Today was a great day for me. I was woken early by my two young boys (4 and 6), bursting with excitement and eager to wish me a happy mother’s day and share with me their special presents they had put so much effort into making. I was up with a rush of energy, ready to tackle the kitchen and prepare a feast to share with my beautiful mum.

In fact, the feast preparation had begun yesterday, when I had decided that mother’s day this year was going to be a celebration of family and food, two of the fundamental pillars of life. The slow cooked pork belly sourced from the local butcher (from local pork) was braised for most of yesterday afternoon in preparation.

The plan was for hand made pork belly ravioli. Like all good plans, they usually go astray somewhere along the line. So when I went to make the pasta this morning I realised I didn’t have the two ingredients; eggs or flour! Should have planned that one better! Eggs should be easy – my mother in law next door has chooks. Only, when I went to get some more, I find out the chooks have stopped laying. So I quickly drive to the nearest shops (10 minutes away; we are lucky on the farming scale) to stock up on supplies.

Eggs in the supermarket, I am faced with 15 choices. Caged, cage free, free-range, home brand, other brands ….. what to choose? Then flour. Another 15 choices. Keen to make sure I am buying Australian flour from an Australian company, but in a hurry, I scour the labels. Confused and no idea from the label on what I am really buying other than it is something marked “Premium Flour – Australian Produce”, I load the packet into my basket then move on to grab some other last minute supplies.

I am thrilled that my toilet paper is 100% made in Australia from an Australian company. I have no idea where the wood chips that made the paper came from. By the time I got to the shaving cream and deodorant for my husband I grabbed the brands that I knew without any clue where they come from, threw a bottle of Tweedvale Milk in my basket (real, local milk) and rushed home.

Well, the ravioli was superb, and went down an absolute treat with the pear, rocket and walnut salad, topped with olive oil and lemons (all either home grown or sourced locally). And of course, our family favourite, apple pie made with freshly picked Pink Lady apples.

Most important of all was the special family time, but food was the fundamental core, and if we view all great cultures and celebrations, this is true across all.

So as I sit down on reflection at the end of the day, enjoying a glass of our home-grown and home-made wine, what I begin to question is my own values as a consumer and what I experienced today. How often as an ardent Aussie farmer supporter do I really make the effort to scour usually confusing labels and do my homework to make sure I am making sound purchasing choices. How often do I just quickly grab what I know, or what looks good, because the kids are playing up or I am in a hurry?

So, if, as someone who should know better, still makes impulsive shopping purchases, how can we expect anyone else to do any different?

Labeling laws are part of the battle, but not all. If I am shopping in a hurry, I don’t have time to stop and read the labels. I will grab what I know. The brand I recognise and have had a positive experience with previously.

So is the big question, how do we brand our produce to make it stand out? How do we tell the consumer what the “brand values” of our produce are?