Eat (only) British

[Tengu]

Future farming will be both traditional and hi-tec.

 

[slowworm]

I'd rather trust British Farmers, European farmers, than a lot of elsewhere with less oversight, where nightsoil is a common fertiliser.

I don't. Vast amounts of sewage sludge is spread on farmland in the UK and that contains all sorts of heavy metals along, with manmade chemicals, human drugs etc. Old fashioned night soil is probably better.

We may have be reducing the usage neonics in the UK and EU at the moment but many were invented and used in europe and we still spray all sorts of chemicals, such as weedkillers, defoliants and many crops still have weekly pesticide sprays.

 

[Glow_worm]

I’ve got a friend with high blood pressure and cholesterol issues who wistfully told me about bread and dripping in front of the fire every evening as a child while claiming “It never did me any harm”. Erm?

The myth of high cholesterol levels in food resulting in high cholesterol levels in blood has been blown apart nicely, there is plenty of reading on the subject available online.

What is far more important is the quality of the fat- omega 3 vs omega 6 content, and the balance of both to saturated fat.

Funnily enough, beef fat and dairy from cows which eat pasture all their life have a healthier balance, grain fed animals are inflammatory and potentially life-shortening to eat... Same with just about all animal products.

In fact the developers go out of their way to prevent or divert any such research attempts to do so.

Spot on- GM can't be likened in any way to selective breeding. Simply men messing about with things they don't fully understand to make vast profits. An evil industry.

Future farming will be both traditional and hi-tec.

I hope so, at least then there will still be something to eat when technology fails, as it regularly does.

I don't. Vast amounts of sewage sludge is spread on farmland in the UK and that contains all sorts of heavy metals along, with manmade chemicals, human drugs etc.

Back British farming? Why would anybody support the majority of it.... pure ignorance I think. I often question the mental capacity of farmers who think it is appropriate to keep grazing animals/woodland browsers/birds inside buildings all their life, feed them GM soya and glypho wheat to create the lowest grade inflammatory animal products.... but there is a market demand for the stuff! Bonkers.

 

[Chris]

The myth of high cholesterol levels in food resulting in high cholesterol levels in blood has been blown apart nicely, there is plenty of reading on the subject available online.

What is far more important is the quality of the fat- omega 3 vs omega 6 content, and the balance of both to saturated fat.

Funnily enough, beef fat and dairy from cows which eat pasture all their life have a healthier balance, grain fed animals are inflammatory and potentially life-shortening to eat... Same with just about all animal products.




Spot on- GM can't be likened in any way to selective breeding. Simply men messing about with things they don't fully understand to make vast profits. An evil industry.




I hope so, at least then there will still be something to eat when technology fails, as it regularly does.



Back British farming? Why would anybody support the majority of it.... pure ignorance I think. I often question the mental capacity of farmers who think it is appropriate to keep grazing animals/woodland browsers/birds inside buildings all their life, feed them GM soya and glypho wheat to create the lowest grade inflammatory animal products.... but there is a market demand for the stuff! Bonkers.

The reality is that they are trying to create enough food to be able to profit from it.

I don’t blame farmers for this. They are competing with a global market and most people here just don’t care where their food comes from as long as it’s cheap.

I’m keen to support British farmers. My way of doing this is to spend my money on those rearing and growing high quality produce, creating the demand which should drive the supply.

 

[ONE]

On an individual basis, entirely doable. As a nation? Not so much and it hasn't been truly viable for longer than you'd think.

 

[Nice65]

The myth of high cholesterol levels in food resulting in high cholesterol levels in blood has been blown apart nicely, there is plenty of reading on the subject available online.

My point really is that the consumption of something that isn’t particularly healthy over a long period of time possibly contributes to poor health later in life and perhaps a shorter life but the connection isn’t noticed.

Low quality food is going to do this. A good analogy is an engine. A top fueller is going to blow something fairly quickly and predictably. A standard engine run on crap fuel is going to run with less output and won’t last as long as if it’s fed decent fuel. While good food is available with good nutrient levels, that’s what I’ll eat.

 

[Glow_worm]

My point really is that the consumption of something that isn’t particularly healthy over a long period of time possibly contributes to poor health later in life and perhaps a shorter life but the connection isn’t noticed.

I get you, but my point was more that 1950s dripping was more likely to be grass fed, so healthier than modern calories (inflammatory seed oils, empty refined carbs).

You've nicely flagged up another of the main issues- nasties in food are permitted in 'safe' amounts, which don't cause people to keel over instantly. But now we're living long lives on averages, it all stacks up, in addition to poor balance of food groups and low nutrition levels in food.

 

[Everything Mac]

Interesting topic. I too would be interested in any results. Reminds me of one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's books about eating seasonally.