Adventures in Food

Well not strictly fish, although you could say the whelks and the scallops come into it but they aren't really fish. (We havent yet succeeded in locating local fish, which is probably one the biggest changes in our diet as we used to subsist on mackerel - cheap and healthy though probably endangered or something. But I digress.) i said before that the price of food doesnt really impact on one;s budget but i did notice last time in Waitrose that we are paying more than double the price for milk from Prince Charle's estate than it costs for some equally beautifully packaged and unhomogenised milk with lots of cream on top that comes from just outside our range. The cheaper milk also comes in bigger cartons so it produces slightly less waste. Even though this is a matter of 40 pence, I think it indicates how there can be quite dramatic differences in food prices for very similar items. I suppose people are paying the extra for the status symbol of having Duchy milk. There we are b...

We are now nearly three months in to the experiment and there is still an open question over whether to continue and in what form. I would like to reflect on the experience so far. I have noticed recently that the novelty and initial excitement has worn off and at times it has become a real drag. Its not a matter of craving things, which passed quite quickly and the new eating habits have been easy for me to adapt to and beneficial eg. herbal tea and low sugar. However it is the amount of work involved that makes it difficult. For example, we have to go to a market every saturday and they all shut at one or two, thank god Richmond Farmer's market is open till three or we would have starved a few times. Some saturdays you really dont feel like going to the market so it makes saturdays into more of a workday because there is a routine and a deadline. Also actually shopping is hard because it is all scattered. You go to Waitrose for milk and flour and oil; the market for some greens a...

We had a long weekend in Exmoor which is over 100 miles away. What a conundrum! We took the opportunity to see what produce they have in the area and went to the local farmers market in Minehead. We also stayed on an organic B&B farm (Hindon), where they serve huge breakfasts made from the pigs and lambs and cattle that you meet as you head off up the hill afterwards for your walk across the moor. This makes a good change as most local food is not organic. If we tried to live on local organic food we would be in intensive care by now. We brought back some goodies and I would like to mention that the taste of the cucumber, potatoes and eggs that we brought back from Exmoor were all fabulous. I think it must be the rich red soil. I am serious - I noticed the difference in quality and will miss the eggs - that was one of the best omelettes ever! - and the sweet, fluffy, rich potatoes. I never knew potatoes were anything more than general Filler food. More holidays in Exmoor Please!

The one item we are struggling to locate a regular supply for within 100 miles, is butter. Please help! The butter we found so far is either made from the cream on the top of the Duchy Milk or else from a tiny place in sussex that we cant go back to for a while.

An argument is raging or, at the least, negotiations are taking place, into just how long this diet of discovery should continue before I am pushed, through despair and repression, into an illicit, clandestine affair with a forbidden toffee apple or am found by Sarah in an uncompromising menage a trois with a cadbury's whirl and a kinder surprise. In short, if I don't get some proper chocolate soon I'm going to kill some bastard.

Here are some more pictures to show you what we have found recently. First let me tell you - its very exciting - lettuce is now available..since about two weeks actually, say late february. Apparently tomatoes are being sold in Twickenham but our grocer says two more weeks. Here is some pigeon breast being cooked. It is absolutely exquisitely delicious. Its really tender and has a good strong flavour. Its almost like liver actually. here is some nice people on the Roman Road in the east end, selling whelks and cockles from Whitstable. Also delicious. We got a cup of whelks for £3.80. I cooked them in the following way, adapted from the Mendip Snails "Court Bouillon" recipe in ' A Taste of the West Country ' by Theodora Fitzgibbon, an old book i picked up at the delightful Lloyds of Kew bookshop. This is the whelks at the back. The foreground is mussels, not sure where they are from. Whelk Recipe First mix some chopped herbs ( i used thyme, a bay leaf, and garlic) wit...

I would like to comment on the fact that often people wonder whether the food we are buying "costs more". Sometimes yes it is more expensive than if you just went to Tesco all the time. However, I never did and rob only sometimes and when he was skint. but the thing is, how much does even really expensive food cost? Like if I am really going overboard, I might pay, I don't know, a pound for a pint of milk instead of 36p. That's 64p more than normal. I mean come on. That is not really going to make any difference to my life. We get through about three-four pints a week, thats about £2,40. Thats less than a glass of wine one evening down the pub. A week. Between us. For one drink. I really dont think that buying Expensive Food makes much difference. Running an Expensive Car, that makes a difference. Going on Expensive Holidays, makes a difference. Buying Expensive Clothes makes a difference. Paying 64p more for a pint of milk, that doesnt make a difference. And anyhow, ...