Eating what?

30 December, 2007

Hullo Hullo! Thanks for stopping by. The first post is always a tricky one, like a first date with someone you like you end up trying to blurt everything out at once. I’m hopefully going to resist that temptation. So here’s a sort of measured Q&A with myself:

Hi who are you?
My name is Andrew Webb and I’ve been blogging at www.eyedropper.co.uk for 4 years. I used to work for the BBC, I now work for Channel 4, and pretty soon I’m going to work for… well me I guess. For more about me, have a look at the ‘about’ page.

What’s all this eating thing about?
Well, Britain, it seems, is in the throes of a food revolution. Organic is everywhere. The trouble is, it’s often European or African organic flown in by the supermarkets at the planet’s expense. But is there a viable alternative source of organic, ethical produce that isn’t part of some vast corporate food chain?

Starting in the spring I’m embarking on a six-month journey back to nature, working on organic farms and small-holdings around the UK to see if the grassroots organic movement offers that viable alternative. When most people go travelling in search of new experiences, they head to the likes of Asia and Australia, not to Axminster and Abergavenny. This blog is a record of that journey.

What’s ‘Albion’ mean, is that like West Bromich Albion?
No, It’s a very old name for Great Britain, see this wikipedia entry about it.

Where are you going then?
Have a look at the map page. Once the trip starts I’ll be adding to a live google map of the route.

You’re giving up the exciting cut and thrust of the media to work on farms, you’re mad!
Yup!

..And tomorrow we’ll look at how this crazy adventure came into being.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. .

2 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Chris M  |  6 January, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    Sounds cool; sustainability through self sucficiency on a national or local scale is the only real sustainable method. Unfortunatly that would require us all to go back to eating only seasonable foods and loosing things like pasta that we’ve grown to rely on.
    On top of that everyone would have to learn to cook again, Sheeps brains anyone? I’ve got a great recipe?… Any Takers?
    Hmm.

    Good Luck.

  • 2. Mel  |  8 January, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Your new project sounds really exciting – I’ll be sure to follow your blog with interest over the coming months. I’m quite interested in the whole business of supporting local producers through sourcing food regionally. I do the whole Abel & Cole thing but struggle to get my head round why there are tomatoes in my box in January. Their reasoning is that your food box would be a bit dull if everything was just sourced locally and I have to admit, I am getting really sick of beetroot at the moment! However, if you look back at the veg that the Victorians were eating when most produce had to be sourced locally, there are plenty of things that you rarely see nowadays – Good King Henry, Scorzonera, Hamburg Parsley anyone? Unfortunately, many of these vegetables became unpopular once mass importing started, plus we’ve lost our creativity (and time) – 60 years ago people could create much more with less varied produce. Also, the influx of foods from the continent has made Britons ashamed of its culinary heritage, which is a real shame. It’s great you are off on a journey to rediscover it!

Leave a Comment

Required

Required, hidden

Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed


NEWSFLASH! I’m now on Channel 4

EA's time in the sun has ended as I'm busy doing the Big British Food Map for Channel 4. Take a look, it's way cool

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Eating Albion's Del.icio.us

April to October

December 2007
M T W T F S S
    Jan »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  

Flickr Photos

post shoot pint

Oliver set's up a shot

Harro's joy at finishing his third breakfast

At the Natural Kitchen

Rollin'!

More Photos

Category Cloud

blogging books Channel 4 chicken chip shop clams cooking Crystal Palace Dinner Fast Food flickr food forkd Gipsy Hill Gordon Ramsay italian kit kitchen Lasagne leftovers London map me Restaurant shopping soup stupid technology TV Uncategorized

Archives