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Our food future: should we put the world in our mouth? Geoff Tansey |
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In transition – Towards a new expectation of food Rosemary Moon |
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Weathering the perfect storm – Food writers facing the food crisis Silvija Davidson |
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Is the future of weight management a diet phone? Joan Ransley |
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Slow, Slow, Quick Quick Slow! Charles Campion |
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Cook It Raw 2, Winter Was Hard Carla Capalbo |
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The Frankenfood that improves you Alex Renton |
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Food Policy: What About Food Realities Georgia Machell |
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Abdominal Obesity Again Linked With Increased Risk Of Dementia John Briffa |
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The Future of Food: who makes the choices for our planet and our pockets? Liz Barling |
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Book Review: Real England: The Battle Against the Bland by Paul Kingsnorth Nicholas Lezard |
This issue is dedicated to the Future of Food, be it in the UK or elsewhere in the world. The subject is of global pertinence, brought to the fore here by many Guild members including Geoff Tansey, Alex Renton, Silvija Davidson, Joan Ransley, Carla Capalbo, Rosemary Moon and Charles Campion.
Liz Barling from the Food Ethics Council contributes too to these cyber pages alongside Georgia Machell, a student of Professor Tim Lang’s at City Lit, with her take on current food policy. Dr John Briffa, a regular contributor, tackles a worldwide growing problem: abdominal obesity. I don’t think he had in mind what Alex Renton discloses in his Future of Food article: ‘become slim while you guzzle: pizza and beer to help you lose weight. Drinks, snack bars and foods containing encapsulated liquids that turn to fibre in your stomach, slowing the “transit time” of food through your system and giving an illusion of being full’. Some of the pieces have a length to them which may require revisiting, these meaty reads worthy of attention. I make no apology for their wordiness: to cut would have been an insult to these passionate, informed writers. So bear with them. Thank you, contributors, for your time and expertise.
To bring it closer to home, I throw in the controversial thought that the British would eat better if they cared as much about food – quality over quantity, local over global – as our European cousins. Traditional foods that grow well locally over the rest of the world produce are key to a more stable economy and encourage people to be more aware of their heritage and what they are eating – and hopefully cooking, the cult of the ready meal and the takeaway frightening in its grip on the nation. No less than 350 takeaways fill the streets of Portsmouth, for example. The French, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Portuguese measure freshness in hours, the British in weeks. The uniform business rate, a tax levied by central government nationwide, jeopardises small businesses and allows the march of the supermarkets to go unchecked. A home-grown awareness start is one way to help consumers recognise global issues and that food is not a commodity to be played with, leftovers a thing of beauty over waste.
Do have your say: write to Richard Ehrlich (ehrlichrm@aol.com) who is taking over as Editor of Savour. After five years on the committee I am moving on. I have enjoyed the challenge and thank you for going with all the changes to Savour during this time: from newsletter to printed magazine to online magazine. With heartfelt thanks to Jonathan Woods and to all those on past and present committees.
Carol Godsmark
Our food future: should we put the world in our mouth? Geoff Tansey
Summary of the King’s College Ethics lecture delivered by Geoff Tansey on 19 January 2010 edited by Silvija Davidson
In transition – Towards a new expectation of food Rosemary Moon
Quote: ‘ I do believe that all councils should have to provide a free market place for the trading of local foods, properly serviced and for the good of the local economy.’
Weathering the perfect storm – Food writers facing the food crisis Silvija Davidson
'…… food writers hold a crucial key in establishing the true value of food: this may involve exposing the often hidden costs of food or highlighting the qualities and potential of sound, sustainable, fairly traded produce – as not a few do already.'
Liz Barling from the Food Ethics Council contributes too to these cyber pages alongside Georgia Machell, a student of Professor Tim Lang’s at City Lit, with her take on current food policy. Dr John Briffa, a regular contributor, tackles a worldwide growing problem: abdominal obesity. I don’t think he had in mind what Alex Renton discloses in his Future of Food article: ‘become slim while you guzzle: pizza and beer to help you lose weight. Drinks, snack bars and foods containing encapsulated liquids that turn to fibre in your stomach, slowing the “transit time” of food through your system and giving an illusion of being full’. Some of the pieces have a length to them which may require revisiting, these meaty reads worthy of attention. I make no apology for their wordiness: to cut would have been an insult to these passionate, informed writers. So bear with them. Thank you, contributors, for your time and expertise.
To bring it closer to home, I throw in the controversial thought that the British would eat better if they cared as much about food – quality over quantity, local over global – as our European cousins. Traditional foods that grow well locally over the rest of the world produce are key to a more stable economy and encourage people to be more aware of their heritage and what they are eating – and hopefully cooking, the cult of the ready meal and the takeaway frightening in its grip on the nation. No less than 350 takeaways fill the streets of Portsmouth, for example. The French, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Portuguese measure freshness in hours, the British in weeks. The uniform business rate, a tax levied by central government nationwide, jeopardises small businesses and allows the march of the supermarkets to go unchecked. A home-grown awareness start is one way to help consumers recognise global issues and that food is not a commodity to be played with, leftovers a thing of beauty over waste.
Do have your say: write to Richard Ehrlich (ehrlichrm@aol.com) who is taking over as Editor of Savour. After five years on the committee I am moving on. I have enjoyed the challenge and thank you for going with all the changes to Savour during this time: from newsletter to printed magazine to online magazine. With heartfelt thanks to Jonathan Woods and to all those on past and present committees.
Carol Godsmark
Our food future: should we put the world in our mouth? Geoff Tansey
Summary of the King’s College Ethics lecture delivered by Geoff Tansey on 19 January 2010 edited by Silvija DavidsonIn transition – Towards a new expectation of food Rosemary Moon
Quote: ‘ I do believe that all councils should have to provide a free market place for the trading of local foods, properly serviced and for the good of the local economy.’
Weathering the perfect storm – Food writers facing the food crisis Silvija Davidson
'…… food writers hold a crucial key in establishing the true value of food: this may involve exposing the often hidden costs of food or highlighting the qualities and potential of sound, sustainable, fairly traded produce – as not a few do already.'