, you get goodies to say thank you!

Think of the children!

I live practically next door to a high school. There's a second high school just down the road, and a third up the hill the other way. Outside the first high school, on a main road, there's a bus shelter. One of the now-infamous Rip n Roll ads is on that bus shelter.

Or it was - when I drove past a few days ago, I noticed that the ad had been sprayed over. I could still see the edges, visible around the sides of some white or silver spray paint. And the graffitier hadn't put offensive words or tags or anything, they'd just blocked out the image of the ad.

It was pretty obvious what'd happened - someone had decided to take matters into their own hands, and ensure "the children" never had to see the horrifying sight of QAHC's ad, which features two fully-clothed gay men embracing. Or two adults holding a condom - whatever aspect of it was supposed to be more offensive, I forget. (Probably the gay part.)

Then, I drove past the sign again a day or two later, only to see that someone had taped up an A4-size version of the original ad over the whited-out version.

This whole deal, with Adshel, the Australian Christian Lobby, and the Rip n Roll ads, has had me more interested in local social issues than anything else in ages!

The first thing I appreciated about it was the sheer volume of people who've been so keen to speak up against homophobia and censorship. The Facebook group had 40,000 people last time I checked - and when I checked this morning, it had over 96,000!! - and while I can't tell how many of them are local (not without stalking all of their profiles, anyway) I think it does undermine Brisbane's reputation as a redneck, homophobic town. (Suck on that, haters!)

Goa Billboards has also reacted to the campaign (probably capitalising on the publicity, but still) by starting a new campaign called Embrace Acceptance. While I'm not totally sure what this campaign is for (maybe it's like a NOH8 thing?), it's an interesting result. I quite liked their press release, too.

To be cynical, I think a key element of this campaign was probably that it was easy. All someone had to do to show their support was accept a Facebook event - they didn't have to march, they didn't have to protest - and maybe send an email. Essentially it was armchair activism, and I think that appeals to a lot of people who feel strongly about stuff but don't have the time or the inclination to stand in the sun and yell at The Man.

And I think this benefit of the information age should be embraced. When a vocal hate group claims to have "grassroots support", it's just getting easier and easier for the actual grassroots to disagree with them.

It's also easier for someone to publish the so-called letters of protest on the internet so everyone can point and laugh at how badly written they are. Or how obvious it is that someone's hit copy + paste a bunch of times. (They seem to have been taken down again, or I'd link to them here.) Homophobes are going to have to up their game, if they don't want everyone poking holes in their stories.

So yeah, the actual grassroots has spoken. And the consensus seems to be "We're not gonna censor ourselves just so you don't have to have awkward conversations with your children. Also, use protection."