Eco-Friendly Creative Practice: Jules Clancy
By Phoebe Miller Food, glorious food. For what is really a simple, basic human need, it's a complex topic these days, not least of all when it comes to addressing sustainability. What we eat and how source, prepare and eat it can have a huge environmental impacts.
I don't know about you, but the plethora of information and choices surrounding these issues can be overwhelming, especially at 6pm when all really want to do is work out what's for dinner! However, sometimes taking small, simple measures are all you need to get started on the right track. Sydney-based food lover and blogger, Jules Clancy, has set out to show us just how easy it can be to cook quick meals that are healthy, sustainable and affordable!
A big pot of beans, via Stonesoup
What do you do? I blog about delicious healthy meals in minutes over at www.thestonesoup.com. I also teach people from all over the world the art of simple, healthy cooking on my online cooking school.
How do you approach sustainability and environmental awareness in your creative practice? For me it’s all about sourcing sustainable ingredients from producers who care about food. I’m also experimenting with my own small veggie garden.
Sprout & Pumpkin Salad, via Stonesoup
Can you tell me about one or two of your favourite projects that showcase this approach best? I ran a class last year called ‘Mastering the Art of Cooking on a Budget’. Basically I documented myself feeding myself for a week on $5 a day using minimal processed food. The class was ‘pay what you can afford’ and I got an awesome response from my students who had discovered that healthy food doesn’t need to take a lot of time or skill, nor does it necessarily have to be expensive.
What challenges have you come up against in trying to make your work more sustainable and how did you overcome them? The biggest challenge for me is figuring out which options truly are the best from a sustainability perspective. If something is organic but has been shipped from further away is it better or worse than locally produced conventional produce?
Lentil Tabbouleh, via Stonesoup
Is there anything you’d like to do or learn to further increase the environmental sustainability of your work? I’d love to learn more about sustainable seafood... which species are best for the environment and for our bodies.
Who are the other creative women doing new or interesting things with a focus on environmental sustainability that you admire or are inspired by? Tough one. I love what Alice Waters in the US and Stephanie Alexander in Australia have done with introducing ‘edible playground’ and ‘kitchen garden’ programs into schools to educate children about where food comes from and how to prepare delicious healthy food.
Phoebe Miller is a Brisbane-bred, Sydney-fled, Melbourne-embedded gal who enjoys making, spruiking, collecting, and exploring. After several years working in corporate marketing and communications, Phoebe followed the urge to explore her creative side. These days she divides her time between her sustainable fashion accessories label, Simply Phoebe, and freelance PR consulting.