'Nazis sectretly eat falafel'

'Nazis secretly eat falafel' - Dies Irae, a German political activist posted pro immigration posters around
the small town of Freital: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-33691246

What would British food look like if immigration never happened? If people were restricted by man-made borders, and England, as a lone island had to produce enough food to feed itself?

Well, British food would be boring. As an island of little arable land the British were forced to look further afield to more exotic, warmer climates to find resources with which they could trade. The army, politicians, corporations, the church and the royals were one and the same: land was forcefully grabbed, valuable resources taken, and rich diverse cultures destroyed. It has taken over a hundred years to realise the extent of the destruction, which is still felt to this very day.

Despite this, it was the British who were the first to abolish slavery, and also the first to open up their borders to immigration. Through a series of waves, a variety of cultures, ethnicities, and religions have entered the tiny island, bringing with them new flavours and customary culinary traditions. Over time these flavours have infused through the country, subsequently influencing British food culture and changing the way we think and interact with our food.

The UK is now a melting pot of cultural diversity. Even though this hasn’t been spread evenly throughout the country, it still influences our everyday lives: from drinking a cup of tea in the morning, to tucking into a kebab with bare hands. Britain’s history is clearly reflected in the food we eat, to stop immigration would also naively stop our evolution as a progressively diverse and culturally rich nation.

What will we be eating if TTIP* were to become a reality?

With GMO and cloning laws becoming more lenient to suit larger corporations,
the two-headed porker may become a food of the future.
As crazy as it sounds, gobbling up twice as much feed means that he also fattens up
twice as fast, making him extremely efficient to rear. Now that’s what you call cheap meat! Yum?!

SO what could we be eating in the future? Lets take the humble porker as our example:

1.   Cloning will be a reality. These cloned porkers will be reared for efficiency, and will never see the day light as they will be reared indoors in crowded and distressing surroundings, breaking all British welfare standards we have worked so hard to maintain. The aim is to have more, more, more food, and at a cheaper price, and this will come at larger costs.

2.   Animals reared for meat will be pumped full of antibiotics that will act as a growth promoters. The only way these animals can grow to the abnormal size they do, is if they are pumped full of antibiotics, so that their bodies can’t react to infections caused by the fast rate of growth. This also puts us, the consumers of this meat, at risk of becoming antibiotic resistant. This has the potential for larger health problems to develop.

3.   The demand for GMOs will grow. Currently even conventionally reared meat in the UK is fed GMO grains and soy, but the demand for this will grow immensely as pork production grows. This will put pressure on our natural environment, leading to further destruction of fragile rainforests that will be replaced by miles and miles of mono cropping. Cash crops on this scale go hand in hand with speculation buying, making the market more vulnerable to price fluctuations. GMOs are also known to cause defected growth in young piglets.

4.   Small and medium sized UK Farmers will be pushed out of the market. Competition will open up, and there will be no space for small-scale pig farmers. The mega farm will dominate the market. This will put many rare breed farmers out of business, and will put pressure on medium sized businesses to lower their standards and upscale. This will be disastrous to the rural economy as well as the rural environment.

5.   Bigger porkers, bigger portions, bigger consumers. Cheaper food will have further health implications for the consumer. Although everyone will be able to afford to eat pork everyday, the meat will lack essential natural nutrients found in outdoor reared and organic pork. Lower food standards will also make us more susceptible to MRSA, often found in poorer quality US pork.

This is just the T-TIP of the iceberg. Make you’re voice heard here: http://www.nottip.org.uk/

*TTIP: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a secret trade talk taking place between the EU and the US. Leaked document and the history of trade deals can help us speculate what the outcome of these talks will be. The ultimate aim, is to have freer trade between both parties, which will include deregulating and removing trade barriers (which are currently there for a reason – mainly due to health, safety and consumer protection). These talks will only favour policies that benefit large corporations, leaving the state and the consumer powerless.

Resources:

http://www.waronwant.org/campaigns/trade-justice/more/inform/18262-ttip-resources

http://www.iatp.org/documents/10-reasons-ttip-is-bad-for-good-food-and-farming

http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/tags/ttip

Mombasa's Ocean Pollution

For World Oceans Day 2013, I designed a poster to be used by Eco Ethics Kenya, showing how local pollution contributes to the degradation of the oceans and ways of further preventing this. It coincided with this year's theme "Together we have the power to protect the oceans."

Food Mile Receipt

I made a food mile receipt, showing where our food comes from and carbon emissions of an average weekly shop, from the supermarket
Supermarkets are the biggest culprits for food miles and waste. This needs to change and they need to take responsibility

Food mile wheel

After the government made it mandatory for supermarkets to show the nutritional value of their products, production of certain products were stopped, as consumers made better choices. I feel the same can be done with products with massive food miles, if the carbon emission was included in the wheel. Above is a rough idea of what it would look like. I included it in the nutrition wheel, as the environment's health is as important as our health.

This would take effect on a larger scale, and in return, the country as a WHOLE will make better choices

Pro-Algae

The EU currently have tight laws around GM farming, which has kept a lot of Monsanto's ugly side out of Britian, but in a world war three situation, these laws may have to be relaxed. I explored the possibility of Monsanto investing in Algae farming in the UK,.
The Celtic sea would be the perfect environment for this as it has a great deal of nutrients for micro organisms to survive quite happily.

What would be the consequences, If Monsanto were to create an algae using genetic engineering: which thrived in cooler water, and less sunlight then usual. An algae high in protein, omega 3 and other nutrients… I gave this aqua crop the name of pro-algae.
Ofcource, pro -algae would be patented like all their other crops. It’d be used in food manufacturing as a nutrient buffer, getting one of the country’s industry reliant on Monsanto… having control over yet another economy.


I designed a few products that could have Pro-Algae in it….
This citrus flavoured algae drink… full of protein, vitamins and minerals. It’s a convenient way of getting essential nutritional requirements.

I wanted this product to question our relationship with food… is it something we indulge in for the pleasure, or a just a basic necessity to live?
Products like this one, would be curtail for lot of people, to keep their wellbeing up, in a time when food is at a shortage.
age.

Seaweed and kelp is part of the algae family, and full of glutamate acid, which is what gives food the umami flavour.

This brought me back to my ‘Who’s U-mami Sauce”. If Monsanto created an algae which was high in Glutamate Acid, it could be used as a flavour enhancer and like MSG, would make Britain dependant on their product.

The catch 22 situation Monsanto put farmers in, made me think back to my ‘sugar coated’ pop-aganda. Monsanto portray themselves as ethical and the future of agriculture, masking the truth behind the matter. This mock pinapple lollypop (made from rhubarb and strawberry, which when combines recreates the taste of pineapple) which is aimed at kids, supports the war, by giving a percentage of profits to war efforts… children buying the lolly pops are instantly playing their part in the war.

I wanted the sauce and the lolly pop to draw parallels with the farmers who get sucked in by buying Monsanto’s seeds, that their lively hoods become dependant on.

These pieces of critical design are more of a insight into a more apocalyptic scenario. Algae is a super food, but because of it's powerful possibilities, it could end up being another one in a long list of super materials that has seen a growth in capitalism, and greater divides in society. Materials like, iron, oil, and patented seeds which has influenced the economic and political world around us.

Protein Politics

I really like the idea of looking into the future and seeing what situations we may find our selves in regarding our gluttonous relationship with food. Our over dependance on foreign imports has made me think about how Britain may have to come to compromising terms with this. Again, i have set these spoof newspapers in a scenario of WWIII, as this would be a forced change in our food culture... it's just something to think about really... please click on the newspapers to enlarge and have a read.

AVERAGE MEAT CONSUMPTION...

I found some shocking stats whilst watching Marcel Dicke's talk for ted on why we should be thinking of a different source of protein to the conventional. This stat of how much meat the average person consumes was shocking to compare. I made the information more visual:

FOOD WEEKLY

I design and wrote a spoof front page for a newspaper called Food Weekly. It's a look at what could happen during a future WWIII, regarding food and imports in the UK. Click on the image for a larger version to read...

HAPPY FOOD

I designed a poster for a concept website where people can get recipes for umami sauces, depending on their region (locally sourced/grown food), seasonality and choice of ingredients. The aim is for people to realise the variety of flavours there are out there and the ways they can make their food more interesting by using the taste of umami, even with limited ingredients.

WHO’S U-MAMI SAUCE

So with all my research into the umami flavour, I wanted to great a sauce that could be used in cooking as a way of enhancing or bringing out the natural flavour of ingredients when used in small amounts. When used in larger amounts, the flavour of the sauce would mask any nasty tastes of unpleasant foods, that would be eaten for nutritional value (eg, brussel sprouts, soya, offal).

I looked into ingredients that could be found in England, and suitable ways of preserving them. Making a sauce seemed the most convenient. Most of the ingredients used are easily preserved in their state, but I had a few cherry tomatoes which was given to me by a friend who has started growing indoors.

Ingredients:
Soy Extract (umami ingredient)
Mushroom Extract (umami ingredient)
Cherry Tomato Puree (umami ingredient)
Anchovies (umami ingredient)
Shallots
Garlic
Scotch Bonnet
Szechuan Pepper
Molasses
White wine vinegar

Method:
I started by frying off 4 garlic gloves, 4 shallots, 2 scotch bonnets and a table spoon of Szechuan pepper, until the oil was flavoured. I then added Mushroom extract and soy extract and let simmer on a low heat for about 10 minuets.


I removed the whole ingredients, and let the concentrate cool. The whole shallots, chillies and garlic could be saved and used in future cooking. As the umami flavours of the soy and mushrooms would have been absorbed, the shallots, garlic, and chillies can be used in other dishes to enhance flavour.


In another pan, I started by frying off a few fillets of anchovies. Once melted, I added my cherry tomato puree. I stirred in the soy and mushroom concentrate, added a couple of table spoons molasses and two table spoons white wine vinegar then left the sauce to simmer for an hour. Once cooled. I poured into my bottle.

I made a label to stick on my bottle:



I spread some of my special sauce on toast before grilling with cheese on top. It’s a delicious sauce, with complex, deep flavours. It gives simpler dishes a fuller flavour. Only very little has to be used as the glutamate levels exceeds roughly about 600mg/100mg from my calculations. This is seven times more then cheddar cheese, and half as much as marmite.

I developed this idea as a sure guarantee of having a tasty meal in the case of a poor harvests, unavailability of certain ingredients, and a way of preserving. If we were to become self sufficient, simple solutions like these would help keep people creative in the kitchen.

POP-AGANDA!

So, I’ve been really interested in a supposed World War 3 situation, and how we would cope with it. The reduction of imports would mean exotic ingredients wouldn’t be so readily available. Our dependence on locally grown, seasonal and preserved foods would grow. Government propaganda would also surround us, encouraging us to support the choice of war. As you can imagine, a WWIII would be significantly more devastating compared to previous wars. With nuclear weapons and chemical war fare destroying cities with a simple touch of a button. I’m pretty sure, a war on this scale would last for many years, with the consequences being way bigger then ever seen before.

So with all this horror, I came up with a subversive product which the British Government could realise: Popaganda. A lollypop, which bought by kids, would encourage and condition them for war. The lollypop shaped like am army man, would be handed out to kids as a treat. Maybe this sugary treat would lift the moods of children, whilst also being a pre-training for war.

I looked into different flavour combinations, and from reading an extract by Edmund and Dixon, American food writers from the 1800s, I found the combination of rhubarb and strawberries, created a mock Pineapple flavour. This flavour combination could be used in other possible foods and drinks from tarts to cocktails.



I needed to make a casting, so I could make a lollypop shaped like a solider. So I got my mould of a solider from a toy army man. I stood him up on a plinth….



I covered him in a box of clear acrylic. (It wasn’t a perfect box by any means, so I needed to seal up any gaps with some plastering.)



I filled it up with rubber silicon and let him set for a good hour. Once removed from the over, I broke of the acrylic, cut down the sides, so to create the male and female parts of the mould. I filled it up with my sugary rhubarb and strawberry mixture (This was very difficult, as I made the mixture without using a sugar thermometer. I do highly recommend getting one if making any kind of sugar craft). I let it set for 20 minuets, and then removed from mould.



I also made a wrapper to go with it. I used the net, of old ice-lolly wrappers. They seemed well suited. I was in a bit of a debate, as to weather I should have called the flavour pineapple, or Rhubarb and Strawberry, but in the end, as the colour I chose was red, I decided to stick with the latter. I also came up with a few other possible typical English flavours like sherbet and strawberry & cream.

MY TRIBUTE TO THE KRABBY PATTY

I’m a big Sponge Bob fan. This is no secret. I know there are many out there who, like me, are a fans of the show. This is for you guys, and a tribute to the pure genius that is Sponge Bob Square Pants and it’s nautical nonsense.

So after watching so many Sponge Bob Square Pants episodes, one starts to wonder what a Krabby Patty actually tastes like. Every time a Krabby Patty gets served up, I wonder, what really is in those brown beauties? The idea of cartoon food is appetizing and one hungry afternoon whilst watching SBSP, I thought I should try make one. I thought about it, and thought, and thought some more, and couldn’t stop thinking about how I was going to make this patty. I had to do it justice. I had to make something that would actually make me feel like I was having a Krabby Patty at the Krusty Krabbs. For those who don’t know, Sponge Bob works in an underwater Fast Food resturant called the Krusty Krabb, owned by a crab called Mr Krabbs. The Krusty Krab’s most popular selling burger (aquivilant to a McDonald’s Big Mac) is the Krabby Pattie. Sponge Bob is the dedicated fry chef who gets to make them.

After having watched so many episodes of SBSP I have subconsciously memorized the contents of the burger. Lame? No. So here it is:


Burger Bun with sesame seeds, ketchup, mustard, mayo seahorse horseradish sauce, cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato and the all important patty.

Okay, so I decided to go all out. I needed to find a recipe for a crab cakes suitable to put in this burger. I found a really simple and uncomplicated recipe for MaryLand Crab Cakes on http://www.crabcakeguy.com/crab-cake-recipes/. It looked simple enough, and that’s what I needed because there’s quite a lot going on in the burger, including cheese. From experience crab/fish cakes can have a few issues with holding together and keeping firm during the cooking process. It’s not pleasant to have a weak crumbly burger patty. It’s annoying and creates a mess. So I looked for a way to over come this. I have been told by my dad, putting raw onions into meatballs/kebabs/fish cakes etc weakens its structure due to the moisture released during cooking. A good way to get around this is by sweating the moister ingredients before adding them to the mixture. Another good tip is adding extra egg whites as it acts as a glue Delia suggests frying them for 3 minuets on each side (depending on the thickness of the patty) and to avoid disturbing them until the 3 minuets are up.

I made few changes by using white crab meat instead of imitation, adding coriander to make it less dense. I also wanted a golden bread crumb coating, so the usual threesome of flour, egg and bread crumbs were used. It’s important to point out that I also put bread crumbs in the mixture. I shallow fried the patties in a mixture of oil, butter and garlic.



My Version of Krabby Patties:
White Crab meat
Seasoned bread crumbs
Frying breadcrumbs
Plain Flour
1 large egg
Cup mayo
Worcestershire sauce
Dijon mustard
Corriander
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Frying oil

So the secret ingredient? Well, this is debatable. Many people believe there is no actual secret formula. It is said the missing secret ingredient is actually just love. This, I think should be the case for most food, and it’d be a huge copout to accept love. One of my “secret” ingredients was lemon juice. It cut through the bulk of the crab patty, and lift the flavors of the crab, which may be drowned in the sauce. Not so much an ingredient as a some times forgotten part of the burger ceremony had to be toasted buns. Toasting only the cut side insures the bun doesn’t dry out and fall apart. It also means it gets less soggy form seeping sauces. I am also going to sear the sliced onions a little as raw onions can be over powering.





Also on the Krusty Krab’s “Krab Land” menu is Krabby Fries and Kelp Shake. This makes the Krabby Combo. I’m going to make normal deep fried fries but with a seaweed dusting. I always have problems with frying chips. Everyone has different methods. I am reading The Man Who Ate Everything, Steingarth, and he suggests the process of hardening. Like any strong iron, or steel frying pans would know, being heated, then suddenly cooled down and repeating this process a few times, results in a stronger material. This as it turns out, works the same for potatoes. So I peeled and sliced some waxy potatoes up into thin strips, washed and rinsed them under cold tap water for a good ten minuets. I fried them in sunflower oil in small batches on a medium high heat. I stained and de-greased them, then put them in the fridge for 30 mins. This was done three times. I crumbled up some nori seaweed and sprinkled it over the chips after the last fry. This acted as a substitute to both salt and pepper.



My Version of Krabby Fries:
Maris Pipers
Nori Seaweed
Sunflower oil

To drink? Kelp shake just wouldn’t have tasted very nice, so instead, I made a Kreamy Koconut Shake. I did this by blitzing together Swedish Glaze smooth vanilla ice cream with grated coconut and some full fat milk.

So the food’s sorted, but I wanted to go a little bit further. So I made some Krusty Krab Burger paper and a Krabby Fries Cup. The only thing that would have put me in a happier mood, would have been to watch an episode of Sponge Bob whilst eating my Krabby Combo, but instead, my house mate and my self ate our Krabby Combos whilst watching Eastenders. Happy eating!