Growing and cooking the way forward.

Its been a very interesting food week for me. First I was out and about at the Camden Palace at an art exhibition. I was chatting about food for a change and a I mentioned how I would like to move the blog eventually to a “grow and cook” blog.Well someone was listining,I was handed a book called Grow and Cook by Brian Tucker, As Nora who gave me the book also runs Walnutbooks I figured should do a book review.



So here goes. Oh ya before I go on about the book my other interesting food event was that a co-worker of mine went on a holiday home to Hungary. I asked her to bring me back truffles if she could find some. So thanks Agnus, I’ve now got fresh truffles! But more about them in the future.

Back to Grow and Cook. It is a no fuss guide by Brian Tucker. It is a cookery and gardening book combined in one. Nothing too elaborate though, no photographs or images. Once I started though, I couldn’t stop reading, and for me that’s saying something as I rarely finish a book from start to finish. He gave great tips, such as  don’t bother with asparagus or spuds if you don’t have loads of space. It gave practical no hassle guide to growing and cooking all kind of foods that I’ve never tried, for instance jerusalem artichokes. The book explains best ways to grow, harvest and preserve and a simple recipe or two with everything from artichoke to water-cress and every thing alphabetically organized in between.

Whats in your FOOD

Not all food manufacturers are as open as this guy is about what is in his food.

Manufacturers have clear business reasons for every additive that they add to their processed food products. Here’s a general run-down of the most prevalent ones, along with specific examples of how they are listed on food labels:
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* Preservatives help improve shelf-life of products so that products can be sold longer and don’t spoil as fast. Common examples include sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sulfites, BHA and BHT.
* Food coloring can make foods look tastier, or make food look like other products that consumers are already used to. Currently, the FDA has approved several artificial colorings, identified by their code including E133 (blue), E129 (red), E110 (orange), E102 (yellow), and E143 (bluish-green)
* Saturated fats oftentimes enhance texture and hold foods together – such as in pie crusts and baked goods. These fats are more resistant to oxidation, making it the preferred shelf-stable replacement for polyunsaturated fats. With the invention of the plant oil hydrogenation process, industrially-produced shortenings have become even cheaper – though this process also generates harmful transfats.
Typical examples of saturated fats are palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cotton seed oil.
* Flavor enhancers such as salt and MSG (aka monosodium glutamate) can overcome weak taste profiles of frozen or fat-free foods. Check the food label for other enhancers such as diglutamates and guanylates.
* Artificial sweeteners are key ingredients of low-cal foods that substitute table sugar (sucrose) or high-fructose corn syrup with unnatural compounds that taste sweet but aren’t recognized and processed by the body. Saccharin, aspartame (NutraSweet), sucralose (Splenda), and more recently stevia are examples that you may be familiar with.
* High-fructose corn syrup is added to sweeten virtually all processed foods not designated as low-carb, or low-cal, because of its comparatively low price and favorable properties for blending and transport.
* Fillers – for example those made from ground corn cobs – increase the portion bulk, making meals look bigger without adding additional expense. The downside is that they don’t add any minerals and vitamins so essential for our bodies.

Welcome to another Mid-Week Rant

What set me off on this weeks Rant was an article in the Sunday Times about salt content in Cornflakes .
One ounce of cornflakes contains more than 200 milligrams of sodium, even before you add milk.Crisps vary from manufacturer to manufacture , but generally they contain between 120 and 180 milligrams of sodium per ounce.Most of the high blood pressure generating sodium in our diet is hidden in processed foods we never think of as salty. Soups are especially loaded with sodium.

Don't think your getting a better product because your buying a brand named processed food, the bigger own brand foods have even higher levels of salt than the own cheaper super market in house stuff.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/04/salt-levels-food-supermarket-brands


I think the greatest bit of advise I've seen around .

Don't Eat What You See on TV

Food sovereignty is the principle that people have the right to define their own food and agriculture system.Food Inc

In this Midweek Rant I'd like to recommend a documentary that is not just well made documentary but also has compelling content.

This documentary talks about the everyday dilemma of whether to buy expensive/good or cheap/crap food and how this juxtaposition has come about.

Its shows how the ordinary farmer is now a slave to the multinational companies.

The film doesn’t directly talk about organic or vegetarian ideas, but it’s putting forward the idea of farming as we did in Ireland in the 70's and how much it has changed.

We hear first hand from farmers, how heavy handed Monsanto [corporation] is breaking them one by one, and how government is biased to big producers of food and make it hard to be a small food producer.

Sometimes I have to remind myself why I should by from local producers, and this film gives good reasons why it’s for your own good you should buy from local and  small  producers.

The documentary is made for the American market but the EU is going down this road in its own way.

He’d noticed that sex bore some resemblance to cookery:

Iv decided Im going to do a mid week rant and yest its Thursday but its a midish week rant so here we go with my quote of the week.

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

*He’d noticed that sex bore some resemblance to cookery: It fascinated people, they sometimes bought books full of complicated recipes and interesting pictures, and sometimes when they were really hungry they created vast banquets in their imagination—but at the end of the day they’d settle quite happily for egg and chips, if it was well done and maybe had a slice of tomato.

How true we dream of amazing things and end up having  a sandwich .

So for you who despair of mega Supper Markets and no control over our food sources, farmers going out of business because they are losing money on there produce. Well watch this man as he struggles to set up an alternative supper market.
Its a really great documentary series and shows how we struggle between quality and price for our every day supplies.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-peoples-supermarket/4od#3160796

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0epnL49Fyc

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