USA LEARNING WHAT'S WHAT WITH THEIR FOOD - from us both

We subscribe to 'The Ecologist' online - and very good it is too. Here is the link to a recent article - 'Big Food will do everything to stop you talking about this'.

Hooray for the brave Michael Kenner for making his documentary 'Food Inc'. We need people like him with the courage to penetrate the industrial food giants who are hell bent on hiding the truth about their horrendous production methods from the public. I mentioned Michael Pollan's exceptional and life-changing book 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' in my June 22 post; it seems this book did much to persuade Michael Kenner to make his documentaries. I am hugely heartened to hear that he says of his film '...It became one of the most successful documentaries of all time. The amount of press we got was really incredible. For a while we were the number one selling DVD on Amazon ahead of all the Hollywood movies.'

You can scroll down the Ecologist article to find links to other important food items.

ORGANIC VERSUS NON-ORGANIC from Sue

Organic food is/isn't healthier. The debate will probably rattle on forever, depending on which side the so-called 'experts' are on and who's funding them. In other words who has which vested interests in declaring themselves to be pro or anti. Britain's FSA (Foods Standards Association) may conclude that organic is no more nutritious than conventionally-produced food but, as pointed out by the Soil Association and a whole host of organic farmers and eco-orgs, two facts are inescapable:
1) Organic doesn't use chemical pesticides and fertilizers - only the most ignorant would say plants doused in toxins are okay to eat. Some of these products are so toxic those who spray them have to wear protective clothing. Wow!
2) Plants don't just pop up happily any old where, they rely on a complex eco-system. Keen gardeners will tell us that a plant is only as good as the soil it grows in (with the odd exception, of course). So, if the insects, funghi, worms, microbes, bacteria, minerals etc have been driven out of the soil by pesticides, then the plant is going to be nutritionally depleted. Stands to reason.

For anyone interested in the processes our food goes through before it reaches our table, I recommend Michael Pollan's highly readable and fascinating book 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'. Here's the link. It is about the American food industry but a good deal of it is reflected by what's going on in Europe, which, in the case of industrial food, is graphically portrayed in Nicholas Geyrhalter's disturbing film 'Notre Pain Quotidien'.

SPOTTED MOGGIES

Delicious with a cuppa!

350g/12oz self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
a handful of currants
75g/3oz butter (chopped into small pieces)
3 soupspoons sunflower oil
125g/4oz sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup, slightly warmed
90ml/3fl oz milk (approx)

Pre-heat oven to 170˚C/325˚F.
Sieve flour, salt and baking powder into large mixing bowl. Add butter and oil and combine using fingers until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the currants, then sugar and syrup and mix in well. Gradually stir in the milk to make a stiff, smooth dough.
Roll out on a floured board to around 1/2''/1·5 cm thick and lay on a well-greased baking tray. Mark out squares on the surface but do not cut. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Leave to cool on the tray and cut into squares when firm and only slightly warm.
Sprinkle with icing sugar, cinnamon or chocolate powder.

OH GAWD! from Sue

When I buy vegetables I put them loose into my basket but have to have a plastic bag for spinach and paper bags for mushrooms, potatoes etc. I re-use them until they shred then the paper goes in the compost and the plastic in the non-recyclable bin. Every time I throw a plastic bag away I think of how long it's going to take to decompose and the damage it's going to do in the process.
But the paper bag ain't so good either - they may rot down quickly but they take a helluva lot more energy to manufacture - four times as much, and create 70% more air pollutants and 50% more water pollutants! We eco-freaks are scuppered whichever way we turn.
I don't know the figures for bio-degradable plastic bags, but presumably they should be the least damaging. Anyone know?

PEANUT AND ORANGE COOKIES

These are quick, easy to make, absolutely scrumptious and a great way of using up slightly stale peanuts left over from a drinks party.

All you need to make a couple dozen:

50g/2 oz each of softened butter, soft brown sugar and finely chopped salted peanuts
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
75g/3 oz plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Mix butter and sugar together then add the rest of the ingredients. Combine well to form a dough. Divide into twelve and roll each piece into a ball. Place on a greased baking tray with plenty of space between each one then slightly flatten the balls with a fork.
Bake in pre-heated oven 180˚C/350˚F for approx 10 minutes. Leave to cool on the tray before transferring to a wire rack.