New River Cottage

[Dan Salter]

So did anyone watch the first of new series of river cottage tonight?

What did you think? ( vegiges need not reply as im sure you would have hated it)
Personally hes a bit of a hero of mine so glad the new series is back....2 of the people annoyed me stupid though !...but it was interesting none the same and hughs new gaffe...the NEW river cottage HQ looks like heaven and not one but 2 landrovers ! so jealous.

[werdnal]

Yes, we watched it. Agree that 2 of them were annoying, especially she who cried at the sight of the chicken slaughter, having flatly refused to show any compassion before! I think they should have gone furter with showing the mass produced chicken processing. I used to work for a company who supplied machinery to one of the main chicken handling plants in the country - our engineers use to come home vowing never to eat chicken again, having been on the processing line when a batch of live ones went through.

I'm a meat eater and must admit that we do not eat organic or free range all the time, but try to opt for it at every opportunity. I could never raise and kill my own meat like Hugh, but want to know what I eat has had the best possible life (and death) available to it.

[honeybee]

I'm a devoted veggie but I like Hugh FW because he shows people where food comes from and he shows respect for animals.

[Dan Salter]

thanks honeybee and yes thats exactly the focu sof this new series....
agree with your thoughts too werdnal although im ok with raising and killing to eat .

[nightshade]

I agree with Honeybee,people lose sight of where and how food is produced HFW
has a respect for the animals and there is little wastage in his recipes
an excellent series (I liked the first series when he looked hungry!)

[Alan]

Yes good programme. People ought to know where their food comes from as there's too much ignorance these days. I suppose there's the point that you should be prepared to kill and prepare the food if you intend to eat it - at least once in your lifetime anyway. It would certainly give you more respect for what you were eating.

[snowdrop]

I love Hugh's programmes and have a couple of his books. I planned to watch last night but after having switched on, visitors came knocking at my door.
I was very rude and cast lots of furtive glances at the tv screen.

I used to keep hens years ago and was interested to see the modern way of slaughter, the old way being to wring or snap the neck. I was also interested to hear it now has to be done by licence.

Hugh's flock had a happy life with the sun on their backs and the sky above, unlike those poor creatures trapped in a working cage with no chance of ever experiencing the natural instinct to brood.

[Susie]

I thought it was a very good programme last night and agree with Dan that Hugh's farm looks marvellous.

I am a huge fan of Hugh and I like his attitude towards food and life in general.

I remember watching his early programmes when he foraged for food for free. He cooked up some interesting recipes then! lol. I loved the original River Cottage series best - that house really was my idea of heaven.

[Mr Mag00]

i work in the local and organic food sector and its really hard to educate ppl, i do spend some time in schools but its the adults we need to get too so in once sense i like what Hugh is doing. PPl have no idea where food comes from and as shown some dont care.
i do feel that last night will have been watched by those interested and not those who need to know as there will have been some bubblegum for the eye oooo on elsewhere, a soap opera or football match on sky sports.

I get very angry by the argument that ppl cannot afford good food, whilst she smoked on national TV!
national spend on food is falling whilst spend on dvd and home entertainment systems continues to soar and ppl dont have time to cook good food whilst the average time in front on the tv continues to rise!!!!

I have plenty to say on this as its partly my livelihood, if the thread continues so will my diatribe, but right now i have to go home to cook dinner for my family and thats no BS

[Susie]

Originally Posted by Mr Mag00

I get very angry by the argument that ppl cannot afford good food, whilst she smoked on national TV!
national spend on food is falling whilst spend on dvd and home entertainment systems continues to soar and ppl dont have time to cook good food whilst the average time in front on the tv continues to rise!!!!

Allowances have to be made for those people who work really hard and come home from a long day and don't have the energy to cook a meal from scratch - sometimes they want to shove something in the microwave and just crash in front of the telly. We need better quality ready meals for that market.

I am lucky because I enjoy cooking and have the time to cook hearty family meals from scratch but not everyone has that luxury (or a wife to do it for them ). It is really hard trying to plan meals for a family who demand meat with every meal on a tight budget though and sometimes I have to buy cheaper meat products even though I would prefer not to. I've tried to educate the old man that vegetables can be interesting in their own right but I haven't succeeded so far. lol.

[honeybee]

I agree with both Mr Magoo and Susie. I can't really afford to buy organic everything but I do try. Pressures of work etc do mean too many trips to the takeaway

[Susie]

I do love a good takeaway, Honeybee. lol

I haven't found anywhere that does an organic donner kebab on a Friday night and I am not giving that up, even if it is made up of the scrapings off the floor! I don't care, it tastes too good.

[Tormentil]

Even H F-W admitted that BOGOFs must be very good value for low income people.