The food we waste
Thanks to Frances at France and the Unknown for bringing this report to our attention. It really highlights what each of us could do to help cut waste and help the environment. It is a UK report (does anyone know of one looking at France?) but I am sure the figures are similar:
People in the UK throw away around one third of the food they buy.
Of that most could have been eaten – 61% or 4.1 million tonnes
a year was avoidable.
The most common reason for food being wasted is that
it’s left unused – 61% of the avoidable food waste or
2….5 million tonnes.
Of this, 40% – almost one million tonnes – isn’t even touched
and at least a tenth – 340,000 tonnes – is still in date.
We also cook and prepare too much, resulting in an additional
1.6 million tonnes of food waste a year
All this adds up to lots of unnecessary waste – for example every day
we throw away:
seven million slices of bread;
one million slices of ham;
4.4 million whole apples;
1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks; and
440,000 ready-made meals.
Of that most could have been eaten – 61% or 4.1 million tonnes
a year was avoidable.
The most common reason for food being wasted is that
it’s left unused – 61% of the avoidable food waste or
2….5 million tonnes.
Of this, 40% – almost one million tonnes – isn’t even touched
and at least a tenth – 340,000 tonnes – is still in date.
We also cook and prepare too much, resulting in an additional
1.6 million tonnes of food waste a year
All this adds up to lots of unnecessary waste – for example every day
we throw away:
seven million slices of bread;
one million slices of ham;
4.4 million whole apples;
1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks; and
440,000 ready-made meals.
Stuffed Potimarron
A potimarron is like a pumpkin, but is smaller and tastier. This time of year the organic smallholders who come to the Market at Felletin every Friday, come laden with them. If you can’t find a Potimarron you can use a small pumpkin instead…
1 Potimarron (about 1.5-175kg)
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp sage
1 tbsp thyme
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
225g long grain rice
2 large ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
600ml vegetable stock
40g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
seasoning
Preheat your oven to 180C. Cut the top off the potimarron, to form a lid. Scrape out the seeds (you should try to save all the seeds – they are lovely roasted with soy and tobasco sauce). Scoop out most of the flesh from the lid and the potimarron, leaving a thin layer (but thick enough that it doesn’t collapse!). Finely chop the flesh and set it aside.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion, garlic, sage, thyme, paprika and turmeric for 5 minutes until the onion is softened. Add the chopped potimarron flesh and fry for 5 minutes.
Stir in the rice and fry for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, cover and cook over a gentle heat for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the nuts and spoon into the potimarron shell.
Replace the potimarron lid, and place in a roasting pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out hot.
You can garnish with roasted potimarron seeds (if you followed my advice, and roasted them!), cheese, or anything else you fancy.
Yum.
3 place des arbres: a vegetarian guest house, in the heart of France. Come to our B&B, in the lovely market town of Felletin, in the Limousin region of France to enjoy delicious vegetarian and vegan meals using fresh local seasonal produce.
Halloween Fête: A vegetarian option now available
Tartiflette vegetarienne
Andrea, chef at the vegetarian guest house 3 Place des Arbres, will be cooking a vegetarian tartiflette at the special Halloween party in the town of Felletin, la Cruese, Limousin France.
The town’s Committee des Fetes, les fuse@niment, organise events throughout the year, but this will the first time a vegetarian option will be offered. “I am very excited,” Andrea said. “It will be great, not just for vegetarians, but for people who want to cut down their meat intake, or for religious, or other reasons, do not eat lardons [bacon]”.
The recipe for the vegetarian Tartiflette will be available on this site at a later date.
The menu will be: Pumkin Soup, Tartiflette (Végétarienne), and fruit salad. It will be followed by music and dancing.
Censored! The poster they did not want you to see!
Banned by the UK advertising watchdog
This is the latest campaign poster by Peta who are campaining for more people to become vegetarian. According to the Guardian Newspaper it has been banned because the UK advertising watchdog say that the poster leads people to believe that Swine Flu can be caught by eating meat. Peta responded by saying
“it did not intend to suggest that eating meat caused swine flu but wanted to highlight the role that livestock production played in the incubation, development and spread of fatal infectious diseases.
Adopting a purely vegetarian diet was one of the best ways to prevent the development and spread of deadly diseases that originated from livestock production and meat consumption and which threatened public health, the organisation added.”
Devrons nous manger moins de viande ?
France Inter (radio station) this morning has a debate on eating less meat, and why it is important for animals, the environment and everyones health.
Droits des animaux, c’est une association loi 1901 qui regroupe une quarantaine de personnes, et qui militent pour l’abandon totale de la consommation de viande. Pour alerter l’opinion, ils organisent des opérations qui frappent les esprits. La dernière en date c’etait samedi dernier à Paris : ils sont allés remplir le rayon viande du supermarché avec des fausses mains humaines, de faux pieds, doigts ou seins, achetés dans un magasin de farces et attrapes, et recouverts de cellophane…
You can download a podcast here and you can read peoples comments on the programme here
3placedesarbres.com: a vegetarian guesthouse in the heart of France
New vegetarian cook book published
A new vegetarian cook book from a vegetarian B&B in France
Andrea and Bruce, who run the vegetarian guesthouse 3 Place des Arbres in the beautiful department of La Creuse in the Limousin Region of France, have just published a recipe book.
The book contains some of their most popular recipes, and also has some stunning photographs of the romantic market town of Felletin, and the surrounding areas.
“A good friend of ours, Mark Jeynes, suggested we write a recipe book after staying with us. We wanted to include photographs of the town, and the local area, because the Limousin is so beautiful, but it is relatively undiscovered part of France. It has taken us quite a while to produce it, as we wanted to have the recipes in French and in English, as our French guests have also requested the recipes.”
You can see a small sample pages of the book here and you can also buy a copy. The cost (from Lulu) is 14Euros plus postage and packing. However, if you buy it direct from Bruce and Andrea it will cost you 15 Euros for one copy (including P&P to europe – contact us for prices to the rest of the world), but it gets cheaper, the more you order! Alternatively there is a PDF version of the book, available for 5 Euros. To buy the book in print, or PDF format email Bruce and Andrea for further information.
If you would like to produce a book but don’t have the time why not check out BooksAboutMe? Mark can create one for you…
Vegetarians still eat fish… according to French Television
In March we reported that the French Television Programme “un diner presque parfait” had a “vegetarian” on the programme who not only was happy too eat fish, but for her menu actually cooked fish!
Well this week the programme again features a “vegetarian”: Camille. Camille is a Yoga teacher, lover of Bob Marleys music and all round hippy-type. She enjoys vegetarian food (and cooks an entirely vegan menu for the programme – which went down not well at all with her fellow contestants. Not because it was vegan but because it looked vile (and according to the others tasted bland too) – perhaps she should have looked at some of our recipes?).
However, Camille was happy to tuck into the fish dishes that the other contestants cook. Hello!!! If she eats fish she can NOT be called a vegetarian.
Camille - Not a vegetarian
When will this programme get it right? The UK Vegetarian Society defines a vegetarian as “someone living on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits, with or without the use of dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, or slaughter by-products.”.
In fact the UK Vegetarian Society is currently running the following campaign:
Anyhoo… rant over… I feel better now. Thanks! 😉
Lose the man-boobs: go vegetarian
In a new campaign, from Peta, men are being urged to become vegetarian in order to avoid growing man-boobs. An increasing number of men are seeking breast reduction surgery as a result of obesity brought on by eating too much meat, the Guardian newspaper reports.
Visit 3placedesarbres.com a luxury vegetarian guesthouse, near Aubusson, in La Creuse, Limousin, France. For tourist information on Felletin, Aubusson, La Creuse and Limousin visit us
Go vegetarian and help save the planet!
By going vegetarian (and eating vegan meals 3 times a week) you can cut your carbon emissions by at least 1 tonne CO2 and help save the planet according to the Guardian newspaper.
A vegetarian Christmas in France?
Andrea and Bruce (hosts of the vegetarian bed and breakfast in Felletin, located in the Limousin region of France) are offering a special 3 night deal over Christmas, including delicious vegetarian meals. For more information click here
Vegetarian and Vegan France 