Radio Cumbria, after hearing about my dismay at the tie-up between Slow Food UK and the supermarket chain, Booths, invited me to share my thoughts with the listeners to their Breakfast Show this morning and to my surprise they asked Slow Food’s Chief Executive, Catherine Gazzoli to discuss the subject with me. Catherine is the feisty, dynamic, bundle of energy who has done so much to transform the fortunes of Slow Food since she took up the reigns (see my posting of February 4th).
She explained that 25% of Booth’s food products are now locally supplied and that they are at the vanguard among supermarkets in supporting local suppliers. Catherine lives in London, after moving from America and from that perspective I can fully understand why she is so impressed with what Booths offers. But Booths is a supermarket who can only survive by competing with Tesco’s and Morrisons which means that the great bulk of what they sell is junk which does not, by any stretch of the imagination meet the Slow Food criteria of Good, Clean and Fair. And in Cumbria, unlike in London or America, there are still lots and lots of independent butchers, greengrocers, bakers, farm shops and farmer’s markets which undoubtedly do supply food which is wholly Good Clean and Fair. Which is why, to all those independent traders, the news of the tie-in with Booths must have come as a slap in the face.
Archive for April, 2010
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
A Slap in the Face from Booths
Monday, April 26th, 2010
The Swifts have Arrived
The sun was warm but the wind was chill
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes over the frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.
Robert Frost
The first thing I do when I unwrap Country Life on a Wednesday evening is turn to the inside back page and read Carla Carlisle’s column. She never disappoints. I’m indebted to her for this stanza from Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Two Tramps in Mud Time’. Spring may be late and erratic this year, but the swifts have arrived at Damson Dene dead on time as usual. I suppose that when they set off from Africa, or wherever they have spent the winter, they won’t know what the weather is like in the Lyth valley. They depend entirely on flying insects for their food, so if the insects aren’t about because the weather is too cold or too wet, they can’t survive.
The swifts at Damson Dene nest just above the entrance to Reception, which is a bit of a nuisance as we have to clear their droppings from the pathway every day. But no-one minds because it’s a joy to have them around, whatever the weather.
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Slow Food Mimics Marco
I wonder if, when Marco Pierre White became the spokesman for Bernard Matthews Turkeys anyone said: “That’s a principled decision. I respect him for that” ? That thought came to mind today when it was announced that Slow Food is to be sponsored by Booth’s supermarkets. Now, as far as supermarkets go, I know that Booths are marginally less evil than the rest. And as it’s five years since I ventured inside a supermarket I thought I’d better check and see, in case I was hopelessly out of date and they have become, as the press release implies, a paragon of virtue. So I popped into Booths in Ulverston. They have a fresh meat counter from which they sell beef which is labelled “From the region”, which is as vague as it gets, and as no breed is specified, you can be certain that it is the usual suspects- i.e. Limousin and Charollais- in other words beef bred for size with no regard for quality. There are other token gestures to local and seasonal food, but the overwhelming mass of the goods on offer is the usual junk, with whole aisles devoted to pre-packed ready meals and BOGOF frozen pizzas. I picked up a pack of lasagne which had a meat content of 23% with no indication as to where the meat came from.
The principles of slow food are “Good, clean and fair”, where “good” means “not junk”, “clean” means “free of chemicals and preservatives and excessive doses of salt and sugar” and “fair” means that the producer gets a fair price for his produce. All supermarkets talk a lot about ‘local ‘ and ‘organic’, but they make their money by piling up the junk food, which is full of chemicals, preservatives, sugar and salt. Booths survive in this very competitive world with more of the same. I’ve no objection to their trying to become the Waitrose of the Northwest but I wish they wouldn’t do it at the expense of the principles of Slow Food.
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
Bring Me Your Spears
I was going to use the heading “Seven inches of heaven” and then thought better of it. After three weeks of warm dry weather the spring has caught up and our asparagus has arrived dead on time, on April 24th, which is the average date on which I’ve collected the first spears in the last six years. In a normal year, a year which isn’t wrecked by Chelsea, I’d be eating asparagus nearly every day until the end of May. In fact I’m perfectly content to have only asparagus followed by rhubarb tart every evening, which makes menu planning very easy for Margaret.
Most recipe books recommend tying the asparagus with string and putting it upright in a pan of boiling water for up to five minutes, with the spears protruding from the water. My method is simpler and better. I steam the asparagus on a rack a casserole dish for about 4 minutes. That’s all it needs. I put the butter in a small Japanese bowl which I place on the rack next to the asparagus, so that it melts while the asparagus is cooking. Nothing could be simpler or more delicious. In fact I can be eating the asparagus within 10 minutes of going out to collect it from the kitchen garden.
Slow life personified.
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Heroes of She- Live and Unsigned Triumph
This is a link to a professional recording of the Heroes of She’s epic performance at the finals of the Live and Unsigned competition. My God, they are brilliant. This video is such a contrast to the Flip video which I took on the night, which had a lot of atmosphere but absolutely no sound quality (see my posting of
March 7th).
Now the band are busy rehearsing their act for the Regional Finals, at the Willow Club in Manchester on May 9th. Could they possibly improve on their ‘My Sharona/Burning In Flames’ performance? The word on the streets is Yes. In which case they are a certainty for the prize of a gig at the 02 stadium. I can’t wait.
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
The Candidates Are Nailed
At the election on May 6th one thing is certain- either Tim Farron (Lib-Dem) or Gareth McCeever (Tory) will be elected to represent Westmorland and Lonsdale. At a Chamber of Commerce lunch today at the Riverside hotel, in the presence of three TV crews and lots of local business people they both gave impressive performances and I’ve no doubt that, whoever wins, the constituency will be well represented.
I submitted a question about the Digital Economy Act, which was passed on the very last day of the Labour government and which will have potentially appalling consequences for the hospitality trade as under the new Act a hotel might lose it’s broadband connection if a guest illegally downloads music.
I was delighted to hear both candidates give a firm pledge to work to repeal the act. In Gareth McCeever’s case he said he would even defy the party whip if necessary. Of course we all know that candidates will say anything to get elected, but I trust these guys and what’s more we’ve got their pledges on film.
I’ve written an article about the utterly appalling provisions of the Digital Economy Act for the Podium column of the Westmorland Gazette, which was due to be published this week, but has been held over until after the election.
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
An eye for detail
This photo is of a section of the peacock’s tail, showing the wide range of pebbles which Maggy is using, including semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, for the mosaic which will form the path leading to the aviary in our garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. Thousands of pebbles and stones will be needed, so many in fact that Maggy announced today that she is running short and will have to make an excursion to Anglesey where she has a special licence to collect pebbles from a secret location which is owned by a titled gentleman there. I’m flabbergasted that with time running so short she has the time and energy to travel for five hours for the back-breaking task of hand-picking pebbles.
The lapis lazuli are mined in Afghanistan. Formerly, lapis lazuli was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for tempera paint and, sometimes, oil paint. The ultramarine colour of the stone will be a perfect foil for the ultramarine paint on the aviary.
The picture below shows Maggy choosing the stone for the Peacock’s eye. She plumped for the one in her left hand.
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Painshill Park
Philippa and I are at Painshill Park in Surrey for the recording of an interview for the BBC’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show. The BBC need to prepare in advance pieces about each of the show gardens for their “red button” facility and for their website. For this we have to pretend that the garden has been built and that we are at the Show standing in our garden. This requires significant feats of imagination, with which we both struggle , so early in the day. The interviews are taking place outdoors in an enchanting setting on a sunny morning. There are frequent interruptions because of the noise of children, geese, tractors and sirens. We begin in bright sunshine under clear skies but clouds start to emerge and, for reasons of continuity, we have to stop shooting every time the sun goes in. And so it’s stop start, stop start all morning so that before long our brains turn to mush. The BBC crew, who are no doubt used to this, are endlessly patient and helpful and see us through it. But it will need some pretty nifty editing to produce anything worth watching
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Fighting For A Teat
The saddleback sow has produced 14 piglets, some of whom have perfect markings. They are all in perfect health, which is surprising considering the amount of work required just to get a hold of a teat. The squealing of the little piglets is almost deafening as they fight for food. Meanwhile the sow adds to the cacophony with her contended grunting.
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Marco’s Mating Display
No-one puts on a better mating display than Marco Pierre White, which is why his name came instantly to mind when I saw our male turkey put on the over-the-top routine seen in this video. Of course, the words “turkey” and “Marco” are now inextricably linked, ever since Marco became the official face of Bernard Matthew Turkeys. Marco had kept his fondness for factory farming a closely guarded secret and I’m sure it took a great deal of money to persuade him to share this passion with the rest of the world. Of course, none of the turkeys on Bernard Matthew’s farms ever see the light of day, so I doubt whether they ever get the chance to indulge in mating displays. Which is something which Marco should perhaps have thought about before he accepted that shed-load of money from Mr Matthews.