Hello, I’m Steve, a.k.a. the Circus Gardener, a self taught cook and an organic grower of fruit and vegetables.

This blog aims to fulfill two purposes.

Firstly, I want to show that vegetarian food can be delicious, exciting and nutritious.

Secondly, and equally importantly, I want this blog to be about the politics of food.

There is so much that is out of balance in the way we produce, distribute, regulate, package, buy, sell and discard the food we consume. I am passionate about the quality of the food that we eat and I deplore the limited variety and standardisation of shape, texture and taste presented to us through commercialised food mass production and marketing, and the destruction of natural resources that producing such food often entails.

“Circus Gardener” was originally an insult directed at me many years ago by a neighbouring allotment keeper, who took an irrational dislike to my organic gardening techniques.  The term was intended to imply that I didn’t know what I was doing. It may have been true at first, but I soon found that the more you grow your own food the more you learn – after all, seeds are pre-programmed to turn into plants and our role as gardeners is simply to help them along the way.

Anyway, I decided that the term “Circus Gardener” was far too good be left as a mere term of abuse so I happily embraced it as my nom de plume.

I do hope you enjoy reading this blog, that it will provide occasional food for thought and that you will be tempted to try out some of the recipes.