The human body has evolved to eat a wide variety of animal and plant foods. All other things being equal, to the extent that we eat as are evolved to eat, we will enjoy good health and well-being. In our opinion, our most important foods are sea foods of all sorts, birds, small animals, nuts, seeds, large animals, roots, vegetables and fruits. We are discussing whole foods, in the case of grains.

Not all natural foods are benign-our ancestors had to leach toxic chemicals from some tubers, eat some fruits sparingly, and roast some nuts to make them digestible, for example. We still have to use common sense. We can create a fairly natural diet by using minimally processed easy food preparation, exploring other cultures natural foods, substituting animal fat and monounsaturated fats for hydrogenated vegetable fats, substantially ignoring refined sugars, preferring rice over wheat, (there is some opinion that wheat is not well tolerated by some genetic makeups) and using products such as yoghourt that are derived from fermentation of the foreign milk proteins we obtain from stealing the secretions from the mammary glands of non human animals.

Obviously, we have to exercise prudent discrimination when buying food, and where practical prefer to buy from those who can give quantifiable assurances on freedom from heavy metals, excessive numbers of bacteria, excessive residual chemical compounds, and freedom from biologically derived toxins such as aflotoxins.

Technology has brought us pollution-ultimately fixable- but it has also brought us the ability to find and buy a diversity of fruits, vegetables, roots, sea foods, seeds, nuts and meats that is at last beginning to be arguably a reflection, albeit a poor reflection, of the diversity our ancestors would once have had available in their hunting and gathering in our former natural wild environment.

FRUIT	NUTS SEEDS and Oils
MEAT	SEAFOOD
	THE NATURAL FOOD HUB

Demeter and Bio-Gro certified fruit. The Green Grocer, 40 Tasman St. Phone/Fax (03) 548-3650

Organic fruit. Commonsense organics, 260 Wakefield St, Wellington. Phone (04) 384-3314, Fax (04) 385-3383

Dried apples, dried persimmons Demeter certified. Rare Earth Orchard Ph/fax 09-408 4004

Macadamia nuts - Biogro. Grown and processed on farm. Chamberlain Holdings Phone 09-435 0939, Fax 09-435 1999

Grains, spices, organic. Organic Fresh Fruit & Vegetebles Ltd, Unit C14, 8 Henry Rose Place, Albany. Depot open Tues, Wed, Thurs 10 am to 2 pm. Delivery available. Phone 0800 567 888.
http://www.organicproduce.co.nz

Whole grains, seeds, nuts, pulses. Church Corner Natural Foods, 2 Peerswick Mall, 390 Riccarton Rd. Phone (03) 348-5380

Whole grains, seeds, nuts, pulses. Corn Rigs Nutrition Centres, 68 Princes St, Palmerston North. Phone (06) 356-9988

Whole grains, seeds, nuts, pulses. Curds N Whey,The Health Food Shop, 87 Market St, Blenheim. Phone (03) 578-1705

Whole grains, seeds, nuts, pulses. Hominy's Healthfood, 161 High Street, Motueka. Phone 03 528 774

Demeter and Bio-Gro certified grains and pulses. The Green Grocer, 40 Tasman St. Phone/Fax (03) 548-3650

In our opinion, grain fed meat is certainly the last word in succulent tenderness. The only concern is that the fat in grain finished animals is relatively evenly distributed throughout the meat, rather than being in a layer on the outside. While animal fat ( so long as it is eaten along with protein) is in our opinion a natural and good food for the human animal, some people are concerned about the possibility of residues from chemical insect controls being present in the fat. It is easy to trim the fat from grass fed animals. In addition, there is some suggestion that grass fed animals have more of a particular form of fatty acid which has particular health benefits. Given the prevalence of low level iron deficiency in Western countries, it is primarily important to eat red meat. Grass or grain fed is a secondary and relatively unimportant consideration.

Organ meats are the most prized parts of a dead animal in all hunter gatherer cultures. Today, cultural conditioning means we regard livers, brains, pancreas, and kidneys as at least 'strange' if not 'gross!'. Organ meats are repositories of huge amounts of vital vitamins and minerals in a natural form. Today, we can buy organ meats as and when we want. Be sure livers you buy are from a young animal, as there is the issue of accumulation and concentration of the heavy metal cadmium in liver tissue when the animal is more than two years old. This is due to the cadmium content that naturally occurs in some important phosphate fetiliser sources.

Lean Beef or Lamb Chips, formed using a seaweed extract. Most New World and Pak'n' Save Supermarkets in the North Island.
http://www.ariafarm.co.nz/products.html

Organic meat. Biogro certified sheep and cattle. Robbie's Patch, Bethels Road, 4 R D Christchurch. Phone 03 329 5725, E-mail Robbie123@xtra.co.nz
 

The interface between the sea and the land can be one of the richest food sources there is. And where rivers meet the sea, it is richer still. Here can be found marshes full of birds, crabs, vast shellfish beds, shallows swarming with small schooling fish, tiny prawns, rock clinging mussels and oysters, estuaries with flatfish, eels, perhaps turtles, crocodilians; seas, rivers and lake shores would have been prime hunting and foraging grounds. The male compulsive urge to go fishing may be genetic!

The oils found in fish are of proven health benefit. As with dried animal muscle, dried fish has been an important storable primary food source to carry over the lean times. The urban hunter gatherer can now chose from fish hunted from all over the world, as well as a few 'farmed' species. Fish, specially fatty fish, is a premium food for humans.

FRUIT	NUTS SEEDS and Oils
MEAT	VEGETABLES & HERBS
	THE NATURAL FOOD HUB

Organic produce. East West Organics, 374 West Coast Rd Phone (09) 818-9524, Fax (09) 818-2903. E-mail: eastwest@pl.net Home deliveries possible. Open 9am - 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Saturday.

Organic produce. Chantal Foods, retail 45 Hastings st. Phone (06) 835-8036, Fax (06) 835-8036.

Demeter and Bio-Gro certified vegetables. The Green Grocer, 40 Tasman St. Phone/Fax (03) 548-3650

Organic vegetables. Commonsense organics, 260 Wakefield St, Wellington. Phone (04) 384-3314, Fax (04) 385-3383

Stone fruit- cherries, apricots, plums, peaches. Apples. Orchard Fresh, PO Box 46 Cromwell Central Otago. FreePhone: 0800 665 963 or fax:your order on  03 445 1348  eMail: joy@orchardfresh.co.nz. Order on line, couriered to your door. Details on the website:
http://www.orchardfresh.co.nz/
http://www.orchardfresh.co.nz/fruit/driapct.htm Dried apricots, available year round.                                                        2000

Kiwifruit, oranges, mandarins - Biodynamic and Biogro. Countrywide delivery. Phone/fax 09 407 9424. E-mail skinner@igrin.co.nz                                                                                                                                                       2000

Apples, Kiwifruit,  Plums - Biogro. Mail order, Pukatea Orchard, B & D Renwick, 98 Abel TAsman Drive, Takaka, Golden BAy. Price list available. Phone 03-525 8237.                                                                                                                           2000

Avocados, natural, large grade, sent anywhere weekly, free newsletters about how we do it and about truly sustainable
farming to regular customers, E-mail arboreus@ihug.co.nz                                                                                               01/2001

Hazelnuts, organically grown, in shell, contact: gmabbs@xtra.co.nz                                                                                May 2002

Macadamia nuts Pacific Coast Macadamias Whanarua Bay RD 3 Opotiki, New Zealand Phone: +64 7 325-2960, Fax +64 7 325-2960, or E-mail Macadamias@xtra.co.nz Order online from the website
http://www.macanuts.co.nz/index.htm                                                                                                                            May 2001

Natural Seeds and oils - Hulless pumpkin seed, pumpkin seed, coriander seed, hazelnut oil, walnut oil, pumpkin seed oil, coriander seed oil, flaxseed oil, hazel flour, walnut flour, flaxseed flour and more
Contact: Garth Neal, Dillon's Point, RD3, Blenheim. Phone/Fax 03 5789708 Cellphone 025338474. E-mail garth.barb@xtra.co.nz
http://www.naturalhub.com/go/Bayoils.htm

Saffron-organically grown, on line ordering 73 Garrymere Rd, R D 4 Rangiora, North Canterbury..Ph/Fax (03) 3128098 E-mail: PREMIUM-NZ-SAFFRON@xtra.co.nz

Seaweed, kelp - Naturally air dried. Suitable for plants, animals, and people. Ocean Harvest Ltd, 13 ORD, Oamaru. Phone 03 439 5411, Fax 03 439 5242

Organic vegetables. The Good Earth, 1046 Cameron Rd, Gate Pa, Bay of Plenty Phone (07) 578-7211. Will courier in the North Island only.

Emu and Ostrich meat cuts and salamis, mail order, Emu City Products,  90 Conservators Rd, RD 6 Christchurch
Phone 03 342 8779, Fax 03 342 8554,  E-mail nmoe@xtra.co.nz

Highland beef, lamb -Biogro. Mountain Valley Organic Meats. 'Mangapiri Downs',  T & H Gow, Fiordland. Processed in export meat company plant, shipped New Zealand wide, family or food co-op size lots. Phone/Fax 03-225 5283. E-mail tim@organicmeats.com
http://www.organicmeats.com
 
Exceptional flavor from rare breeds on a working rare breeds production and stud farm - free range pork, wild boar porkers, KuniKuni pork, goat hoggets, wild goat., milk fed goats, milk fed lamb,. prime beef, white veal, muscovy duck, geese, pheasant, pigeon. guinea fowl, game fowl. Vacuum packed whole carcases butchered to your requirements and couriered from Stratford to your door.
Avonstour, R.D. 25 Stratford, Phone 06 762 7992.
http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/avonstour.html