Genetically Modified Food

[AdamW]

I just had a spurt of inspiriation... Now, I am generally against GM food, the injecting of stuff into animals for food etc. But I had a great idea:

We could make the UK self-sufficient for food! Think about it: GM grapes, olives, bananas, proper juicy tomatoes, peppers etc, all engineered to grow in our climate!

After the development phase it would be cheaper to grow it all here in the UK. How's that for clever?

 

[Thermo]

adam, the sad fact of the matter is we can grow a lot of produce here, however because the british market wants a tomato that looks like a picture book one, rather than a real tasty one, supermarkets buy from abroad where labour is cheaper and they can use their buying power to get prices down. England could quite easily be self sufficent in food but the market panders to us. If you got upset about the jamie oliver programme and the crap that is in school dinners, have a look at the fruit and veg in our supermarkets.
Get an allotment and grow your own. Relaxing, satisfying, an escape from the wife and unbelievably good tasting food!

 

[AdamW]

I see what you mean there, I hate it when I can't buy British apples and pears in my supermarket, but I was thinking more the things we are pretty much obliged to buy in: olives, grapes and bananas to name a few. If we could grow the stuff that we are forced to buy in from abroad then that could readjust the balance sheet for agricultural import/export.

Until Spain starts growing GM grass to feed cattle of course

I've never been a fan of the traditional British raw tomatoes (aren't growbags a wonderful thing ), but since I started doing a fair bit of travel to Italy I took a real shine to bruschetta and tomato salad, with those great big bright red tomatoes they have out there. Now we can get those "picture book" tomatoes here in the UK I can have that without getting on a plane first.

Although I would have to say I don't think AdamW getting his tomato salad is QUITE as important as market gardeners' jobs...

 

[felix]

Grapes and tomatoes can be grown right here outdoors in the UK. All you have to do is grow the right varieties. I've grown tomatoes myself up here in Geordieland. For the other stuff you would most likely need a greenhouse but it doesn't take much work to add a lean-to one against a South facing wall. I also think the government should be promoting the construction of roof gardens a bit better. I heard something about this but it just fizzled out. There are lots of small patches of land scattered all over the UK which could grow food but are simply not economic to farm.

How about this. Our prisons are severely overcrowded and a lot of the inmates don't really need to be in there. Nobody needs to be in prison for not paying a fine for example and what exactly is the point of an open prison? Get them all out and put them on community service orders farming these patches of land. I don't mean some namby-pamby slap-on-the-wrist hundred hours or two either. Let's replace a month in prison with 500 hours hard work; which means that that Archer g*t would have been swinging a hoe for about 12,000 hours. Sounds good that! As an added incentive they could earn some money on the stuff they grow. The idea of actually working to make money will be a novelty to some.

Anybody who won't pull their weight goes down the subways with a scrubbing brush instead.

 

[kendor]

I can remember when food had taste before convienience took over, i can remember noticing the difference with the taste of meat changing, how the new stuff(water injected) joints of meat were tastless in comparison.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Forget about supermarkets, find farmers markets, farmers shop.
Two-way solution: real tasty (organic) food, more pences for the farmers.

find one near you

 

[nstreet]

I see what you mean there, I hate it when I can't buy British apples and pears in my supermarket, but I was thinking more the things we are pretty much obliged to buy in: olives, grapes and bananas to name a few. If we could grow the stuff that we are forced to buy in from abroad then that could readjust the balance sheet for agricultural import/export.

Anyone remember Bob Flowerdew the gardener, he managed to grow banannas in poly tunnels, so it can be done, but I suspect the profit margin isn't there. I purchased some cabbage the other day, didn't even come from the UK. Surely we can grow those, theres no excuse for importing them.

 

[Big_Spark]

Woodyoulikeit, I hate to say this, but generally organic produce is bland and tastless compared to supermarket versions of the same product.

Anyway, all food is organic..the reality is that so called organic is grown without fertilizers (artificial) or pest controls

 

[kendor]

With regards to fruit and veg being tasteless a great deal is to do with how the fruit is processed after picking ie the time it takes to hit the shelves before the natural sugars and hence the taste/sweetness are depleted.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Woodyoulikeit, I hate to say this, but generally organic produce is bland and tastless compared to supermarket versions of the same product.

Hi FWL-engineered.
My focus was on farmers-markets and farm shops where real fresh food (some organic) is available.

 

[AdamW]

I know most stuff CAN be grown here, I seem to recall Hampton Court having a conservatory-type affair for grapes where the roots of the vine are outside, and the vines are brought indoors through a hole in the side. And oranges can be grown too.

But these are in small quantities. Do polytunnels make it warm enough for the economic production of grapes? Were those bananas any good?

 

[Big_Spark]

More foodstuffs will grow in our climate than many people realise, although the region of the country is critical.

Palms, Dates and other "exotic" fruits and plants grow in the Scilly Isles..

 

[felix]

With regards to fruit and veg being tasteless a great deal is to do with how the fruit is processed after picking ie the time it takes to hit the shelves before the natural sugars and hence the taste/sweetness are depleted.

I'm sure that's got a lot to do with it. I can't be the only one who's noticed that (a) fresh fruit keeps longer but (b) when it does go off it goes fast! I'm not sure what's going on here although I think it involves removing the stuff from the plant before it's really ready. It is probably then treated to a cocktail of plant hormones, preservatives and radiation.

Some of it will also be due to the old fashioned form of GM, ie selective breeding. I remember the first seedless grapes. They were very small but sweet and you could only get green ones. Now the things are huge and they come in both colours but the taste has suffered.

Meat has gone down hill for a very simple reason. Farm animals are fed the wrong stuff and they grow too fast. The muscle cells never get the chance to develop properly. They're full of water and the taste is wrong.

 

[david and julie]

I can remember when food had taste before convienience took over, i can remember noticing the difference with the taste of meat changing, how the new stuff(water injected) joints of meat were tastless in comparison.

Your dead right there kendor, food now is garbage compared to how it used to be. The best example (or worst) for me, is tinned salmon, this farmed rubbish is completely different to what we used to get. Tuna is now better than Red Salmon.

I can remember when the EU rules on the maximum permissible water content in meat came out. The intention was to prevent too much water being added to increase the weight. Unfortunately the new standard was lower than most producers in the UK were previously using. At the time I went to a factory which made the injection machines. The new rules meant machines that could precisely measure the water to the EU max were made. So the max ammount became the norm. Shame really that good intentions were seen as a profit source, be hey this is the UK isn't it.

 

[Freddie]