Regional Food, Location and Health
Abstracts from the Presentations conducted
in
Melbourne 17 October 2001
Click
here to obtain full text copies of the presentations.
Regional
Foods and a Sense of Place
Rita Erlich
Food writer, journalist
The
Valley of Plenty - Wild about fruit's Yarra Valley Heritage
Anita Jackson
Wild about fruit Marketing Manager
Social
Economic Status and Nutrient Intakes of Australian Adults
Tony Worsley, PhD,
Professor of Population Health
School of Health Sciences, Deakin University
Burwood, Victoria
Density
of Fast Food Outlets and Prevalence of Obesity
Dr Daniel Reidpath
Regional
Foods and a Sense of Place
Rita Erlich Food writer, journalist
Regional foods attract considerable attention, in
Australia, as
elsewhere. But regional foods are rubbery. But no one is quite sure what
regional foods are in Australia, because the regions are not so obviously
defined. To date, the notions of regional foods has tagged along after the
wine industry, for which tourism (particularly gastronomic tourism) is of
major importance. Neither have we considered regional foods might relate
to regional health patterns. The presentation considers the notion of
regional foods, and how it translates to an Australian context. It
suggests that there is more than one way of defining a region. Some are
directly beneficial to health, and others are indirectly beneficial.
The
Valley of Plenty - Wild about fruit's Yarra Valley Heritage
Anita Jackson
Wild about fruit Marketing Manager
Regional foods are in demand, chefs
love them, and we're even starting to see them in the mainstream
supermarkets. Packaged and bundled appropriately, regional foods are
carving out a significant market niche and demanding a premium price.
The Wild about fruit Company is attempting to carve out it's own niche
using regional foundations as part of an overall marketing strategy. Wild
about fruit refers to its Yarra Valley origins to highlight the qualities
of its products, creating an indelible link between the purity and
freshness of the Yarra Valley and Wild about fruit.
Regions are recognising the business development opportunities that
regional cuisines, labels and brands offer for local businesses. Anita
Jackson discusses this trend, with specific reference to the Wild about
fruit / Yarra Valley experience.
Social
Economic Status and Nutrient Intakes of Australian Adults
Tony Worsley, PhD,
Professor of Population Health
School of Health Sciences, Deakin University
Burwood, Victoria
The aims of this study were to examine the influence
of socio economic status on men and women's intakes of macronutrients and
micronutrients and to compare the effects of three SES
indices: occupation, education and per capita income. The general
hypothesis was that smaller differences in macronutrient intakes would be
associated with SES than among micronutrients because there has been
greater diffusion of knowledge about the sources of macronutrients (eg
fats) than the benefits of foods which are key sources of micronutrients,
eg fruit, vegetables and cereals.
The findings suggest the
that differences in knowledge of recent
micronutritional advances is greatest among high SES men and women.
Further research is required to examine SES relationships with food
consumption and into ways to redress social inequalities in nutrition
status.
Density
of Fast Food Outlets and Prevalence of Obesity
Dr Daniel Reidpath
There is growing concern with the increasing
prevalence of obesity in industrialised countries, a trend that is more
apparent in the poor than the rich. In an ecological study, the
relationship between an area measure of socioeconomic status (SES) and the
density of fast food outlets was examined as one possible explanation for
the phenomenon. It was found that there was a dose-response between SES
and the density of fast food outlets, with people living in areas from the
lowest SES category having 2.5 times the exposure to outlets than people
in the highest category. The findings are discussed. |
