Tuesday 26 February 2013

Beauty is Truth .........




Right then - something tells me we've been here before ! Much pork and other meats have appeared on these pages over the years. I would suggest that any of us who received the first outbreak of "horse in beef " news with shock or surprise have been either living on another planet or simply been deluding ourselves. Nothing wrong with horse meat as long as it's prepared for human consumption and not pumped full of Phenylbutazone which will cause you to suffer aplastic anemia. Debates on the merits or otherwise of a more diverse meat diet are generally missing the point which is that manufacturers, distributors and retailers have been marketing horse as beef. That's just plain wrong  - and very ugly - in the view John Keats and the rest of us who acknowledge the beauty of truth. Why is it that the world is so full of untruths and plain bollox ? I've had many a conversation - not least at our weekly ShitBikeClub meetings - in which we have explored what might happen if politicians, big business and The State ran a trial period of 12 months uttering nothing but the plain truth. Needless to say we decided it ain't gonna happen. On the basis that you're never going to know what's in processed foods because "They" aren't going to tell you how it is - just stop buying the stuff. Nutritional benefit for your English Pound is poor and could probably be outstripped by eating your grass cuttings - may be a little extreme - but - let me point out one thing. I know exactly where my bacon comes from because they're my pigs and I cure my own stuff. I also know exactly where my beef comes from because I get it from the man who raises it. Now, I appreciate we can't all do this for the sake of time, space and convenience.We could all get a lot closer though by buying locally from people we know and trust - them's what say it how it is, ask them. I reckon my pigs find their way into my freezer in the form of chops, legs,shoulders, fillets, trotters, sausages and all the wonderful offal at an average of £1.50/lb all in. That's not expensive by any standards. It has to be said that if you prefer your bacon a little less fatty than that above - can't think why - then they'll oblige. A little change of diet is all that's needed.  MORE HONESTY !