Tuesday 26 June 2012

Dan naked


Ha ha, made you look! I had more views on yesterdays blog than ever before! Was it the promise of my nakedness? Now I see how advertising works! Don't worry, there will be no nakedness on this blog, perish the thought, wouldn't inflect that on anyone.

First off, huge thanks to Kris who solved the problem of people getting weird login and password requests when viewing my blog. Hopefully it is all resolved now and you won’t get that any more, but do let me know! I took the opportunity at the same time to go through my list of blogs I follow and remove those that have broken links and to ruthlessly remove those that have not blogged for 9 months or more.

Now, who can resolve all the other blogspot issues?

I watched ‘the food factory’ on tv last night, anyone see it? For those that didn’t it is a programme in which popular supermarket products are taken and broken down to their basic components and then re-made. It used to be hosted by Jimmy of Jimmy’s Farm fame but now he obviously has better things to do (such as look after his farm) and it has changed its format to include the dubious help of two Saturday night ‘celebrities’, obviously, what is an information programme without the appearance of a couple of z listers these days.
Last night’s episodes saw them learning how supermarket orange squash and powdered tomato soup are made. The first thing that struck was the regular use of the word factory. How unappealing a food becomes when you start thinking in terms of factories.

Surprisingly, the orange squash was actually made almost completely from oranges, but it involved crushing and boiling in a vacuum and spinning and pulping using machines made from lawn mower pieces and cement mixers. Here is where the programme missed a trick if you ask me. They neglected to mention at any point that it is possible to make cordials and squash quite easily in your own kitchen. They, purposely it seems to me, made it seem impossible to ever do yourself at home. Having just made elderflower cordial it struck a chord with me that wouldn’t the programme have way more value if it perhaps showed the viewer how to actually do something useful? Of course, this would probably not be good television. Shame on you BBC.

The tomato soup was a bit more disturbing, mainly because of the amount of salt and sugar that went into it. I have nothing against powdered cup-a-soup really, except that I don’t actually like it, but I can see the use of something you can mix with boiling water for some people, that is fine. What the programme succeeded in highlighting to my mind, was how little nutritional value there is in such food. So I don’t think it tastes all that good and does zero for you except pumps a lot of salt and sugar into your system.
If anything was inadvertently designed to put me off supermarket ready made stuff even more, then it was this programme. Not saying we need more cookery shows, there are enough of those. Just perhaps that programmes like this could point out how easy it is to bi-pass the cup-a-soup completely and make your own.

17 comments:

  1. I missed that programme but I love watching stuff like that! By the by, I've nominated you blog for the "One Lovely Blog Award" ;-)

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  2. Agree muchly. Missed opportunity for home made soup and cordial - both very simple.

    A local social enterprise called real food works do some excellent healthy microwave recipes - really quick and convenient and healthy - google realfoodworks.

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    1. I am going to check that out now, thanks.

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  3. I love a good homemade soup! Cup-a-soup is ok if you're in a pinch but it's definitely not something to eat every day!

    I am surprised like you that it is mostly orange in the squash. Funny it was mentioned, because my Dad and I were only looking at the ingredients the other day wondering what "comminuted oranges" were! (Squashed/crushed/chopped up oranges to remove all possible juice).

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    1. Yes, now we know what comminuted oranges are!

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  4. Oh Dan!!! All this nakedness! I'm left quite speechless!

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    1. I'll be fully clothed from now on, I promise

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  5. Well said, Dan. There are no programs that show us how to make these food items ourselves. I used to make my own orange cordial as well as the now much more preferred lemon cordial. I make lemon fizzy drinks by diluting with some doda water. Even soda water can be made at home. But, I`m a bit lazy and buy Tesco`s cheap and chearful version for £0.42 a bottle.
    If you get down to disecting all the ingredients of most shop bought items it will shock you how much of the components are either made with colouring agents or other additives, and you just haven`t got a clue that they are in it, unless you read every label and try to analize all the coded listings you will find meantioned as well. Making most things at home, cooking from fresh ingredients and sticking to what works for you is possibly the best choice.

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    1. The only thing the put on is superscrimpers, which franky made a bit of a mockery of frugal people and gave a few not that handy hints, all tongue in cheek to make the materialistic giggle at frugal peoples silliness. There is definitely an opportunity missed for useful tv here.

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  6. I'll admit, I clicked.... You big tease.... LMAO! ;-)

    Haven't seen that show but I'll look for it online. Thanks for the heads up.

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    1. No worries, I hope you find it and have time to watch, inbetween mowing your lawns and finding sprinklers.

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  7. Your post is really interesting. I always try to find an alternative to all the ready made stuff that big firms impose on us and try to make essential (mostly through ads). So I always wonder "How did my grandma do that in the 1940s ?" And I do a google search for homemade this or that. I learned a lot, and now I changed a lot of my habits - it goes for food, but also for cleaning (mind you, I didn't throw my washing machine out !) and cosmetics,and I can now do without some stuff like cell phone, video games... I'm trying to convince my husband not to replace the microwave that gave up the ghost but this is a tough one. So if he really can't do without, we'll replace it, the aim is not to be a terrorist about it - but I'll sure use it less.

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    1. Yes, I have tried all sorts of things, making ketchup, making baked beans, anything really that comes in a can or a packet, I will give a go trying to make it myself. yes, toiletries too. I have all the ingredients to make soap and I must get down to it one of these days.

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  8. What shocks me most about people buying rubbish food from supermarkets is OAP's who should know better. They are obviously on limited incomes but still insist on buying tinned soups (which to be frank, are mostly disgusting) when for the price of a few veg, they could make something far more tasty. Surely they must have learned something from the war years. Sorry I've gone off at a tangent but your post just struck a chord with me.

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    1. It just shows that people get sucked in to convenience and slowly the old ways of doing things will be lost if we are not careful.

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  9. Yes, in hinder years they referred to the plants/concerns that produce food products as 'kitchens'. Now they actually say what they are: factories. When I watch a program that shows how something I like is made, it usually turns me off to it. In response, I grow more food, eat less processed, train my palette to accept alternative choices, seek out organic, and otherwise try to take control what goes on my table (and in my tummy).

    Glad the tip about the passworded blog worked out for everyone. Wouldn't want to turn anyone off about visiting your site. That would be a shame for sure. :-D

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