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Our Daily Bread: A Taster
2008-04-28 18:20:00
Our Daily Bread is a film about the modern food industry that’s been described as “The 2001: A Space Odyssey of modern food production”, despite its direct depiction of the truth behind the food we eat. Shot without any commentary, director Nikolaus Geyrhalter told the Guardian he simply wanted his audience to reflect on the complicated ...
More About: Our Daily Bread

Supermarkets and the Prevention, Distortion and Restriction of Competition
2007-10-31 23:53:00
The Competition Commission's provisional findings include real criticism of supermarket practices with suggested remedies that might just tackle some of the problems. But suggested changes to the planning system would be nothing less than a bonanza for the larger retailers and spell disaster for town centres and the small independent operators.
More About: Prevention , Distortion , Supermarkets , Strict

Foot and Mouth?s Dread Return
2007-09-13 16:02:00
Just when it all seemed to be mercifully over, foot and mouth disease has returned in the UK. Keeping up with foot and mouth developments.
More About: Mouth , Return , Foot , Foot and Mouth

Introducing FeedReel
2007-09-11 17:52:00
FeedReel helps its users to access the wealth of information and resources about food and drink on the web. The latest blog posts, news stories and features about food in the UK are gathered from around the web for constantly updated summaries of food on the web now. FeedReel also provides a custom search of carefully selected food blogs and sites, with options to refine the search to blogs or specific topics.

Tagged for a blog meme: the Fantastic Four
2007-08-16 17:21:00
My answers to the Fantastic Four blog meme questions
More About: Meme , Blog , Tagged

Making Sense of Foot and Mouth
2007-08-08 12:52:00
The re-emergence of foot and mouth disease in the UK last Friday is a tragedy, most of all for the blameless farmers who have seen their livestock struck down, but also for livestock farmers across the country; the meat trade, from hauliers and abattoirs to butchers and pie-makers; rural tourism businesses; and everyone who enjoys ...
More About: Sense , Mouth , Maki , Foot , Makin

Harvesting rapeseed: black seeds for golden oil
2007-08-03 12:19:00
Early August and the harvest of the winter sown oilseed rape (Brassica napus, its edible varieties also known as canola) is well underway in the UK. Rape is combine harvested to yield its tiny black seeds, destined to be crushed to produce oil for food, industrial uses and, increasingly, biofuels. A growing number of farmers are cold pressing the seeds themselves to produce extra-virgin rapeseed oil.
More About: Black , Harvest , Golden , Lack , Seed

Amazon gets fresh
2007-08-02 23:57:00
Amazon.com has today announced a new venture: AmazonFresh will be delivering fresh (and frozen and “shelf-stable”) foods, ordered online, to households in Seattle. The foods available will include “highest-quality fresh fruits and vegetables” and a “leading assortment of natural, organic, and specialty brands”. Some of the produce is described as “farm-fresh” but there’s no further ...
More About: Amazon

Search more UK food blogs
2007-07-20 20:09:00
The UK Food Blog Search searches over 140 blogs, all looking at some aspect of food in the UK. Between them these blogs represent an enormous democratic wealth of information and opinion on ingredients, recipes, restaurants, shops and more.
More About: Blogs

Cherry plums: a promise fulfilled
2007-07-20 17:27:00
Cherry plums are back in season, ripening on hedgerow and garden trees across Britain. The fruit are versatile and delicious. Taste and texture, like the colour, vary between trees, but most of the fruit are excellent eaten raw. They can be substituted for plums in jams, chutneys and other recipes, or pressed for their sweet juice.
More About: Cherry , Promise , Plum

Missing May
2007-05-29 15:26:00
May has almost passed without a single post to the Tracing Paper. The birth of our second daughter on April 28th has given me plenty to do besides. I’ll resume regular postings to the Tracing Paper once our expanded family finds a settled routine in a few weeks (or months?). Meanwhile, other bloggers have been celebrating ...
More About: Missing , Missi

Garlic from the hedgerow
2007-04-27 15:49:00
Hedge Garlic (Alliara petiola) is one of the earliest fresh spring greens of the hedgerow, its bright green garlicky leaves appearing from February and at their best as the plant flowers in April and May. Otherwise known as garlic mustard or Jack-by-the-hedge, it has a more delicate, but nonetheless distinctly oniony, aroma and flavour than ...
More About: Edge , Hedge , Arli , Hedger

Know your crops
2007-04-27 11:59:00
Ever wondered just what’s growing in the fields? Most crops are grown for food - either for us or for animals - but how do the crops in the fields relate to the food on our plates? Some crops - potatoes, carrots, onions - are easily identified, especially close to harvest and by anyone who grows ...
More About: Know , Crop , Crops

St George?s mushrooms, a sublime taste of Spring
2007-04-23 20:45:00
St George ’s Day and my thoughts turn inevitably to St George’s mushrooms. It’s the traditional start of the season for these chunky, creamy Spring mushrooms (Tricholama gambosum). St Georges may be less well known than ceps, girolles or morels, but they definitely rank amongst the finest wild mushrooms, with a firm texture, appealing mealy smell ...
More About: Mushrooms , Mushroom , Ring

Food in season in 1861
2007-04-22 00:53:00
What was in season 146 years ago? Here’s Mrs Beeton’s list of Things in Seas on in April (each food links to a search of food bloggers’ thoughts and recipes). Fish Brill Carp Cockles Crabs Dory Flounders Ling Lobsters Red mullet Gray mullet Mussels Oyster Perch Prawns Salmon Shad Shrimps Skate Smelts Soles Tench Turbot Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Poultry Chickens Ducklings Fowls Leverets Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Game Hares Vegetables Broccoli Celery Lettuces Young onions Parsnips Radishes Small salad Sea kale Spinach Sprouts Various herbs Fruit Apples Nuts Pears Forced cherries Rhubarb Diced fruits Crystallized preserves - (Source - Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management 1861 - Mrs Beeton on amazon.com / amazon.co.uk)
More About: Food

Milk - what does it cost and where is it from?
2007-04-19 12:34:00
Two weeks ago, Tesco was widely praised in the media for announcing two initiatives: To increase the price UK dairy farmers receive for milk, while not raising the price of standard milk to consumers; and to introduce a higher priced “localchoice” milk from smaller local producers. But yesterday’s Guardian attributed the surprise rise in UK ...
More About: Milk , Cost , Here , Where

Alexanders, a forgotten vegetable
2007-04-15 12:33:00
One of England’s forgotten vegetables, Alex anders are at their most magnificent in April, their stately stems thick and tall on verges and grassy banks. Alexa nders (Smyrnium olusatrum) love the coast and grow in greatest profusion within a few miles of the sea, though isolated patches thrive even far inland, often close to monastic sites, where ...
More About: Vegetable , Tabl , Alexander

Rapeseed, a golden oil from yellow fields
2007-04-12 11:54:00
The intense gold of cold-pressed rapeseed oil (otherwise known as canola oil) reflects the still yellowing spring fields of oilseed rape. My earlier post described how some farmers are now producing distinctive cold-pressed rapeseed oil, with clear provenance, from their oilseed crops, but the oil itself deserves more attention. Like extra virgin olive oil, cold ...
More About: Yellow , Rape , Field , Fields , Golden

UK Food Blog Search
2007-04-10 16:52:00
Having just discovered Google Co-op, I’ve created a custom search of UK food blogs (using Trig’s comprehensive list at the UK Food Blog gers’ Association). It’s useful for finding recipes, checking views on ingredients, restaurants etc, looking for local references and more. Try it here or at the UK Food Blog Search homepage.

What is seasonal food?
2007-04-10 12:53:00
Sometimes the simplest words turn out to hide concepts of thorny complexity. Putting together my seasonal food cloud for April, I struggled with the question of whether to include Mediterranean oranges. Oranges are one of the joys of winter and early spring, especially the peculiarly sharp sweetness of Sicilian blood oranges. But should they really be ...
More About: Food , Seasonal , Seas , Sona

The yellowing countryside
2007-04-05 12:46:00
No crop dominates the British arable landscape quite like rapeseed (Brassica napus, also known as oilseed rape, the edible variety as canola). From the very beginning of April, previously mundane green fields of this member of the cabbage and turnip family suddenly erupt into luminous flower. Across lowland England, great swathes of countryside are painted ...
More About: Yellow , Wing , Side , Count , Yell

Seasonal food cloud for April
2007-04-03 12:26:00
Seasonal food cloud for April (, 513k) - now available to download for easy reference and printing. Ideal for your fridge, noticeboard or back pocket! Seasonal food can’t be bettered - it’s fresher, tastier, often more local and cheaper. The supermarkets may have tried their hardest to break our relationship with the seasons, offering every type of ...
More About: Food , Seasonal , Loud , Cloud

Understanding identification marks
2007-04-02 14:13:00
If you buy meat - or fish, milk, cheese or any food produced from or by an animal - in the European Union, you should find an oval symbol like this somewhere on the packaging. This example is from a Tesco own-label apple turnover. What is it and what does it mean? More fundamentally, why does ...
More About: Mark , Marks , Understand , Standing , Under