Where’s it From? Facebook project delivers far-out food facts in bite-sized chunks

“My friends told me it was a weed,” she said. “Then I stopped and thought, hang on, what actually is broccolini?”

And?

“It’s a hybrid of broccoli and chinese cabbage. Also Wasabi – the stuff you have with sushi - you know it’s a plant? I didn’t.” 

“There’s so much to know about agriculture that I find it’s easier to break it down into bite sized chunks.”

A love for Australian produce – and more specifically, the farms it comes from – is the driving force behind Sanderson’s nifty social media project: Where’s It From.

The 28-year-old Anvil Media producer started the Facebook page just over a month ago on the back of her own curiosity.

“In agriculture you can never know it all. My parents have cattle, and if you ask them about aquaculture they’ll have no idea,” she said. “Likewise, asking an oyster farmer about cropping could be similar. 

“With my work I do a lot of research and find out a lot of interesting things about food – so this is pretty much a result of all this information rattling around in my head.”

Sanderson, originally from Coolac in the state’s south, designs her graphics around a different slice of agriculture. They are regularly eyebrow-raising, even for long-time farmers, and Sanderson says, hopefully, a continuation of the provenance movement. 

“The long-overdue interest in where people’s food is from is great,” she said. 

“But also knowing not just where it’s from, but why it is grown there - and why it’s not grown there.”

Obscure side-dishes isn’t the only info zipping around Sanderson’s mind. Harvest and supply-chain factors in too. 

“You might have something you love, have to buy every week. I love mangoes but I couldn’t have them if it wasn’t for the guys north of us,” she said. 

“For a land-locked country with a limited rail system we do pretty well. That we sustain our own population, and a pretty strong export market, it is amazing, and overwhelming.”

Sanderson said she’s got plenty of ideas.

“It doesn’t resonate with everyone. But  I just hope when someone looks at a banana next time they think: ‘Hey that’s right, bananas are colour coded’.”