Alec Swan - just for you!!

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Rollin

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Come Dine with Me...today

A diner asks "Tell me is lamb a cow or is it a pig?". This lady may breed.

I honestly think the govt should follow the example of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society and have a selective mating scheme for people.
 
:D:D

Whilst we may laugh, it actually isn't funny, is it? That people can be so ignorant about the food that they eat, is beyond me. I suspect that the trick is that we need to educate our children, NOT in the classroom, but by taking them out into the world, and at a young age, when they will look at, and accept with a shrug, a dead lamb or a quarter of beef, hanging in a chiller.

In France, of course, children will accompany their parents to a food Le marche, where they will see snails being flicked back into the box, only to start their arduous journey, once more, and others to be selected and put in a brown paper bag, as an hors d'oeuvre, and they will see freshly and correctly prepared poultry and rabbits, and the Lord knows what else, and they will grow up with an understanding; an understanding which is lacking here, sadly.

Alec.
 
LOL!

When my youngest was about 2 or 3 we were at the farm shop which is attached to a slaughterhouse. I was telling him what all the different cuts were and which animal they came from, we had already walked round the yard and seen the bullocks waiting to go in and so on. A lady in the queue behind me was horrified, how could I tell him that gammon was a pig and so on... bizarre! And tragic.
 
There's not much hope for children if an adult doesn't even know what animal they are eating, ridiculous. I have always been up front with our son and he has always been told where and which animal his meat has come from but I have a friend who thought it was horrific that a child should know they were eating an animal so she never told her children and when they did find out they were horrified and upset. I have always believed in telling our son and let him make up his own mind if he wants to eat it or not. He loves meat and fish and has no problem with what it is even though I am a vegetarian, not because its eating dead animals but because I don't particularly like the taste meat.
 
This has reminded me of a conversation at the dinner table when my niece was young. We were eating beef stew and dumplings at the time:

Niece: What's in this?
Me: Beef
Niece: What's beef?
Me: Meat from a cow
Niece: Don't be silly we get milk from cows.
Me: Yes you're right we do get milk from cows but we also eat cows and their meat is called beef just like pork, ham and bacon comes from pigs.
Horrified Sister-in-law: Don't tell her what it is as she won't eat it!

My niece is now 19, she won't eat roast beef, pork, chicken or turkey but happily eats cheap sausages, doner kebabs, MacDonalds and KFC.
 
Alec Swan said:
:D:D

Whilst we may laugh, it actually isn't funny, is it? That people can be so ignorant about the food that they eat, is beyond me. I suspect that the trick is that we need to educate our children, NOT in the classroom, but by taking them out into the world, and at a young age, when they will look at, and accept with a shrug, a dead lamb or a quarter of beef, hanging in a chiller.

In France, of course, children will accompany their parents to a food Le marche, where they will see snails being flicked back into the box, only to start their arduous journey, once more, and others to be selected and put in a brown paper bag, as an hors d'oeuvre, and they will see freshly and correctly prepared poultry and rabbits, and the Lord knows what else, and they will grow up with an understanding; an understanding which is lacking here, sadly.

Alec.
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The Quaker philosophy is that if you educate your daughters, you educate the family. Educate your sons, you educate your sons.

I am appalled that people who enter a cookery competition, know so little about food.

As for France. Children here are very well behaved in restaurants, I have see 7 year olds tuck into oysters. Whereas, children of some of my English friends are very difficult to feed.
 
Rollin said:
The Quaker philosophy is that if you educate your daughters, you educate the family. Educate your sons, you educate your sons.

I am appalled that people who enter a cookery competition, know so little about food.

As for France. Children here are very well behaved in restaurants, I have see 7 year olds tuck into oysters. Whereas, children of some of my English friends are very difficult to feed.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree with you but I have taken my son to restaurants since he was very young and he always behaves and sits still, NO RUNNING AROUND, which seems very acceptable to most people in this country, drives me mad!!! He will also try anything and has eaten lots of different foods, not always likes it but will always give it a go. I don't live in France I live in Wales so not all British people are the same. :)
 
I was teaching a class of 10 year olds about food. A girl said to me that she doesn't have cow's milk. Wondering if she had a dairy intolerance I asked her if the milk she drinks comes from goats. No, she replied, it comes from Asda.
 
Its not just meat either, some children come home with my son and they don't know what some vegetables are! And I don't mean unusual ones either. One child asked me what broccoli and swede were as they had never seen it before!! When my son was small and he would come shopping with me we would choose unusual fruit or vegetables every week for him to try. Some he loved, some he never wanted to get again but he was encouraged to try everything. He is now 14 and loves tasting new foods but I think it is very important for all children to know where their food comes from and to be encouraged to try all foods.
 
I was leading a child out on a ride, we were taking out a group of kids from Sheffield I think, I was happily snacking on the lovely blackberries from the hedge as we went. The children were horrified and were convinced I was going to die and be poisoned so I asked them where they thought blackberries came from and they said a packet!! They also tried to convince me that the sheep in the field were pigs because they were muddy and not white enough (clearly not been near the daz recently).
 
Still, as a child, presented with a meat stew with what seemed like a lot of bones, I was highly suspicious. Questioned my mother heavily as to what it was as the family cat was nowhere to be seen. I refused to eat it.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place. It was actually rabbit but she didn't want to tell me that either!
 
When I was a child I ate rabbit stew, at my grandparents house and shortly after was the proud owner of a pair of rabbit fur mittens. I knew exactly what I was eating and what I was wearing. At our local market the butchers had models of sheep, cattle and pigs on the counter and rabbit, hare and pheasant hanging up.
 
My father in law used to show rabbits. Any surplus that weren't sold for pets went in the pot. My kids knew & were quite happy to eat bunny stew. Sometimes they even asked which one they were eating. They picked winkles & caught shrimps to eat on holiday etc. But it's strange even though they were brought up the same way 1 will eat anything, but is picky about quality, whereas the other is fussy about what he eats but will eat all sorts of junk.
 
I saw that girl on Come Dine with Me, frightening. She also was amazed that cows had ribs! I have to confess to being a little vague about what my daughter was eating for a while. After we had seen Babe she flatly refused to eat pork, so for a few months pork became "meat". She was happy with that, and soon reverted to eating all meat with enthusiasm.
 
I was wandering around at the Highland show a few years ago and got stuck behind a slow moving family. The wee girl was hungry and spotted a burger van so she asked daddy what a Venison burger was. Daddy, much to the horror of EVERYONE around them, answered with - it's a Bambi burger. People couldnt believe that he said that. The kid on the other hand was quite gane for a Bambi burger!
 
EKW said:
I was wandering around at the Highland show a few years ago and got stuck behind a slow moving family. The wee girl was hungry and spotted a burger van so she asked daddy what a Venison burger was. Daddy, much to the horror of EVERYONE around them, answered with - it's a Bambi burger. People couldnt believe that he said that. The kid on the other hand was quite gane for a Bambi burger!
Click to expand...

:D :D
 
We had a chicken farm close down near us, and on the radio they were talking about the fact that eggs would now have to be supplied from somewhere else. Two young girls in the same office got into a discussion, before one turned round and said to me, 'you'll know this, what's the connection between chickens and eggs?'
 
Nickijem said:
I was teaching a class of 10 year olds about food. A girl said to me that she doesn't have cow's milk. Wondering if she had a dairy intolerance I asked her if the milk she drinks comes from goats. No, she replied, it comes from Asda.
Click to expand...

One of my former bosses had volunteered to help at the local country show. He cheerfully approached a young child and her mother and asked if she wanted to find out where milk came from. The mother squawked that their milk came from Tescos and dragged the child off...

Honestly no wonder this country is in such a state. I can remember at school going to watch milking at a local farm, having a lamb brought into the class room and making butter from full fat milk...
 
I find the ignorance quite jaw dropping. We are not talking about history, maths, politics - just basic things. Where does our food come from.

I had to watch tonight's episode where the diner gave her own dinner part, 1940's style. A lovely and authentic house. She has a real interest in this period but seemed to think Britain was at war with France!!!! The delightful commentator said "Actually we were on the same side".
 
I always thought I was fairly thick, but the more I read of this thread, the more I feel rather superior to a lot of people!! :D
 
My kids bought a friend back from school who came round and helped feed all of our animals. She then refused to eat pork at home. Her Mum then started giving her "white beef " until she forgot how cute our pigs were.
All bar the pet pigs were for meat, my daughter used to name them sausages, bacon, ham etc. She couldnt wait to enjoy the spoils.
 
Rollin said:
.......

As for France. Children here are very well behaved in restaurants, I have see 7 year olds tuck into oysters. Whereas, children of some of my English friends are very difficult to feed.
Click to expand...

Being something of a Francophile, I've eaten in many French rural restaurants, and have been pleasantly surprised at the delightful, and generally unsupervised behaviour of children of all ages. I don't suppose that they are all such paragons, but those which I've seen have behaved, as you might hope that adults would, with confidence and good manners.

It isn't all British children who behave badly, of course. We went to a North Norfolk pub a week or so back, and there were a couple there with 4 children between the ages of perhaps 2 and 12 years. They ate, they chatted away, there was a deal of laughter, and I didn't hear one word of parental correction. It can be done! ;)

Alec.
 
This is why, as a family, we love France so much. The kids (3,12,14) are accepted everywhere we go, know how to behave and eat what they are given.
In the UK it seems as though we are becoming less child friendly.
On the other hand parents have alot to answer for when it comes to educating their kids on basic food and table manners.
A friend of my son came to dinner, watched me peel and cut up potatoes, coat them in olive oil and cook them in the oven (healthy chips!) then refused to eat them as they didn't come out of a freezer bag :mad:
If I have a busy day ahead of me then the slow cooker is on by 7.30am - thats it!
Not only that I let my kids cook and they enjoy it. My son made us all Jambalaya the other day and I always leave the yorkshire puddings to my daughter. Every Sunday we sit down to a roast dinner.
 
Another conversation around a dinner table involving my small beef farming family and my brothers "townie" girlfriend. Although this was about 30 years ago.


She was horrified to find out that the Sunday roast beef hadn't been bought from a supermarket but had been grazing in our field a few months previously. Promptly threw up and turned vegetarian!
 
Isn't it amazing how even an adult can convince themselves that because they have bought the meat from a supermarket they obviously have never been grazing in a field. Where do they think this meat started in laboratory?:) I do think parents have a lot to answer for, for some reason it seems to be 'normal' to allow children to misbehave in restaurants because that's what children 'do' and for some reason parents also think it's ok to make different food for their child than the meal they are eating because they are children. Never understood that idea. I am one of 6 children and my mum cooked the meals that we all sat down and ate.
 
It scares me that children are growing up virtual stroking animals, yes have seen this happen on a farm open day!!! Apparently horsey was full of germs and horsemans comment about its sterile steam bath this morning didn't go down too well.

And are discouraged from understanding food sources.

My friend runs farming along side urban schools and encourages home cooking, growing veg and understanding where meat comes from and with older children, cheaper cuts, what to do with it and where to find it and the process in which animals are prepared. She has city school kids running a small allotment and selling produce which sounds very rewarding and hopefully setting up some foundations to these kids that have somehow missed out on nature.

I cannot believe there are actually children who have not ventured out of the city areas even though its less than an hour away by train.
 
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