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show/hide this revision's text 2 Forgot about pork!

My Australian pride has been boosted so much since going primal - even as the daughter of a sheep and cattle farmer, I never before understood how lucky we are to have so many healthy, naturally-operating farms supplying our meat. We even have a booming permaculture & kitchen garden community, as well as the established organic and bio-dynamic farms already in successful operation. There are multiple farmers markets in every city - even in small towns now - and it's easy to buy direct from farmers.

Lamb is our major export, with more meat leaving our shores than consumed locally. But that's not to say Aussies don't eat a lot of lamb! Although we're a country of frequent drought, states such as Victoria and Tasmania still stay fairly green for most if not all of the year, and our sheep all range freely on grass and crops such as clover and alfalfa. Although the major supermarkets demand that supply farms treat their animals with antibiotics to cover legal issues, on the whole supermarket lamb is grass-fed and very low in added chemicals. Additionally, organic and bio-dynamic lamb is readily available, and if you buy direct from small farms, it can be cheaper than supermarket meat. Even the organic meats tend to be grass-fed, since it's cheaper to maintain organic grass crops than sow or buy organic grain.

Beef is produced similarly to lamb, although I have found that organic beef tends to be supplemented or finished on grain. Grain-fed beef is still treated like a gourmet product in Aussie restaurants, since it's pricier (apparently) to produce and is more tender (apparently) than the grass-fed meat available in the supermarket. Supermarket beef is more likely to carry anti-biotics despite most being raised on grass. Again, going direct to farmers can be an affordable way to avoid the anti-biotics and other nasties, as well as dodging the hefty price tag of the organic label, and not passing your bucks onto the big supermarkets chains.

Pastured & free-range chicken is still a developing industry, but there are a few farms raising chickens naturally, though they struggle. Organic chickens and eggs are almost undoubtedly raised on 'a vegetarian diet' - corn. Organic and free-range (though the level of free-rangedness is questionable) chicken and eggs are readily available in big supermarkets and at the farmers markets. Again, there are small-scale farmers following in the footsteps of Joel Salatin, so you can get the good stuff if you're in the right place.

Kangaroo is our most common game meat, with an individual company now supplying supermarkets with various roo products. Many restaurants will have a token roo dish, though Aussies sometimes have issues with eating our national emblem & mascot, especially if we grew up watching "Skippy"... ;) Personally, I think it's amazing, and to know that they're sustainable and have less impact on the precious topsoil just makes the meat even tastier.

Other local game that you can get at markets and in restaurants include crocodile, snake, and emu (though, oddly enough, emu is easier to find in Canada than in Australia...) Pork is also readily available, with a few free-range farms in operation, as well as some bio-dynamic piggeries in business if you look for them.

Australia is also famous for its seafood, and our fishing and squidding practices have improved in the past decade. Tasmania provides the country with most of its salmon, through its ocean farms that are gold-standard in their sustainable and responsible (healthy) practices. The farm I visited did not use anti-biotics, nor any unnatural colouring agents in the fish feed. I know this isn't always the case, and I can't speak for all the Tassie fish farms, but why pay for drugs if you don't make your animals sick? Anyway, I have access to wild-caught (on lines) salmon as well, so I usually buy that, especially since it's the same price as the supermarket salmon from Tassie, if not cheaper! The wide array of seafood in Australia is primarily wild-caught, and those practices are growing in sustainability. The boons of living on a huge island... We do import some seafood though, such as some prawns, some white fish, etc, but it is all clearly labeled at the supermarkets and fish markets.

There are also a few deer farms around the place, and other exotic creatures like bison and buffalo. With so much space and grass, farmers seem to find the courage to try new ventures.

I reckon Australia may well be the most paleo-friendly country (along with New Zealand): of food production is enviable, and then you can always go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef or pop on the Vibrams and go for a MovNat crawl up Uluru! ;)

show/hide this revision's text 1

My Australian pride has been boosted so much since going primal - even as the daughter of a sheep and cattle farmer, I never before understood how lucky we are to have so many healthy, naturally-operating farms supplying our meat. We even have a booming permaculture & kitchen garden community, as well as the established organic and bio-dynamic farms already in successful operation. There are multiple farmers markets in every city - even in small towns now - and it's easy to buy direct from farmers.

Lamb is our major export, with more meat leaving our shores than consumed locally. But that's not to say Aussies don't eat a lot of lamb! Although we're a country of frequent drought, states such as Victoria and Tasmania still stay fairly green for most if not all of the year, and our sheep all range freely on grass and crops such as clover and alfalfa. Although the major supermarkets demand that supply farms treat their animals with antibiotics to cover legal issues, on the whole supermarket lamb is grass-fed and very low in added chemicals. Additionally, organic and bio-dynamic lamb is readily available, and if you buy direct from small farms, it can be cheaper than supermarket meat. Even the organic meats tend to be grass-fed, since it's cheaper to maintain organic grass crops than sow or buy organic grain.

Beef is produced similarly to lamb, although I have found that organic beef tends to be supplemented or finished on grain. Grain-fed beef is still treated like a gourmet product in Aussie restaurants, since it's pricier (apparently) to produce and is more tender (apparently) than the grass-fed meat available in the supermarket. Supermarket beef is more likely to carry anti-biotics despite most being raised on grass. Again, going direct to farmers can be an affordable way to avoid the anti-biotics and other nasties, as well as dodging the hefty price tag of the organic label, and not passing your bucks onto the big supermarkets chains.

Pastured & free-range chicken is still a developing industry, but there are a few farms raising chickens naturally, though they struggle. Organic chickens and eggs are almost undoubtedly raised on 'a vegetarian diet' - corn. Organic and free-range (though the level of free-rangedness is questionable) chicken and eggs are readily available in big supermarkets and at the farmers markets. Again, there are small-scale farmers following in the footsteps of Joel Salatin, so you can get the good stuff if you're in the right place.

Kangaroo is our most common game meat, with an individual company now supplying supermarkets with various roo products. Many restaurants will have a token roo dish, though Aussies sometimes have issues with eating our national emblem & mascot, especially if we grew up watching "Skippy"... ;) Personally, I think it's amazing, and to know that they're sustainable and have less impact on the precious topsoil just makes the meat even tastier.

Other local game that you can get at markets and in restaurants include crocodile, snake, and emu (though, oddly enough, emu is easier to find in Canada than in Australia...)

Australia is also famous for its seafood, and our fishing and squidding practices have improved in the past decade. Tasmania provides the country with most of its salmon, through its ocean farms that are gold-standard in their sustainable and responsible (healthy) practices. The farm I visited did not use anti-biotics, nor any unnatural colouring agents in the fish feed. I know this isn't always the case, and I can't speak for all the Tassie fish farms, but why pay for drugs if you don't make your animals sick? Anyway, I have access to wild-caught (on lines) salmon as well, so I usually buy that, especially since it's the same price as the supermarket salmon from Tassie, if not cheaper! The wide array of seafood in Australia is primarily wild-caught, and those practices are growing in sustainability. The boons of living on a huge island... We do import some seafood though, such as some prawns, some white fish, etc, but it is all clearly labeled at the supermarkets and fish markets.

There are also a few deer farms around the place, and other exotic creatures like bison and buffalo. With so much space and grass, farmers seem to find the courage to try new ventures.

I reckon Australia may well be the most paleo-friendly country (along with New Zealand): of food production is enviable, and then you can always go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef or pop on the Vibrams and go for a MovNat crawl up Uluru! ;)