Locked-up Thinking
There is a lot of talk at the moment about fracking, or ‘induced hydraulic fracturing,’ as it is more formally known in the oil and gas industry. It is a way of releasing natural gas trapped in rock layers far below the surface. It is contentious, difficult, expensive, energy-inefficient and resource-hungry, using anything up to [...]
This week’s big news: we have just had our ovens cleaned. It’s not that we don’t clean them regularly, it’s just that we felt it was time for a ‘good going over’ by a professional team – and one that doesn’t use those highly toxic caustic cleaners. So in they came and, two hours later [...]
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a something of a hero in my eyes. Ever since the tousled toff first appeared on our screens tramping around in his wellies in the original River Cottage garden, I have admired his stance on how our food should be produced. From those humble beginnings, he has moved on to tackle issues [...]
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, as the popular saying goes, although there are some that would disagree with this adage. Thomas Huxley, for instance, asked, “If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?” Good point. Well made. The way I see [...]
We live in a culture that labels, defines, categorises, qualifies and pigeonholes everything. If you are not one thing, then you must be another. From the cradle to the proverbial grave, we are all processed by the system in this way. If, for whatever reason, someone or something cannot be contained within the usual definitions, [...]
Those of you who know anything about Aspen House, or who might have come across either or both of my books (The Food Maze, and How To Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow), will know that we have a bit of a thing about labels. And those of you who might have trawled the previous Aspen [...]