** online sales are now closed but there will be a few tickets on the door today from 5pm. $20 cash appreciated **

Gourmet Farmer, writer, cook & broadcaster Matthew Evans returns to Margaret River to talk about the world’s original, and most controversial, superfood: MILK.

Milk. It's in our coffee, on our cereal. We see it in processed form – yoghurt, butter, cheese, skimmed and lactose free. It's there in almond form, or made from oats or soy, and is as lauded as the 'perfect' food or lambasted as not fit for human consumption and a toxic planet killer, depending on who you trust. Which type you drink, whether you were raised on breastmilk, what you think of it, is affected by culture, biology and fashion. How you view it is driven by your gender and your politics, as well as your geography.

The miracle liquid has suffered an image problem. It has been used to keep people poor, to keep women subjugated, and to build corporate and medical careers. It's been blamed for climate change, the breakdown of human health, and an enabler of the industrial revolution. From perfect food to pariah, milk's role in life has often been debased.

Milk celebrates the majesty of this noble liquid, and delves into the pretenders to its throne, from formula to Mylk. It looks at the transformation of what a milk-producer eats into one of the most nutrient dense foods available, and how that can be transformed again into the butter, cheese and clotted cream that we know and love today. It's an exploration of the science, history and politics of what makes mammals different from every other life form on earth.

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Matthew & Laura from Margaret River Organic Farmer. Tickets are $15 + fees and include a cuppa with real fresh local milk.

PROGRAM

5:00 doors open, arrive for a complimentary cuppa

Browse Matthew's books at Margaret River Bookshop's pop-up stall (cash/card),

and Margaret River Organic Farmer's produce (cash, card or pre-order online).

5:30 Matthew Evans in conversation with Margaret River Organic Farmer followed by Q&A

6:30 meet the author book signing

7:30 close

BOOKSHOP

MILK & a selection of Matthew's other titles will be available for sale courtesy of Pauline & Keith McLeod, Margaret River Bookshop. Cash or card accepted.

PRODUCE FOR SALE

Margaret River Organic Farmer's organic open range eggs, organic egg pasta, honey garlic and garden fertilisers will be available for cash/card purchase on the day. We are also taking advance orders via our online farm shop if you'd like to pay by card for any of our goodies (including our famous organic chicken food). Just put a note on your order that you would like to collect from the event & we will bring your order to the Men's Shed for you. Please order at: www.mrorganicfarmer.com/shop

TICKETS

Are limited, available in advance via Humanitix only. If you are feeling unwell on the day, please stay at home & give your ticket to a friend. Please pass your tickets onto someone else if you find you can't make it, we don't offer refunds!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Evans is a chef and food critic turned farmer-food activist. He lives on a mixed farm that occupies a one-time apple orchard in the Huon Valley outside Hobart with his partner Sadie Chrestman and son Hedley. He is nationally best known for his long-running SBS series Gourmet Farmer(six seasons), set on Fat Pig Farm's 70 acres, and also was the star of food documentaries What's the Catch? and For the Love of Meat. He has authored or co-authored 14 books on food, and is regularly interviewed on radio about all things to do with farming, growing, soil and eating. Matthew hosts weekly farmhouse feasts and on-site cooking classes, which are often booked out months ahead. He is widely respected in the food world as someone who lives his truth - giving up the apparently coveted life of a Sydney food critic to create something real and meaningful with Sadie on their small parcel of land in southern Tasmania

ABOUT THE HOST

Matthew will discuss MILK with Laura Bailey of Margaret River Organic Farmer. Laura's young family established their Rosa Brook farm in 2015 to provide their growing children and wider community with high welfare, clean protein. Using earth-nurturing regenerative practices, they have already doubled their organic soil carbon. In 2019 they received the WA Landcare Farming Award for 'excellence & leadership in implementing integrated land management practices on a farm that protects soils, water & vegetation'.