Lime juice appears as an export from the Cook Islands in the 1860s and continued to be produced in quantity into the 1910s but then is all but gone. The main destination of the juice was New Zealand. Here it was on- sold mainly from Auckland to sailing ships and certain institutions to be part of the daily diet of crews, passengers and inmates in the belief it would be an effective antiscorbutic. By the turn of the century, the demand lessened due to steam ships being used for long distance travel, virtually removing all threat of scurvy. By the late 1900s the British mercantile marine abandoned its use. In the late 1910s a body of evidence indicated lime juice was inferior in comparison to lemon and orange juice as an antiscorbutic, so the demand continued to decline helped by the British navy’s abandoning the lime juice ration in the 1920s. In New Zealand, Cook Islands’ lime juice was often still used in cordials and aerated drinks as well as cosmetics until less expensive sources sealed its decline by 1920.

This case study investigates the historical evolution of rice as a ‘local’ food in Australia by focusing on two areas of inquiry: firstly, the nature and meaning of rice as a local food, and secondly, the characteristics of the production and consumption that have often been ignored in other scholarly literature. The history of rice as a commodity shows clear connections between ideas of independence and the values of democratic production methods in establishing the concept of local. This history is presented using a history of commodities approach to examine its changing meaning over time. By linking the production and consumption of rice, this article casts a new light on the standard historical narrative and deepens our understanding of what local foods represented to Australians at different points in time.

Despite widespread Government nutrition and food consumption advice in Australia, diet-related disease incidence continues to increase. This study examines public attitudes to food, nutrition, and well-being through the dual filters of populist gastronomy (Nigella Lawson) and traditional nutrition science communication with middle class/professional adults residing in a low Socio-economic Index (SEI) area of semi-rural NSW that is characterised by greater than average diet-related morbidity. Using a voluntary participatory research approach, a qualitative study was conducted with six focus groups (n=47) who self- identified as primary food providers. The topics examined were: perceptions of current dietetic or government nutrition advice; the importance of flavour versus health concerns in food choices; immediate gastronomical perceptions of a Nigella Lawson meal; and the effects of narrative on menu planning and consumption. This study demonstrates how the hedonic gastronomic narrative influences and enhances public food understanding and dietary practices. We conclude that current Nutrition Science communication narratives would benefit from a broader gastronomic focus emphasising flavour and pleasure in consumption.

In recent years, ‘chuẩn cơm mẹ nấu’ (as good/correct/true as mum’s cooking) has become a popular term used widely in Vietnamese communities in Vietnam and elsewhere when talking about not only food but also the state of being correct. In its original form, which derives from a social media phenomenon of being absolutely correct, the term is widely used to confirm how true/correct a thing or statement is in informal daily oral and written context. In relation to food, it has been used as a magical spell in marketing and food writing in different senses to evoke people's nostalgia to sell their products. Within the context of Vietnamese culture and language, the mother figure and her food have been exploited to perform a heavily socio-cultural gendered duty, which happens to become the aesthetic of food, eating, knowledge, and all other life's matters to the Vietnamese. In this paper, I explore how this figure of the mothers and their food was formed, has changed, and is now used to form and express a Vietnamese gastronomic identity, where everything must be ‘as mum’s cooking’.

For culinary tourism to flourish, stories of the people, places and food experiences must be told. A coherent narrative about the food culture and the food stories has been missing in the New Zealand context, and to this point food culture has not been used to draw visitors to the destination. The COVID-19 crisis may, however, be a turning point. This paper draws on content analysis and semi-structured interviews with food experts to explore current narratives to examine how cohesive they are, who is driving them and how COVID- 19 has impacted them. In the New Zealand food story there are reoccurring themes of the tastes of the place, the potent flavours and ingredients mixed with the impact of geographic isolation. The importance of Māori values to the food story plus the immigrant cultures to New Zealand shape the diversity of the cuisine. The provenance of the food is linked to the people who make, grow and fish for the food. COVID-19 has created the conditions for a shift towards viewing food well beyond its place in commodity export markets. Government agencies responsible for international messaging are now taking notice, and there is growing interest in developing culinary tourism in New Zealand in a post-COVID world.

The challenges of environmental and climate breakdown have broader impacts on our food system and health. An opportunity exists to identify ways to better align ecology and health via re-linking food to our landscapes and also to provide an aesthetic impact.

UNESCO contributes to gastronomy heritage and the universal value of cultural landscapes, including foodscapes, by promoting gastronomy as a category of the Network of Creative Cities. This includes making creativity a lever for urban development and developing new solutions to tackle common challenges. Gastronomic aspects of aesthetic experience can expand the notion of foodscapes beyond culinary frameworks to include productive, sustainable landscapes. A new approach to ‘foodscapes', via creating edible landscapes in public places, can reverse the community disconnect with food growing, increasing awareness of and participation in food production. Redesigning streetscapes and aesthetic edible precincts create more resilient and environmentally sound food systems.

As Australia’s newly and only designated UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Bendigo’s focus includes creative approaches to tackling the challenges of climate change, in the process ensuring fair access to health and wellbeing via a focus on sustainable local food systems. Our gastronomy story is about innovating and adapting to new landscapes while learning from our Dja Dja Wurrung heritage, to celebrate environmental aesthetics by new approaches to growing, sourcing, cooking and sharing food in the community. Our foodscapes represent our culture and provide a fundamental focus for gastronomy of the future.