Jamie Oliver is a fucking sensationalist wanker!

[Loada]

FWIW, I think these programmes (Jamie, Hugh, Kill It-Eat It etc) are having their desired effect because they're getting people who usually don't give a flying wotsit where their food comes from to actually discuss it. Job done from what I can see.

I happened to see a bit of one of Hugh's chicken shows the other night and he was in Tescos trying to get them to put up information signs about where the various chicken types came from. Also, he was trying to get Sainsburys to run a video alongside the chicken counters showing the conditions of that the free-range and battery-farm animals were subjected to. Predictably, all the supermarkets were on-board initially but when asked to put their money where their mouths were in the actual stores, all backed out with suitable spin-excuses from their respective PR departments.

Yes, these "chefs" do whore themselves on TV but they do at least TRY and make a difference. Their hearts are in the right places, for the most part.

The show I was talking about above ended up showing that most people vote with their wallets i.e. cheap is better and they pretty much couldn't give a hoot about the animal welfare, even when they were shown it up front and personal. Quotes like "I can see the battery chickens are suffering but I'm still not going to pay £10 for a free-range when I can get two of these for a fiver"...what can you do when people are saying that whilst stood in the battery hen barn?

Perhaps it is the fact that people resent these millionaire showbiz people turning up and telling them how to live their lives...who can blame them?

[goldfish]

Oh and another thing, is it because they taste shit they are killed (different breed and all that) surely the only other possible point would have been to rear these birds for culling in free range environment as well for ready made meals instead of that mush you get in your chicken burgers and hotdogs? Once again there was no point to his excercise and therefore he is a prick for doing that particular stunt for that reason.

Noone in their right mind is going to take eggy-chicks (layers) and try to turn them into meaty-chickens (broilers). The return on them would be ridiculously low (basically the value at sale compared to the cost of feed to get them to weight wouldn't be economically viable).

The mush in poor quality burgers or chicken paste or whatever tends to come form end of life layers, or the bleached 'dark' meat of broilers.

Simon

[goldfish]

I found it disturbing that the EU have recently increased the allowed density of chickens in farms - that strikes me as a clearly wrong decision and shows just how government today is controlled by lobbyists and corporations. It's in no one's interest other than the people making the money.

I'm surprised at this; going to have an ask around at work to see what happened.

I was involved in the banning of conventional cages (replaced by enriched by 2012) so am a bit disappointed to see things going in the other direction for broilers.

Simon

[zip accident]

defsdoor wrote:

the two most vocal members of the public on both shows that were defending buying the cheap chicken as being on "a tight budget" were both clearly morbidly obese - not that tight a budget then....

It doesn't work like that. If you eat so little that your body thinks you're at risk of starving, it goes into economy mode, slows down your metabolism, and stores all the calories that it can as fat.

If you're young, it is likely that your metabolism is running at a higher rate and burning more calories, it definitely gets easier to put on fat (not that you'd choose to) as you get older.

Sickboy wrote:

For those who claim they can't afford it - cut out the overpriced, processed crap and /learn to cook stuff/* with fresh, cheap ingredients. Then offset what you save by buying free-range, etc. Your food will be more nourishing, it'll taste better and you'll be tilting the profit balance away from supermarkets in favour of farmers.

I do cook. Not very often, it's more expensive than buying bread and fresh fruit and cooked meat. That is using the cheapest ingriedients I can buy, not this expensive free range/organic gear.

[Sickboy]

Perhaps it is the fact that people resent these millionaire showbiz people turning up and telling them how to live their lives...who can blame them?

It really shouldn't matter that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall went to Eton and has made a bit of money. It's all about the ideas, not the educator. You either accept the good sense or you don't.

The essence of the series seems pretty sharp and simple to me: if you don't like animals being slaughtered for food, become a vegetarian. If you're okay with it, then get informed about how the meat finds its way to your plate. Then, if you don't like what you discover, refine the way you contribute to the process and play your part in bringing about ethical and economic change.

[Mele]

I'm really not to keen on many of these celeb chefs , Gordon Ramsey and Hugh Fearnley excluded, but even if Oliver is being a two faced git you can not criticize him for what hes doing.
The school diners was fantastic and did change how our society looked out school diners.
The chicken out thing this week has been great me and two kids watched it and wtf are people moaning about a handful of chicks that would have died anyway actually showing the public what goes on. Some people need to be fucking shocked to awake themselves from TV slumber , if it offends you that much turn over.

To summarize Jamie is a cock but what he has done to actually help the UK change its eating habits can only be commended, credit to him.

The backbiting that people do makes me sick sometimes.

Do anything positive and its , look at him rich fucker what does he know. How the hell do these people win ? If you do something positive you get shot down and if you do a Anthony Worrell Thompson you get piss taken out of you.
I prefer the former.

[fritx]

I'm only appalled by the fact that folk are actually watching such complete bab and apparently choosing to do same
Mechanised slaughter for profit disgusts me and is the reason I've been a veggie for 10-odd years (no, I don't eat fish they are not vegetables). I suppose I am lucky that I never really liked bacon unless it was burnt to a crisp so I don't have the conditioned response to its smell.
Anyway, the pseudo-meats that are made out of mushrooms, soy or tofu have improved a *lot* since I stopped eating dead rotting flesh all them years ago, just give it a try. I would suggest the Quorn southern-style pseudo-chicken burgers as a pleasant intro.

[Loada]

It really shouldn't matter that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall went to Eton and has made a bit of money. It's all about the ideas, not the educator. You either accept the good sense or you don't.

The essence of the series seems pretty sharp and simple to me: if you don't like animals being slaughtered for food, become a vegetarian. If you're okay with it, then get informed about how the meat finds its way to your plate. Then, if you don't like what you discover, refine the way you contribute to the process and play your part in bringing about ethical and economic change.

Don't get me wrong, I *agree* with what they're doing (and what you're saying). However, from the reactions of the folk "on the street" where Hugh was doing his protesting, they'd decided they didn't like "his sort" much long before they actually stopped to listen to what he had to say and some were quite...erm...vocal...about what they thought of him. Half the battle is getting round the ingrained way that people buy their food (from supermarkets) and you can't argue with the price differences - and that DOES mean more to the working-class, single-mum who has to feed four kids.

[Sickboy]

Half the battle is getting round the ingrained way that people buy their food (from supermarkets) and you can't argue with the price differences - and that DOES mean more to the working-class, single-mum who has to feed four kids.

Sure, just as long as she's not pumping 'em full of grossly overpriced Findus Crispy Pancakes and then claiming she can't afford to buy free-range/organic. Or reaching for the Oven Chips when a bag of potatoes and a bit of effort would be cheaper, tastier and more nutritious.

As I'm sure Ramsay will prove next week - it's just as easy to knock up something delicious and satisfying as it is to shove a batch of processed gunk in the oven.

[Stone]

Half the battle is getting round the ingrained way that people buy their food (from supermarkets) and you can't argue with the price differences - and that DOES mean more to the working-class, single-mum who has to feed four kids.

Sure, just as long as she's not pumping 'em full of grossly overpriced Findus Crispy Pancakes and then claiming she can't afford to buy free-range/organic. Or reaching for the Oven Chips when a bag of potatoes and a bit of effort would be cheaper, tastier and more nutritious.

I'm always slightly disappointed that nobody ever points out that they wouldn't be on such a tight budget if they didn't have four kids. If you can't afford to feed yourself properly then I fail to see how throwing money at kids (which are stupendously expensive if you stop and add it all up) is anything other than ridiculous. Stop breeding and you won't have to worry about it, you silly cow!

Stone

[Fil]

But can one choose not to breed?

[Sickboy]

Half the battle is getting round the ingrained way that people buy their food (from supermarkets) and you can't argue with the price differences - and that DOES mean more to the working-class, single-mum who has to feed four kids.

Sure, just as long as she's not pumping 'em full of grossly overpriced Findus Crispy Pancakes and then claiming she can't afford to buy free-range/organic. Or reaching for the Oven Chips when a bag of potatoes and a bit of effort would be cheaper, tastier and more nutritious.

I'm always slightly disappointed that nobody ever points out that they wouldn't be on such a tight budget if they didn't have four kids. If you can't afford to feed yourself properly then I fail to see how throwing money at kids (which are stupendously expensive if you stop and add it all up) is anything other than ridiculous. Stop breeding and you won't have to worry about it, you silly cow!

That's a bit of a separate argument, though, Mr Eugenics.

One kid, five kids, no kids... Same difference, same message: sort out that lazy, toxic attitude to food.

[Stone]

That's a bit of a separate argument, though, Mr Eugenics.

Not really, I never suggested people's right to breed should be taken away based on income (!) but there seems not to be much thought about it - the complaint seems to be that they buy the cheapest, nastiest meat available because there isn't much money in the house. Ignoring the fact that there was money in the house, but there no longer is once they've bought four sets of school uniform, four sets of expensive flashing Christmas presents...see what I'm getting at?

One kid, five kids, no kids... Same difference, same message: sort out that lazy, toxic attitude to food.

Well, yeah. I was getting annoyed with the fat woman who was defending her right to buy battery eggs because 'some people are on a tight budget'. She never said she was...if she's been buying sad eggs based on the fact that some other people want the cheapest available and she just likes penny-pinching then it's doubly reprehensible. I'd have had a lot more sympathy if she just said 'Actually I'm quite poor and the happier eggs aren't affordable for me' but it was all a bit foot-stampy and holier-than-thou 'I have the right to buy whatever I like, thankyouverymuch'.

But can one choose not to breed?

I did...

Stone

[Sickboy]

That's a bit of a separate argument, though, Mr Eugenics.

Not really, I never suggested people's right to breed should be taken away based on income (!) but there seems not to be much thought about it - the complaint seems to be that they buy the cheapest, nastiest meat available because there isn't much money in the house. Ignoring the fact that there was money in the house, but there no longer is once they've bought four sets of school uniform, four sets of expensive flashing Christmas presents...see what I'm getting at?

Uh, yes. Of course. See the wink? I'm really not calling you a fascist, or anything.



If you want to have four kids, you should be allowed to have four kids. But I agree - it might be an idea to check you can absorb all the costs first...

[gumboot]

I saw that, and all I could think at the time was how much complaining it was going to start off.

I don't really disapprove of the effort, but I can't see it helping. Every few years there's a glut of people trying to make the public face the realities of whatever, and people wander around making a fuss about it for a while, and then they get over it and go back to doing exactly what they've always done.


Had a good laugh at the "the more you pay" lines, though.