Category: Greenspeak

The principles of Slow Food are universal – to promote good, clean, fair, seasonal food and support local producers. Every Slow Food group operates differently according to its own context. In December I was fortunate to meet a dedicated young man who is bringing Slow Food principals mainstream in a corner of Rajasthan, India. Rohit […]

As 2018 rolls to a close, our thoughts often turn to gratitude. Let us consider and give thanks to that unloved and unlovely item of porcelain, the toilet. We assume that it will always be there, clean and functioning and discreetly disposing of our excretions. This fundamentally important article is taken completely for granted until […]

I like or tolerate almost all creatures except mosquitoes and monkeys. So when the dogs started barking hysterically one morning I was not charmed to find a large long tailed macaque glaring at me from the frangipani tree not three metres from my open-plan house. In fact, I was deeply apprehensive. These monkeys are aggressive, […]

When I started packing to leave Singapore for Bali in 2000, my friends were confused and apprehensive. Why was I leaving their safe and orderly little nation for the chaos of Indonesia? The civil unrest, financial crisis and fall of Suharto in 1998 were still vivid memories in the region. Many of us had sheltered […]

I celebrated National Day at Puri Lumbung in Munduk again this year. The rustic hotel is built among rice fields, clove trees and flower gardens high on the edge of an ancient caldiera. The view spills down to the north coast and Java’s Mount Meru beyond. The air is crisp and cool, and perfumed with […]

About five years ago my housekeeper’s son decided to start a little business making bamboo drinking straws. I’ve known Putu since he was four years old. So he’s been under my indirect influence most of his life, receiving subliminal messages through his mother Wayan Manis about waste management, nutrition and the environment. Now 20, he […]

Eating meat is so politically incorrect these days. Especially here in Ubud, where the population of gluten-free vegans per capita is probably higher than anywhere else outside south India. Many would argue that the term ‘ethical meat’ is an oxymoron. There’s abundant evidence that commercial meat production is highly damaging to the planet and cruelly […]

Recently a friend from Morocco visited me, bringing gifts of lovely natural body care products: rose water, orange flower face tonic, argan oil, frankincense. I was delighted to present her with some of the locally made, natural personal care products available within a 20 minute stroll of my house in Ubud. Over the years I’ve […]

Most of us have heard the ominous rumble of the mosquito fogger and been caught in its stinking white cloud of chemicals. I’ve always wondered just what was in the horrible concoction, but until recently no one could tell me. Trudy Rilling-Collins, a scientist with a degree in biological control of insects from University of […]

It’s challenging enough to manage production in the island’s towns and cities; kudos to those who are bringing us outstanding food products while creating employment in remote parts of Bali. Over the past few years I’ve visited several of these off-the-beaten track producers.   Cheese… The price of imported cheese is eye-watering these days, which […]