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My first box of fresh produce from Farm Direct arrived yesterday which was hugely exciting.

Joining a ‘veg box’ scheme has been on my list of green things I really ought to do for a couple of years but when I checked it out it seemed extremely restrictive – having to commit to the same thing every week, prohibitively expensive, or limited in what they offer.

But at the Camden Green Fair a few weeks back I visited the Farm… Continue reading

I went for a lovely lunch with a Peruvian hotel group called Inkaterra today, at a restaurant called Bumpkin in South Kensington.

Inkaterra has some of the most exciting, sustainable hotels in Peru. It all started in the 1970s with Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica right in the Amazon jungle. Next were La Casona in Cusco, part of the super-luxury Relais & Chateaux collection, and Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel right by Machu Picchu. Inkaterra has now launched another sister brand… Continue reading

[This article first appeared in TTG]

Despite a thorough explanation from instructor Derek on how to hold my paddle and how to slow down and change direction, I was still concerned about losing control and smashing up my kayak on the rocks. But Derek assured me the kayaks were practically indestructible. “You might hit into each other, though – the kayaks have got magnets in them,” he warned us.

I’d have thought magnets would make the… Continue reading

A story about aquaculture on a North Carolina news site gave me food for thought. The journalist visited a research facility which is developing methods of artificially cultivating saltwater fish (aquaculture has been used more for freshwater fish to date).

In many ways, I think aquaculture sounds like a sensible idea.

• Natural fish stocks around the world are now dangerously low because of overfishing. By farming fish in giant tanks, we can reduce the pressure on

I’m now two weeks into my cow’s milk ban, and I’ve done pretty bloody well. Soya yoghurt is not too bad at all, and Alpro makes a tasty chocolate mousse dessert.

For cereal and porridge, I’ve had to swap from soya milk to rice milk, which is much more drinkable. And I’ve had to allow myself one cup of tea with real milk per morning, as I couldn’t finish a mugful made with either soya or rice milk, and… Continue reading

Eavesdropping on the Tube yesterday, I overheard an alarming fact that made me almost choke on my strawberry yogurt smoothie. A girl was telling her friend how she’d recently given up cows’ milk, after finding out “it’s full of pus and blood and all sorts”.

Hoping she’d made it up, I launched a full-scale Google investigation as soon as I got home. Alas, it does appear to be true – PETA has an entire campaign about it… Continue reading | 1 Comment

I take biscuits very seriously. A good cup of tea and a biscuit can be the only thing which keeps me going at half past three in the afternoon. They are a great source of debate – how much chocolate coating can a biscuit have before it becomes an item of confectionery?  Is the Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit? And why do they still insist on putting Bourbons into Family Favourites tins when no-one likes them?

Something… Continue reading | 3 Comments

Frogs are one of my all-time favourite creatures. They’re right up there with cats, primates, whales and the slow loris for me. So I was quite concerned to read how human consumption of frogs is having a devastating effect on populations around the world; up to a billion frogs a year are taken from the wild for us to eat.

I suppose I’d presumed that frog-eating nations (for it’s not just the French – America buys almost as many) had… Continue reading

I did ‘Meat Free Monday’ again this Monday (and Tuesday in fact). I wrote about it last Monday and how the idea, supported by Macca et al, has its critics.

I’ve since found an interesting article on Treehugger relating specifically to beef, which says eating beef could actually slow climate change.

Humans produce more methane than cows, the writer maintains, and the grass they graze on sequesters carbon:

“Cattle must be saying, “Stop pointing fingers!  You single-stomached humans are contributing more methane emissions than… Continue reading

The ‘Meat Free Mondays’ campaign was in the news again recently, as Paul McCartney gave it his backing.

I think it’s a really great campaign – something everyone can achieve with little effort – and I have gone meat-free again today.

The difference that reducing meat consumption can make is staggering. The main factor is deforestation in Brazil for grazing. The Food and Agriculture Council of the United Nations said in 2006 that livestock’s contribution to gaseous emissions and climate change “currently amounts… Continue reading