THE RESEARCH

Having outlined some of my epistemological and ethical interests, I will report on a research project which, despite its modest dimensions, I hope will illuminate a number of these issues.

It proceeded in three stages: a formulation of some very rough questions about how law, religion and ‘scientific’ or rational values and institutions may interact in private and public decisions regarding food. Then there was a period of empirical research, focussed on the semiotic presentation of food options and regulation in a multicultural Sydney neighbourhood (described in the following paragraphs). Finally, that data has been analysed through a number of lenses. Early oral presentations of the work focussed on social and religious implications, with particular interest in food, culture and identity. Pending further development of that side of the study, the present report focuses on the specific issues of law, religion and science in food regulation. The data from the empirical and regulatory study was analysed by identifying references to ethics, religion or science. Realising that this came down to the intersection of several institutions or movements based on particular systems of values, I went back to the literature on these issues, in order to interpret and trace the implications of the data. The empirical and regulatory research, into three specific issues, is outlined in the section on the case studies. The analysis of the intersecting value systems follows, in the concluding section.

The initial research (in June-August 2012) mapped all 117 food outlets in Marrickville Road, which forms the central spine of the Marrickville Local Government Area (LGA) about four miles (six km) south-west of the Sydney CBD.^[1124] It runs through the middle of the suburb of Marrick- ville, from Sydenham station in the east to Dulwich Hill in the west.

Religious affiliation in Marrickville is less to the dominant churches than in other parts of NSW, while the greatest proportion profess no religious affiliation (33 per cent). Eastern Orthodox and Buddhist adher­ents are respectively three times and twice as prevalent in Marrickville as in Australia as a whole. There are Anglican, Catholic and Baptist churches within the study area, and a Greek Orthodox church and a Lebanese Marronite complex within a hundred or so meters of it. There are no mosques or synagogues within the study area. The local govern­ment area is adjacent to two important Muslim localities, Arncliffe (in the Rockdale LGA) to the south and the Canterbury LGA to the south west.

Politically, the local council is dominated by Labor and Greens, while the parliamentary representatives are left Labor. The local Federal Member is the Labor Minister Anthony Albanese, who, during parlia­mentary debate of a controversy about sacred Aboriginal beliefs in the Hindmarsh Island case some years ago, taunted conservative members by questioning their reaction if the inquiry were to be ‘into your beliefs; into whether you can prove the Holy Trinity exists’.^[1127] Local council elections held in September 2012 saw two Liberal councillors elected for the first time in Marrickville. One of them, the vice president of the synagogue in neighbouring Newtown, had been vocal in the campaign against the council’s boycott, divestment and sanctions policy towards Israel.^[1128] The Greens’ influence diminished at that election.

The study area of this project covers the full 1.7 miles (2.7 km) length of Marrickville Road, and one block either side of that street.^[1129] It includes fruit shops and supermarkets, cafes and restaurants, butchers and bakers, takeaway food shops and convenience stores. The food prepar­ation factories (of which there are many in the municipality, and a number in the study area) were excluded unless they specified sales direct to the public. The research identified any signs on the food outlets displaying any ethnic or national affiliation, as well as any regulatory regimes under which they operate. In addition to English language signs, 17 different cultures were identified, the most common being Vietnam­ese, Chinese, Greek, Thai, Italian and Turkish. The food shops and restaurants are regulated by the council’s Local Environmental Plan as well as various industry, consumer, government and religious codes.

In the following section I explore three of the regulatory regimes that are acknowledged in signage on the various premises, devoting a brief case study to each of the following:

• free range

• halal

• food safety.

III.