Radio 4 Food Programme

Jolaaled

A really interesting programme on Radio 4 right now..on the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme....they're talking about nutrition and our perception of what food is, and how it's changed over the years.

you can listen to it on the 'listen again' service the BBC Radio 4 website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

Penelope_Penguin

Jolaaled wrote: »

A really interesting programme on Radio 4 right now..on the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme....they're talking about nutrition and our perception of what food is, and how it's changed over the years.

you can listen to it on the 'listen again' service the BBC Radio 4 website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

......or Monday at 4pm

Penny. x

phizzimum

just caught the end of this programme and will def try to listen to it again. They were interviewing a journalist (didn't catch his name) who has written a book that sounds like very interesting reading.

His theory was that food should be a cultural rather than a scientific thing. It all made plenty of old -style sense to me - especially when recommended never eating anything you're grandmother wouldn't recognise as food!

Jolaaled

This is the website for the programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme.shtml

The journalist is Michael Pollan and his book is called:
In Defence of food: the myth of nutrition and the pleasures of eating.

Topher

I heard it too, and was much struck by his view point and how it tied in with some warnings (or even prophecies) from the past about the state we were going to get ourselves in. Discussing it with my Mum I was quite surprised at my list of processed foods that I buy, some cereals (Shredded wheat, Weetabix, and Shreddies) Fish fingers, and Oven chips. Or am I misunderstanding processed foods? (Baked beans? chopped tomatoes? Dried Rice and pasta?)
Anyway, my Grandmother would recognise nearly all my store cupboard, except perhaps things like Avocado and Kiwi fruit.
T

purpleivy

Hmmmm, I was looking at my trolley yesterday, very pleased with how I've managed to remove so many processed foods. Realise that baked beans and chopped tomatoes are there. Maybe we can view the tomatoes as being 'preserved' as they are something that you could bottle or can yourself.

Topher

I think that could be the true way for understanding the phrase "processed" foods, otherwise where would you stop, (i.e. is picking fruit a form of process? is freezing peas a process?) I'm not trying to be picky, just trying to be honest with myself. So yes, Jams, tinned vegetables and others have been processed but I choose the sort that only needed the preserving methods, not extra chemicals to keep them in their appropriate state. Hopefully that still means my cupboards only contain the processed foods I listed earlier.
T

phizzimum

Jolaaled wrote: »

This is the website for the programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme.shtml

The journalist is Michael Pollan and his book is called:
In Defence of food: the myth of nutrition and the pleasures of eating.

Thanks for that (one to order from the library methinks)

one point he made that stuck in my head was to avoid products with more than 5 ingredients. I was doing my grocery shop last night and choosing cream crackers. the first packet i picked up was the "light" option...the list of ingredients was very long and included soya, which DH is allergic to. So I went for the ordinary crackers - they contain flour, oil, salt, sodium bicarb, yeast...and they were cheaper!

thriftlady_2

phizzimum wrote: »

- they contain flour, oil, salt, sodium bicarb, yeast...and they were cheaper!

all of which you are likely to have in your cupboards -another good rule of thumb;) I'm a fan of michael Pollan's writing and his new book is on my wishlist (not buying till after lent though).

I love what he says about nutritional claims on food packaging, he calls it the 'silence of the yams' -in other words food with no packaging like a yam or a spud is better for you than something that comes in a packet with '95% fat-free' emblazoned across it. If there's somewhere to print these things it probably isn't that good for you.

I think exotic fruit and veg like avocado are fine, after all if your great great grandmother was from Peru she would have recognised it. I think it is nice to eat what grows close to home though. My fil has fresh blueberries from Chile on his porridge every morning because he's read that they're good for you, but blackberries are just as good for you and my freezer is full of blackberries from my garden.

sorry, starting to ramble

phizzimum

I think the thing with exotic fruit/veg is that even if you'd never seen one you'd know it was a foodstuff. on the programme they referred to tubes of yoghurt that look like toothpaste, and actually contain very little yoghurt!

thriftlady_2

I've just listened to the programme (twice!), what a lot of sense Michael Pollan talks. I got a bit annoyed with the man from the Food Standards Agency banging on about how wonderful our increased choice was -well, sorry, I don't agree- the more food choices we have, the fatter and unhealthier we become. When this country had very little choice about what we could eat we were a lot healthier -1940-54 when food was rationed. I'm not suggesting we go back to that, but why can't we have less choice and more quality ?

Gosh, those go-gurts sound vile don't they? I very smugly had homemade yogurt with homemade blackcurrant puree (made with currants from my mum's garden) for breakfast:D