As I write this post it is a week since the momentous decision of the UK electorate to vote to leave the European Union (“Brexit”). In the run up to the referendum both the “Vote Leave” and the “Vote Remain” camps led disgracefully shallow and misleading campaigns. As someone who is proudly European and who sees immigration as a positive cultural influence, I was particularly dismayed at the barely concealed […]
As I write this post, repercussions from the UK chancellor’s March budget statement continue to make the news. George Osborne’s budget not only triggered a ministerial resignation it also exposed rifts within the governing Conservative party over an economic doctrine that produces tax cuts for the rich at the expense of benefits for the poor and disabled. But when the dust has died down, what might well emerge from this […]
This is the time of year when we gardeners like to indulge ourselves by browsing through seed catalogues and deciding what we want to grow in the year ahead. A proportion of the vegetable seeds I will be sowing this year are seeds I have saved from last season’s vegetables, all of them heritage (“true seed”) varieties. Some vegetable seeds are easy to collect, for example beans, peas, tomatoes and […]
A bizarre, but also deeply disturbing, battle over food labelling has been waged across the USA over the past couple of years. On the one hand are consumer groups who believe US citizens have the right to know whether the food they buy contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). On the other are the very companies responsible for putting GMOs into food who do not want US citizens to know if […]
A large proportion of the fruit and vegetables I grow on my allotment plot are so-called heritage varieties. In other words, I can save the seeds from the best of each year’s crop and sow them again the following year and expect to get pretty much the same plant again. Quite a few of the heritage varieties I grow are illegal to buy or sell, not because there is anything […]
Many nations and regions have contributed unique and wonderful styles of cuisine to the world, and in my view the uniqueness of those contributions is something to celebrate. However, as globalisation marches on, interconnecting more and more parts of the world, so it is that our culinary preferences appear to shrink correspondingly, towards homogeneity and mediocrity. How depressing it is, for example, to think that there is a McDonald’s in […]
About three months ago I began working as a volunteer on a community gardening project close to where I live. Situated on the edge of Worcester racecourse, the Old North Stables Teaching and Display Garden was set up to provide an opportunity for people to learn sustainable gardening practices and to share knowledge and skills. By the time I joined the project, a number of volunteers had worked hard to […]
Is it possible that the tide is beginning to turn against fast food? Last month global fast-food mongers Pepsico and Kraft both posted a huge drop in profits for the first quarter of 2015. Business may be looking bad for them, but their troubles have been overshadowed by those of the global burger chain McDonald’s. It reported an 11% decrease in revenue and a 30% drop in profit for the […]
We live in a world where choosing to eat healthily is becoming more and more of a challenge. Everywhere, it seems, we are surrounded by cheap, processed and unhealthy foods, many of which are causing our bodies harm – it is diet that is the principle cause of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Treating type 2 diabetes already costs the UK’s NHS a massive £9 billion per […]
This post represents a departure from the usual format of posts on my blog. Instead of the typical, barely-controlled rant about some aspect of the food industry to which I happen to have taken exception, I am instead posting a short video showing me gathering the wild garlic used in this recipe and then creating the dish. The video was filmed and edited by the very talented Luke Smith of […]
An unavoidable challenge for any gardener is the problem of what to do about weeds, by which I mean plants which grow persistently in places you don’t want them. For me, weeding is a pretty routine task on my allotment plot, the Circus Garden, but for one of the other plot holders on my site it is something of a special occasion. On the days he tackles his weeds he […]
Many years ago a friend of mine used to wear a tee-shirt emblazoned with a native American proverb. It said, “when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money”. There are some things – food, water, air – that we literally cannot live without, but our lives have become so sophisticated that it […]