Waste and the West

yasmin05 · 14 February 2008 at 7:59PM

My husband is Turkish and I only really started thinking about how much food we used to waste when his mother came for 6 months 9 years ago when I had my first child. She used every last thing in the fridge and made some amazing meals out of virtually nothing. She bought a large jar of homemade sundried tomator puree paste with her which she used as a basis for most of her sauces.

Visiting Turkey in the rural areas a lot of people still grow and make their own food and literally they waste nothing. Now my inlaws are not poor they retired at 45 and could afford the good things in life but its almost as its inbuilt that nothing should be wasted. She even bought our old clothes and the baby clothes back with her to distribute to the poorer people in her village.

I am really glad my children have had the opportunity to see how food is produced when we visit. For breakfast we will normally eat the eggs the hens have laid with the bread cooked in the communal village oven with homemade cheese and homegrown tomatoes. They still milk the cows by hand so my two have had a go at that and the women tend to get together sit outside and make sweets and delicases that they then distribute to their neighbours. Meat is eaten 1 to 3 times a week at the very most and sometimes even less.

Everybody knows how to preserve food and I find it fascinating watching them pickle and jar fresh produce to eat out of season. My mother in law even makes a instant soup with flour and dried vegtables that takes about 3 weeks to make that is their equivalent to cup a soup.

Another thing they do even in the Towns is if they grow their own fruit or veg or make yogurt or cheese they tend to give presents to their neighbours too. They also tend to look out for poorer families and help them with food and clothes when they can. I would guess this is common only in villages and small towns as all cities no matter where they are are very much the same.

I know that these skills have only recently been lost in the West but as the era of cheap food seems to be coming to and end I guess they will make something of a comeback. I might take a bit more notice when I am there and give it a go myself sometime..

lilac_lady · 14 February 2008 at 8:26PM

It reminds me of my granny's way of managing. Eggs from local chicken farm (free range), all vegetables grown in garden or greenhouse, tomatoes turned into chutney, beetroot, onions pickled in jars, fruit made into jam, home baked scones, cakes, biscuits. Rabbits and pheasants from local game keeper in exchange for home baking. Strawberries and raspberries, green peas all eaten in the garden by my sister (given to us by my Grampa)with a watchful look out for Granny. Things have changed so much.

soappie · 14 February 2008 at 8:55PM

Part of the problem is lack of space - particularly in an urban area like mine. So many houses with large gardens are being knocked down to make way for blocks of flats that take up the whole area of the land so there's no room left for people to grow vegetables, keep chickens etc. even if they wanted to.

And the waiting lists for the remaining allotments are so long, you'll be lucky if you managed to secure one within the next 10 years

phizzimum · 14 February 2008 at 10:00PM

Also the more effort you've put into the food the less likely you are to waste it. When you've grown something yourself, baked it from scratch or preserved it you really couldn't bear to throw it away could you?

It's just to easy to throw things into your trolley at the supermarket because they catch your eye, then you don't eat them because they weren't part of your planned menu - so they get chucked.

champys · 14 February 2008 at 10:29PM

soappie wrote: »

Part of the problem is lack of space - particularly in an urban area like mine. So many houses with large gardens are being knocked down to make way for blocks of flats that take up the whole area of the land so there's no room left for people to grow vegetables, keep chickens etc. even if they wanted to.

soappie this is true - but like with having either time or money, it is quite difficult to live both the old and the new way. We live in a very thinly populated area in northern France, and we have more space than we know what to do with. We grow our own fruit and vegetables. A lady from the next village gives me eggs from her chickens all the time (she wants no money for them!), and we give her honey from our bees when we have some. Sounds very idyllic, and yes, it is! But we don't have a choice of 4 supermarkets like many people in the UK, and the nearest one (8 miles away) you would probably find a little basic. So you really, really have to be OS and there is no cheating, no takeaways, no nipping to the shops for a packet of sage & onion stuffing, etc. If you want something, you have to mostly cook or make or grow it yourself - apart from the basics. Lots of good points, for example we get very affordable organic beef from a local producer; but you have to be committed to living in a simpler way and it can be a lot of work...... very fulfilling, but also remember you never get a break from it. Yasmin05's MIL will know what I mean.

soappie · 14 February 2008 at 10:50PM

Champys,

In many, many ways I would love to have a life style like yours. I positively HATE the supermarket run. I HATE having to pay what Sainsbury's or Tesco or Asda decide that is the price for the goods. And those goods are farmed nine times out of ten from outside this little patch of green we call England. And I can't remember the last time I bought a take away.

But, whilst I'm in the domestic situation that I am in, I'll have to remain here and can only dream of really getting back to 'the good life'.

skintscotslass · 14 February 2008 at 11:44PM

soappie wrote: »

Part of the problem is lack of space - particularly in an urban area like mine. So many houses with large gardens are being knocked down to make way for blocks of flats that take up the whole area of the land so there's no room left for people to grow vegetables, keep chickens etc. even if they wanted to.

And the waiting lists for the remaining allotments are so long, you'll be lucky if you managed to secure one within the next 10 years

Soappie, I have a large garden, but am not allowed to keep chickens

Some stupid clause in the deeds, in case I pass on bird flu to my neighbours or something?

Yasmin - great thread! V thought provoking.

dan1979 · 14 February 2008 at 11:45PM

Good post. I do my best - growing as much as possible in my small urban garden. I waste as little as possible, leftovers are always kept, excess sauces frozen, chicken bones kept for stock, etc.

We do live in a very wasteful society, only since taking in an interest in food and cooking have I given any of it a second thought, now I consider being thrifty a great attribute.

It comes at a price though, there was one time I had to finish the leftovers of five people in a restaurant (they had literally only cleared half their plates of expensive stuff like lamb shanks) because I didn't want to see the food go to waste, tough job but someone's got to do it.

yasmin05 · 14 February 2008 at 11:53PM

phizzimum wrote: »

Also the more effort you've put into the food the less likely you are to waste it. When you've grown something yourself, baked it from scratch or preserved it you really couldn't bear to throw it away could you?

It's just to easy to throw things into your trolley at the supermarket because they catch your eye, then you don't eat them because they weren't part of your planned menu - so they get chucked.

How very true this is probably the root cause of the problem.

calleyw · 14 February 2008 at 11:55PM

skintscotslass wrote: »

Soappie, I have a large garden, but am not allowed to keep chickens Some stupid clause in the deeds, in case I pass on bird flu to my neighbours or something?

Lots of people have it their deeds that they can't keep anything apart from domestic animals such as dogs, cats and rabbits. I think it is that you don't annoy your neighbours with unwanted noise and smells.

I must have a look at my deeds to see. Would be good way to annoy my neighbours as they think they can tell me to use my drive which is a piece of grass with a drop kerb in front of it. It has been raining for the last two months and is water logged.

Yours

Calley

StressedSteph · 15 February 2008 at 8:58AM

I live in Dorset and the last few years, our family have tried to go back the old-style way of living.

Once or twice a week, the kiddies and I walk to the nearest Free-Range chicken farm, about 1 mile away and we collect eggs for our baking.
Every Friday is the Farmers market in our small town, where we get our weeks veg (other veg comes from mums gardens) and at the same time I buy my free-range meat from the butchers. I mostly buy cheaper cuts, like mince, stewing steak, sausages and once a week we will have a chicken (our free range chickens usually cost about £9 :eek: )

Then once week I do a reluctant online order at Tesco's for my household stuff & tins (cheapest delivery / would cost more in fuel to get there myself / also stops me impulse buying)

I wish there was somewhere smaller to get my household stuff but there just does'nt seem to be an alternative, only co-op and they are as big as Tesco, almost.

I think this is as close to the old ways as I can get, but wish I could do better.
x

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Waste and the West

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