The Tracing Paper

I’ve been tagged for the Fantastic Four blog meme by Richard at superfood. The idea is simply to provide four answers to each of five questions, and to tag four bloggers to continue the meme.

This meme is floating free of its source, but Richard was tagged by Trig, who was tagged by Scott at Real Epicurean … ifantabulous … hishgraphics … Planet Kambling … Hijack Queen … Simple America … It’s now spreading amongst UK food bloggers.

So here are my answers, mostly food related and with a few extra food connections (this is a food blog, after all):

4 jobs I’ve had

Goatherd
Organic veg box packer
Mushroom picker
Tour guide - an opportunity for good lunches all over Italy

4 places I’ve lived

Eye (Suffolk, England) - where Laurels Farm Butchers is shortlisted for the Best Butcher category in the 2007 Suffolk Food Awards
East Harling (Norfolk, England) - which also has a superb butcher, FL Edge & Sons, and the wonderful Jan’s Fruit & Veg
Esanatoglia (Le Marche, Italy) - where I first learned to identify wild mushrooms
Dolgellau (Gwynedd, Wales) - where I was temporarily distracted from food by rhododendrons

4 places I’ve holidayed

Loch Lomond (Scotland) - including a wonderful lunch at Monachyle Mhor, somewhere in the distance in the photo above
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The re-emergence of foot and mouth disease in the UK last Friday is a tragedy, most of all for the blameless farmers who have seen their livestock struck down, but also for livestock farmers across the country; the meat trade, from hauliers and abattoirs to butchers and pie-makers; rural tourism businesses; and everyone who enjoys good British meat (eg Superfood) or simply cares about the farmed landscape. Much of our most cherished countryside, from heaths and moorland to valley pasture and ancient grassland, has been shaped by livestock and depends on regular grazing.

Just 5 days in from the first outbreak, it’s far too early to guess how the epidemic (it’s officially an epidemic once there’s more than one outbreak) will unfold this time, but there is at least cause for hope: DEFRA appears to be handling the situation far better than MAFF managed in 2001; a likely source of infection has been identified; and there have only been 2 localised outbreaks - 6 had been identified at the same stage in 2001, with suspected cases reported from Devon to Northumberland.

The mainstream media are following developments closely, but there’s no better source of comprehensive information and informed comment on FMD than Warmwell.com, an independent website established by Mary Critchley early in the 2001 epidemic. The variety of information collated by Warmwell ranges from scientific reports to personal accounts of what’s really happening on farms. The site has been updated, apparently daily, since 2001 and has extended its interests to cover a wide range of farming and animal health issues.

For a grisly reminder of the last epidemic, Warmwell has an archived transcript of Muckspreader’s Not the Foot and Mouth Report for Private Eye, still the best accessible account of the events and mistakes of 2001.

Early August and the harvest of the winter sown oilseed rape (Brassica napus, its edible varieties also known as canola) is well underway in the UK. The spring-sown crop ripens later and will be ready for harvest in late August and September.

From Spring Yellow to Harvest Brown

Rapeseed ready for harvest is a drab brown, a far cry from the bright yellow fields of the crop in flower, and often has a distinct cabbage smell, a reminder that it’s a member of the Brassica family.

Spring-sown rape ripens unevenly and must generally be dessicated or swathed a week or two before harvesting to ensure ripeness of all the seedpods. Both methods kill the plants to allow ripening to continue without further growth or maturation - dessication is achieved by chemical means (generally Diquat spray), swathing is a mechanical alternative.

Rape is combine harvested to yield its tiny black seeds, destined to be crushed to produce oil for food, industrial uses and, increasingly, biofuels. A growing number of farmers are cold pressing the seeds themselves to produce extra-virgin rapeseed oil. The meal left after crushing is high in protein and used for animal feed.

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Amazon.com has today announced a new venture: AmazonFresh will be delivering fresh (and frozen and “shelf-stable”) foods, ordered online, to households in Seattle.

The foods available will include “highest-quality fresh fruits and vegetables” and a “leading assortment of natural, organic, and specialty brands”.

Some of the produce is described as “farm-fresh” but there’s no further information on its provenance, at least not to anyone without a by-invitation access code to start shopping. AmazonFresh follows Amazon’s rather quiet introduction of dry groceries to its product range last year.

This is a more innovative move in the US than it would have been in the UK, where most of the major supermarkets offer online shopping and delivery. PlanetRetail reports (citing the Food Marketing Institute) that just 6% of US shoppers have bought groceries online in the last year, whereas 80% have bought something online.

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