These Socially-Good Jars of Chutney Are Tackling Food System Injustices
If you didn’t think that the food injustices could be combated, or the opportunity to provide a better life to underprivileged women could be granted through the creation of socially-good jars of chutney, let the founders of Eat Me Chutneys prove to you otherwise.
Eat Me Chutneys is a Certified B Corporation, hailing from Sydney, Australia. This Social Entrepreneurship mom and son duo began their company in 2012 because they care about the planet, the people on it and its resources. Together, Mum (teacher and chutneys crafter) and Son (corporate drop-out turned trained chef and twice over social entrepreneur) set out to bring back the quality of food preservation when consuming produce out of season, and also to reconfigure the food structure injustices. With this in mind, as well as the desire to support the local farmers and producers, while also being conscious about the environmental impact they may have, their journey to revive this lost art had begun.
When asked what inspired the launch of EMC, Co-Founder Ankit replied, “Mum was happily making her tamarind chutneys till I got back from London and somewhat hijacked her wee chutney venture. We started discussing how all the ingredients that are imported into Australia do not necessarily translate to fair terms for the farmers that grow them (especially since most of it came from developing nations). We spent about a year looking for Fairtrade equivalents and got the tamarind chutneys Fairtrade certified. Our small way of making sure all imported ingredients we get are sourced sensibly (fancy word, ethically).”
From there, the voyage began to unravel as EMC met the farmers, vinegar producers, and fair trade artists in order to see how they could be a support to their community with every decision they made. This quickly resulted in small-batches of pickles, chutneys, sauces and condiments all made from local and organic produce.
At this point you might be asking yourself, “What are chutneys?” And one may have answered, “Aren’t they jams?” But, Eat Me Chutneys paints a more delicious picture:
“Gorgeous condiments made from fruits and / or vegetable, little vinegar, spices and sugar. A bit like jams, they’re more entertaining and make even a celery stick dance.” Currently they sell eight beautiful chutneys in their online shop, all with details on what to expect, ingredients and their provenance, how to consume, and the best pairings to eat with them.
Since Australia is somewhat known for its amazing produce, a lot of the local farmers take pride in growing organic and as pesticide-free as possible produce. The Australian farmer’s market movement is growing strong, and people are highly vocal regarding who they support.
The more EMC learned of this food waste epidemic in Australia, the more they knew they wanted to, and had to do more. Therefore, they discovered how to turn the leftover produce into Epic Chutneys.
The journey continues. As mentioned above, EMC cares about the people on the planet and have sought to employ disadvantaged women job seekers. They are actively offering mentoring and employment to these women in order for Eat Me Chutneys to have a 360 impact within their company. Ankit said, “We choose to focus on providing employment to female disadvantaged job seekers in the community. Our employment program aims to develop living skills and provide women with a new-found sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. And so at Eat Me Chutneys we employ women from the Sydney Asylum Seeker Centre and we are damn proud of it <insert happy dance>.”
A few things to look out for with Eat Me Chutneys:
-An online shop about to launch
-Funky new chutneys coming out of their collaboration with TEDxSydney 2015
-Their very exciting Crowd funding campaign to be launched later this year
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FROM THE EDITOR
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