Home Truth

Our church has recently started running a fair trade coffee morning every Saturday and we were approached to help. We were hesitant to commit to actually being there on a regular basis, although I suspect Gadget Man views it as a welcome distraction from the inevitable weekend list of DIY jobs. What with ballet, parties, family swim sessions and all the other plans five kids come up with on a Saturday, it’s safe to assume we don’t know what we are doing from one week to the next.

However, I did offer to provide cakes made with fair trade ingredients. I love a challenge. I love baking too. So does my little girl so we’re having a fantastic time. It’s easy to include the obvious fair trade ingredients - sugar, cocoa, raisins etc, but what about apples, bananas, honey, chocolate and muesli? My mind whirrs with ideas as I scour my cookbooks. I’m so like my Mum. I wonder what she would have said if she could see me now.

I wonder how much people actually bake these days. I’m sure the fair trade companies must have seen a drop in sales of raw ingredients as sales of manufactured biscuits and cakes increase. Baking is making a comeback to some extent, what with all the fears about hydrogenated fats and additives circulating, but most people just don’t have the time (or the confidence or knowledge or motivation?).

Anyway, all my offerings so far have gone down really well. And it’s a great way to cook without being tempted to eat all the end product!

So there’s even more of an incentive for my odd-job man (Gadget Man’s weekend alter-ego) to visit the coffee morning. Maybe I haven’t thought this through as well as I thought I had!

Filed under: fair trade, simpler lifestyle on May 11th, 2007