The Culture Surrounding What We Eat

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    A Hotel Breakfast Survival Guide

    Having stayed in one or two hotels over the last month or so, I have been sufficiently traumatised by the breakfast experience to write a survival guide for others. Going to a hotel (indeed choosing one in the first place) is intertwined with the prospect of a lovely breakfast. If it’s a foreign hotel (not… Read More

    Photo of scrambled eggs, spinach and baked beans with wholemeal toast
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    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… Read More

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    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… Read More

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    Home Grown Pleasure

    Growing vegetables in your garden is a pleasure, but is it sustainable or even worthwhile? Read More

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    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… Read More

    Vegetarian sausage ingredients lack flavour
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    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… Read More

    Osiris receives gifts
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    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… Read More

    James Dyson FArm of the Future
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    A Brief History of the Organic Movement

    A Brief History of the Organic Movement and Soil Association in the UK. About the original ambitions. Read More

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    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. Read More

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    Jasmine Tea

    Jasmine flowers are picked in the morning before they open to release their scent. Read More