WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Tizer]

First back-fire and now it's quick-fire...

[Stanley]

I have often said that I think that the influence of micro-nutrients and mineral trace elements in well managed soil is underrated. See THIS BBC report on how little we know about Fungi. The ten fascinating facts in the article really are just that and I remember reading somewhere that the biggest single living organism on earth is probably the mitochondrial network in a large forest.
Have a look at THIS Guardian article on the value of dairy foods as a food. Surprise surprise!

[Tizer]

Mycorrhizal network rather than mitochondrial.

[Stanley]

I'll bow to superior knowledge but that's the first time anyone has pulled me up on that one..... No matter, you know what I mean!

[Tizer]

Mitochondria are the little `organelles' inside cells that act as the powerhouse. Mycorrhiza consists of the fungal threads that spread out through soil and linkup with the roots of plants to form an extensive network. It's a symbiotic relationship between plant and fungus. RHS

[Stanley]

You're right and I am not arguing Tiz! (I know my place,,,,,, )

[Tizer]

I know you always like to learn more. Mycorrhiza is probably what Kenneth Williams was referring to all those years ago when he said "The answer lies in the soil".

From Wikipedia:
Beyond Our Ken featured characters similar to those later featured in Round the Horne, for instance Betty Marsden's Fanny Haddock (which parodied Fanny Cradock). It featured Pertwee's Frankie Howerd impersonation, Hankie Flowered, and Hugh Paddick's working-class pop singer Ricky Livid – the name being a mickey-take on contemporary pop singers' stage names such as Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde. Another favourite was Kenneth Williams' country character, Arthur Fallowfield, who was based on Dorset farmer Ralph Wightman, a regular contributor to the BBC radio programme Any Questions? Fallowfield's lines were full of innuendo and double entendre – on one occasion Horne introduced him as the man who put the sex in Sussex. Fallowfield's reply to any question began: "Well, I think the answer lies in the soil!" Beyond Our ken

[Big Kev]

Round the Horne, most of the comedy still holds well in that radio programme. I have them on my Google Play Music stream and they do make me laugh.

[Stanley]

I remember them all......
My favourite was a strange programme called 'In all directions', It was Peter Ustinov and Peter Jones having a desultory conversation as they drove round looking for a mythical address, Copthorne Avenue. They also met strange characters, sometimes played by themselves. (Definitely off piste..... apologies.)

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of a strange outbreak of contamination of fresh strawberries in Oz by inserting sewing needles in them. This baffles me completely. What is going on? Are some people completely mad?

[Wendyf]

I'm just about to tuck in to my breakfast strawberries! Ouch!

[Stanley]

Cut them in two Wendy and examine them...... Mind you, if they are your own grown you should be fairly safe......

[Wendyf]

Not mine Stanley, but I do cut them up anyway. Nothing nasty to report.

[Tizer]

When I was editing food safety news in the 1990s through to the early 2000s there were frequent malicious food contamination events with `foreign objects' in food products (and in pharmaceuticals) but then it died down. I wonder if this is just one of the now infrequent events which happens to have made it through Brexit, Trump etc to reach the news? We may hear of others in coming months because such events always used to trigger copycat contaminations. Or maybe not, perhaps all the idiots are doing their damage online now instead. There's nowt so queer as folk.

[Whyperion]

See THIS BBC report of a strange outbreak of contamination of fresh strawberries in Oz by inserting sewing needles in them. This baffles me completely. What is going on? Are some people completely mad?

It was malicious contanimation of products that gave rise to things like the 'safety cap' on jars, the extra plastic tabs on tubs of ice cream , medicine containers and milk shakes, likewise the under foil or plastic film on milk bottles and margerine tubs (though the lids have tendency to fall of those anyway). All adding to mass-polution if not put into an appropriate working recycling stream.

[Stanley]

"There's nowt so queer as folk."
Very true and I suppose the infrequent manifestations of this like the needles is the price we pay for the glorious variety we celebrate so many times on the site. It would be very boring if we were all clones of each other.....

[Stanley]

See THIS Guardian report on a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry which calls for research directly into the influence of diet on the brain. Broadly speaking moving away from Just Eat fast food towards a Mediterranean type diet. I don't think any of us on this site would argue against this. All I can say is that if it isn't true it ought to be!

[Tizer]

Another person has died after eating something from Pret a Manger that contained dairy material which shouldn't have been there. Pret blames it on the supplier. The supplier, in turn, blames it on their supplier. This is a problem now, the food supply chain is too long with too many steps in it

[Stanley]

I heard the report Tiz and I agree with you. When you hand responsibility for preparing food to a chain of supply like Pret, you surrender control. One of the main reasons why I hate the Just Eat campaign.....
Solution? Get a bait tin and make your own butties!

[Tizer]

Did you hear the man on the radio interviewed about food allergy saying "You can't expect people to have to make their own meals"? As someone who can't eat anything with spices in it I could tell him a thing or two!

[Wendyf]

We heard that Tiz, he said it was difficult in this day and age. Colin nearly exploded (had he gone off, there would have been red and orange flames! )

[Tizer]

I'm with Colin on that - I'm just beginning to calm down!

[Stanley]

No Tiz, I didn't hear that. I think you know what my opinion is and I suspect my reaction would have been at least as bad as Col.... What a stupid attitude, he might as well have said he couldn't be expected to breathe for himself.... it's just as basic.

[plaques]

"You can't expect people to have to make their own meals"?

Looking at the statement from another angle, lifestyles have changed over the years and so have working patterns. I once talked to an engineer who lived in Burnley but worked in Stockport. His day was 5-30 AM set off to work, arrived home 7-30 PM , not much time to be making your own meals. There must be millions of people with these unsociable working hours.

[Tizer]

Another thing that has changed is that it's less common for there to be someone at home cooking the meals. Many people now live alone and couples are often both working. Also, fewer working people will have access to a `works canteen' and there aren't the many cheap cafes lining the streets doing basic hot meals (as opposed to burgers and coffees).