Meat has many drawbacks. It’s expensive, it’s often unethically produced and it’s bad for the environment. But for many of us food lovers its range of flavours and textures is impossible to sacrifice. In the current economic climate, and with climate change ever more pressing, why not learn to love the more unusual parts of the beast?
What we generally know as ‘meat’ is merely the muscle holding the bones together. Offal takes its name from the phrase ‘off-fall’ - the bits of the animal that fall away when it’s butchered. Its counterpart is properly called ‘pluck’ - the internal organs you have to pull away. In combination, this includes the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, but the term ‘offal’ is often used to refer to anything other than the layer of skeletal muscle. While we might squirm at the idea of eating a brain or testicle, we may well have eaten intestinal casings and ground offal in sausages hundreds of times over without a second thought.
The Food Standards Agency Food Labelling Regulations 2003 forbid retailers from describing anything other than ‘skeletal muscle with naturally included or adherent fat and connective tissues’ as meat. Since the BSE crisis and more recent concerns about bird flu, it is understandable that people want to know what they’re eating, but I suggest that this should drive us to eat well produced animals, rather than limiting our consumption to particular cuts.
Sadly, many modern reference books describe offal as the ‘waste parts’ of the creature. In Britain, we haven’t always turned our noses up at offal as we do now. Until the post-war era, offal was used in many popular dishes. Liver and kidneys were frequently used as ingredients in many traditional British meals, and tripe was particularly common in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
It still seems commonplace in many countries with less gratuitous wealth than ours to make the most of the slaughtering of an animal by using every edible morsel. The knowledge of how to cook these parts well goes hand-in-hand with a need for thriftiness and an understanding of the farming process; that calorie for calorie, producing an animal is far less efficient than arable faming. Nevertheless, cultivating animals makes use of plant and vegetable waste that humans can’t digest and can provide an excellent source of protein. Disposing of even a tiny bit is a foolish waste of a highly valuable resource.
With the economic downturn, British consumers are more concerned about thriftiness once again, and many now understand that the contents of their shopping basket also affect the environment. Belief in the value of locally produced goods and craft foods has led to an increase in British artisan produce and farmers’ markets. Happily, it seems these factors might be starting a resurgence in the use of more parts of the animal and a confidence in their production values. There are certainly a number of celebrity chefs and highbrow London restaurants that advocate the use of trotter, cheek and tripe.
I’d argue that if the increased popularity of offal remains the preserve of foodies and the upper middle classes, society is missing a trick. Organs like liver and kidney are low in fat and high in essential nutrients, often at a fraction of the cost of chicken breast and steak. Whilst some parts such as heart can take quite some time and effort to prepare well, liver can be chucked into a stir fry very easily. The relatively low cost means that it’s much more affordable to buy locally sourced, properly reared animals. Surely these meats provide an opportunity for those on a limited budget to eat high quality, healthy cuts of the animal?
In addition to the cost and health benefits of buying unusual cuts and organs, offal has a great deal to offer in terms of adding variety to your cooking. Many people use chicken giblets to add flavour to gravy, precisely because the internal parts of the animal contribute rich and complex tastes. The only reason offal isn’t more frequently used is because people feel awkward about where it comes from. We need to get over this squeamishness. Any meat is a dead animal and if you feel uncomfortable with that, you shouldn’t be eating it at all.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Fareshare.
This country wastes a lot of food. We all know this. At home, many people buy too much or plan badly and as a result, end up discarding large amounts of produce. The size of the problem is multiplied many times when it comes to manufacturers, shops and restaurants. Some people occasionally score a free meal by ‘skipping’ discarded produce from supermarket bins, which has generally passed its ‘best before’ date or is damaged but may still be fine to eat. Some take this approach further by living a ‘freegan’ lifestyle. Freegans take as much of their diet from discarded food as possible in order to minimise waste and limit their participation in the consumerist economic system. However, many vulnerable people need support in accessing the waste food our society produces.
While tonnes of food is discarded every day, seven million people in this country are affected by low income, perhaps the most critical factor leading to food poverty. It is estimated that around four million people in the UK cannot afford a healthy diet. One fifth of people using the services of charities across the country admit they have gone without a square meal for a week or more in the last year.
Some organisations seek to work with businesses to ensure that the food they reject reaches the most needy. FareShare is a national charity fighting hunger in the UK by redistributing quality surplus produce from the food industry to a network of community organisations that support homeless and other vulnerable people. The charity also provides essential training and education on safe food preparation and nutrition, on top of warehouse employability training through its Eat Well Live Well programme.
FareShare argues that the current economic climate has made food redistribution even more crucial than ever. Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare, says: “At a time of unprecedented demand we want the food industry and the general public to increase their support.”
Recent figures released by the organisation show a sharp rise in demand on charities for food, as people all over Britain struggle to put dinner on the table. 42% of charities surveyed reported an increase in demand for food in the past year as prices continue to soar, putting additional strain on families and people on low incomes. Through collaborations with manufacturers and supermarkets, FareShare is helping charities to prevent hunger.
You can support Fareshare by making a donation or volunteering at their depot, with our local centre based in Barnsley.
fareshare.org
fssouthyorkshire@fareshare.org.uk
01226 213255
This country wastes a lot of food. We all know this. At home, many people buy too much or plan badly and as a result, end up discarding large amounts of produce. The size of the problem is multiplied many times when it comes to manufacturers, shops and restaurants. Some people occasionally score a free meal by ‘skipping’ discarded produce from supermarket bins, which has generally passed its ‘best before’ date or is damaged but may still be fine to eat. Some take this approach further by living a ‘freegan’ lifestyle. Freegans take as much of their diet from discarded food as possible in order to minimise waste and limit their participation in the consumerist economic system. However, many vulnerable people need support in accessing the waste food our society produces.
While tonnes of food is discarded every day, seven million people in this country are affected by low income, perhaps the most critical factor leading to food poverty. It is estimated that around four million people in the UK cannot afford a healthy diet. One fifth of people using the services of charities across the country admit they have gone without a square meal for a week or more in the last year.
Some organisations seek to work with businesses to ensure that the food they reject reaches the most needy. FareShare is a national charity fighting hunger in the UK by redistributing quality surplus produce from the food industry to a network of community organisations that support homeless and other vulnerable people. The charity also provides essential training and education on safe food preparation and nutrition, on top of warehouse employability training through its Eat Well Live Well programme.
FareShare argues that the current economic climate has made food redistribution even more crucial than ever. Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare, says: “At a time of unprecedented demand we want the food industry and the general public to increase their support.”
Recent figures released by the organisation show a sharp rise in demand on charities for food, as people all over Britain struggle to put dinner on the table. 42% of charities surveyed reported an increase in demand for food in the past year as prices continue to soar, putting additional strain on families and people on low incomes. Through collaborations with manufacturers and supermarkets, FareShare is helping charities to prevent hunger.
You can support Fareshare by making a donation or volunteering at their depot, with our local centre based in Barnsley.
fareshare.org
fssouthyorkshire@fareshare.org.uk
01226 213255
Blend.
http://blendcookeatshare.yolasite.com
We all know that what we eat can affect how we feel physically. Eating well can also improve our mood and mental health, increasing serotonin and reducing lethargy. More than this, the experience of cooking and eating with others can really add something special to our lives. Blend, a social enterprise based in Sharrow, runs a number of activities for the community designed to optimize these three levels of food-related well-being.
One of Blend’s most successful regular events is the Healthy Cook Along. This is an opportunity to learn to cook new dishes from around the world and share a meal with others in your local community. The sessions attract a wide range of local people, including young families teaching their children the basics, students wanting to expand their repertoire and older people seeking new skills, perhaps after divorce or bereavement. The cooking activities encourage people to cooperate and get talking and the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming, with a sense of collective achievement once the food is served. At £2 for adults or £1 for kids with all ingredients and equipment provided, it’s a pretty cheap activity.
If you aren’t a beginner in the kitchen but would like the opportunity to gain more technical skill, the Advanced Cook Alongs are targeted at you. These sessions focus on much more adventurous dishes made with seasonal, local produce. Any additional income generated is ploughed back into Blend’s other food related projects. Their most recent menu was themed around game and included pigeon, watercress and black pudding salad, roast pheasant and sticky toffee pudding. Yum.
The Blend website describes their Saturday morning Baking Club as ‘a laidback event to bring people together to bake bread, drink coffee, read the papers and enjoy the start of the weekend’. The club provides a chance to bake the basics plus some well-deserved treats, sharing tips and recipes with other keen bakers, from beginners to experts.
The ‘BIG’ events were inspired by the national Big Lunch campaign. This has now developed into a regular quarterly event including a meal and family activities, which are a great chance to meet people living in your area. For those who wish to progress onto a career in food or community work, Blend also has a number of volunteering opportunities.
Upcoming Blend events:
HEALTHY COOK ALONGS
£2 adults/£1 kids at The Old Sharrow Junior School, South View Road
Thursday 26th January – Thai vegetable kebabs and satay sauce, Thai green curry and Pad Thai
Thursday 23rd February – Moroccan chicken tagine, cous cous, aubergine salad, sardine tagine, carrot salad
Thursday 29th March – Vietnamese (menu to be confirmed)
ADVANCED COOK ALONG
£10 per person at The Old Sharrow Junior School, South View Road
Tuesday 6th March - Menu to be confirmed
BAKING CLUB
£2.50/kids free at The Old Sharrow Junior School, South View Road
Saturday 28th January
Saturday 25th February
Saturday 31st March
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