This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tim Elwin from Urban Food Market. If you haven’t heard of UFM you have been missing out! They are Sydney’s best suppliers of ethical and sustainable foods including meat, poultry, pork, goat, dairy and cured meats. They promise their food is farmed with no growth promotants, no added hormones, no feedlots, no cages, no pens, no concrete floors and no GM feed – that ticks all of my boxes in every way.
UFM wholesale as well as retail their goods from Marrickville and on Friday and Saturdays you can find a buzzing atmosphere as people pick up the best sustainably farmed food on offer. There is also a catering department that can transform the warehouse space into a unique private dining area or cater for a cocktail party or sit down dinner at your venue.
Weekly cooking classes provide hands on opportunity to experience how to put all that amazing food on the table. If you just want to sit back and relax, head in to Café Guilia, where UFM take over the kitchen every Friday and Saturday night. The menu is designed around excess cuts that are left over from the wholesale, retail and catering divisions.
I interviewed Tim and find out a little more about what has influenced his path to sustainability
Q. What was the very first thought behind starting the Urban Food Market?
I was literally buying meat of the back of a truck once a month and the guy doing it had to stop as he no longer had the time. My wife and I then spend the next 6 months trying to find the same quality meat that we use to get without luck. I got back in contact with the guy and said he needed to start it up again which he couldn’t so I asked if I could have the producers contact to do myself. Thus was the start of Urban Food Market.
Q. We both have children that are 20 months old. Before I had Sophia I was conscious of eating organically but once I had her, I became far more mindful about how food impacts the environment. What did your kids teach you in regards to food?
My kids have taught me to make food interesting and fun. To integrate it into activities so they know what they are eating. Both my kids cook with me most nights and they get a say (well the 6yr old mostly) as to what we are eating and how it will be cooked.
Q. Where do you think GMO food will go in the next 5 years? I heard it will become harder to keep these foods out of the food chain….
There are pro’s and con’s to GMO. On one side, being able to feed people in need in countries that otherwise could not grow crops is a major advantage but at what cost? The detrimental damage it can do to the land/environment and body could be catastrophic. In countries where crop growing is ripe, the main issue is that is too easy for the GMO crops to “contaminate” organic crops by wind etc. carrying seedlings across states into organic regions etc. At this rate, 5 years away we will be hard pressed to separate.
Q. Tell me a little about eating less as opposed to eating more when it comes to sustainable farming
I eat meat. Love it and can’t do without it but we have been taught over the years to eat to excess. Massive steaks, have a chicken each, no to mention the upsizing at fast food chains. The current idea is to eat as much as you can until you can’t eat any more then throw the rest away. If we reduced the amount of meat we eat, it reduces the demand on producing so much of the meat (this is what caused factory farming… high demand on the produce meant a need to produce more of it quicker). There is no need to pile the plate so high. Get a slightly larger steak and share it rather than one each… People often find it hard to cook small. So the best thing to do is to cook the same volume and have enough for lunch the next day. This saves resources, puts less pressure on your body to process the food and less pressure on your wallet!
Q. What is your “last supper” meal?
This isn’t easy… I have so many favourite dishes so it would have to be a degustation (small tasting plates) of most probably Italian. It would need to include my all-time favorite comfort food of a runny yolk then beef carpaccio, spaghetti alla vongole, grilled prawns, oysters, duck breast and finished off with a raspberry crème brulee… OK, now I’m really hungry!
Q. Can you share your top 3 tips on eating sustainably?
Buy larger cuts of pasture fed meat and use it across a couple of meals; source providors that supply local ethically raised and sustainably produced produce. If the providor can’t tell you how the produce is grown what they each etc, then
Q. You run a very busy business that incorporates wholesale and retail shopping, catering, cooking classes and your popular pop up restaurant at Café Guilia – how do you keep yourself healthy and balanced with so much going on?
It’s definitely an issue. The health side comes from physically moving a tonne of meat each week. I love doing yoga but trying to find time for it at present is a little difficult when any spare time is spend with my gorgeous family! And it’s that gorgeous family that keep me balanced!
You can visit the UFM warehouse store at Unit 1, 168 Victoria Rd, Marickville, NSW 2204. They are open to the public Friday and Saturdays between 9am and 2pm. Otherwise check out their beautiful produce cooked to perfection at Cafe Guilia, 92 Abercrombie St, Chippendale, every Friday and Saturday nights from 6-10pm.
