-
Category > Future
Higher Welfare
I read with horror today (March 2026), how China has developed high-rise pig farms, dubbed ‘pig skyscrapers’. Having searched this term, I now find an article from 3 years ago concerning the same story (Guardian Story about pig skyscrapers). Now I am wondering why I am horrified. The world’s biggest pig farm is 26 storeys high. Located in Hubei, China, it was developed to ‘save land’ and to have integrated breeding, rearing and slaughter within…
-
Category > Present
Modern Day Foraging: an extreme sport
Often, the weekly shop is characterised as a mad rush. It’s most people’s least favourite chore. As my mother would say growing up, “let’s get in and out as quickly as we can”. I always assumed that this approach was a cost saving strategy: the less amount of time spent browsing meant the less ‘impulse buys’ purchased. For me, this is always a bunch of bananas, which invariably end up in a banana bread after…
-
Category > Present
The Search for a Tasty Tomato
It’s November in London. A pretty typical grey and chilly day, with a south-easterly breeze. From the fridge emerge the most beautiful looking plum tomatoes; the perfect complement to my egg and bacon. Some minutes later I am completely underwhelmed by the tomato and I sigh, as I know this is always the case with supermarket tomatoes in November. But then I think again and realise they’re like that practically all year. What can I…
-
Category > Present
Home Grown Pleasure
Growing vegetables in your garden is a pleasure, but is it sustainable or even worthwhile?
-
Category > Present
An Unsatisfactory ‘Sausage’ Experience
Looking for something other than a cheese sandwich for lunch, I found 3 remaining vegetarian sausages in the fridge that had been left there by one of our daughters and needed eating. Now I wonder why I ate them. Linda McCartney’s vegetarian foods has been around for a long time; since 1991 the label tells me. Linda was ridiculed as being a bit ‘cranky’ back in the 1970s , but is probably having the last…
-
Category > Present
Real world struggles played out in personal psycho dramas
Recent reports from the EU tell of European ministers pulling back from ecological policies in the face of demonstrations by farmers. There are two explanations I’ve read, both quite different, but both very powerful and insightful. Both very real. One comment explained that retailers, driven by the demand for cheap food, drive-down what they are prepared to pay farmers and import at even lower prices from around the world. Thus farmers are left in an…
-
A Thoughtful Tour of Britain’s Best
Rick Stein is back on our screens, this time with his eponymous Rick Stein’s Food Stories, which is now running on BBC iPlayer (February 2024). Twelve episodes set as far north as Argyl, east to Lincolnshire and back west to his beloved Cornwall, where it all started, give Rick the chance to ask the right questions, eat a lot of good food and also to cast his mind back to previous visits and how things…
-
Category > Past
A Brief History of the Organic Movement
A Brief History of the Organic Movement and Soil Association in the UK. About the original ambitions.
-
Category > Past
Old Time Harvest Festivals
In times past harvest festivals were more of a pagan celebration. Apart from being a time for hard work, harvest was a time full of mysticism and ritual.
-
Category > Past
Jasmine Tea
Jasmine flowers are picked in the morning before they open to release their scent.
The Culture Surrounding What We Eat
