SCALLOPS
Fish poses a tricky ethical problem: we should eat more of it, since it’s so
good for us - particularly oily fish, packed full of omega 3 oils - but,
unfortunately, what’s good for us is not so good for the world’s fish
stocks. More than 40 per cent of commercial fish species in the Northeast
Atlantic are feared to be below sustainable limits, and the talk is of
finding less fashionable alternatives - pollack instead of cod, say, or
gurnard instead of bass. But won’t we then simply be shifting the same
problem on to the newly popularised species in 20 years’ time? The other
option is to expand fish farming, but this has its own problems. Many farms,
particularly salmon farms, have earned a bad name thanks to pollution,
disease, overcrowding and the risk of escapees interbreeding with wild fish.
So where does that leave us? Well, a good ethical choice is to eat more
shellfish. While fishing by trawler can devastate the seabed and kill
dolphins that get caught in the nets, diving for scallops, for example, has
little impact on the environment. They are also now being cultivated
sustainably and in an eco-friendly way, since the seafood lives pretty much
as it would in the wild. Scottish diver David Oakes is one of the first to
see the future in scallop cultivation. He painstakingly collects the “spat”,
or scallop spawn, and grows them in suspended baskets before transplanting
them to the seabed of a sheltered loch, where the king scallops grow for
around six years, feeding naturally, before being harvested by hand (£24 per
kg; www.skye-seafood.co.uk).
ABERDEEN ANGUS BEEF
Of course you’d expect us to choose organic meat, since the organic ethos
enshrines most of the principles we need to satisfy our consciences: food
produced without reliance on pesticides, growth
promoters and so on, and with the emphasis on care for the soil and the
welfare of animals. But there are other issues. Embrace the irony of eating
rare breeds in order to preserve them. Unless we support our traditional
pure breeds of cattle, pigs and sheep, these slow-growing animals designed
to give such flavoursome meat will vanish for ever, replaced by modern
animals bred to grow fast and be slaughtered young to satisfy the
supermarket demand for bright red meat brought to its shelves within days of
slaughter.
That’s why we’ve chosen Aberdeen Angus beef - a foodstuff that sounds so
familiar, you probably wouldn’t associate it with a rare breed. However, the
“original population” of pure-breed black animals features on the endangered
list (which includes eight breeds of beef) at the Rare Breeds Survival Trust
(www.rbst.org.uk), because most of the
Aberdeen Angus sold today has been interbred with different strains from
around the world in order to produce bigger and more commercial animals. At
Heritage Prime in Bridport, Dorset, Ian and Denise Bell raise rare-breed
Aberdeen Angus with a fully traceable bloodline, grown slowly to 30 months,
with the meat hung for four weeks. What’s more, they farm bio-dynamically -
the ultimate in ethical farming - following the self-sustaining, holistic
system of agriculture formulated in 1924, which works in tune with the
natural rhythms of the earth and the seasons. Ethical eating comes at a
price - although £10.95/kg, minimum spend is about £600 for a quarter cow (www.heritageprime.co.uk).
BASMATI RICE
Basmati is hailed as the purest of rices, grown in the foothills of the
Himalayas and lauded for its distinctive grain and aroma. But if you’re
including it in your healthy diet, make sure you are not lining the pockets
of unscrupulous merchants along the way. Only 11 Indian and five Pakistani
rices qualify as authentic basmati - nowhere near enough to supply the
190,000 tonnes sold in Britain alone. Last year, the Food Standards Agency
carried out DNA testing and discovered that almost half of the rice labelled
as basmati was, in fact, a mixture of some of the real thing and cheaper
rice. Such scams are rife in the food world - for example, Jersey Royals and
King Edward potatoes have also been substituted with cheaper potatoes.
Labelling laws are being tightened all the time to help us trace the true
source of our food, but there will always be unscrupulous fraudsters out
there. Don’t let them get away with it; be vigilant - if your rice is gloopy
and un-basmati-like when you cook it, report it to your local Trading
Standards officer.
BROCCOLI AND PUMPKIN
Both of these vegetables are high on the list of 14 “superfoods” identified by
Californian doctor Steven Pratt, which are supposed to help prevent changes
in the body that can lead to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension,
Alzheimer’s and some cancers. Buy locally and seasonally to cut out the air
miles.
BLUEBERRIES
These top the superfood list, because they pack a cocktail of antioxidants
into their thick skins, along with vitamin C, folic acid, fibre,
carotenoids… you name it.
CHEESES
Finish your meal with an easy conscience by seeking out some true artisanal
cheese, rather than taking the easy option of mass-produced, wrapped
supermarket versions. Just as we are in danger of losing our traditional
rare-breed animals, if we don’t vote with our wallets, we could also lose
many of our glorious artisanal cheeses. And we’re not just talking food, but
the way of life of whole communities built around traditional family
cheesemaking. Our cheeseboard (previous page) includes Montgomery’s Cheddar,
one of the finest examples of true Cheddar, made in Somerset; organic St
Maure goat’s cheese from France, produced by a husband-and-wife team; Serra
da Estrela from Portugal, made with raw sheep’s milk and a wild thistle
rennet; Gorgonzola Dolce from Italy, a new, experimental blue goat’s cheese,
which symbolises the revival of traditional cheesemaking in Italy,
championed by the Slow Food Movement (all from La Fromagerie, www.lafromagerie.co.uk).
CHOCOLATE
The world chocolate trade is rife with middlemen making a fast buck at the
expense of cocoa workers. No such concerns at the Grenada Chocolate Company
(www.grenadachocolate.com), the environmentally friendly co-operative
founded by Mott Green in the rainforest, where they grow their own beans and
make the chocolate using solar power. Green has just begun producing
chocolate again after Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc, and has been running a
fund to help the local economy recover (£5.50, Rococo, www.rococochocolates.com).
