So what's your crap food secret? Here's ours... What's Ireland Eating

Last night on RTE television, journalist (and my other half) Philip Boucher-Hayes presented the second "What's Ireland Eating?" documentary which we developed from the book we wrote together in 2009 - Basketcase; what's happening to Irish food?.

Like the first "What's Ireland Eating" programme which grabbed Irish audiences by the throat last year, it was a powerful investigation on what's going on in the Irish diet. Plenty of shocking footage of visceral fat choking a patient's insides as he lay on the operating table of a Dublin hospital. Plenty of new research denoting that high calorie, high fat, high salt food is not just loosely "addictive" but actually addictive. Norah Volkow, a scientist in addiction from the US explained how even the idea of consuming a food you crave creates a dopamine response, which is often not matched by eating the food itself. So you consume more, to get the same hit. Looking at signage of fast food brands can cause this response in people, with some reaching the point where they can no longer regulate their brain's response or demand for certain foods, let alone deal with what happens once they are in their body.

Let's be clear here. We all eat bad food from time to time. My particular "crap food" favorites are peanut butter, crisps and prawn crackers. In a sequence that was cut from the final edit for time constraints, Philip recorded a food diary, accurate down to the last Skittle and glass of whiskey. Fortunately his main meal that day was a ratatouille that I had made for supper, which is low in calories and thankfully full of pretty good nutrients. The photo on the right shows him receiving his nutritional breakdown which was conducted by Teagasc. Not a very happy face is it? But that's real life, we're not all as healthy as we may think we are.

But is a high calorie snack food bad for you if you only consume it now and again? One of the central questions we wanted to ask in the documentary was - is curing Ireland's obesity problem as simple as saying "everything in moderation". Professor Mike Gibney from UCD shook his head "That's not working is it?" which is pretty much the case. We know more about food values and calorie content in Ireland than perhaps we ever did. Yet our obesity figures are still on the rise. So why are so many of us out of control in our eating habits and does the food industry have a role to play in curbing this pattern?

Should there be a reformulation of ingredients in manufactured foods? Would a sugar tax bring about behaviour change? Should healthier options be subsided by taxing sugary drinks? Is more education the answer? There are many options in the war on obesity that have been employed by other countries - Denmark (fat tax) and some states in the US (banning sodas over 16 ounces in volume, punitive taxes on soda drinks in others) but obestiy is a complex issue that needs a complex set of solutions. As the weight watchers group in Athlone who featured in the documentary admitted "we eat when we're miserable, we eat to celebrate.. that's why we're here". They said that a lot of their excess weight was down to their individual responsibility. On twitter yesterday in Ireland #whatsirelandeating was the topic trending for the entire day with multiple tweets per second as the programme aired "what can we do about obesity... tax the junk food companies.... I never knew a bag of prawn crackers had 600 calories!". What was most important was that Irish people were engaged by the issue and engagement itself has to be part of the solution.

We didn't provide answers in the documentary but asked the questions. If you want to have a look it's on the RTE player at the link below.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/whats_ireland_eating.html

Glastonbury for farmers. "The Ploughing" - what's it all about?

Ireland's Glastonbury for farmers began today in New Ross, County Wexford. It was a very rainy day by all accounts and the forecast doesn't look much better for the rest of the week. Weather aside, by the time the week is out 200,000 people will have visited the event. For those of you stumped by the whole idea of "the Ploughing", here's a little explainer:

The National Ploughing Championships began as an event where farmers could compete against each other at tractor ploughing and horse ploughing. This involves ploughing furrows in very straight lines, turning over the soil in an even level fashion and loads of other tiny details that are followed very closely by the spectators and judges watching the actual ploughing matches over the three day event. Ploughing enthusiasts first compete at county or regional level and then make there way to the finals which is "The Ploughing". Women also compete and there are still very popular classes for those who compete with horses.

The event has now grown into one of Europe's biggest outdoor events with over a thousand exhibitors. Farm machinery, equipment suppliers, feed merchants, pedigree animal associations, farm organisations, food companies, homeware businesses, builders, car dealers, banks, political parties all exhibit at the event - selling their wares or ideas in a massive series of tented villages that makes the old Spring Show in the RDS look like a children's party. The scale of it is truly massive. There are hundreds of lanes and walkways between the tented stands with tracked surfaces to keep the mud out and plenty of things to catch your eye, whether its a new range of waterproofs or a deLorean tractor costing half a million euro.

Most farming and rural people go to the ploughing every year and look forward to it as a bit of an annual shindig. Despite its massive size you continually run into people you know and spend a long time updating on news and gossip therefore missing half the events you went to see in the first place. When we used to film there for Ear to the Ground I viewed the entire event as one long nightmare. We could never do a piece to camera without the presenters being jumped on by eighty kids and people going crazy in the background. Ten takes later and a very stressed Mairead McGuinness and cameraman, valium was truly in order. We also had a selection of camera malfunctions because of incessant rain and clothing that literally never recovered from three days at the event. To go to the ploughing and not to film there for me is the greatest of pleasures.

If you're interested in farming or food try and get down to see it. Many urban people come back from the ploughing dazed and confused mumbling "it's a different world down there". If you're not familiar with the size of a Belgian Blue's arse or ever stood close to a modern combine harvester yes it is probably a bit alien. But this is the livestock and machinery central to our farming success. Everybody at the ploughing has a role somewhere in the rural economy, or an interest and passion in farming and the food chain.

This year the event is in New Ross County Wexford. The ploughing used to be in a different part of the country every year but recently has tended to stay at one site for several years which helps general logistics. This year I plan to head down on Thursday to meet some friends, colleagues and have a look at the pedigree cattle. Their calm amid the massive crowds always impresses and they are beautiful animals, often the unusual breeds such as Pietmontese, and beautifully presented by their farming owners.

The ploughing is not just an event where you'll see the great and the good shaking hands and currying favour, it's primarily a celebration of how important farming is to Irish life, and what's more if you've kids, they will thank you forever for taking them. For more check out www.NPA.ie

Avian flu back in the UK?

While I hate scaring the horses, the death of a patient in London from suspected SARS grabbed me by the scruff of the neck today. The news came hot on the heels of an announcement I noticed by the Saudi Ministry of Health yesterday stating that a new form of the coronavirus has been diagnosed in three people, causing the death of two of them; the third is still undergoing treatment. 

Coronaviruses are considered to be one of the common  agents of the common cold. The first case was a Saudi patient diagnosed in one of the hospitals in Jeddah; the second was a Saudi patient and the third a Gulf State patient. Both were diagnosed in London. The BBC are reporting that the present patient is still undergoing treatment, but an earlier case - a patient suffering the same virus who was transported to London has died. 

The death of these patients may or may not suggest another avian flu outbreak in the offing. While I don't like to scare the horses, one of my pet subjects of interest in the food chain are zoonoses - diseases that pass from animals to humans and have drastic effects in both populations. AIDS, ebola, TB, west nile virus, swine flu, and avian flu are zoonoses - diseases that jump and adapt from animal to human populations. As they are viruses they do not respond to antibiotic treatment. They are also talented at adaptation and mix aspects from one virus with another, allowing them to jump species and affect larger populations of both animals and people; crossing continents within hours and quickly spreading in alarming new ways.

Some scientists blame the prevalence of zoonotic diseases in recent years on the feeding of antibiotics to farm animals, particularly in North America. 70% of antibiotics sold in the US are given to farm animals. In Europe, feeding antibiotics on a daily basis to particularly pigs and poultry is now outlawed, but many countries such as Holland and Denmark still top the European tables on kilograms of antibiotic for kilogram of finished meat. This has lead to the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in both animal and human health, something being examined in Holland in terms of ESBL in chicken populations and how it has lead to untreatable urinary tract infections in the Dutch human population, particularly in older women and young girls. 

When I first came across this research and spoke with the academic in Holland who published it I was shocked to say the least. He told me that in countries like India where there is no upper limit on antibiotics in the animal population the problem is chronic, and many people now have common ailments that are completely resistant to the the first layer of antibiotics such as the penicillen family. They are also becoming resistant to the second layer and only the more rare and newly developed antibiotics are effective against them if at all.  The elephant in the room here is that because of the concentration in recent years on research funding into AIDS and cancer drugs, as antibiotic resistance increases, very few if any new antibiotics are coming on stream.

After digging further on this I found that there is also work being done on antibiotic resistance in animals and it's potential dangers to human health in Ireland at NUI in Galway. Currently they are sampling chicken breasts on sale here to determine how many are carrying ESBL markers. There is certainly awareness of the issue here and it's great to see research taking place on it. We also have much better controls on veterinary medicine in Ireland than in developing countries and less use of animal antibiotics in the food chain than the US and even some of our European neighbours.

While zoonotic diseases are different creatures their origins beg similar questions to be asked. Is intensive indoor housed farming of animals creating a public health nightmare for the future? Would  zoonotics have developed at the same pace without our past predilection for feeding antibiotics to livestock? Is there too little research (as the academics tell me) into how big the problem of disease resistancy is? 

One of the problems with both these health issues is that however well the EU food and veterinary agencies and the IFSA are here at tracking disease, we are dealing with a global food economy. A bird dying from avian flu in a Taiwanese street market can affect a human being in San Francisco within 24 hours. Animal housing, animal welfare and rules governing transport of animals and disease control are often much less stringent in these countries than certainly within the EU. What's heartening to see is that there is recognition of the huge dangers these viruses present, the question is are we coming up with any new ways to deal with them and particularly how to deal with widespread outbreaks? Options

For the moment I'm watching for news on the London case and what it's ramifications are. For Irish farmers avian flu is a nightmare that could shut down the distribution of chicken meat in a matter of hours. But it would need to present in animal populations close to Ireland first. Let's hope it's an isolated case and that before that day arrives, we can learn a more about how to deal with these diseases that both threaten our the health of our farming industry and our human population.  

Organic champions, and going back to our roots

I was delighted to be a judge at this year's Bord Bia National Organic Awards. After all, spending
a day eating and drinking fine food and drink... me? Never...

What was particularly interesting in sampling and examining all the shortlisted entries was the development that the organic sector has experienced in the last ten years; it really has been phenomenal. Yes it's only a small part of the national grocery spend, but as a sector it has developed large successful brands like Glenisk and also promoted Irish artisan food businesses in general.

When I was a producer on Ear to the Ground in the late 1990s I remember an editorial meeting about an organic cheese story we were planning to shoot. We vacillated over the decision as we felt for a farming programme organics were considered niche and outside the box. The situation is totally different today. We know that the marketplace for organic food in Ireland is worth 104 million euros annually. In Germany one in every five euros spent on food is spent on organics. There's no reason why we can't grow our domestic demand and also our share of export product in Germany with the expertise and development farmers and producers here have built over the past decade and more.

Crowes Farm (pictured above and below) won the overall award for their dry-cure rashers. The Crowe family have been farming in Tipperary for over a hundred years and switched over to organic certification in 2007. They now rear and butcher their own pigs (TJ is the butcher in the family) and their short listed rashers were pretty outstanding. We felt this product really deserved the overall award as it just had great eating quality. As it's low in salt and added water it didn't leave the customary mess when cooked. It tasted of good quality pork, not nitrates. Imported bacon which is a problem for Irish pig producers has even

higher levels of added water and nitrate than is allowable in bacon processing in Ireland. So many consumers are eating something which doesn't resemble any type of pig meat but a white mess on the pan, and has shrunk to one third of its pre-cooked size.

That's why Crowe's bacon impressed; it looked and tasted great. The packaging was also simple but contemporary. Many of the products we judged had too much or too little information on the labelling and while I know it's something that's difficult to get right, it's really important for the consumer who pulls that product down from the shelf. I chatted to TJ after the awards ceremony and when I complimented him on the labeling he said it had taken months with the designers to get right. Goes to show hard work pays off.

While there were plenty of unusual foods short listed in the awards we felt as judges that some of the most notable were traditional Irish foodstuffs - Crowe's bacon, Pat Lawlor's porridge oats (pictured right) and Keogh's potatoes; all of whom also won their category. It chimes with where we are economically that the foods we are turning to and interested in again are far from complicated and Irish to the core. If it's a sign we're going back to basics then that can only be a good thing.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted entries and award winners, the quality of everything we judged shows a vibrant organic sector which in uncertain times, is still ploughing ahead offering great food, great food stories and food on the plate that you really want to eat.

Funeral planned this Wednesday for Ireland's "Good Food Sector"

Irish anti-GM groups have today announced a "Funeral Procession" in Dublin this Wednesday 12th for Ireland's good food sector following Teagasc's planting of outdoor GM potatoes. The planned procession will depart from Stephen’s Green (Wolfe Tone Memorial) at 12.00 pm on Wednesday and will arrive at Agriculture House via Dawson Street and Molesworth Street where "a requiem service will take place."
 

The groups involved in the march which include IOFGA and NO2GM, plan to present a spade to Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to ask him to put a stop to Teagasc's GM trials. I very much doubt this is going to happen after the EPA have approved the trials to go ahead but protesting gives the many individuals and groups in opposition to GM potatoes a chance to air their grievances. Last week they applied in the high court for a  means to tackle tackle Teagasc's plans without GM protestors being personally liable for the costs of the action. They lost the case but I hear there are more challenges to follow so watch out for updates here. 

In this week's edition of the Irish Farmer's Journal I'm away from the topic of food and GM to write about farmers, their vets and what the large animal practice sector may look like in future years. During Ireland's boom, equine and small animal practices thrived and there was a fear that in some rural areas vet cover would decrease to the point of creating difficulties for many farmers. This was borne out in some counties such as Mayo but it's clear now that there is a re-balancing in the sector. 

Large animal practice is thriving and female vets are very much in evidence on farms. As they make up the largest number of veterinary students we will see a slow shift this direction, and happily, all the vets I spoke with in my piece saw a vibrant future in on-farm work. There have been difficulties in the past between vets and farmers (largely relating to cost of services) but I feel it's a relationship becoming less adversarial and more in tune with each other's needs. Animal health on farms and resulting productivity is becoming more and more important, and farmers and vets are clearly working more together in weeding out problems like BVD before they arise. Check out the piece in the Journal and it's available on their smartphone app version which is a brilliant news service. Coming up in later in the series I'll be dealing with food price inflation, problems for Irish pig farmers and Bord Bia's Origin Green - what the scheme means at farm level.   

A party about ...lamb prices

I spent last night at a party with neighbours talking about farming, the price of food and how most farmers in my area now had off-farm employment in order to keep going. One neighbour told me how even when he farmed 1000 ewes he couldn't make a living producing lamb. He now works night shifts in a factory to pay the bills, keeping a few sheep but not planning about getting back into farming full time. He laughed as he looked at the drink in his hand "Basically it wouldn't put diesel in the car".

It's the same story on so many farms across the country."So what's your solution?" I asked. He shrugged his shoulders - "no one wants to pay more for food and that's what lies at the bottom of it". He's right, we do want our food cheap and retailers know that; employing hugely competitive strategies to get our business. Competition between them is relentless and they use two for one offers, discounts and sell some goods like milk below cost to get customers in the door.

Milk is a KVI - a retail term which means "known value item". Many shoppers search for bread or milk at the lowest price possible as households use a lot of these foodstuffs. But consumers will also pick up food other than just KVIs in a store, so the retailers sell product at a loss in order to to make profit on other lines. Unfortunately the person at the end of the chain - the farmer, is who suffers. Recently in the UK, huge pressure on the retail price of milk caused farming protests and eventually, agreement on a code of practice between the dairies and the farming unions. Some retailers also agreed to put up the price for milk, a surprising move in a market that is as sharp as Ireland if not more competitive.

Food prices in Ireland actually have varied little in the past five years, and one of the reasons for this is huge competition among retailers for a marketplace that is in recession. Incomes have fallen and so has our food spend. Research shows we look for KVIs, discounts, offers and are shopping around more. The growth of Aldi and Lidl in both Ireland and the UK are testament to our lust for bargains. While retailers say the customer wants cheap food, we also as customers don't want a food chain where the retailer takes huge percentages of the price we pay for an item, while the person who sowed the crop or raised the livestock gets the smallest slice of the pie.

What's interesting about the farming and food policy of the present Government is their sluggishness or lack of courage in implementing a retail code of practice to encourage fairness in the chain. There's been consultation on this done by the previous Government, it was set to continue and promoted as a badly needed policy in the last election campaign but so far there is no movement on it. Yes we want cheap food but a code of practice spreads the price of that food item more evenly to all the people who contribute to it.

Lamb prices are good now but my neighbour is still not tempted to re-enter the full-time farming fray. We also talked about how Harvest 2020's targets for more sheep on Irish farms could knock back prices as higher supply tends to do. There are no easy solutions but what we all agreed was that the massive power the supermarkets wield has been let go unchecked despite promises to engage with the issue. At the end of the night we took our torches, hi viz vests and walked home on country lanes underneath the stars, stopping at another house for a nightcap, which we needed like the proverbial hole in the head. One thing that keeps rural areas strong is people talking to each other, sharing issues and concerns and also laughing - about kids, animals, livestock... or the financially perilous predicament many now find themselves in. It would be great though to see policy addressing the inequality in the Irish food chain..If we're to see a vibrant rural sector and future generations still farming, we have to step up to the plate and engage with the elephant in the room.  

Would you bet on the price of food if eventually it made you poorer?

Great to read today that Barclays have made £500 million this year from betting on food prices, a practice that has been labelled by observers as "immoral" and "lacking a moral compass". Betting on commodity prices is a major part of the financial trading markets and unfortunately results in making food more expensive for the rest of us.

In the developing world, it can result in even more people starving than at present, and creates uncertainty and pressure on food supplies globally. In Ireland, the hangover from drought in the US, rising grain prices combined with speculative profiteering by commodity traders has had it's own effects. According to the Irish Farmer's Association one third of Irish pig farmers are now close to hitting the wall.

Betting on food prices is a huge driver in the cost of the food, and banks, hedge funds and the like don't give a whit about its knock on effects. In 2008, the exorbitant rise of food prices caused public disorder throughout the developing world and particularly in North Africa. This movement about hunger essentially, and lack of fairness in the food distribution system extended into human rights and became the Arab spring. It felled Colonel Gadaffi in Libya and began the struggle for equality that has lead to the terrible bloodshed now happening in Syria.

I travelled to Lebanon and Syria a few years ago with my husband, not as journalists but as a curious people seeking an inside track on what was going on in these fascinating countries. When I think now of the gorgeous people we stayed with it gives me shivers to think where they might be now. The retired academic who ran a small B and B in Aleppo with a library full of French and English literature and Roman walls propping up the basement. On a rooftop terrace we looked across the dusky skyline of one of the world's most beautiful cities, talked about the Assad regime and how on earth they were going to get rid of him. This fantastic man is surely fled from Syria by now, or else he is dead.

The price of food has always been a driver in political and social change. Land and the resources to grow food on are the primary reason countries go to war. Now more than ever the pressure on fragile world resources in the food chain needs serious attention. We also need to be cogent of a food ownership and distribution system that is deeply inequitable and flawed. Irish farmers are suffering at present as they rely on imported grain and soya to feed livestock and the price of this food has risen to almost twice it's value since the start of this year.

Pigs and poultry who are indoor animals (in the coventional systems) are wholly dependent on cereal food. They are also suffering in the face of cheap imports from the EU and further afield. All of us like a bargain and we're also grocery shopping in more lean times, but asking food producers to grow livestock below the cost of production is something that shouldn't be occurring. On RTE Countrywide on Saturday I joined presenter Damien O'Reilly in examining how critical this problem is. We asked why no mechanism so far seems to able to get the food chain under control and limit its volatility and that knock on effect on farmers and consumers.

Check it out at the link below and ask yourself, is cheap food really the way to go? For all our sakes.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/countrywide/

Meet the GM hacker who modifies food in his kitchen

Is GM food the devil? Last week I spoke at Kilkenny Arts festival on plans to grow genetically modified potatoes for the first time in Ireland. On the panel with me was Cathal Garvey, a bio-hacker who makes GM food in his kitchen, literally. Cathal brought a lot of new light and discussion to the subject.

He gave us a basic run down of how genetic science works and explained how he can hack qualities from one plant (such as luminesence) and insert it into another. Hey presto - glow in the dark bananas. What Cathal advocates is more discussion around GM food which informs consumers rather than scaring them, and liberalising the ability to alter food so that anyone can do it,  taking control from the agri-chem giants such as Monsanto and DuPont.

It's clearly one of the problems in the debate on GM - Monsanto have such a bad name in this area they make the Republican party look like a bunch of Carmelite nuns. And for most people, Monsanto is GM. They have wreaked the American food chain, polluted it's environment with unwanted crops, sued farmers and wield an unethical, ridiculous amount of power in how food is produced.

But genetically modifying food is not simply Monsanto. What Cathal (pictured below) advocates is that GM should be available to everyone. For young scientists like Cathal, there is the potential to create food that is patent free, and could have a role in impacting positively on hunger in the developing world.

Now this kind of talk upsets most people. Most foodies and consumers consider GM devils spawn and any genetic modification of anything, is unnatural, and unwanted. They say GM won't solve world hunger, the GM agri-chems have already meddled with Africa in a threatening way which has benefitted no one but themselves. But again, GM is not Monsanto. It is much more than that. What has raised people's hackles about the proposed trials in Carlow is that the potatoes may eventually become a commercial project that will again benefit private business and no one else. But Teagasc's answer is that it's not a commercial project and that without that without testing GM they can't go forward in understanding how it affects the environment.

If you want an overview of the Teagasc trials, check out this recent piece I did on Today with Pat Kenny explaining the potato sector in Ireland, the prevalence of blight and an explanation of Teagasc's plans at Oakpark.
http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A3228018%3A133%3A14%2D03%2D2012%3A

What's clear is that GM makes people impassioned and angry most of the time. What was refreshing about our talk at Kilkenny is that no one threw rotten fruit at us, all views on the topic were aired and there was lots of new stuff learned by all. Opening up the debate on GM, separating the scientists like Cathal from the Monsantos of this world allow discussion that's not adversarial but interesting, funny and really valuable. And if you want to make your own luminescent yoghurt, have a look at Cathal's website below. And send me some when you're finished.

http://www.indiebiotech.com

Latest leak from MacDonalds at London Olympics; their contract prevents other foods suppliers selling chips

The Super Dooper MacDonalds in Olympic Park

It's not surprising that MacDonald's sponsorship of the London Olympics has generated a bit of heat, after all, sport and Big Macs are hardly a new pairing - the MacDonald's brand has been linked to the Olympics for several decades. For London 2012 MacDonald's will have four restaurants in Olympic park, including the biggest MacDonald's in the world which will serve up 1200 customers an hour and sell £3 million worth of fast food during the games. 

As expected, the chain has been criticised for promoting the consumption of fast food at a time when the UK, like ourselves, is facing huge problems with obesity and should be linking sports participation with healthy living.  Last week, members of the London Assembly said firms which sold junk food should not be linked to the Olympic Games. Cadbury and Coca-Cola are also sponsors. 

Sponsorship by these type of brands is at odds with UK policy on obesity and as with Ireland, calls into question the role between food companies and sports advertising. It's also now apparent that the deal with MacDonald's is going to negatively affect other food retailers at the Olympics who are not allowed sell chips unless they are with fish, as this was stipulated in the MacDonald's deal. 

A recently published memo to food suppliers from the London 2012 organisers Locog says "Due to sponsorship obligations with MacDonalds, Locog have instructed the catering team they are no longer allowed to serve chips on their own anywhere within the Olympic park." Not surprisingly, this latest piece of news has gone down like a lead balloon with other food suppliers contracted to the games.

As with a recent social media campaign that went wrong for MacDonald's, their Olympics sponsorship has so far generated much more bad news stories than good. But controversy or not, the more burgers MacDonald's sells the better it is for Irish exports; they are the biggest single buyer of Irish beef and use it in their restaurants all over Europe. 

So here's a conundrum. Can we complain on one hand about food companies contributing to obesity when they are also such big contributors to our GDP and create valuable Irish jobs? On Today with Pat Kenny this week I examined this paradox and the huge buying power MacDonalds has in the Irish beef sector. Check out our discussion on the programme at the link below

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/2012-07-26.html

"Back in the bottle"; how Irish milk can be more than a cheap commodity food...

This week in the Irish Times I'm examining "single estate milks", or milks produced from single farms and sold at a niche level. It's a fascinating way of adding value to a traditional product that has huge price vulnerabilities. Here's the piece. -

The milk van may have disappeared from our lives, but the clinking of glass bottles and the creamy first pour is back on the Irish breakfast table.


The Irish Times, 9th June 2012
Suzanne Campbell

“Single estate milks” – milk produced by a single farm – are a new growth area in Irish food. They’re the non-homogenised alternative to milk from the large agri-giants that most of us put in our breakfast cereal every day.

While it sounds glamorous, “single estate” milk was how milk was originally sold in Ireland. One household with spare milk sold it to another – or it was bartered for pig meat, beef, or poultry. The recent rise in organic milk sales has given other farmers the cue to do the same. Now milk produced from single herds, including Darina Allen’s tiny Jersey herd at Ballymaloe, is available to the consuming public.

The glass bottles and cute labelling of Ballymore Farm milk hints at the innovation and sense of fun behind some of the single-estate milks. Down on their land in Co Kildare, Mary Davis “does a bit of everything”, as well as yoghurt-making, alongside her husband; farmer Aidan Harney (pictured above), and business partner Joey Burke. Earlier this year the team made the brave move to bottle and sell their milk direct to consumers.

“Bottling it ourselves seemed to be a completion of what we do – we manage the herd, milk the cows and then sell it, otherwise the milk goes off in a big tank and you never see it again.”

Their 50 cows are thriving on the spring/summer grass and since going organic five years ago, Davis has seen big changes on the farm, and not just the orders from top-range retailers such as Selfridges in London. “So many things have improved. Our herd are on deep straw beds in a big, open shed, they’ve more room.” Most notably, Davis says their cows now find calving a “non-event”. What’s the reason? “Because they’re happier.”

The bottled milk from Ballymore Farm is pasteurised to kill bacteria, but unlike mass-produced milk, it’s not homogenised, a process used in the large creameries to break up fats and give milk from many different herds more consistency. When you unscrew the cap from a bottle of Ballymore milk, the cream has risen to the top. For Davis, this is about more than nostalgia.

“Many people can’t tolerate milk because homogenisation disperses fats down into the milk. Ours is easier to digest, and that’s one of the reasons why many consumers now want non-homogenised milk.” In Donegal, An Grianán, one of Ireland’s largest organic farms, produces milk from coastal land on the Inishowen peninsula, with its milk and yoghurts now stocked by Dunnes, Tesco and Superquinn.

In these lean times, why are customers choosing more expensive milks? “Many of our customers are young mums, who don’t like the thought of fertilisers and things ending up in the dairy products they give their kids,” says Sheila Gilroy Collins from An Grianán. “But it’s also that our milk simply tastes fantastic.”

For coffee-maker Colin Harmon, the taste factor is everything. At his coffee shop 3FE on Grand Canal Street, the coffee changes every week according to seasonality. but Harmon realised he wasn’t paying the same attention to the milk. “I went to visit some farms, looked at cows, and now we buy all our milk from the An Grianán herd in Donegal. “It’s organic, but more importantly for us, it tastes great,” he says.

Next week, Harmon travels to Berlin to compete in the World Barista Championships, and is taking milk from An Grianán with him for his cappuccino entry.

“I travel a lot throughout the world and I think we don’t realise how incredible Irish milk is,” he says.“The milk market is very like coffee in that most of it is based on cheap product at commodity prices. Farms sell milk into a system; it’s mixed together at the creameries, so there’s no incentive to really up the quality.”

Tommy Relihan began producing glass-bottled milk on his farm in Adare (pictured below) two years ago.“When I started, there were 20,000 dairy farmers in Ireland but only five were licensed to sell their own milk.”

His Adare Farm milk isn’t organic, but is from a single herd and non-homogenised. “I get great satisfaction from bottling our own milk. Consumers love it; first the glass bottle catches their eye, then they say – ‘that’s real milk’.”

Ballymore Farm; David Tiernan, who makes of Glebe Brethan cheese in Co Louth, and Darina Allen also sell single-estate “raw milk”, which is unhomogenised and unpasteurised. Raw milk is preferred by many Irish consumers who have dairy intolerances, or who find it helps in the management of ailments ranging from asthma to eczema. In Ireland, raw milk is caught in a food-safety loophole, but at the moment, dedicated producers and supporters want raw milk to be kept on the market.

Single-estate milks may be voguish but there’s no doubt customer demand is there. “Not just raw milk, but unhomogenised milk, is an issue of consumer choice,” says Mary Davis. “Our milk tastes great but it also has so many health benefits for people, that’s why they want to buy it.”

Good Mood Food, Donal Skehan style

If you haven't come across food writer and television presenter Donal Skehan you're in for a treat. He has a fantastic blog that is one of the most lush collections of photography and recipes you're likely to find anywhere on the web.

In the last few weeks I've been appearing on his second television series "Kitchen Hero" talking about how to cook family meals for less, and sourcing and using traditional Irish ingredients. We shot these segments in the garden at my house and I have to say they were one of the most easy, quickly executed and relaxed television shoots I've ever had the pleasure to work on.

And this is coming from a former RTE producer/director. I've blown fuses in people's houses, been run over by a herd of suckler cows, had master tapes impounded on a shoot in Vietnam and generally more filming dramas than hot dinners.

So it's both disconcerting and a relief sometimes to be in front of the camera. Donal, the crew and series producer David Hare are a fantastic bunch of people and a pleasure to work with. A few walks around the garden, a brief recce on lighting and location and we were straight into filming. Amid a hectic house of kids, dogs and comings and goings we rolled off the segments and were done and dusted in a heartbeat. Once the red light went off it was time for cups of tea around the kitchen table, slices of wonderful cheesecake and tales of shoots gone wrong and shoots gone right. The rest of the series sounds brilliant, with Donal  and their plans for the rest of the series. Kitchen Hero can be seen on air on RTE one 8.30pm Monday nights.

What I especially love about Donal is his energy and passion for food. After beginning his career as a food writer and cook, it became clear that once he started photographing his food and putting it online, thousands of people wanted to follow the blog. This passion has lead to two books and two television series.

Knowing the work and attention to detail Donal puts into his food and photography it's no surprise. He's also simply a very talented guy with a huge work ethic, and cooks delicious food in a simple and affordable way which chimes very much with where we are now.

Click onto the link below to watch the series on the RTE player - in this episode my piece is about 14 minutes into the programme. But I suggest you watch it from the start and check out the rest of the series. Donal's recipes are really delicious and very simple to follow. In fact, once you start watching him you'll want to run to the kitchen straight away and start cooking. I literally sit there every week watching the show saying "I'm going to cook that for dinner tomorrow... what a fantastic lunch that will make" etc. It's no surprise that his food really is Good Mood Food and his passion for food is infectious and invigorating.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1150579

Want to ban cheese ads being seen by Irish kids? You've two days to do so... or not

Cheese is getting cheesed off. And I'm not surprised. If you're a supporter of Irish cheese or hate the fact that cheese could soon be banned in advertisements shown during children's television, you have just a few more days to submit your views to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on the proposed ban.

What the BAI want to do is ban ads for foods which can contribute to obesity in children. There's no doubt we have an obesity crisis in this country but under the BAI's nutritional profiling model, cheese is classed in the same grouping as fast food burgers and chips, soft drinks and chocolate bars. This is because cheese frequently has high levels of saturated fats, and there's no doubt that it does - with the average commercial cheddar made up of about 40% fat, or more.

But as we know, cheese has a very clean slate of ingredients compared to processed foods and snacks which are at the heart of our obesity problems. Many in Ireland's food sector view the ban as something that could be both detrimental to our dairy industry and also to children's diets. With research showing that many Irish children and teenagers are deficient in calcium it seems a contradictory approach to class cheese as a "bad" element of a varied diet. Particularly when you compare of dairy produce to the empty calories that children and young people are getting from soft drinks and the super high fat foods that they eat outside the home.

The proposals are also potentially harmful to the international push we are giving Irish dairy products in huge grocery marketplaces like China. This is the view of Irish artisan cheese producers, the Irish Farmers Association and summed up pretty much here in the The National Dairy Council's view on the issue -

“Restricting the advertising of cheese in Ireland will directly undermine the development of the Irish cheese industry, an industry where a huge element growth is predicated in terms of exporting increased production of Irish cheese to international consumers. The positioning of cheese in this proposed regulation as, effectively, 'junk food' could create reputational issues which may take years to reverse.”

My piece on the issue from the Irish Independent is at the link below which fleshes out the subject.

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/smart-consumer/cheesed-off-are-tv-ads-helping-to-make-your-kids-obese-3110747.html

If you want to submit your views to the BAI, you have until this Thursday 31st May to do so. Check out the link at the bottom of the page, and if cheese is your passion, let your opinions be heard. 
http://www.bai.ie/?p=2431

Wild, free..... and tasty

It's rare to find anything for free these days, but right now all over Ireland, swathes of wild garlic are growing wild underneath hedges, in woodland and possibly right under your nose.

From April to June this tasty plant is plentiful in this upland area of Wicklow. Once I climb over a five bar gate it's free for the picking... after I shoo aside my neighbour Michael's sheep who are possibly more competitive about food than me.

Wild garlic grows from April through to June and you'll often find it in damp, woody and often neglected areas where animals aren't grazed. Most farmers consider it a weed, particularly as each year it seems to spread further along the banks of the Dargle river and throughout the hedgerows dotted along the Dublin and Wicklow mountain.
I simply head out with a bucket, gather a bundle - long green stems and pretty white flowers and incorporate it into any recipes I can. It adds a zing of Spring flavour to salads, chopped into omelettes and makes a great pesto. That's the joy of seasonal food - you only have it for a while so it's nice to make the most of it, and when the season ends, move on to something else.



Last year my husband took to making pesto in a big way. I was delighted - after all, what a fabulous way to monetize the local environment, and him. Over last Winter we overdosed on pesto so we're doing less of it this year, and using the wild garlic in other ways.

Soups are a simple and comforting way of eating more vegetables, use up food and experiment with new flavours.


The carrot and coconut soup pictured above is a perfect candidate for wild garlic - I chop the leaves into the carrots while cooking, then add a final sprinkle of flowers when it's served. It's also an easy and versatile soup without any garlic. More importantly - it's really simple, and one of my regular family dishes for the "30 minutes before all hell breaks loose" slot to rustle up dinner.

Carrot, coconut and curry soup

8 carrots
500ml vegetable stock or stock cube
1 tin coconut milk
1 and a half teaspoon curry powder

Peel and chop the carrots, place into a large pot with the stock or stock cubes. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the curry powder and more water as required. When the carrots have softened blitz the mixture and add in the tin of coconut milk. Blitz again, set back on a low heat and add more curry powder to taste.
That's it. Told you it was simple.

It serves four people and the curry powder gives it a lovely deep flavour for a single vegetable soup.

If you're thinking of foraging for wild garlic, anywhere near damp land or river banks is a good place to start. Avoid picking plants near run-off from farms. In woodland you'll find some of the best wild garlic, anywhere you see bluebells you'll probably also spot its pretty white blossom, so grab a bundle and bring it home.

And here's some of Michael's sheep thinking my white colander was a feed bucket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twUPGhmPiYE&feature=autoplay&list=HL1337292325&playnext=1

Is your belly fit for a lodger?

We think about pregnancy as a time when we particularly watch what we eat - making sure our diets are rich in high quality protein and a variety of fruit and vegetables to build a strong healthy baby. We take folic acid to protect against spina bifida, iron to build the blood cells needed for a second blood supply and alcohol (and for some hardy sorts - tea and coffee) go out the window. But pregnancy affects your diet in more long term and sometimes bizarre ways.

After having two babies I still can't eat anything worthwhile in the morning. I'll make a slice of toast, stare at it for a while and then give it to the dog. Other foods like celery send me into a seasick whirl, despite having an iron stomach that survived months in India without a single gastric disaster.

I'm not alone in being left with a food hangover after pregnancy, but what's more common is for new mums to get hung up on every detail of what goes into their mouths and beat themselves up about not doing the right thing.

"Should I eat bagged salad?
"Is Brie going to kill the baby?"
"Am I eating too much?"

"Am I eating too little?"


Super thin celebrities walking around with wheatgerm shots and tiny bumps is not helping the diet-anxiety scenario. The funny thing is, most pregnancies will progress well on an "ordinary" diet and eating more is normal - 77,000 extra calories are needed to bring a baby to full term. Most women's non-celebrity diets will take them through a pregnancy fairly well - remember - getting pregnant in the first place is a pretty good indicator that your body is fit to carry a baby.

What we often don't realise, is that much "unexplained infertility" which accounts for about 30% of couples who have difficult conceiving, is in fact to do with diet and lifestyle. In a recent landmark study by Surrey University, 80% of couples who were struggling with conception ended up conceiving after following the University's programme of simple changes to their diet and lifestyle.

What's hugely exciting about this is that couples with difficulties may not need to go down the expensive IVF route if they improve their chances of having a baby so phenomenally by just diet alone. Female eggs and also sperm grow for about 90 days before they're at the stage to become candidates for conception. This proves how much what we eat has a bearing on whether conception is going to happen or not.

I wrote about this for my Shelf Life piece in this week's Irish Times Health. You can read the full piece at the link below, and remember enjoying food and enjoying yourself are also one sure fire way to get pregnant, and a sun holiday. Apparently that's the real place where the magic happens x

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0515/1224316125534.html

Feeling unwell? Have some chicken soup - Jewish medicinal cooking at its best

The runny nose, the headaches, the shivers, the huge bill for useless products at the pharmacy... Manflu - we all get it from time to time. Despite not actually being a man I've suffered from three bouts of manflu this year and I've found many people reporting the same. Colds, coughs and flus seem to be increasing in number and severity.

What's the reason? It could be many things - an increase in warm, damp weather or higher levels of virus mutation and activity. What's not helping is the rise in antibiotic resistance of many bacterial infections.

There are moves in the EU to reduce antibiotics fed to animals which can only help the problem of bacterial infections and viruses in public health. What was thought to be good farming practice is increasingly viewed as something that has created giant health problems - generations of factory farmed animals have had antibiotics routinely included in their diets. This promotes organisms in their systems to become resistant to antibiotic treatment. And once those organisms spread from the animal population into the human population they can do real damage, such as the prevalence of MRSA in hospitals.

MRSA has been found on packaged meat in Europe. Other antibiotic resistant organisms that are now present in human health have been found to have originated in poultry populations in Holland and in pig farming in the US.

The FDA in the United States which is one of the world's slowest moving food bodies, is finally also examining antibiotics in the food chain. Farm and food groups are lobbying the FDA for change. It's greatly needed and consumer pressure can have huge influence so don't underestimate the power you hold in helping your own future health.

In terms of the common cold there are over 200 viruses around us that are actively causing colds and flus at the moment. And if you're anywhere near small children, you'll get all 200 of them, in the one year. Or so it seems in our house.

When I examined foods that might help stave away colds, I found good evidence of some that actually do work. Others, like vitamin C, have a reputation for curing or preventing colds that simply doesn't stand up. Particularly if you're spending money on vitamin C supplements, think again - the research sadly proves that it doesn't do much good for colds.

In Shelf Life in today's Irish Times I give a run down of the best food bets for beating colds and give ideas for rustling up some traditional chicken soup. It really does work, the ancient Greeks and Jewish medicinal cooks were on the money! Check it out and take hope - feeding yourself properly will boost your immune system and it's pretty easy to do. Nothing complicated, just simple sense x

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0501/1224315399589.html

Tesco suspends contract with UK farm after animal cruelty allegations

UK supermarkets including Tesco have just announced that they are suspending pork supplies from a pig farm involved in cruelty allegations. For the second time in recent months, undercover footage has emerged from the lobbying group Animal Equality appearing to show pigs being beaten and inhumanely killed.

Tesco has suspended its contract with the pork supplier saying that they expect "extremely high standards" for animal welfare and are urgently investigating what went wrong at the farm, which was also approved under the RSPCA's "Freedom Food" higher welfare standard. The Co-Operative Group has also asked its own label suppliers not to source from the East Anglian Pig company which is at the centre of the allegations.

For consumers, viewing images like the photos and video which have emerged from the Norfolk farms would put you off your breakfast sausages in a jiffy. I've filmed and interviewed farmers on pig farms in Ireland, and in the supersized version - pig units in Holland. This is the intensive end of the pig farming world - pigs are housed indoors in large numbers and like it or not, it's where most of our rashers, sausages, pork loin etc come from.

In both the UK and Ireland they are regulated under EU food and farming regulations which have codes of practice and welfare conditions to be met in terms of the pigs having space to move, correct ventilation, feed and veterinary care. And at the end of the pigs growing period, they are to be sent to abbatoirs with veterinary inspectors present to be humanely killed for the food chain.

Unfortunately this system does sometimes go wrong.


In England the RSPCA has released a statement saying it has visited the farm and has concerns about the handling of the sows, younger pigs and the way animals seemed to be inhumanely killed. It's the second time in recent months that pig farms, (both in Norfolk) have been found to be breaching guidelines. After the first Norfolk footage emerged, the farmer was found dead three days later. This terrible outcome followed an interview he gave saying he was unbelievably distressed that the animals he farmed were so badly treated by the workers he employed on his farm.

I feel that in Ireland that pig farmers are closer to what is going on on their farms, livestock handlers are more connected to what they are doing, and also to food and animal welfare standards. In Ireland, Bord Bia "Quality Assured" pork means farms have a extra layer of standards above the EU regulations for regular pig farms. They are inspected, audited continously and there is a high degree of traceability in the chain. In terms of pork you buy in the supermarket, "Quality Assured" label on packaging as it means the pig meat was farmed in Ireland under a highly regulated system. 

What happened in the UK should not be happening on pig farms anywhere in Europe, including Ireland. I read a lot about food and farming systems in the United States and one thing we have in bucketloads in this part of the world is regulation on how our food is produced, including the welfare of the livestock we eat. The good aspect of this story is that the supermarkets were very quick to react to consumer fears, and the off-putting idea that animals are suffering for your plate.

If you want to pay extra for animal welfare to the extent that it influences your shopping you can always buy free range pork from the many Irish farms now selling it. Pigs on these farms roam in the open and have a more natural "herd" structure. If you can't make that price point  - free range is going to be more expensive, look for Irish pig meat, Bord Bia approved or from small producer groups like Trully Irish.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Farting and Probiotic yoghurts - do they work?

Bulgar wheat, spinach, feta... all are pretty much superfoods for your gut. Yes it's a word that makes us wince sometimes so I'll say it again - gut, intestine, bowel...  that 26 foot tube that processes our food is more important than we think. Despite choosing foods with our eyes and on the basis of what looks attractive, our poor guts is where that food ends up, with mixed results. 

I looked at this topic earlier in the week for my series in The Irish Times on foods to improve particular aspects of your health. Again, magnesium came up as something we often don't eat enough of. Not only does it play a central role in the bowel - (it is the key ingredient in most over the counter laxatives as it draws water into the intestines to move contents along). Keeping things moving along prevents bloating and helps the absorption of what we eat into use for essential functions. 

Next time you're in the supermarket throw some packets of almonds and cashew nuts into your trolley as they are high in magnesium. If you fancy something with high levels of  magnesium, potassium and essential B vitamins, reach for an avocado. Yes avocados have lots of calories but they're great calories, as opposed to empty ones. 

Check out the full piece at the link below. I have plenty of tips on foods that are the real deal for your insides and if you've issues with wind, gas... farting - (let's call a spade a spade) - or a loved one has (our Labrador), have a look. I also have an explanation of the FODMAP diet which is proving successful at tacking IBS and some info on probiotic yoghurts - they may be an expensive, and useless addition in your shopping trolley.   

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0417/1224314808802.html

Eggs au Urine

While most of us who love cooking are very fond of eggs, would you eat one that's been urinated on? Well in the Chinese city of Dongyang, this time of year is the special season for - eggs soaked in urine. Though quite possibly nauseating, the urine soaked eggs are a delicacy believed to have health benefits. In fact, at this time of year, locals with buckets come out in force - collecting boys' urine from the toilets of local primary schools. For the urine must be from boys under ten known in Dongyang as "virgin boys".

The eggs are then boiled in pots of the urine which are said to emit an unmistakable scent to those who pass the many street vendors selling it.

"If you eat this, you will not get heat stroke. These eggs cooked in urine are fragrant... and good for your health. Our family has them for every meal." So said Ge Yaohua, who runs one of the most popular "virgin boy egg" stalls to a Reuters reporter.

Apparently the eggs take a day to cook, first in their shells and then without them - simmering away in the urine for hours. Then they are sold at about twice the price of normal eggs.

While I love food traditions, the food safety issues of this particular one are legion. And don't even get me started on the taste. All that ammonia? But what's interests me most about this food combination is who in God's name came up with this idea? Coq au Vin is one thing but Eggs au Urine?

Maybe it's a question not worth asking... As always, Happy Eating x

The pizza that's saltier than seawater

Did you eat pizza lately? If you did, you're one of the 40% of us who eat one of Ireland's most popular foods every week. And if you live in London, you could be eating a pizza that's saltier than seawater. Yes sireee. Health authorities in the UK released an analysis of a pizza from the Adam and Eve restaurant in Mill Hill London which contained 10.57 grams of salt. At 2.73 grams of salt per 100, it means the pizza is saltier than Atlantic seawater.

Other pizzas analysed also showed high levels of salt and fat, some of which would give Elvis Presley's deep-fried peanut butter sandwich a run for it's money.

The trouble is, I really like pizza. Restaurant pizza, take-away pizza, home made pizza. There are many pizzas which are very healthy and clearly others which are not. Mostly these days I make my own, and hopefully by doing so I can control most of what goes into it. With fresh meats from my butcher and local cheeses it also tastes pretty good.

The problem with most mass-produced pizza is that it's full of salt. Salt is a major issue in terms of what we eat in Ireland as one third of us will die of heart-related illnesses. Eating foods with high levels of salt ramps up blood pressure, as your body has to hold on to much more water to get rid of it. And even if we don't add salt to our cooking or at the table, plenty of foods have hidden salt which we're totally unaware of.

Earlier this week I wrote a piece in the Irish Independent about the big offenders in the hidden salt category - even soups which we may think of as healthy often have large amounts of salt. Check it out for tips on what to avoid, and some tactics to beat the food manufacturers at their own game.

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/health-fitness/too-much-salt-can-leave-more-than-just-a-bad-taste-3072076.html

Eating - it's all emotional. No Seriously...

Feeling low.... fumble for the chocolate at the back of the cupboard? Missed your train, give yourself a boost with a milky latte? We all have certain foods we reach for when our plans, or our emotions hit the floor. Up to recently this was viewed as something that was our own fault - a behaviour rather then a pattern we couldn't account for.

But new research suggests that the Gut-Brain Axis - the relationship between our brains and what we eat is much more complex than this. For example 50% of Irish people who suffer Irritable Bowel Syndrome also have depression. Did their feelings of "lowness" bring on problems in their gut or vice versa?

The link between mood, depression and diabetes is also becoming clearer with a huge rate of those diagnosed with both type 1 and type 2 depression in Ireland also taking medication for depression.

We also now know that a nerve called the GABA nerve is very active is in how our neurotrainsmitters work and what feelings and emotions the brain produces. It's also heavily influenced by certain foods, and the messages these foods upload in terms of our emotional state.

One sure thing most of us reach for when feeling low is sugary snacks or refined carbohydrates - that tub of Ben and Jerry's or the white baguette sandwich smeared with mayonnaise. Eating refined carbohydrates boosts insulin and provides a clearer path for tryptophan - the amino acid linked to serotonin production, to act in the brain. No surprise then that sugar gives us an instant "high"- but we now know that this spike of wellbeing is physiological rather than emotional. It's just a pity that half an hour later you crash back down to earth.

I wrote about this cycle today in The Irish Times, and talked about some foods to throw in your trolley to break the flip-flop cycle of eating for your mood. It's a fascinating area as most of us forget that our brain needs fuel and fail to see there are simple foods we are neglecting and thus prolonging our pattern of sugar high and sugar crash eating. Check it out at the link below, and my personal tip - unsalted peanuts... great brain fuel and they taste pretty good.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0403/1224314289134.html