Anyone who thinks that GM is the answer to the world's problems is naive at best.

Simple as.

A bit of an understatement



There isn't a single tree or patch of greenery within half a mile of New Street Station, believe me, I've walked those streets on many an occasion trying to find a f'k** way in

There have been cases of farmers in the US being sued for saving seed never mind the third world.

There have been cases in India of farmers killing themselves after the failure of their GM crops that they were persuaded to use by the likes of Monsanto.

Glad someone is continuing the thread along it's intended lines, am sure a GM foods thread would be very interesting for those that have an opinion on it, but to me a "Food" thread should be about food, not an ethical debate (or should I say an opportunity to knock big business, again, under the facade of and ethical debate).

WIZEB, am interested to know a couple of things:

Where was the Smoked Haddock from?
Dyed or un Dyed?
How did you cook it?, I usually just poach it in milk, butter and black pepper and then have crusty bread to soak up the "sauce", I've tried poaching in water but it didn't taste as good (may well have been the quality of the fish though), have also been told to try poaching it in cider but I just can't quite see how that would work.

Dyed and from Asda (audible howls of derision)
Yup, poached with hardly a bubble for ten minutes in milk, nub of butter, black pepper and a couple of bay leaves.
Removed fish and added cornflour to residue liquid in an attempt to make a white sauces thing.
Made a complete cock of it so had to bin it, open a cheese sauce sachet and had that as an accompaniment.
Not bad.

Off on a tangent but currently lied horizontally on a hotel bed in Donny.
Had a night out at the dog track in Stainforth last evening.
I want to officially state that the pie and peas Fayre on offer was par excellence.
Cordon Bleu, pfffttt, who needs it.?

*Just been informed by the young lady by my side that I was rather flatulent during the course of the night.
Who says romance is dead?

In my (not very) humble opinion, a food thread should encompass all things related to food, especially how that food is developed, produced, distributed and marketed.

Being critical of GM is not "knocking big business", the likes of Monsanto have outgrown the term "big business". They have managed to fit both the US government and WTO in their pockets and that's not good for any consumers.

no, that's politics and business, to me anyway.

but hey ho, the Sin Bin will do as it always does

Joanna Blythman has recently been quoted in an article in Dally's favourite rag, on the subject of scampi. A number of companies are now marketing "Scampi Bites", a product that can legally have as little as 7% scampi in it, although a consumer would need to read the small print to discover that fact. Most of the rest o the protein is made up of other white fish, including pangasius. I refuse to carry pangasius because it is intensively farmed in the Mekong and is subject to high levels of antbiotics and other chemicals in its production. You may not see pangasius on a supermarket shelf but you'd certainly find Basa or Cobbler - both alternative names for pangasius.

Even wholetail scampi is not necessarily the whole tail of a Dublin Bay prawn or langoustine. it can legally be minced up pieces. glued back together. If you want true wholetail, you'd need to buy "Single wholetail scampi".

Would you suggest that information was put in a "politics" or "big business" thread?

Why not stop trying to police something you have no control over, or ask to become a mod and then you can stamp your size tens all over the place.

A discussion of GM is just as valid in the food thread as, say, a discussion on free range eggs, organic veg, E numbers, additives, fat, salt, sugar etc etc.

To you, to those that make the decisions it is the right place, now stop whinging.

And in other food (or possibly big business or politics) news: [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/jul/06/food-supply-threat-water-wells-dry-upThe wells are running dry[/url

[iIn the US, farmers are overpumping in the Western Great Plains, including in several leading grain-producing states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Irrigated agriculture has thrived in these states, but the water is drawn from the Ogallala aquifer, a huge underground water body that stretches from Nebraska southwards to the Texas Panhandle. "It is, unfortunately, a fossil aquifer, one that does not recharge. Once it is depleted, the wells go dry and farmers either go back to dryland farming or abandon farming altogether, depending on local conditions," says Brown.[/i

Scary

I thought they had put a stop to that and wholetail had to be just one complete bit of scampi but there could be more than one bit of finished scampi made from one prawn, and the reformed stuff had to be labelled as such?

Just had the first barbeque of the seasin. Made a pleasant change. Chicken breasts in herb mrinade, lamb steaks in red wine, quarter pounder with cheese and bacon and herby venison and pork sausages with pasta, garlic and tomato salad, mixed salad and saute potatoes. Washed down with Polish beer.

Just had the first barbeque of the seasin. Made a pleasant change. Chicken breasts in herb mrinade, lamb steaks in red wine, quarter pounder with cheese and bacon and herby venison and pork sausages with pasta, garlic and tomato salad, mixed salad and saute potatoes. Washed down with Polish beer.

Did your slave do the barbequeing or is she too mentally fragile to be left near open heat with a pair of tongs?

Apparently not, Blythman quizzed some woman from SeaFish about this and she was comfortable with the four different types and didn't think the consumers were being fooled.

The various descriptions of scampi only cover retail, restaurants are not covered and can name what they like as scampi

No, the Polish au pair.

I hope you're paying her minimum wage at least?

Internship.

Why is it my opinion is always "whinging", in your opinion?

Anyway, FOOD....

as we're going down this route, would I be right in thinking that, in the 80's, Scampi was actually substituted by monkfish bits, because nobody would buy monkfish?

Until the celebrity chefs got on the bandwagon, the biggest commercial market for UK landed monkfish was fishmeal. It was considered too much messing around and too much waste. my cousins and uncles used to bring the tails to my old man and we'd skin it, remove the membrane and eat it, either battered and deep-fried or pickled. It was always known as poor man's lobster and was often used to bulk up chowders etc.

There is no such fish as a monkfish, it is a generic term for Angler fish or Angel shark (two completely separate species). If it's cut into 5cm x 2cm pieces and you pour boiling water over it, it curls just like scampi tail. Mind you, you can achieve the same effect with dogfish too

Yup, you're spot on on that score.

It's a bit like the labelling issue with horse meat: nothing wrong with horse meat per se, but people should be able to trust what's on a packet - or buy something that isn't in a packet/pre-made.

Isn't it illegal to sell Angel Shark as Monkfish in the UK?

In the scampi stakes, I can't remember the last time I ordered scampi in a restaurant or saw it on a "proper" restaurant menu come to that ... I reckon the confusion over what it is/was or should be has pushed it down to frozen bar-meal fodder.
I can remember ordering Monkfish though.

I have only twice knowingly eaten shark, once was Scarborough woof, that was bloody awful and had a really strong "fishy" flavour ... and once was just generically called "shark" ... that one was a little more meaty, like a watery version of halibut in texture, as though it had been frozen and not properly cooked.
Possibly experiences that should be put down to poor chef-fing, I don't know, but enough to put me off.