Following an introduction to the extent and spread of invasive cane toads in Australia, this article discusses the concept of eco-culinary activism and explores the potential for cane toad meat in local cuisine and as an export commodity. Recent publicity around the cane toad’s nutritional and culinary properties indicates a considerable interest on the part of both the Australian media and Australian chefs in cane toads being introduced into Australian cuisine. Further consideration is given to the safety of eating cane toad meat, to the cane toad’s export potential and the manner in which these might be explored.

The development of strong local food networks could play a key role in the creation of socially just, environmentally sustainable and resilient food systems in the future. In order for the potential of these networks to be assessed, we need adequate local data on the four key food system components: food production, processing and transportation, consumer access and utilisation, and waste, re-use and post-use management. However, in many locales there is insufficient information gathered and analysed in relation to regional production and consumption of food. This inhibits the implementation of best land use planning and, potentially, compromises future food security. This paper presents a case study of the food system in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and demonstrates how knowledge gaps restrict the capacity to adequately plan for the Territory’s food future. In doing so, the paper identifies key ways to fill these gaps to better inform the development of policy and planning practices adequately attuned to issues of regional food security.

In Filipino provinces, foodways have changed little in the last millennium. Here we find simple Pacific island regional cuisines, tempered by hundreds of years of Chinese migration, Asian traders and Spanish and American colonization, but little known beyond the Philippines. Metro Manila is a different scenario. Home to myriad cafés, bars and restaurants, nobody is ever more than two steps away from the next mouthful. The supermarket shelves are stacked with largely imported, processed food and ‘McDonaldization’ is a looming reality as cheap, American-style restaurant franchises flood the market. Yet there is a new urban food trend happening—a shift away from imported, processed food and a move back to more traditional food production. A growing number of local chefs and food historians, often with overseas experience, have been trying to educate both locals and foreigners about the benefits of high quality, fresh, organic produce.

Part of the process has been to draw attention to an increasing number of regional, entrepreneurial farmers with an eye for organic and ethical food production. But are these innovative entrepreneurs and hobby farmers a strong enough force to change the shape of Filipino foodways?

Due to the deterioration of small-scale agriculture in rural regions, and increasing concerns over population health, the local food movement in South Korea has recently attracted interest from many local governments and non-governmental organisations. This paper examines its potential to address some of the social and environmental challenges associated with current forms of food provisioning.

This includes an assessment of farmers’ markets, school meals, box schemes, and traditional markets. It concludes with identification of six issues that need to be managed for local food to continue expanding in South Korea. These being: reducing ambiguity surrounding the meaning of local food; greater sharing of production risks with consumers; improving co- ordination of government involvement; increasing up-take of appropriate production methods such as organic; maintaining opportunities for diversity of local food producers including small-scale family farmers; and finally, embracing local food sales in dominant retail outlets such as supermarkets.

Yaqona (more commonly known as kava), when coupled with its associated rituals and practices, is commonly recognised as a potent symbol of Fijian identity. However, there are some indigenous Fijians (iTaukei) who dispute this link, renouncing a connection between yaqona protocols, ceremony and conventions and their sense of cultural identity, therefore dissociating themselves from these practices. In this paper I draw on evidence from the literature together with observations and interviews to explain why some iTaukei distance themselves from yaqona consumption and the fullness of its cultural expression.