Just thouaght the Food Lovers would find this interesting:
First hamburger made from stem cells-being unveiled in London this week. No, not in France, but if it is a success who knows how long it will be before this is on our plates?
Yikes. Check out the link for more info.
Hamburger made from stem cells being served in London
Bon Appetit!
Eric Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation over a decade ago and it has not made as much as a dent, including what he said about the origins of BSE which whilst they need to be proven have never been disproved either. Hmmm. I think it shows that the world is divided into different groups of people. The vast majority seem to eat, no questions. Others would like to be better, but they then watch Masterchef, Jamie Oliver and so on but often with a tray of pre-prepared or instant tucker on their lap and get no further than aspirations. People who cook, still plenty of us, are nonetheless a minority of all people now doing it all. OK, we buy some bread, but that is to help keep the local boulangerie open, and our kids eat a few breakfast cereals that I think should be incinerated. However, asking local and friends about food and it actually mounts up how much is prepared stuff. If this makes burgers cheaper, then they'll sell well, nobody either worries about what is on labels nor especially understands them.
Sure thing Neil. I lived in rural Cambridgeshire, less than five minutes from Essex and Suffolk between 1971 and 2004. Countryfile type farmers lived on the edge. The only non industrial scale people were either the horse people of various kinds around Newmarket or people doing strange specialities like vicuñas/llamas or Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, etc. Here in the Dordogne is not so far removed from that as the older generation dissuades the younger ones from farming and bigger farmers buy up the bits and pieces for a song. It more or less tells us that if perhaps they are a step or two behind, they'll be there in good time and stem-cell steaks and burgers will slip unnoticed onto the menu.
Early days yet in thye research but it may happen. Agree with comments on agri-business. I often watch Countryfile on the Beeb and it is interesting to see how they portray farming in the UK. From their coverage you would think that all the farms are cosy, family affairs but in east Anglia where I used to live, the whole of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk farms are run by 3 or 4 big farm groups. Here in this part of France (the Bearn) although there are lots of small farmers there are some big ones too. Our neighbour's have bits of land all over the place as they buy up the farms when the farmers retire and their children no longer want to carry on the family business.
Havent read that yet, but heard about it...Big business including the food industry is way too powerful.
The Green benefits sound great, but Big (Agro-) Business is bound to leap at this and make sure that a) they make it very profitable for them; & b) some way is found to addict people to it (to make it even more profitable for them).
Who's read Fast Food Nation?