Decent food
Posted by: Mick P on 31 May 2007
Chaps
About six months ago, Mrs Mick and I decided to make sure that the bulk of our food is to be that supplied from the UK and in season.
I would love to tax all imported food so that if some chav wants to scoff strawberries from Timbuctoo on Christmas day, he can bloody well pay for the priveledge of polluting the world with the unnecessary transportation.
Today we dined on a starter of local asparagus and it was superb. British food really should be at the top of your agenda.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by Mick P
Chaps
I have also been buying home made jars of Jam, marmalades and pickles, all made with seasonal ingredients.
They are leagues ahead of the junk you buy in supermarkets and the difference in taste and texture is enormous.
Local stuff in season is the only way to go.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by Stuart M
Don't but in air freighted food and buy British.......what the producers will start to do is use heated greenhouses/poly tunnels to extend the seasons and this produces more C02 that air freight!
Another misconception is that brown paper bags are better than plastic - when you factor in all the production and pollution costs then plastic can be better than paper!
It's not as simple as it may seem, also the UK can't support itself in for food so what do we do.
From a taste perspective local food, picked when ripe tastes generally tastes much better than forced/imported food. The Xmas strawberry's generally look good but taste of nothing and not worth the ££. But I'll generally kill (or spend ££££) to taste the first Jersey Royals of the season. (As an aside my grandmother, and many other pensioners who had little money would happily pay the same or more per pound then steak for Jerseys when they came out- but they had to be small)
Also starting to experiment with preserving, pickles, bottling etc. The key here seems to be additives can be your friend (Vit C, Citric Acid, Xanthian & Guar gum, Alginates etc)
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by Rico
quote:
Okay, currently, but don't we have the capability to produce more?
is this not related to the "nobody builds/makes/does anything in Britain", anymore? While everyone's been pulled into working in call centres or made redundant from microprocessor factories, the skills to employ crop rotation and the will to get dirty working in the fields has surely been lost. So even if the land that might have been available to produce crops hadn't been turned into super-centres, commercial parks, or housing estates, there's nobody to farm it anyway. I mean, imagine the Chav reaction - "make us peasants?".
Posted on: 01 June 2007 by Deane F
quote:
Originally posted by Stuart M:
also the UK can't support itself in for food so what do we do.
You poor buggers. Guess it isn't as simple as the topic starter suggests then.
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by Mick P
Chaps
I travel on the train between Swindon and London about once a week and there are acres upon acres of fields left to grass. I dare say we could grow more veg if we wanted to and we could certainly become more self sufficient. It is probably a case of not being economically worthwhile.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 02 June 2007 by Tam
