TomandJerry
Well-known member
- Oct 1, 2013
- 11,437
Well?
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Would love to see what NSC thinks
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Pub discussion : Can you live from only buying items/food made in Britain?
- Thread starter TomandJerry
- Start date
Butch Willykins
Well-known member
What a shite boozer that must be.
D
Deleted member 2719
Guest
Yep just use local farm shops.
AmexRuislip
Trainee Spy 🕵️♂️
Isn't it called eating in season?
Always can free some of the produce you don't eat.
Always can free some of the produce you don't eat.
GT49er
Well-known member
Yes, you can.
Kangaroo would be off the menu, though, as would ostrich, so some of the posher noshers would obviously starve to death. Shame that..............
Kangaroo would be off the menu, though, as would ostrich, so some of the posher noshers would obviously starve to death. Shame that..............
CAN you live only on UK items? Absolutely. Would I want to? Absolutely not.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This. It would be easy but you'd miss out on a lot of good flavours.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,221
My wine bill would probably go up considerably 
pearl
Well-known member
Yes. But it would be a pretty grim existence.
Before I commit, are we able to grow chickpeas (for hummus) and avocados in this country?
OzMike
Well-known member
You lot can, but I'd struggle.
KingKev
Well-known member
There have been a number of chefs that have tried "local only" menus for a while - Jun Tanaka for example, pretty successfully. Biggest issue is probably not being able to use citrus and pepper, plus the low variety of fruit and veg available in winter and the relatively short seasons we would have for more exotic fruit and veg. But you can grow a lot of non-indigenous stuff here - I've got aubergines and tomatillos growing well In Hove right now, not even in a greenhouse, and stuff like peppers and chillis etc are commonly grown here.
Pickling, freezing, salting and drying of summer / autumn gluts would help maintain varied diets in the colder months (again lots of chefs experimenting here). You would also look to expand the range of 'local' seafood and meats you'd use - octopus, cuttlefish, limpets, rabbit, hare, squirrel for example are hard to find in UK shops but the situation is improving.
Pickling, freezing, salting and drying of summer / autumn gluts would help maintain varied diets in the colder months (again lots of chefs experimenting here). You would also look to expand the range of 'local' seafood and meats you'd use - octopus, cuttlefish, limpets, rabbit, hare, squirrel for example are hard to find in UK shops but the situation is improving.
Being vegan or veggie on a British only diet would be grim.
Imagine there'd be lots more greenhouses for extending growing season and come the end of winter the choice of fresh veg would be pretty limited and we'd have to use tinned/preserved produce a lot.
This post coincides with one I made in the restaurant thread about a place which is part of a new "brutal dining" trend here. Like the chef you mention the trend is to only use food from within the region and the more noticeable things are the lack of citrus fruits and lack of pepper at https://www.nobelhartundschmutzig.com and the pickling and fermenting used at https://einsunternull.com to enable all year round seasonal produce.
It works in parts but if the idea is to be a bit more efficient and have less environmental impact I much prefer nose-to-tail.
The Birdman
New member
We would need bigger glasshouses also as someone said in an earlier post we would have to eat seasonal it would reduce the air miles, however it could hurt some developing countries who need our trade.
However anything to help us avoid buying from Europe would be a bonus.
However anything to help us avoid buying from Europe would be a bonus.
studio150
Well-known member
How many tea and coffee plantations do we have in this country. I am aware of Cornwall tea but others.
Also how many items built here actually have components from overseas. While we could over time make or develop replacements the cost of buying would increase considerably.
Also fruits like pineapple take two years to grow before being able to harvest is there enough space for the additional greenhouses to grow fruits and other delicate foods.
No and no from me as I don't want scurvy
Also how many items built here actually have components from overseas. While we could over time make or develop replacements the cost of buying would increase considerably.
Also fruits like pineapple take two years to grow before being able to harvest is there enough space for the additional greenhouses to grow fruits and other delicate foods.
No and no from me as I don't want scurvy
Guy Fawkes
The voice of treason
- Sep 29, 2007
- 8,195
Individually, it would be easily achievable
If the whole country all decided to buy and eat only food produced in the UK, would we be able to grow enough to feed everyone? i doubt it.
We had trouble feeding the entire population during WW2 and the population was significantly smaller than now (UK: 47,760,000 vs 65.64 million now) and that was with food imports
Prices would go up, meaning that you would probably need rationing and other measures to ensure everyone could afford to eat and (hopefully) enough food would be available.
A lot of land would have to be turned over to agriculture in an effort to try to grow enough food and we could potentially lose a lot of cattle feed that would normally be imported in, meaning to sustain existing levels, or to increase the amount of meat produced to make up for the lack of imports, more land would also be needed to grow their feed, leading to more pressure over land use and more wild areas lost.
It might also mean the use of GM crops with faster growth rates, or higher yields are the only way to try to bridge any shortfall.
Then there is the question of what happens if there is a crop failure (drought, pestilence or disease) and far less food is produced than expected?
If the whole country all decided to buy and eat only food produced in the UK, would we be able to grow enough to feed everyone? i doubt it.
We had trouble feeding the entire population during WW2 and the population was significantly smaller than now (UK: 47,760,000 vs 65.64 million now) and that was with food imports
Prices would go up, meaning that you would probably need rationing and other measures to ensure everyone could afford to eat and (hopefully) enough food would be available.
A lot of land would have to be turned over to agriculture in an effort to try to grow enough food and we could potentially lose a lot of cattle feed that would normally be imported in, meaning to sustain existing levels, or to increase the amount of meat produced to make up for the lack of imports, more land would also be needed to grow their feed, leading to more pressure over land use and more wild areas lost.
It might also mean the use of GM crops with faster growth rates, or higher yields are the only way to try to bridge any shortfall.
Then there is the question of what happens if there is a crop failure (drought, pestilence or disease) and far less food is produced than expected?
The Birdman
New member
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