reindeer welfare February 16, 2009
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedAlthough the EU is concerned about animal welfare, that won’t stop financial aid to reindeer slaughterers in Norway (a member of the EEA, not the EU). The EFTA Surveillance Authority recently said that such aid wouldn’t constitute unlawful state aid under the EEA Agreement:
Reindeers and products processed from reindeers, in so far as they do not fall under Chapters 25 to 97 of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) or are specified in Protocol 3 to the EEA Agreement, fall outside the general scope of the application of the Agreement.
cheesy problems in the eu January 16, 2009
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedIt seems to be hard to be a European cheese producer these days. Roquefort producers have sent some of their cheese to Barack Obama to protest the US tariffs designed to penalise the EU for not allowing hormone treated beef into the EU. Lithuania’s application to register a protected geographical designation for Germantas cheese (filed in the summer of 2005) was rejected (the decision was taken in December but it was officially published yesterday) by the Commission on the basis that the characteristics of the cheese were a result of its production method rather than of geography (seems like pretty standard stuff – but because only the Lithuanian text is authentic I don’t know if there’s anything I’m missing). And Italy is providing financial support to producers of parmesan.
(not) understanding food risks September 26, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedReading the recent news about melamine contamination of foods produced in China, and remembering how friends with pets dealt with last year’s pet food melamine contamination problem, I wonder how worried to be. A story which began with problems in infant formula spread to other products made with milk as an ingredient. For example, White Rabbit candy, which, according to the Wikipedia entry has been marketed as a healthy product, is one of the products affected. In deciding how worried to be I would like some data on the risks. The FDA website has a reassuring press release. This morning, the Europa website’s press release page showed a release from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with a link to a detailed statement assessing the risks (unfortunately, since I first saw the press release it has been pushed off the front page by other news). I’d far rather have details than platitudes, even where the details don’t in the end help me very much. (more…)
where you live does make a difference… July 8, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedVisiting Asheville, NC, after living in Miami for a while, the ingles supermarkets signs looked to me as though they were advertising something English, or for English people (in Spanish) – and this happened the 4th and 5th and even 10th time of reading the signs. I’m not sure I would have read them that way 10 years ago. Looking at the ingles website, however there’s another link to Miami – Robert Ingles studied at UM!!
pregnancy diet June 30, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedWell, hello, turns out that what you eat when pregnant may affect the foetus. On the other hand, if you have to work two jobs to make a living, maybe it’s not so simple to eat healthy.
melton mowbray pork pies April 5, 2008
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedIf the EU’s Member States don’t object within the next 6 months, Melton Mowbray pork pies will only be able to be made near Melton Mowbray. The notice in the EU’s Official Journal describes some of the history of the pie:
From the middle of the eighteenth century seasonal foxhunters began to centre their hunting activities on the town of Melton Mowbray. During the autumn and winter months, pigs were slaughtered, pork pies were made. These pies were carried in the pockets of the hunt servants to be eaten as snacks as they moved the horses around the villages at the convenience of the wealthy foxhunter. These delicious simple peasant pies soon came to the notice of the hard riding fox hunter who then began to carry them in pouches and pockets to eat while involved in the chase.
These wealthy seasonal hunters took such a liking to the splendid pies that were served on their breakfast table that they expected them to be served at their London clubs. In 1831, Edward Adcock commenced exporting pork pies from Melton Mowbray to London using the daily Leeds to London stagecoach. So the commercialisation and promotion of the Melton Mowbray pork pie began.
Melton Mowbray has been producing these pies for a long time, although given that fox hunting was banned in the UK under the Hunting Act 2004, and the traditional pies are now sold in supermarkets, one wonders about the continuing relevance of the historical description. Melton Mowbray itself hasn’t changed as much as some other places over the last century or so:
british food fortnight October 1, 2007
Posted by admin in : food , comments closedBritish Food Fortnight was half-way through before I even noticed it. On the other hand, I live in Miami and had noticed Miami Spice. Twice as long and …. If only it weren’t raining constantly.
scottish eating habits and politics September 25, 2007
Posted by Bradley in : food , comments closedFrom John Sutherland at the Guardian:
It’s the sick heart which has been the curse of modern Scottish politics. Try this counterfactual experiment: if Cook, Smith, and Dewar had been granted another 15 years apiece, how different would that entity which Gordon Brown calls “our Britain” be? Would the Labour party be a better, or worse, thing?
guinness August 30, 2007
Posted by admin in : food , comments closedGuinness may or may not be good for you. But, according to the Guardian, it is better for Diageo in Nigeria right now than in Ireland. Diageo noted that Nigeria is now the second biggest market for Guinness in the world (the UK is the largest).
The population of Nigeria is something like 33 times that of Ireland, although the GDPs of the countries are similar, according to the CIA’s World Factbook (so people in Ireland would tend to have more cash to splash around on Guinness). Guinness is an iconic product in Ireland, and the brewery in Dublin is a tourist attraction but sales are down. Is this the same phenomenon that produces declining wine sales in France?
chocolate August 28, 2007
Posted by admin in : food , comments closedAt the Guardian today, Tristan Farrow says:
Chocoholics really do have chocolate on the brain. Their grey matter reacts differently when they see or taste chocolate than people who do not crave the food.
The source is a paper by Edmund Rolls and Ciara McCabe.