Britons 'lacking food patriotism'

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Britons 'lacking food patriotism'
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ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 11:17 am Post subject:

bagpuss wrote:

I certainly have spoken to people about this my generally impression though it would be no potatoes not less potatoes which I don't necessarily want!

The issue I have never seen a way round with the box schemes while it will probably provide most of what I need it will rarely provide everything which means I still have to go out and buy veg elsewhere which kind of makes it lose its incentive!

I think the best kind of box schemes are the ones where you can pick a box if you want to and then be able to choose extra fruit and vegetables if you wish to, so providing the majority of your needs. It's also nice to have the option to not have the box at all but just choose what you want on a weekly basis, with the downside that it'll cost more.

I'm training myself to like more vegetables and be a bit more seasonal cos I'd got into a vegetable rut buying the same ones week in week out, pretty much throughout the year, so the box scheme helps a lot with that.

As for potatoes, a kilo is quite a small quantity to me, even with only two of us in the house, we can easily eat that in a week and still be having rice or pasta based meals a few times. Maybe you have below average potato consumption?

crackapple

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Posts: 204
Location: teeside

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 11:38 am Post subject:

ele wrote:

I'm training myself to like more vegetables

Me too, i've never been much of a veg lover, i'm mainly carnivore but i love growing them. what i wont eat though is foreign apples! i will wait for the english season or my own to ripen. my wife buys tastless apples all the year round for the little one, unfortunately its the price you pay for the 5 portions a day.

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 11:44 am Post subject:

crackapple wrote:

I've been playing apple roulette with my veg box apples they're not labelled or anything and there's sometimes two or three varieties in each box. I've learnt to take a tentative bite to see if it's for cooking or eating. Some of the eating ones have been amazing but I've no idea what they are. The cooking ones are rather nice after a quick "bake" in the microwave with some sugar, cinnamon and sultanas

It's interesting about the five a day thing. If you were to do it with solely british food I guess you'd have to eat more veg proportionally, and most of the fruit throughout the year would come from preserves. I'm more than happy to eat apples only in season, but I'd miss bananas, not to mention citrus fruits in winter.

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:03 pm Post subject:

ele wrote:

We eat potatoes maybe once, maybe twice a week and so we go through 500g maybe 750g tops

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:04 pm Post subject:

Twoscoops wrote:

Just because somebody is producing traditional regional specialities doesn�t necessarily mean they are using local produce. Note: There are many people in this country who make a good living from adding value to seasonal, local, produce.

Yeh, I'd like to do that (make a good living from....)

It really pissed me off when I looked round the food section of the shop in the Gretna Green Visitor centre (owner champions local art / sculpture, and Scottishness is supposed to be really important) only to find that most of the jam, chutney and other preserves were made made elsewhere - mostly on industrial estates in England, and labelled with twee rural brand names, or else from much further north - B*x****, for example.

Perhaps there's an opportunity there - been thinking about this for a while.

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:37 pm Post subject:
Annoying, isn�t it? Look at a pack of Ye Olde West Country Fayre Fudge in any gift shop in Cornwall. The manufacturer puts the postcode on the back and it�s usually in Fife. You can make a living from it, no doubt, but you would need to be aware that the road to riches in that game is long and arduous. That�s not to say that you wouldn�t have a more fulfilling life.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:39 pm Post subject:
I was in devon a few weeks ago, stayed at a pub/b&b that displayed in the window a sticker "Best of the West, fine food and drink from the west country" The only beer that was local was Dartmoor IPA (sold out the 2nd night), they had Strongbow cider and that was about it as far as I could tell, even the butter on my toast was from Ireland

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:40 pm Post subject:
Starnge - all the fudge in Northumberland is made in Devon with a postcard of Seahouses stuck on the front.

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:45 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

I was in devon a few weeks ago, stayed at a pub/b&b that displayed in the window a sticker "Best of the West, fine food and drink from the west country" The only beer that was local was Dartmoor IPA (sold out the 2nd night), they had Strongbow cider and that was about it as far as I could tell, even the butter on my toast was from Ireland

I take it the beer survey was purely for research

Doesn't it make you mad, though? But it isn't jsut us Brits who are guilty of it. I was in a Savoyard restaurant in Lyon a few years ago and we decided that we hadn't drunk nearly enough and ordered some liqueurs. There was a Cognac on the menu, and when they brought the bottle it was a Spanish brandy. When I (regrettably/stupidly/arrogantly*) commented that Cognac can only come from Cognac the owner spent about five minutes extolling the virtues of this particular brand, and I had to stop him from opening a bottle of VSOP to demonstrate.

*apply as appropriate

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:48 pm Post subject:

[quote="Twoscoops"]

tahir wrote:

Ithey had Strongbow cider and that was about it as far as I could tellquote]

Where's Strongbow from? Is it Hereford?

Whereabouts in Devon, T?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:52 pm Post subject:
Harberton

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 12:54 pm Post subject:

Twoscoops wrote:

I take it the beer survey was purely for research

Actually I had a half of Spitfire

Anyway I spoke to the owner, his explanation was that his wife who does the ordering is German so nothing's local for her

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 1:01 pm Post subject:
Floyd's old gaff is just down the road at Tuckenhay and now has a good reputation, I believe.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 1:05 pm Post subject:
I'm going again tomorrow, staying in Dartington this time, thought I might go in to Totnes to eat (this b&b is owned by the same bloke)

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 1:09 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

I'm going again tomorrow, staying in Dartington this time, thought I might go in to Totnes to eat (this b&b is owned by the same bloke)

Well you're a glutton for it, no? Maybe you could pop into the library and pick up the Good Pub Guide. But a man of your means could also pop down the New Angel in Dartmouth.

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