Monthly Archives: July 2008

When do we eat?

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 28, 2008

Charting the striking changes in when we eat between 1961 and 2001

Posted in food matters | Tagged British, lunch, meals, mealtimes, supper, times | Leave a comment

Waking up to food security

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 18, 2008

The UK government is at last waking from its long complacent slumbers and asking serious questions about food security. After enjoying an abundant supply of ever cheaper food for the last five decades, the developed world is beginning to realise that we can’t take the essentials of life for granted indefinitely.

Posted in food in politics, food matters | Tagged agriculture, British, crops, defra, environment, food security, fruit, london, meat, oil, resilience, Sustainable food | 1 Comment

More Co-operative Retail

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 16, 2008

The Co-operative Group has announced today that it’s agreed to buy Somerfield for just short of £1.6 billion. The co-op is different from other retailers. It’s owned by its customers (those who elect to become members) and has a long commitment to quality, healthy food and to the environment and animal welfare. This is a momentous development in British retail.

Posted in food in the shops | Tagged British, environment, fairtrade, food in the shops, food in the shops, labour, Somerfield | Leave a comment

Where’s that chicken from?

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 16, 2008

The welfare of chickens has received long overdue attention this year. Most prominent has been Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chicken Out! campaign, which may not have succeeded in changing Tesco’s welfare policy (for now) but has evidently shifted some demand from conventional to the higher welfare Freedom Food, free range and organic chicken. Rising demand, rising prices [...]

Posted in food from where? | Tagged British, defra, food from where?, identification, london, meat, provenance, slaughterhouse, Suffolk, welfare | 1 Comment

Eat British Cherries now! (if it’s July)

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 14, 2008

For their sublime aroma and intense sweetness, and for the sake of our desperately declining cherry orchards, do whatever it takes to find and eat some British cherries in July. We’re losing our cherry orchards at an alarming rate and the only way to save them is to eat more British cherries.

Posted in food from the farm, food from the wild, food in season, food in the UK | Tagged British, cherries, england, fruit, July, orchards | 4 Comments

Food: the destiny of our nation

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 11, 2008

Food Matters, the new Cabinet Office report on food policy

Posted in food in politics, food matters | Tagged British, environment, food capacity, food security, london, number, Sustainable food, UK | 2 Comments

London, feed yourself!

By Nick Saltmarsh | Published: July 10, 2008

Opportunties and approaches for growing food for London in or near the city, from domestic production, allotments and transformed public spaces to community food groups, city farms and the surviving working farms on London’s fringe.