Cycling UK Forum

We all need to eat more by all accounts.


Eating turnips could help ease vegetable shortage, suggests Therese Coffey - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64745258

Just have to eat cake then.

I can't remember the last time I bought a fresh tom. from a supermarket - what's the point? They never taste of anything. But if supermarkets have priced their growers out of production, then I suggest they only have themselves to blame. And I don't need a clumsy right wing apologist for the tobacco industry to tell me to eat veg seasonally, thanks. As for attempting to big up turnips, I can think of nicer winter veg to focus on!

simonineaston wrote: ↑23 Feb 2023, 8:37pm I can't remember the last time I bought a fresh tom. from a supermarket - what's the point? They never taste of anything. But if supermarkets have priced their growers out of production, then I suggest they only have themselves to blame. And I don't need a clumsy right wing apologist for the tobacco industry to tell me to eat veg seasonally, thanks. As for attempting to big up turnips, I can think of nicer winter veg to focus on!

Oh ah it's MangelWurzel's down this neck of the woods then.

rjb wrote: ↑23 Feb 2023, 8:40pm

simonineaston wrote: ↑23 Feb 2023, 8:37pm I can't remember the last time I bought a fresh tom. from a supermarket - what's the point? They never taste of anything. But if supermarkets have priced their growers out of production, then I suggest they only have themselves to blame. And I don't need a clumsy right wing apologist for the tobacco industry to tell me to eat veg seasonally, thanks. As for attempting to big up turnips, I can think of nicer winter veg to focus on!

Oh ah it's MangelWurzel's down this neck of the woods then.

The Tory is the party of mangled wurzels. We are the wurzles being mangled.

Cugel, certainly wanting to bite something, preferably a Tory's @r5e.

The Daily Star has a cut out and keep Swede on its front page this morning!

Al

neeps tatties and haggis - nowt wrong with a bit of that,. nation dish up here

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Just been to our little village PO/Stores across the road and picked up tomatoes, sweet peppers and tangerines as well as local cider wine and Cheddar. No shortages there...Old pals and wives coming for lunch.

Al

ps Has anyone come across kalettes yet? I work at a food project here in Bristol and donations vary widely. This week's oddity was boxes & boxes of this strange hybrid that looks like a bonkers cross between a sprout stalk and tiny curly kale heads... I'm imagining that the reason there's so much dontated is 'cos yer typical shopper took one look at them on the s'market shelves and ran away! Although I suppose in fairness they're not quite so I'm-an-alien-looking as kohlrabi!

simonineaston wrote: ↑23 Feb 2023, 8:37pm But if supermarkets have priced their growers out of production, then I suggest they only have themselves to blame.

They haven't - but we're no longer part of a continental single market, which means that at any time of even slight supply shortage, it's far easier for the producers to sell to their own market than to us.
Similarly we were the only island to be seriously affected by the (bottled) CO2 shortage a couple of years ago - and our shelves are never full nowadays - I haven't seen a UK supermarket with full stock of anything since pre-covid/brexit, but any time I've been out of the country the supermarket shelves have been full.

My remark about supermarkets and pricing was ill-considered and over hasty. Having read more about the subject now, I can see that it's (as usual) multi-factorial, with reason 1, firmly at the top of the list, one Putin, V and his megalomaniac decision to invade a free democracy. Naturally, roaring up on the inside, hugging the rails and going strong, is the catastrophic decision by the UK gov. to leave the EU...
But hey - who wants to eat summer salad vegetables in winter anyway?

simonineaston wrote: ↑24 Feb 2023, 11:05am My remark about supermarkets and pricing was ill-considered and over hasty. Having read more about the subject now, I can see that it's (as usual) multi-factorial, with reason 1, firmly at the top of the list, one Putin, V and his megalomaniac decision to invade a free democracy. Naturally, roaring up on the inside, hugging the rails and going strong, is the catastrophic decision by the UK gov. to leave the EU...
But hey - who wants to eat summer salad vegetables in winter anyway?

simonineaston wrote: ↑24 Feb 2023, 9:14am ps Has anyone come across kalettes yet? I work at a food project here in Bristol and donations vary widely. This week's oddity was boxes & boxes of this strange hybrid that looks like a bonkers cross between a sprout stalk and tiny curly kale heads... I'm imagining that the reason there's so much dontated is 'cos yer typical shopper took one look at them on the s'market shelves and ran away!

The turnip lady in Government is truly a comedian's gift - when's Spitting Image back on?

Energy costs seem to be the primary reason for tomato shortages, yesterday's farming programme on R4 described how many UK growers use CHP plants to supply heat and CO2 to their crop, selling the electricity to the grid. They've not been running with the high fuel costs, our local greengrocer has plenty but the supermarkets are empty. In another slot on the radio someone in the industry flatly refuted Brexit was the cause, saying because our supplies were badly affected because generally we buy using monthly auctions rather than using spot prices or weekly ones, as do most other European nations.

I've long considered burning fossil fuels to grow crops out of season as daft, perhaps if we build scores of mini-nukes, their waste heat could power a new industry of surrounding farms? https://news.stanford.edu/2022/05/30/sm ... ear-waste/

Our local farm shop is selling their kalettes, they're a good taste - quite strong, but then their sprouts are stronger tasting this year.

I rarely buy vegetables out of season, in fact I rarely buy vegetables as I’ve a large garden.
I don’t eat or grow turnips but I always have a large bed of swedes which usually feed me through the winter upto March. I’ve always left them in the ground and lift as needed. This year I’m hungry for the first time in my growing life they all went rotten in January. Had to buy swedes "How Much" !
Doesn’t matter how seasonal we eat there is always a need to buy from somewhere else and the more options we have for that the better for us surely.

Buried inside the cloddish pronouncement there is actually an important issue about the non-sustainability of out-of-season fruit and vegetables. A lot of the problems of supply are down to unusual weather in the Med, which prompts questions about climate change, and fuel costs in the UK and Netherlands, which prompts questions about the fossil fuel use and climate impact of heated greenhouses.

Maybe we’d actually all be better off in multiple ways if seriously out of season produce was to go back to being a rare and exotic treat, instead of absolutely normal.

Buried inside the cloddish pronouncement there is actually an important issue about the non-sustainability of out-of-season fruit and vegetables. A lot of the problems of supply are down to unusual weather in the Med, which prompts questions about climate change, and fuel costs in the UK and Netherlands, which prompts questions about the fossil fuel use and climate impact of heated greenhouses.

Maybe we’d actually all be better off in multiple ways if seriously out of season produce was to go back to being a rare and exotic treat, instead of absolutely normal.

If my dodgy memory serves correctly, it’s only in the past c25 years that we’ve expected lettuces and strawberries in January.

Yes, out of season food should be a treat - if it has travelled well and tastes good. Life is all about contrast and never going without makes for an unappreciative palette. Most tomatoes at this time of year are poor, although there were some very good Italian ones in Aldi last month.