Friday 22 October 2010

Finger on the pulse

A report commissioned by the UK’s Food Standards Agency is advocating a massive shift in our eating and cooking habits in order to combat climate change. The report was produced by a team at the University of East Anglia, the same institution that was recently at the heart of a row over possible manipulation of dodgy climate data used in a report about global warming.

The academics at the university want the UK population to move to a vegetarian diet, or a least a diet that’s very low in meat, cheese and sugary foods. They'd also like to see us drinking less tea, coffee and cocoa. They say our diets should, in future, be made up largely of vegetables, pulses and yoghurt. The report also says we need to change the way we cook our food, making better use of microwaves and pressure cookers so that we cut down on the energy used in cooking.

The report says schools and hospitals should lead the way and set a good example serving lentils, carrots and other yummy and appetising foods such as turnips and natural yoghurt. Naturally, the Food Standards agency is endorsing this silly report, probably because it’s staffed by the same swivel-eyed zealots who appear to at the helm of virtually every quango or public body in the country.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before the puritans who infest every crevice of public life got round to imposing compulsory vegetarianism. Now that they’ve banned smoking and are getting their miserable claws into alcohol consumption, meat was bound to be next on their miserable agenda.

These humourless cretins won’t be happy until we’re living in cold stone huts living off rations of tofu and rainwater. I can’t wait until they’ve created that particular paradise here in Britain. Needless to say I’ll be on the last boat out to somewhere altogether more tolerant and happier… Afghanistan, perhaps?

17 comments:

  1. What no duck on the menu ? So disappointing :) I can just see the Americans giving up Beef the Chinese, Duck the French their steaks. The average Brit is pale and pasty already but on a diet of carrots turnips and such ? It would however cut the NHS catering budget and therefore allow each Chief Exec to buy more artwork !! makes sense ????

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  2. Better still, let us get tattooed from head to foot in some "back street parlour" and contract HIV - salad and pulses are bound to cure that!!!

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  3. Change the way we cook?... Microwaves?... Woooh there, Microwaves ovens are in fact radio transmitters, but far more dangerous than scientists will ever admit... and this bunch of numpty morons say it will be healthier !!!
    As a radio engineer and having worked with microwave frequencies for many years, I know only to well the dangers of microwave ovens, there is no such thing as a safe microwave oven, tests carried out with the use of a field strength metre (used to find the radiation pattern of an antenna)show clearly they all leak radiation, and at alarming power levels that the same scientists claim are safe... microwave ovens may save power, but at what cost to your health, or even worse the health of your kids (who have thinner skulls than adults). wonder what the NHS will make of the thousands of new patients they are set to treat unnesesserily because some moron thinks its ok to fry you from the inside as well as the outside?... just a thought.

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  4. One of the tabloids reported a few months ago , that plastic plates or any item made from plastic , should never be used in microwaves as they release deadly toxins.

    The same tabloid reported also that, leaving bottled water in a car in hot weather releases the same deadly toxins.

    I only use my microwave to defrost in an emergency as I don`t trust them.

    As for turning vegetarian, these experts need a kick into reality.

    There is no possible proof that eating only pulses, yoghurt and all manner of healthy food is of more benefit to the human body.

    I have lived in Crete for the last 4 years, this place is reputed to be top of the list for healthy living ,and the Medeterranian diet they live on which is mostly pulses and vegatables.... all myth.

    They are big meat eaters, lamb and pork and goat being their favorite meats, especially lamb which is the most fatty animal.

    They eat masses of cheese of every kind , not just Feta.

    All their meals consist of anything to do with pastry and cheese.

    All their desserts are packed full of sickly sugary syrup.

    They are all classed as morbidly obese, through eating so much pastry and cheese products, and the children are unhealthily fat from eating chocolate filled crossaunts, which are cheap and shuts their moaning mouth for a while.

    Sitting in our local taverna, you will see one local farmer downing 20, litre bottles of Amstel lager in one afternoon.... every day..!!

    Dining out you will see a Greek family of 8 order...one plate of cut beetroot, one plate of fava (lentil puree topped with sliced onions), a plate of spinach with feta cheese over it plus other healthy food.... But....

    Then comes the 2 kilos of fried lamb chops on a vast plate, 8 bowls of fried chips, plus other interesting fried cheese covered in oil.

    Then comes the dessert, plate upon plate of the most sickly sweet cake, steeped in sugar syrup ( I have made the cake once and threw it, you use 2 bags of sugar to make the syrup, so sweet i binned it).

    After that everyone gets more cheese bits, the children head for the freezer and are loaded up with Cornettos and other goodies, then come the crossaunts, and then the raki which they drink like water, also the beer and the wine, then comes the complimentary plate of fruit and more cheese bits.

    They all smoke and eat at the same time, and these people can smoke non stop, most smoke up to 7 packs of 25 in a pack in a day...!!!!!!

    This is the normal and typical Cretan diet here. Lidle sell a vast amount of cheese pastries in their freezers, and Carrefore sell loads of ready meals, gone are the days of mothers cooking healthy home cooked meals, most women getting married here can`t cook.

    Anyone mentioning the " Mediteranian diet of healthy eating ", do not know what the hell they are talking about, until they come here and observe the locals eating habits..!!

    Ness..

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  5. Imagine the riots in France if the government/quangos there suggested something similar in addition to the current (much needed) austerity measures.

    Why do the Brits (and us Aussies) take such rubbish without much overt complaint? I see regular molly-coddled city living Australians accepting the damned nanny state without complaint.

    A recent issue here was some government funded group advocating a tax on snack food to combat obesity. A good way to raise money to pay for the bureaucracy to run such a system, leaving aside the main issue of letting people make their own decisions and suffering the consequences of them!

    Imagine some little bureaucrat (who is there because he/she is probably too useles or spineless to get a job in the real world) deciding on what a "snack food" is!

    Cheers, Geotraveller

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  6. And sorry - regarding the picture - god I hate full arm tatts!

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  7. Chris in Melbourne24 October 2010 at 12:13

    I reckon its a plot, being run by the same sort of loons as the climate fraud.

    A lot of articles and blogs over here written by people about climate, when you get toward the end of the piece, suddenly suggest that, of course if we didn't raise beef/lamb/chickens et al the world would be 'saved' due to the reduction in greenhouse gases so that's why we must all become vegan at best or at least vegetarian.

    Now I have no problem with individuals going vegan or vegetarian if that's what they want and in fact I don't mind cooking that way occasionally or eating at Gopals (Hare Krishna)if I'm in the City. But I do come over all uppity when some holier than thou gnome looks down their pointed little nose and tells me what I should or shouldn't be eating/doing.

    And while I think about it I have a vegetarian friend whom I always cater for if they come for a meal, but how come they don't cater for me when I go to their place?

    Your Lord Stern was out this part of the world recently. He said it was a private visit but he did find time to address the National Press Club in Canberra, and then turn up here in Melbourne to rally the followers. After that he disappeared to my homeland NZ, and proceeded to lecture all and sundry about emissions etc. There is something faintly ridiculous about telling Kiwi's, who have a rather large export business in Beef and Lamb to stop it at once, and as well as be vegans.

    Even more ridiculous is the thought of how to stop these unholy cows from breaking wind, although apart from oregano and other spices, the NZ government has part funded a research centre. I think they are taking the michael on that one.

    It's got to the stage here in OZ where people are thinking, hang on a minute, these loons have got the public purse strings. I always ask suspects if they are vegan/vegetarian before I agree or vote for their wacky ideas.They think I'm rude

    Jeez, it must be all that prime beef I had for dinner tonight, made me go on a bit!

    Cheers
    Chris in Melbourne.

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  8. cut down on emissions? what about the extra methane that will be produced? what a miserable existance

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  9. XTM,

    Here's something interesting for you:
    http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/news/general/11997-on-the-hospital-menu-bloody-chicken-hairy-soup

    It happens here too! Does it happen to countries outside the Commonwealth?

    TK

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  10. Going against the grain here.. good on these academics for attempting to make a change to save both the health of the nation and the planet!
    I turned vegetarian only a few months ago and have honestly never felt better.

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  11. Yes, we all need saving from ourselves. Thank goodness for academics and their fearless reports.

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  12. The only thing I have against vegetarians is they try to force you to be one, they are far worse than ex- smokers trying to convince you to stop smoking.

    One vegetarian that I knew... who is now dead, tried to force feed me some gloop that resembled vomit, she said ... " try it as it tastes just like chicken.." My answer to her was , " if you are trying to cook food that tastes like the real thing then bloodywell eat the real thing".

    I like a lot of vegetarian dishes, and eat quite a lot of pulses, but I find my stomach can only take so much, and spend more time than normal in the thunder box is not natural, plus the gasses ommitted cannot be good for the ozone layer.

    You can`t beat a massive T-bone steak medium rare, and the chewing on the bone with both hands, or a flash fried pork chop with oregano, chips and veg and garlic mushrooms..!!

    Ness..

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  13. XTM, have you seen this yet? http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britain-quadriplegic-20101026,0,3311345.story

    I promise its not a funky link or spam, its an article.

    Quite shocking!

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  14. Yes, we all need saving from ourselves. Thank goodness for academics and their fearless reports.

    Is this sarcasm or irony? And how many academics can afford to be fearless? And of the few that remain, who are the utterly impartial ones to trust? If you’ve read Harold Lewis’s elegant letter of resignation (link below), you may notice how over-selective and personally unpleasant the comments are becoming. The issue is not really which mammals are farting, but can the planet tolerate another 2 thousand million aspirational human beings within the next 20 years or so?

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100058265/us-physics-professor-global-warming-is-the-greatest-and-most-successful-pseudoscientific-fraud-i-have-seen-in-my-long-life/

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  15. I was being sarcastic... it's a fault of mine. I really wonder why people don't understand how the whole climate change industry is making billions for a few people. It was only 20,000 years ago that we were in an ice age. The earth's climate has always changed and we are merely like a flea on a dog's back.

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  16. Chris in Melbourne31 October 2010 at 04:19

    Greetings and salutations!

    Something stirred in my memory XTM.
    It must be close to your birthday about now,is it not, so from us here, have a good one!

    Chris(staring out the window at the weeds and the rain)in Melbourne.

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  17. Well remembered, Chris. I share my birthday with All Saints' Day. Not sure what that says about me. Thanks for remembering.

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