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As a keen gardener, I always turn to The Conscious Kitchen for the Veg Patch Diary, and was pleased to read about blackcurrants in the August issue. I have a plant that’s been going for 20 years and gives lots of tasty fruit. In autumn I snip off a shoot and stick it in the soil. By spring, it roots and I share the new plant with friends and family. I also enjoyed reading about buying less-than-perfect produce. I’ve grown all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes in my garden so I’m pleased to see them on sale in stores. Although I prefer to call mine ‘novelty’ rather than ‘ugly’.
In The Conscious Kitchen (August), you wrote that edible produce is often discarded by growers solely for cosmetic reasons. As a farmer, I can categorically say that is not the case – it is the companies who buy produce from farmers who dictate how they want the produce to look. We would sell it all if we could. Farmers put up with an unfair amount of angst on a daily basis – please do not start blaming us for something that is not of our choosing!
I love your regular British heritage recipes, both for the inspiration and the history behind them. Today, a lot of these items would be frowned upon as being too rich in butter, suet and carbs. But wind back to when they were created and you’ll find people walked more, had less money to spend on ‘snacking’ and certainly ate less processed food. Today, these lovely recipes need to be considered occasional treats, rather like enjoying a fresh hot pasty on holiday.
I am exactly the same as Dr Chris van Tulleken regarding processed food (August). I rarely eat ultra-processed food – I won’t eat shop-bought cakes or puddings – and I always cook everything from scratch. I thought it was me being fussy, so it is nice to hear someone else has the same views.
