Food politics, business and culture.

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    Old Time Harvest Festivals

    Old Time Harvest Festivals harvest festival corn dolly kern baby corn lady plough monday harvest shout Nick Henley In times past these festivals were more of a pagan celebration. Apart from being a time for hard work, harvest was a time full of mysticism and ritual Read More

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    A Brief History of the Organic Movement

    A Brief History of the Organic Movement organic food organic movement history Soil Association UK Soil Association Food Heritage food and culture food culture society and food culinary history culinary heritage history of food british food history traditional food food tradition food practices food events symbolic food food symbolism food ritual meal ocassions Food Issues… Read More

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    Jasmine Tea

    It’s a safe bet that many people in Britain have drunk jasmine tea – assuming that they have eaten in a Chinese restaurant at some point in their lives and at least tried tea with their meal. Jasmine tea in fact goes very well with all food, not just Chinese, but this sadly does not… Read More

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    China Tea

    Tea drinking and cultivation originated in China and for almost 2,000 years was grown nowhere else. Exactly when the Chinese First discovered the useful properties of the camellia sinensis plant is uncertain but by 200 AD it was undoubtedly under cultivation. In 1644 the first tea was sold to British merchants and over the next… Read More

    The history of tea production in china
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    Not All Olive Oils Are Created Equal

    An extra virgin is an extra virgin is an extra virgin? Not so. But before we venture any further, what is an ‘extra virgin’? In 1991 European lawmakers adopted what had been Italian standard regulation for almost a century: they designated as ‘virgin’ an oil obtained straight from the olive only by mechanical means, and… Read More

    Not all olive oils are created equal - all about extra virgin olive oil
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    Droplets of Blue Blood

    Who would have known? Vinegar, created by an entirely natural process in which alcohol is turned into acetic acid, was once the wretched spoils of our home-made wine gone sour and the sad relics of the village winemakers’ failure. But here in Modena, in the heart of the region of Northern Italy that has given… Read More

    Balsamic Vinegar