LAST week, in Austin, the capital of Texas, I had an opportunity to meet Whole Foods’ marketing manager Richard Gabaree at the company’s foundation and flagship store. Whole Foods is the world’s largest natural and organic food retailer. My companion couldn’t resist asking Richard for a photograph of the pair of us with some organic Granny Smith apples from the central Austin store’s amazing fruit and vegetable display.

The provenance of food – who grows it, how it’s grown and where it comes from – is as important to Whole Foods as it is to us at Granny Smith. In every department at Whole Foods the staff could tell us the origin of food, from fish to coffee. In the butchery and at the cheese counter, staff proudly told us who produced the lamb or goat chevre that they were offering. The visit reinforced our philosophy that we should spare no effort to ensure that the food we market keeps its identity. If we can achieve that then we’re always reminded of the link between farm and table when we shop for food. It’s the reason we’re always stocking and supporting the promotion of foods like heirloom apples from Orange.

Peter Kenyon

GREAT English ‘cookers’ Bramley’s Seedling and Dr Hogg are in the next crop of heirloom apples from Borrodell orchard at Orange that will be in-store at Granny Smith from tomorrow, Monday 20 February 2012. Read about the heritage, styles, flavours and uses of these rare and wonderful fruits in Apples with attitude, our newsletter emailed to our customer list yesterday. You can also read about the extraordinary work of nineteenth century English editor Dr Robert Hogg to preserve apple knowledge. As part of our promotion of Borry Gartrell’s and Gaye Stuart-Nairne’s apples, anyone liking us on Facebook this week will be in a draw to win five kilograms of mixed apples and Jamie Oliver’s latest book, Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals. The chance to win closes on Saturday 25 February. The winner will have to collect the two prizes.

SYDNEY Morning Herald reporter Ben Butler, with Leonie Wood, reports on the cost of keeping cheap chicken on Australian tables in Behind the closed doors of poultry processing. Butler and Wood report on injuries, allegations of maltreatment and bad work practices and the dominance of the processing business by two major companies.

ABC Radio National’s Alan Saunders – host of By Design – interviews British architect and author Carolyn Steel about ’sitopia’, the power of food in shaping cities and the significance of urban agriculture. It’s a story of the challenge of our times for city dwellers largely disconnected from the source of their food. Download the audio file. You can also read Steel’s book, Hungry City: how food shapes our lives, ISBN 9780701180379, published by Random House.