Sunday 28 March 2021

Labelling

 I see in today's Sunday Telegraph( I take it as an alternative to my weekday Times, but am getting tired of it because it is so difficult to manipulate as it hasn't gone tabloid,) that High Fearnely Whitttingstall is complaining about the labelling of Supermarket produce.   I have long felt this and have tried, in my shopping days, never to fall into the trap of believing what it says on the packet.   He speaks of 'traditional farm' and 'farm fresh' as examples and complains of how supermarkets have made up names of farms in order to give 'a subliminal reassurance that customers are buying a product  which is good for the environment'.

I eat very little meat and a lot of vegetables.   In my days on the farm the farmer had a big vegetable garden and we always had a selection with our dinner every day.   Then when I moved here almost four years ago after the farmer died, I bought fresh vegetables and kept frozen as a back up.   Now my carer brings me a cooked lunch every day - salad twice a week - today is one of my salad days.   She is a keen veggie eater so I still enjoy that kind of diet.   Meat I could almost do without but I remember how my mother, who absolutely loved meat, used to love a good piece of sirloin of beef.   I still recall the best piece of beef I ever cooked.   At the farm we often had friends staying.   I ordered a piece of rare breed beef for Sunday lunch from our local Deli.   It was Highland Beef and when I unwrapped it it was a large piece of Sirloin and it was totally marbled with veins of fat.   I do not like fat meat and I was horrified but I cooked it.   When it came out of the oven there was no sign of that marbling - it had melted away into the lean meat and it was, without a doubt, the best piece of meat we had ever had.   Now I prefer to not eat meat - I love fish and I love quiche and when my carer brings my lunch with meat I eat it - but I love salad days best.

It is cold, wet and windy here today.   The weatherman talks blithely about how warm and sunny it is set to be tomorrow but today the wind is too strong to allow me to walk with Priscilla.   She is very capricious and temperamental when it is windy and I rather feel she has a bit of a desire to really blow me off course.   Percy was never like that - he always had my intere - sts at heart.

When one lives alone in these Covid times  Sundays are never very cheerful days.   In the weekdays various people I know walk past on their 'allowed' dog walks - a wave, a cheery Good Morning, or even a couple of minutes chat - all make the world go round.   Sundays everyone seems to 'go to earth' and everywhere is quiet.   Hopefully this will change when we come out of Lockdown enough to at least  meet others for a chat outdoors.

See you tomorrow.

30 comments:

Tom Stephenson said...

Everywhere which sells dried 'porcini' mushrooms at about £10 for a little pot is ripping us off. I have never come across any which contain real porcini and they are all made up of inferior mushrooms which you can pick by the bucket load.

Bovey Belle said...

We've just had our daily walk down in the Groe and not many people about - either they got out early or as you say, Sunday is a quiet at home sort of day. No complaints though, as it only spit with rain a little but there was a brisk gusty sort of wind at times.

I am another label-sceptic too. Also sceptical of Red Tractor branding, since Next Door was a Red Tractor farm and I know the way he treated his cattle, it wouldn't win me over. I would far rather buy less meat, but GOOD meat from our butcher in town or Dewi at Ffairfach (LLandeilo, near where we used to live). The stewing steak I bought a couple of weeks back was melt in the mouth and SO tasty. PROPER free range eggs too - from hens which run free outside and have access to grass and grain. I paid a premium recently for half a dozen Maran F/R eggs and the yolks are ORANGE. Amazing eggs.

Sorry that Priscilla gets the wind up her skirts and you don't feel so safe with her. Hoping you have a good book to settle down with this afternoon.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Hi Weave. I want to wish you well this Sunday. I find that the price of groceries just continues to go up and up. We have a "local" butcher but unless it is a very special occasion, I buy from the grocery store. I'm lucky enough to have my own hens' eggs. Today is very windy, rainy, and the temperature has gone down. We were teased with spring-like weather this past week, but now we are back to typical March / April weather. -Jenn

Heather said...

Everything is getting so complicated. At one time food labelling was straight forward and could be trusted, but there are loopholes everywhere so I go by instinct and hope for the best. I do eat meat but in small quantities, and I like fish too and love vegetables.
Hope the weather allows you to take a walk tomorrow when we are promised warmer conditions, but colder again over Easter. Hey ho! Whatever happens weatherwise, we are slowly moving toward a little more freedom and I can't wait to get a haircut!

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

I do wonder about the gullibility of some consumers; do they really think there's a Mr Kipling who makes all those cakes? or a Happy Cow devoted to making cheese spread? I suppose on some level people must believe it, otherwise why would manufacturers use such labelling.

Marty said...

It is Sundays that we can realize the value of blogging, with its connection - even though virtual - with others in the blogger world.
Wind can be quite a factor. Tell Priscilla to cool her jets and wait for tomorrow.

Rachel Phillips said...

whatever people like to kid themselves they believe in about quality food and food production, the British consumer doesn't care what the food is as long as it's cheap. If they really believed in all they say supermarkets would not have caught on and wouldn't exist and most shopping would be done in markets with fishmongers, butchers and fruiterers. The British consumer likes to go abroad and oh and ah about these places like they are museums and say "We love markets" when discussing their holiday.

Derek Faulkner said...

Oh dear Pat, I think we're going to be at odds here.
Firstly, I have been taking the Telegraph for around 45 years and nothing would mortify me more if it changed to tabloid shape like the Sun and the Mail for instance, I love the big pages, how papers always used to be.
Fresh, non frozen vegetables, steamed to preserve flavour and eaten with meat in it's various forms is the way to eat - what's wrong with eating good meat.
As someone who lives mostly on his own, I love it and certainly don't pine for another human being on a Sunday, why do you have to be with others on a Sunday.

Sue in Suffolk said...

I'm just back from lunch with my bubble family, as I'm temporary living just a mile and a half away I biked for the first time. The wind was good as it blew me home- only had to walk the last quarter mile up hill.

The only meat I've eaten in the last 4 weeks was the sausage meat around two shop bought scotch eggs - because I fancied a change- they were not very good, shan't bother again.

Hope it's less windy tomorrow for you to get out and about again.

JayCee said...

We buy locally farmed meat from a local butcher so we know its provenance. It is always good quality, but not cheap. We usually eat fish 3 or 4 times per week and have meat on the other days, although I do sneak in something veggie from time to time when P is not looking.
Wet and windy here today - yet again.

Yellow Shoes said...

I'm going back to your previous post I know but if I post here it may be easier for you to find.
I love shawl collars! When we moved to Sheffield in 1999 we had to view a lot of houses before deciding on this one.
It was February and most of the houses were vacant and unheated - I would draw my coat's shawl collar up around my neck and try and keep warm!
This house was empty but somebody had thought to leave the heat on; I often wonder if that was the deciding factor in buying it?!

Anonymous said...

A while ago you said you ate hardly any meat yet had listed the ready meals you'd bought in the village - every meal was meat based!

Now you're saying it again yet in the past few days you've had
"Delicious" chicken breast
"Delicious" casserole
"A Delicious Lunch" of beef and vegetable casserole
"An Appetite" for the roast chicken and ham
"Lovely Lunch" of chicken breast stuffed with stilton

You eat hardly any meat?


thelma said...

It is very windy here as well so it is as well to keep indoors. Many newspapers are going online by subscription. I know it is another blow to past times but you do get to increase print size.

Debbie said...

Do have a read sometime of the ingredients on a packet of fruit jelly (the old tablet type). It is called raspberry,strawberry or whatever - but there is not a single shred of the fruit in it.

Chris said...

Chilly here too today and we do eat a lot of veg, but do have to have a Sunday dinner. Today as we're trying to eat from the freezer prior to moving, we've had beef and very nice it was too.

RunNRose said...

What upsets me about labels is how they will say that the food is from a list of different countries, How am I to know anything if the label says this product is from "Argentina, Mexico,or China? " I mean--- all that label tells me is that it is from somewhere on the planet, and I already knew that! Seems like the label would at least narrow it down to one country!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Anon. Now that my carer cooks a meal for me every day - and helps me considerably by doing so - I eat what she brings. She knows I prefer not to eat much meat so only ever gives me a tiny helping.

Bonnie said...

I agree that you have to be very careful about food labels. Here there is often much confusion about "organic" foods. Many foods are labeled "natural" and that actually means nothing!

You are wise to not go out in strong wind as that could easily become a problem. Hopefully tomorrow will be less windy and you can take you walk safely!

The bike shed said...

I like to eat seasonal and local produce - it's one of the things I love so much about France: the markets and the artisan bakers and makers. Supermarkets are so convenient and cheap, but we lose much because of them too.

am said...

I hope you and Priscilla get to walk tomorrow. You are so faithful about walking. I haven't been walking as much as usual but, inspired by you, I've taken some short walks in the past few days when there is a lull in the wind and rain. Wasn't able to walk yesterday because I had my second Moderna vaccine on Friday and had a fever of 100.7 degrees yesterday. Feeling good again today!

Red said...

You know, I enjoy your chats. You give a good description of your day and what's going on around you. It's good to hear that one can be cheerful.

Susan said...

The quality of food and veg in our supermarkets is poor. Labels mean nothing. I try to buy direct from farmers and feel the quality is better and labels are honest. We had cold rain all day today. The rain is great for the gardens as everything is starting to emerge. Even the grass is looking more green.

Joanne Noragon said...

Weather not much better here, Weave. I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed this coming week.

Debby said...

The weather here has been warm and spring like, although it seems as if March is going out like a lion. We are scheduled for another cold week.

It sounds as if your Priscilla and YP's Clint may be related.

Cro Magnon said...

I am definitely a meat eater, but we do eat veggie about twice a week. Lunches these days are almost exclusively 100% veggie.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone for your cheery comments. Sometime said yesterday that she had been told that if you showed a strog reaction to the secondn vaccine at least it confirmed that it was working well. I am back to normal now. It is surprising how we all agree on so much - like what we eat and how important good veggies are to one's diet.
You say I cheer you up with my comments - rest assured that the feeling is mutual - you keep me going and I thank you for it most sincerely. Hugs all round.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sorry - in that second sentence I obviously mean someone not sometime.

Sue said...

Yes, Sunday was a VERY quiet day yesterday. With the bad weather and it being a Sunday everyone seemed to have gone to ground, even the dog walkers. Tuesday of this week is forecast to be warm and sunny, which is something we all desperately need for a bit of a boost.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Let's all enjoy the sun on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Product labelling can be so misleading...

I'm a veggie mostly but occasionally eat fish