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[Varche]

Surprised no comments on this programme. Maybe people fall into two camps. 1. Plenty of food in our supermarket so I'm not bothered
2. Another climate change/green/hippy bit of nonsense. I'll be alright @cos I will have the money to pay more for my food if and when shortages hit.

There were several things in the programme I found very interesting.

Something like nearly a half of all potato products in Britain are actually manufactured with added stuff i.e. not just potato. There was a "poor British family" that ate potato waffles, bought lasgane and baked beans but had the biggest TV I have ever seen.  Do people really eat so much processed food when it is as cheap to prepare your own? Here is what Burger King says are in its "chips" on top of potatoes!
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color, Natural† and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Smoke Flavor. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Uggh.


The fact that the price of oil has a big impact on the cost of food. I know from first hand experience that fertiliser here has gone up from 41 to 57 cents a kilo in a year.

The lowering of water tables. Around here in Spain it has gone down a lot these last few years. Many wells have run dry and new ones are ever deeper. Our local company drilled their deepest ever last month at 510 metres (over 1580 feet!) before they hit water. Some neighbours here not on mains water live on 1000 litres of water trucked in per week for a family and two horses. Of course this all matters as the tomatoes., lettuce etc grown here that you buy from your supermarkets contain "our" water. Southern Spain is looking at having desalination plants to try and cope. They are very expensive to run. 

I would have liked some more in depth figures to support info like the earths population is growing but then I guess it would have been of less interest to people with short attention spans. Interestingly Boots in the Uk have reported a step reduction in condom sales so expect an increase in the birth rate next year!

El Comestible Varche 

[Dishevelled Den]

Surprised no comments on this programme. Maybe people fall into two camps. 1. Plenty of food in our supermarket so I'm not bothered
2. Another climate change/green/hippy bit of nonsense. I'll be alright @cos I will have the money to pay more for my food if and when shortages hit.

There were several things in the programme I found very interesting.

Something like nearly a half of all potato products in Britain are actually manufactured with added stuff i.e. not just potato. There was a "poor British family" that ate potato waffles, bought lasgane and baked beans but had the biggest TV I have ever seen.  Do people really eat so much processed food when it is as cheap to prepare your own? Here is what Burger King says are in its "chips" on top of potatoes!
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color, Natural† and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Smoke Flavor. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Uggh.


The fact that the price of oil has a big impact on the cost of food. I know from first hand experience that fertiliser here has gone up from 41 to 57 cents a kilo in a year.

The lowering of water tables. Around here in Spain it has gone down a lot these last few years. Many wells have run dry and new ones are ever deeper. Our local company drilled their deepest ever last month at 510 metres (over 1580 feet!) before they hit water. Some neighbours here not on mains water live on 1000 litres of water trucked in per week for a family and two horses. Of course this all matters as the tomatoes., lettuce etc grown here that you buy from your supermarkets contain "our" water. Southern Spain is looking at having desalination plants to try and cope. They are very expensive to run. 

I would have liked some more in depth figures to support info like the earths population is growing but then I guess it would have been of less interest to people with short attention spans. Interestingly Boots in the Uk have reported a step reduction in condom sales so expect an increase in the birth rate next year!

El Comestible Varche 

That, together with some other inconsequential nonsense, seems to be the priority now and illustrates how many in this country have walked, sat, slouched and slept into an indolent, careless and breakless mess.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Surprised no comments on this programme. Maybe people fall into two camps. 1. Plenty of food in our supermarket so I'm not bothered
2. Another climate change/green/hippy bit of nonsense. I'll be alright @cos I will have the money to pay more for my food if and when shortages hit.

There were several things in the programme I found very interesting.

Something like nearly a half of all potato products in Britain are actually manufactured with added stuff i.e. not just potato. There was a "poor British family" that ate potato waffles, bought lasgane and baked beans but had the biggest TV I have ever seen.  Do people really eat so much processed food when it is as cheap to prepare your own? Here is what Burger King says are in its "chips" on top of potatoes!
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color, Natural† and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Smoke Flavor. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Uggh.


The fact that the price of oil has a big impact on the cost of food. I know from first hand experience that fertiliser here has gone up from 41 to 57 cents a kilo in a year.

The lowering of water tables. Around here in Spain it has gone down a lot these last few years. Many wells have run dry and new ones are ever deeper. Our local company drilled their deepest ever last month at 510 metres (over 1580 feet!) before they hit water. Some neighbours here not on mains water live on 1000 litres of water trucked in per week for a family and two horses. Of course this all matters as the tomatoes., lettuce etc grown here that you buy from your supermarkets contain "our" water. Southern Spain is looking at having desalination plants to try and cope. They are very expensive to run. 

I would have liked some more in depth figures to support info like the earths population is growing but then I guess it would have been of less interest to people with short attention spans. Interestingly Boots in the Uk have reported a step reduction in condom sales so expect an increase in the birth rate next year!

El Comestible Varche 

There were some really interesting and thought provoking points made in that programme Varche and the one on the water issue was particularly disturbing.

I have joked in the past that I have been told there would be wars fought over water since I was a child - that is since certainly the 1960s!  However, listening to how much "Indian water" it needed to grow lettuce, rice and other crops, that was subsequently exported to Northern Europe, especially Britain of course, was an eye opener!  The fact that farmers in the Punjab, the main food growing area of India, over recent years are having to drill down deeper and deeper for water, with the water table falling 3 metres, does not bode well.  It was stated that in the very near future those lands will not be suitable for agriculture!  That means less food for India, and us!

The other interesting fact was the amount of oil required to produce, transport and maintain food products.  Cuba once had cheap crude oil available from the USSR, but with the collaspe of that empire the oil supply stopped overnight.  The whole diet of Cuba changed, with meat basically off the menu and very basic (but healthy??) foods only available. 

It all made one think yet again about the future and our ability to feed ourselves.  Throughout history doubts have been expressed about the UK ability to feed itself, but so far we have always managed to do so.  This time it could prove a very difficult battle to win!!

[Chris_H]

Surprised no comments on this programme. Maybe people fall into two camps. 1. Plenty of food in our supermarket so I'm not bothered
2. Another climate change/green/hippy bit of nonsense. I'll be alright @cos I will have the money to pay more for my food if and when shortages hit.

There were several things in the programme I found very interesting.

Something like nearly a half of all potato products in Britain are actually manufactured with added stuff i.e. not just potato. There was a "poor British family" that ate potato waffles, bought lasgane and baked beans but had the biggest TV I have ever seen.  Do people really eat so much processed food when it is as cheap to prepare your own? Here is what Burger King says are in its "chips" on top of potatoes!
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Sunflower Oil, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color, Natural† and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Smoke Flavor. †Natural flavors from plant sources. Uggh.


The fact that the price of oil has a big impact on the cost of food. I know from first hand experience that fertiliser here has gone up from 41 to 57 cents a kilo in a year.

The lowering of water tables. Around here in Spain it has gone down a lot these last few years. Many wells have run dry and new ones are ever deeper. Our local company drilled their deepest ever last month at 510 metres (over 1580 feet!) before they hit water. Some neighbours here not on mains water live on 1000 litres of water trucked in per week for a family and two horses. Of course this all matters as the tomatoes., lettuce etc grown here that you buy from your supermarkets contain "our" water. Southern Spain is looking at having desalination plants to try and cope. They are very expensive to run. 

I would have liked some more in depth figures to support info like the earths population is growing but then I guess it would have been of less interest to people with short attention spans. Interestingly Boots in the Uk have reported a step reduction in condom sales so expect an increase in the birth rate next year!

El Comestible Varche 

If you visit slums anywhere in the world, you will find that each dwelling consists of a satellite dish with a "box to live in" screwed onto it!

Well nearly anywhere and nearly every one.

TV is legitimately important for some, to know what the world is doing but it does edit vast portions out of our lives.

Oh, and I did see a programme about food (but I thought it was a couple of days ago).  Made me think that the local butcher, baker and greengrocer might return to our high streets selling local produce (hopefully).