Tag: Food

My year as an Avery Hill gardener & forager by Alice Coyle

  By , , , , ,

As the beautiful Autumn colours begin to fade into the stark grey, white and blues of winter, the gardeners’ task changes from a focus on planting, watering, weeding and harvesting to one of replenishing the soil, picking the last of the harvest and tucking the garden in for the winter.

Besides the harvest in the Edible Garden, the campus and its surrounds contains so many edible plants that just ask to be foraged while the internet is a treasure trove of recipe ideas.

We had a bumper crop of blackberries in August, unusually early this year. On my way into work and at lunchtimes, I picked several pounds near Sparrows Farm and along the park cycle tracks.  I took my home made scones, blackberry jelly and cream into work for the Clearing team. Some members had never tasted home-made jelly and all declared it far superior to the bought variety.  The advantage of jelly over jam is that all the not-so-perfect fruit bits get strained out.  I also used  blackberries added to stewed apples and pears, sweetened with honey gathered from the beehives on the campus and sold in the student union shop.

I cooked rhubarb by chopping it into 2-3 cm lengths, spreading the pieces in a baking dish, adding grated ginger and a small amount of water then sprinkling it all with honey or brown sugar before  and baking it for about 20 minutes at 180oC.

Tucked away at  back of the campus I discovered a lone damson plum tree.  These plums are tiny and taking their stones out is a nightmare so I made a batch of damson jelly; just as delicious as the blackberry version and just as nice with scones and cream!

We grew squashes in the garden that made wonderful soup while the courgettes (or zucchinis) were delicious cooked as a main course vegetable. The zucchini cakes I made using a recipe I found online sold like hotcakes at our MacMillan fundraiser during Freshers’ week.

We grew a bumper crop of tomatoes in our polytunnel which are lovely munched straight from the vine, eaten raw with salad or in snacks or cooked with other vegetables spiced with our chilli peppers. I made my first batch of green tomato chutney that I am itching to try but because  it needs to mature it will not be ready until Christmas.

We are still picking the last of the rainbow chard and I have enjoyed steaming it or using it as a substitute for spinach in my spinach and brown rice bake – a family favourite from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course book. My most recent experimentation has been making soup from our Jerusalem artichokes. Combined with onions, garlic, celery, carrots and chicken stock it tasted wonderful.

Spending time in the garden allows me time to relax and recharge away from the busy atmosphere of the Enquiry Unit. I have met so many lovely people there that I would never have met otherwise. Cooking and sharing food that I have helped to grow from seed is a wonderfully rewarding experience, and I cannot recommend it more highly.

Below: homemade jams, chutneys and cakes from garden produce. 

IMG_1359

No comments

World Development Movement Seminar on Food Speculation Review

  By ,

Today’s blog post comes from Linda Marie Schoyen. Linda has been working with the Sustainability Team as an intern and has designed many of the posters you have probably seen around the campuses advertising Green Week and the Fairtrade Fortnight events. Linda is a specialist when it comes to sustainability fashion and has a strong interest in Fairtrade and ethical branding, she currently works for Fashion-conscience.com which is a leading eco and ethical retailer for fine fashionable clothing.

Linda Marie Schoyen - definitely the most fashionable member of the Sustainability Team

During Fairtrade Fortnight, the Sustainability team invited the World Development Movement to encourage debate on the role of the big banks and financial speculators in the trade of typical fairtrade commodities such as cocoa and sugar. The World Development Movement’s Simon Mayes gave a fascinating, and alarming, insight into the consequences of food price speculation at Greenwich campus on February 28th. On March 1st at Medway campus, food and finance campaigner Christine Haigh, also from the World Development Movement, carried the flame and asked: how can we ensure genuine fair trade?

Simon Mayes, February 28th, Greenwich Campus: Betting on Hunger: the Role of Banks in Causing Food Price Rises

The Sustainability Team was joined by a whole host of people from the University and local area including lecturers from the School of Education and Business School – including Benny Dembitzer, British economist, member of a team that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 and the person who set up the first shop in the UK dealing with what we now know as Fairtrade. We toasted the evening with a few glasses Fairtrade wine and had some delicious Fairtrade cakes and chocolates to get us in the mood for the talk from the World Development Movement.

Tucking into the Fairtrade delights provided by ABM Catering

We learned that food prices are affected by a number of variables. Shifting dieatary habits, climate change affecting crops, the growth in world population and the value of the dollar all have an impact on food price trends. However, Mayes emphasised that many of these factors are more long term and do not logically account for sudden price changes such as the unprecedented price spikes of 2008. Banks and hedge funds speculating on future food prices are largely to blame for such swift food price spikes, resulting in severe consequences for the consumers in developing countries. From 2006 to 2011, US$126 billion was gambled on food price speculation. There is a wide consensus in the global political climate that betting on food prices in financial markets needs to be regulated to prevent massive price hikes from aggravating poverty and hunger.

When prices increase on other commodities such as electronics, fuel or oil, many people will budget around the increases and reduce their consumption. With food, however, consumers in developing countries simply cannot budget for price rises; one has to eat to survive. Consequently, results of food speculation can be devastating for the poorest consumers in the world.

What can we do to make a change? According to Mayes, we can demand tougher rules from the Treasury  to enforce on banks involved in food price speculation. Get in touch and pressure them! You can learn more about how to make a difference by joining WDM or signing up to their newsletter. Another resource for more information on how you can get involved and in-depth research on the issue can be found on WDM’s Food Speculation Resources site.

Christine Haigh, March 1st, Medway Campus: Taking on the 1%: Demanding Fairer Trade

At Medway Campus, the Sustainability Team was joined by enthusiastic staff as well as experts on environmental sustainability, food and farming. It was great to see so many people with such expert knowledge in environmental and farming issues engaging in the debate.

University of Kent Student's Union provided the wine supplies for the event

Haigh gave an introduction to the concept of Fairtrade and its origins. Fairtrade is a social movement and a market-based approach that was shaped in Europe in the 1960s, providing markets for producers. The Fairtrade movement has grown substantially over the past few decades, and even though it represents a small fraction of world trade in physical merchandise, some Fairtrade products account for 20-50% of all sales in their product categories in individual countries.

Despite the success of Fairtrade products, the movement cannot singlehandedly deliver an international fair trading system, this would require huge international market regulations that are way beyond the Fairtrade movement’s influence. Haigh continued on Mayes’ topic from Greenwich campus on the the alarming consequences that food speculation can have on some of the world’s poorest people. Contrary to common belief, high food prices are not necessarily good for farmers. High prices do not necessarily benefit the farmers when a Fairtrade scheme isn’t in place, but often the benefits go to the big companies who trade on a far grander scale on the international markets.

What do the WDM think a fair food system would look like?

  • Everyone would have right to food
  • Producers recognised
  • Localised production would be a priority
  • There would be greater control of resources, knowledge and skills
  • The food system would be environmentally sustainable

What can you do? Get involved! Pressure and call for more transparency in food prices, and push for limits to be posed on individual banks and bodies.