Wicked Leeks - Veg Legend - Issue 4

SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND ETHICAL BUSINESS ISSUE 4 - AUTUMN 2020

VEG LEGEND The godfather of veg Yotam Ottolenghi on Covid food culture, the origins of flavour and how to build an Ottolenghi veg extravaganza.

Post-coronavirus Could the pandemic spark a transition to a greener society?

Plus…

- Food writer Melissa Thompson on whether Covid cooking habits will last - Embracing autumn with seasonal food - The UK’s first British-grown oat milk

WICKEDLEEKS.COM

Published by Riverford Organic Farmers

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EDITOR’S LETTER

CONTRIBUTORS Journalist Hugh Thomas looks into the issue of land ownership and inequality in the UK. Pages 20-21.

Food writer Melissa Thompson on how coronavirus has altered our food habits. Page 11. .

Founder of Riverford, Guy Singh-Watson, on the uncomfortable truth about farming and soil erosion. Page 8.

Welcome

Wicked Leeks magazine is published by Riverford Organic Farmers.

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t seems almost pointless to look beyond coronavirus when the pandemic is evidently still with us, but as climate and nature campaigners are warning, the chance to spark our transition to a green society must remain a priority.

Everyone noticed, and benefited from, the lower pollution from less traffic, more sightings of nature, and wonderful signs of natural restoration – it was a glimpse of what might be still within our reach, if we are so inclined.

As well as separation from loved ones, lockdown also brought some surprising benefits to some, who re-found or learnt new cooking skills that brought a little joy and an antidote to the strange new world outside. Whether these new habits will last and our interest in scratch cooking will have a longerterm impact is the question asked by food columnist Melissa Thompson, making her debut in Wicked Leeks on page 11.

There aren’t many households in the UK who haven’t heard of Ottolenghi by this point. His food has glorified delicious veg-centric cooking for over a decade, and in this exclusive interview (pages 12-15), he tells of the inspiration behind his new book, his views on how Black Lives Matter has rocked the food industry, and his guilty food pleasures.

The joy of food and the awareness of its impact, plus our wider life choices, don’t have to be separate issues. For many, food is a colourful and enjoyable way in to questions around ethical issues. That’s why Wicked Leeks, with the backing of Riverford, proudly publishes stories ranging from investigative news pieces on environment and food politics, to ethical living tips and seasonal food inspiration. If you’re new to the magazine, welcome. We hope you enjoy reading this latest issue, and if you do, please join us online by subscribing to our weekly newsletter by going to wickedleeks.com/#join.

Nina Pullman, Editor, Wicked Leeks @nina_pullman

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NEWS

Citizen Assembly reveals UK view on climate

By Nina Pullman

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he majority of British citizens feel that prioritising net zero carbon emissions is “important and achievable” by 2050, the first-ever democratic assembly on climate has found.

The Climate Assembly UK’s first report was published using information gathered from 6,000 hours of sessions over six weekends during 2020, in a first-of-its-kind democratic format.

The Assembly is made up of 110 members, selected to represent the UK population in age, gender, ethnicity, education, location, and level of concern about climate change, as well as high profile individuals from business, faith and civil society.

Its recommendations are a significant indication of public opinion at a critical time for climate action as the government starts to rebuild the economy post-Covid, with pressure growing for green leadership ahead of the UK’s hosting of pivotal climate talks, COP26, next year, and will be used to shape future climate policies.

The group gave opinions on how emissions can be reduced in ten areas, including: travel, food and land use, energy generation and greenhouse gas removal.

In the ‘land and what we eat’ section, assembly members’ preferred future for food, farming and land use centred around local produce and local food production, for reasons including community benefits, fairer prices for farmers, a ‘feel good factor’ and reduced environmental impacts.

Other agreed recommendations included a change in diet to reduce meat and dairy consumption by between 10 and 40 per cent, which should be education-led rather than compulsory, diversity in land use, such as restoring wood and peatlands,

combined with support for farmers to make the transition.

“I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to take part; to listen and learn about climate change, and explore ways of cutting the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero over the next three decades,” said one assembly member. “Even in a year like this, with the country and economy still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s clear that the majority of us feel prioritising net zero policy is not only important but achievable, too. Our report takes into account the wide range of views in the UK and represents a realistic and fair path to net zero.”

Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change and one of the Assembly’s expert leads said: “The views of the assembly are useful in two ways. They help inform the scenarios we are developing to demonstrate how the UK can reach net zero emissions, and they are particularly useful in considering the policies that will help achieve the goal.”

The report comes amid a step up in campaigning by young people over summer, who want the government to prioritise a green recovery from the pandemic.

A new Youth Against Carbon conference will take place this October, with young activists such as Mikaela Loach, Amy and Ella Meek and Mya-Rose Craig signed up as speakers, as a survey from conference organisers Zurich found two thirds of young people “want a green recovery”.

Elsewhere, young musicians from Orchestra for the Earth staged a concert at a wind farm in Cornwall to highlight how important a green economy is for future generations.

Winds of activism: Youth campaigners from the Orchestra for the Earth highlight their desire for a green economy.

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NEWS

NEWS BY NUMBERS

By David Burrows and Nick Hughes An exclusive report by investigative outlet Footprint for Wicked Leeks

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onsumers could unknowingly eat meat sourced from the US at some restaurants or hotels under a new trade deal, a new investigation has concluded.

Leading restaurant chains, hotels, pub groups and catering companies said they will not source meat from the US if it’s produced to lower standards than are currently required in the UK. However, companies including KFC, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), as well as Aramark and Compass UK & Ireland, which provide food to schools and hospitals, would consider sourcing US meat if a future trade deal requires exporters to meet UK standards.

US meats currently perform poorly against British equivalents on things like antibiotic and pesticide use. Indeed, campaigners have warned of chlorinewashed chicken and hormone-pumped beef coming to the UK. The findings, from research by sustainability website Footprint, are significant because the foodservice sector is likely to be the favoured route for any exports. Supermarkets have to label the origin of their meat, but pubs, restaurants and canteens do not.

The major supermarkets have already committed not to source US meat.

Footprint therefore surveyed 25 fast food and coffee shop chains, hotel and pub groups and contract caterers, 12 of which declined to comment on whether they would buy meat from the US. The chains were also asked about the provenance of the meat for their UK and Ireland operations. Across the 11 firms that provided data, 90 per cent of the beef comes from the UK and Ireland, compared to 70 per cent of the chicken, 69 per cent of the lamb and just 58 per cent of the pork.

Nando’s, for example, sources 100 per cent of its chicken from the UK and

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Ireland, whereas at KFC the figure is 53.9 per cent – with 46.1 per cent coming from Europe, Brazil and Thailand.

Simon Billing, executive director at the Eating Better alliance said: “The fiercest critics of the foodservice industry would say they like to mask behind a lack of scrutiny of meat sourcing – a race to the bottom in price not a race to the top in terms of standards.”

All but one of the companies sourced at least 85 per cent of their beef from the UK and Ireland. However, a number of firms also source beef from South America, a region that WWF and the RSPB have identified as at high risk of deforestation.

The sourcing of white meat was of particular concern. Pub group Mitchells & Butlers, which owns chains like All Bar One and Harvester (99 per cent), hotel group IHG (80 per cent), and contract caterers Elior and Aramark all source at least half their pork from the EU. Elior said its bacon is often sourced from Denmark and is “fully compliant with EU legislation and animal welfare in its respective country”.

The research also showed that a significant majority of UK-sourced meat is certified by Red Tractor, which has been criticised for inadequate environmental and welfare standards.

“The lack of labelling means consumers have to trust companies, so transparency is vital,” said Vicki Hird, head of sustainable farming at Sustain. Chains like McDonald’s, Greggs, Burger King and Subway were among those who failed to respond to requests for information.

Greener UK, a coalition of environmental groups, recently highlighted how “quickly and quietly” UK standards could be eroded. Peers in the House of Lords have been pressing the government to put a safeguard on standards into law.

Credit Harsha RK

Restaurants could serve US meat with no need to label

50%

Over half of young people want the government to focus on the climate breakdown issue, according a survey

by Good Energy.

80%

The majority of global deforestation is estimated to be driven by agriculture.

35 million

The number of people who used the Eat Out to Help Out scheme in its first two weeks in August.

40%

40 per cent of councils said they saw a “significant uplift” in applications for allotments during lockdown.

MOST READ ON WICKEDLEEKS.COM 1. Over 500k sign petition to protect food standards 2. Top tips for tomatoes 3. Organic diet ‘reduces glyphosate’ exposure 4. A new model for farming

NEWS

Oatly faces backlash over investment from equity firm O

at milk brand Oatly has been forced to defend its funding from an investment firm with alleged links to deforestation in the Amazon and whose CEO is a major donor to the Trump campaign.

Private equity firm Blackstone invested $200 million in Oatly in a deal that has since faced scrutiny online. The criticism stems from another company that Blackstone invests in, Brazilian infrastructure company Hidrovias, which has been accused of links to deforestation in the Amazon, by investigative outlet The Intercept. Blackstone denies any link to deforestation via Hidrovias.

Blackstone chief executive Steve Schwarzman is known to be a prolific

donor to the Trump re-election campaign, and was described in a Bloomberg article this summer as “one of the president’s most ardent Wall Street backers”. Since taking office, Trump has continuously rolled back environmental regulation in the US, backed the fossil fuel industries and aired his own scepticism over the reality of climate change.

Oatly has built its name around sustainable farming, a low carbon alternative to dairy, and ethical business principles.

“Getting a company like Blackstone to invest in us is something we have been working on to create maximum change to benefit the planet,” Oatly said. ““If we ever want to have a chance

of reaching the global climate goals of cutting the greenhouse gas emissions... and reach net zero emissions by 2050, we need to speak a language that the capital markets can understand.”

Oatly is using investment to expand..

Intensive land use linked to disease risk L

and use change including deforestation for agriculture may increase the risk of future pandemics caused by diseases originating in animal hosts, a new study has found.

The findings, published in science journal Nature, found global changes in land use are disrupting the balance of wild animal communities, and benefiting species carrying diseases known to infect humans. Land use change is already a major contributor to biodiversity loss and climate change, due to deforestation, but the new study shows a further impact on human health.

Researchers from UCL in London led the study, which analysed almost 7,000 ecological communities globally, and found that animals known to carry pathogens that can infect humans were

more common in landscapes intensively used by people.

“The way humans change landscapes across the world, from natural forest to farmland, has consistent impacts on many wild animal species, causing some to decline while some others persist or increase,” said lead author Rory Gibb, of the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research. Co-author David Redding said: “Our findings provide a context for thinking about how to manage land use changes more sustainably, in ways that take into account potential risks not only to biodiversity, but also to human health.”

It comes as a new programme fronted

by David Attenborough, Extinction: The Facts, linked destruction of natural habitats for agriculture to limitless choice and yearround availability of some foods.

Star letter It’s good to hear that “young people understand the volatile position we are in”.

I am 70 and have been trying to talk about climate change ever since reading A Blueprint for Survival, which came out in 1972 and explained all that we need to do. Still though, there seems to be a reluctance to discuss the subject. Sheena.

Tweeted @Angela_Hui Sept 14

Genuinely interested in whether people used pandemic time to improve their cooking ability. Are you a better cook now than you were six months ago? Or are you like me and slipped back into the same old recipes?

@Rob_Percival Aug 17 Demand for soya milk isn’t destroying the Amazon, clearing the Cerrado, or fuelling ecological destruction in the Americas. Demand for intensive pork and poultry is.

(Just saying...)

@Riverford Sept 15 All hail black kale! This week’s Veg Hack is a quick and tasty approach to Cavolo Nero, and tastes just like the crispy seaweed you would find on the menu in a Chinese restaurant or takeaway. #LiveLifeontheVeg 5

POLITICS

Brexit Groundhog Day ends as trade trumps ethics

By Nina Pullman

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political ideology and whether we’ve got political will to truly champion high standards. The Lords will probably push for what the public wants, but the House of Commons will not.”

The Commons, of course, currently holds a Conservative majority, and without being partisan, this is the crux of the matter, says Hird, who says the alternative is “not to see trade deals as the be all and end all”.

As it stands, there are no legal constraints on negotiations for a trade deal, and no requirement or powers for MPs to scrutinise or veto aspects of it. As the first post-Brexit trade deal, signed with Japan, has shown, this effectively gives sole power to Trade Secretary Liz Truss with barely a nod to campaigners, not to mention citizens.

But the public awakening on the issue has not been totally in vain, says Hird: “The pressure has been important. Nobody was expecting the level of public opposition that we got. The NFU, Jamie Oliver, nobody was expecting it and it has made a difference.”

In the next few months, expect to see more calls to action for citizens to write to MPs to show their interest in the importance of high food standards, with the Bill set for final sign off in November.

While the Ag Bill lumbers on, a similar campaign is being waged in the parallel Trade Bill, where campaigners are seeking similar powers to veto and scrutinise proposed deals.

Credit Banksy via Dunk/Flickr

roundhog Day might be a fictional film, but three years on from the Brexit vote and the blaring lack of progress makes Bill Murray’s repetitive struggles feel all too real.

With a Brexit no-deal all but a given, disruption to supply and the possibility of food price rises are back on the horizon from early next year, while November’s presidential elections in the US have potential to shape the world on an even bigger scale.

For food and farming, the Brexit debate was brought to the fore this summer with active campaigning around the Agriculture Bill, the biggest piece of legislation for the sector in 40 years. The Bill will replace the EU’s farming subsidy scheme, moving to pay farmers for ‘public goods’ and environmental stewardship, rather than acreage of farm.

Channel ports like Dover will bear the brunt of Brexit disruption.

It is a monumental opportunity for positive change, and campaigners have fought for incentives on agroforestry, soil health and fair trading, all designed to speed a transition to a more sustainable farming system. Also campaigned for was an amendment that would effectively ban sales of imported food produced to lower standards than in the UK, under any new trade deals.

And it was this issue of chlorinated chicken, or more specifically, the threat of lower food standards as a result of a trade deal with the US, that caught the public’s imagination. A petition backed by Jamie Oliver was signed by over a million people who declared they do not want lower quality imported food from the US to be sold in the UK. But far from accepting the huge groundswell of public opinion on the matter, the government appeared to ignore the issue altogether with ministers resolutely insisting that no trade deal will be allowed to erode British food standards.

The reason for such an impasse comes down to the belief in liberal free trade at the heart of the Conservative party, which will never prioritise regulation or constraints in trade negotiations.

Vicki Hird, campaign coordinator at sustainable food and farming alliance Sustain, says: “The problem is it’s such a big

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Food prices and no-deal In January, the UK officially ends its transition period and will begin its new relationship with the EU as a ‘third’ country. Under no deal, imports may be subject to tariffs, at an average of eight per cent for fresh produce.

While the impact won’t be felt by most consumers and it’s likely that companies will shoulder as much as they can, once again, it’s the most vulnerable in society who will be most affected and face difficulties in accessing and affording healthy fresh food.

Another issue, especially for communities in south east England, is the disruption from a backlog of freight lorries, to be catered for by extensive new lorry parks where planning regs have been helpfully waived to remove the possibility of public opposition.

The US election In November, the US presidential elections could dramatically change the shape of global politics once again, in a year that has already gone down in history as unprecedented. Hird says: “The big unknown is Biden. Because if he wins the election, that changes everything. He cares about climate change.”

Although a Biden presidency wouldn’t alter the premise of trade negotiations, which will no doubt remain well-oiled by Tory free trade ideals, a climate-friendly US president could, still, make a world of difference.

WICKED LEEKS OPINION In this issue, Wicked Leeks columnists discuss how to reignite a sense of urgency around climate action, whether sustainable farming truly exists, and if Covid food habits will last.

For weekly opinion on food politics, sustainable farming and ethical living, visit:

WICKEDLEEKS.COM/OPINION

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hen we polled Wicked Leeks readers on their most pressing ethical concern recently, 49 per cent said it was climate change.

Unsurprising, really, when you consider the fact that we’ve had some of the hottest days since records began in the last two years, and evidence of extreme weather-related natural disasters is everywhere.

After climate came a joint list of four, with 10 per cent of respondents for each of animal welfare, plastic, organic farming and social justice. The last one is particular interesting, as it can be a divisive point to raise that perhaps inequality has as much to do

with sustainability as the scaling up of organic, or other ethically-produced farming systems. It’s something this magazine has written about previously around poverty and systemic inequality in the UK, for example. Because how can we have a truly sustainable food system, if only a fraction of the population can afford it?

The issue of social justice was also exploded into the foreground this summer with the momentum around the Black Lives Matter campaign, prompted by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. This has continued to rock many areas of society, as individuals, companies and

organisations woke up to the idea of white privilege, and everyday systemic racism. The food and environment sectors are far from exempt from their own failures in this area, in anything from recipe cultural appropriation, environmental leadership or, as in any crisis, the fact it’s the poorest and often black communities who suffer the effects of climate change most.

At the time, Wicked Leeks issued a statement in solidarity with the fight against racism and we stand by that.

It has also prompted a new scrutiny in how we report, whose voices we find and choose to hear, and an ambition for better representation.

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OPINION

An uncomfortable truth R

ecently we suffered the most devastating soil loss that I have seen in over 50 years of farming.

We could blame the heavens for sending such intense rain in summer, but really this is a man-made problem: created through agricultural practices which leave bare soils vulnerable, and through climate change which makes extreme weather more likely.

It takes 1000 years of natural weathering to transform our underlying slate into an inch of fertile topsoil. To see that lost in just a few minutes is heartbreaking. The field in question was a steep bank; favoured for its southerly aspect and proximity to irrigation and the packing barn, its last lettuces had been cleared and the soil cultivated ready to sow a green manure (such as rye and vetch) to protect it through winter.

Arguably this is good practice, but evidently it was not good enough.

Perhaps we should not grow veg on our slopes, and leave that to the flatter East of England – but they have their own issues, with depleted water aquifers (water stored in permeable rock underground), peatlands oxidising and releasing carbon, and sandy soils that

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can be lost to wind erosion.

We could subdivide our fields with more protective breaks of grass, perhaps even terrace the slopes like rice farmers; all would be possible, but add

When our best is still not protecting the planet for those who follow, we must argue for radical change.

substantially to our costs. In truth, food cannot be produced sustainably for the 0.7 per cent of GDP earnt by UK farmers; soils, waterways, wildlife, and our health

Guy Singh-Watson Founder of organic veg box company Riverford are paying the price.

I suspect many of you would say: “Do it – build the terraces, and charge whatever it takes to farm well”, but on a day when you’re feeling the pinch, with the bank statement on the table, that field so remote, and so many cheaper food options, would you really be able to stomach the price hike? We would have to constantly battle to justify our prices, and would inevitably limit our market to a committed and very affluent niche.

As a values-led business, we must do our best in an imperfect world. When our best is still not protecting the planet for those who follow, we must argue for radical change; for a form of patient, farsighted capitalism that attaches value to what we have been given for free, but cannot be replaced.

Developing perennial food crops, which come back year after year and so don’t require the soil to be re-cultivated after every season, would be a good start; as would some reality about the true cost of sustainable food production around the world.

To read Guy’s weekly veg box newsletter, go to wickedleeks.com/ author/guy-singh-watson.

OPINION

Now’s the time to invest in a green future Karen Crane Head of communications at think tank Green Alliance

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oris Johnson has promised us a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the need for it couldn’t be more urgent.

In a short space of time, Covid-19 has turned the world upside down, but the climate and nature crises are slow-burning threats to our life support systems for the long term.

With familiar species vanishing, the highest temperatures ever recorded and the news that the earth has lost almost 30 trillion tonnes of ice in the past 30 years, the ‘new normal’ will indeed be very different, and not just because of the pandemic. We should be protecting ourselves from these other interconnected and serious threats of the 21st century.

Now is an important moment to act. The UK will be hosting the UN climate conference next year, the biggest global climate summit since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. Countries will have to set out their plans to avert catastrophic global warming. Our government will be in the driving seat, so what the UK does matters. But how can we inspire the world if we’re seen to be holding back on the solutions at home?

Even in the midst of this crisis people overwhelmingly want the government to seize this chance for change. Polling in July for the Conservative Environment Network by Ipsos MORI showed that voters across the spectrum think not tackling climate change and pollution as part of the recovery will ‘harm future generations’ (73 per cent) and is ‘the wrong thing to do’ (71 per cent).

At Green Alliance, we’ve set out essential building blocks for a green recovery, based on our own and others’ expert analyses. Our ‘Blueprint for a resilient economy’ report would avoid the mistakes of the past and help to restore balance in our relationship with our environment, which is vital to underpin a healthy society in future.

Following the plan would mean switching investment now from high to low carbon infrastructure like energy efficient buildings and cleaner transport; restoring nature by supporting more sustainable farming and urban green spaces; and committing to use resources much more efficiently to prevent waste and pollution.

At a time when recession is looming, a green recovery will also bring high quality new jobs to every area of the country. The Local Government Association recently estimated that, with the right strategy, by 2030 there could be almost 700,000 new roles in an expanded low carbon and renewable sector, including low carbon electricity, low carbon heat, energy efficiency and electric vehicles. Our own studies show that tens of thousands of jobs could be created in new remanufacturing, repair and recycling businesses.

And it’s not just environmental organisations calling for it.

Businesses, charities, artists, local authorities and politicians of all colours have recently made the case loudly because they are fearful of the consequences of not taking action.

It remains to be seen whether the government will live up to its words. The chancellor’s statement in July did not set us on course for a green economic recovery, so we are looking to the government’s plans and budgets over the coming months for a much stronger signal that it is building a cleaner, greener, more secure future for us all.

An expanded renewable energy sector could provide 700,000 jobs, new research has found.

Five stories, once a week.

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OPINION

Hot off the press, but where is the climate crisis?

Lucy Siegle Environmental journalist and co-host of climate podcast So Hot Right Now @lucysiegle

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f all the TV genres, weather reports are the most disposable. With the exception of weatherman Michael Fish telling the nation not to worry about rumours of a storm in 1987, weather forecasts are almost never replayed.

But the forecasts from recent summers should not be forgotten. Heat records have fallen like those 1987 trees. June 2020 was the hottest ever recorded. The August bank holiday 2019 was the UK’s hottest on record; made up to 100 times more likely because of human-caused climate change.

Almost always these incredible temperatures are transmitted by weather people on screen with a what-a-scorcher wide smile.

Occasionally they offer some advice like ‘stay in the shade’ or ‘don’t’ forget the sunscreen!’. Good advice, but not the CHANGE EVERYTHING, ACT NOW catastrophe aversion response needed.

Heatwaves tend to be illustrated by the media with images of enjoyment.

Elsewhere, newspapers often tell the story of the devastating effects of heatwaves but fail to match the pictures – those tend to show people having fun in the sun, rather than suffering the effects of a heatwave. So what is our plan in the media for describing the danger more accurately? Because surely to perpetuate a collective delusion – even if we’re all in on the joke – is going to wear thin. It will also mean that we miss an opportunity: to get to mass audiences and to explain why net

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zero is achievable and desirable. Too many people are currently excluded from the climate change debate and that is partly because it has not been given enough airplay.

Along with the natural history film maker, Tom Mustill, I founded and present a podcast, So Hot Right Now, which is simply about communicating nature and science more effectively. Because the best way of avoiding extreme heat, extreme weather, food shortages, mass displacement, war and disruption to our lives is to concentrate on keeping emissions well below two degrees. Describing this, and what our future will look like when we achieve this aim, well that is the job.

But substantive, big-picture stories of accelerated climate change during the pandemic are still Missing In Action.

‘Albert’ is a BAFTA-led programme of change that leads the screen industry authority on environmental sustainability, which also monitors climate coverage on TV. Important, because research tells us this is where most get their climate information from.

Although coverage is expected to have increased slightly, it still falls way below what is needed. In 2019 ‘climate’ was covered across TV networks twice as many times as the subject of ‘rhubarb’ but far less than ‘aliens’.

So what needs to be covered on TV and how would it look? It’s not just straightforward climate science, but everything we need to avoid climate collapse. This means whenever food, homes, travel and consumer products are shown on screen – their environmental context should be made clear. One way we will not achieve progress is by pretending that this planetary crisis doesn’t exist.

This brings me to Inside Missguided: Made in Manchester, a ‘documentary’ that made light of the impact of a fast fashion brand, and its system of over production and over consumption. For me this is an example of TV being on the wrong side of the moment, possibly in its attempt to appeal to a youth audience. This is mistaken.

It’s hard to think of a generation at any time in history that understood planetary pressures as much as this one.

TV networks must respect that and not brush them off with content that is delusional. These days, Disney is the world’s fastest growing on-demand TV channel. Let’s not leave all our environmental messaging to Elsa and the others from Frozen.

OPINION XX

Cooking our way to a new normal Melissa Thompson Food columnist, recipe writer and campaigner @fowlmouthsfood

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t seems so surreal now. The hours-long queues to get into the supermarkets. The neighbourhood WhatsApp groups announcing the arrival of bags of flour in the local shop. Our favourite restaurants shutting overnight.

But it turns out humans are more adaptable than we believed.

What seemed unthinkable in February turned into an accepted reality by April, and now seems like a bad dream.

For many, the pandemic and lockdown underlined existing economic disparities. For low-income households where food was already scarce, it became more so. Others with health problems who were forced to shield found themselves losing what little independence they had, having to make-do with government food boxes of corned beef and sliced white bread.

But while overwhelmingly coronavirus and lockdown brought misery, despair and despondency, there were glimmers of hope.

As frustrating as they were, the scarcity of core ingredients such as eggs, flour and yeast demonstrated a keenness for people around the country to go back to basics. To get baking, fermenting and preserving.

We didn’t just spend lockdown baking bread – we chose a bread notorious for its labourintensity because we now had the time and didn’t have yeast; sourdough.

Rather than looking at yet another week locked in our homes, time was now a marker for when our starter might be ready, or when our kimchi would be palatable.

I rediscovered a love for cooking that I hadn’t enjoyed since being pregnant with my daughter, now two-and-a-half.

Dishes I’d wanted to make for years, I now had the time and inclination to cook. My crispy pork belly was perfected. I had

Above: Lockdown was a chance to perfect old recipes or explore new ones, the 12 hours needed to simmer soup for Tonkotsu ramen until it became cloudy with emulsified fat. I pulled out the pasta machine and worked to get the right bounce in my noodles.

I made sourdough, fermented cabbage for sauerkraut, baked cookies and made gallons of stock.

And I wasn’t the only one. Google searches for ‘sourdough recipes’ surged more than 10-fold over lockdown compared with any time in the last five years, while ‘fermenting’ was searched for at least twice as much than at any other point in that period.

Four times as many people looked up ‘how to make pizza’, reflecting a boom in homecooked ‘fakeaways’ to satisfy cravings while our favourite takeaways were shuttered.

They were unusual times, but have they led to lasting change?

Fewer people are baking bread than they were mid-lockdown, but the numbers searching for baking recipes are still higher now than they were before lockdown.

And independent food businesses appear busier than pre-lockdown. At The Butchery, my local butcher who only deals in whole carcass native breeds, manager Dan told me many of their new customers over lockdown had become regulars. They may have turned to them out of desperation when their usual bigger stores ran out, but they found better quality here and they have stayed. The same trends can be seen in vegetable box schemes.

Inevitably, this new knowledge won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

We have become a nation more adventurous in the kitchen, with a new inclination to cook more from scratch and an appreciation that the large-scale food systems we once took for granted aren’t as reliable as we thought.

Lockdown wasn’t the best time for such realisations, but I’m glad they were made.

Inevitably, this new knowledge won’t be forgotten in a hurry. We have become a nation more adventurous in the kitchen.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

VEG LEGEND Yotam Ottolenghi has become synonymous with the joy of veg-centric cooking – with his co-writer Ixta Belfrage, he reflects on changing food habits during Covid, the effect of Black Lives Matter on food and the pleasure of tinned oysters.

Words by Nina Pullman

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

“I

t’s never been my mission to change people’s habits or to convert them. That’s just not the way I am. For me, it was always about how wonderful these ingredients are and how much you can do with them.”

This might sound strange coming from a man whose name has become synonymous with inspiring a whole new era of veg appreciation, dubbed ‘The Ottlenghi Effect’.

But open any of Yotam Ottolenghi’s books or Guardian food columns and his love of the food is what speaks first: opulent, glorious photography filling whole pages, opposite lists of rainbow vegetables dressed up as vessels for a mouth-watering array of herbs, spices and textures.

“When I arrived to the UK, which was more than 20 years ago, vegetables were not really getting the credit and treatment that they deserved, because they were not seen as important,” he continues. “And I think being able to put things out there that are really good, and delicious, and look sexy, is almost enough.”

It’s certainly enough for the legions of Ottolenghi fans who will be pleased to hear of the imminent arrival of new book Flavour, the third in the Plenty series and co-written with recipe writer Ixta Belfrage. Both are currently en route to a book signing when we speak, five months into the coronavirus pandemic, and as Belfrage puts it: “a very interesting time to be launching a book.”

“Over lockdown everyone’s been cooking and seems to have become an amateur chef,” she says. “So on the one hand, we’ve got that in our favour that people seem to be more interested in cooking, but on the other hand, people have lost their jobs, and it’s a very uncertain time.”

A longstanding member of the Ottolenghi team and Test Kitchen, it’s Belfrage’s Brazilian heritage and travels through Mexico, Italy and Asia that are the inspiration behind this latest collection.

“For me, it’s kind of the natural way to work, where for each book there is someone in the collaboration with a very clear sense of identity, and then conversations come out from that,” explains Ottolenghi, who sounds as modest as this collaborative approach to food writing might suggest, and with a notable lack of the ego often associated with celebrity chefs.

Belfrage herself didn’t go through the traditional routes of food stardom, cookery school or formal training – instead she recalls how her travels and childhood inspire her recipes today, such as the grandad of her best friend in Italy, who, as a child, she watched make “the best lasagne in the world” from scratch in their laundry room next door.

Her approach to recipes themselves is similarly unorthodox, and she even admits to not following them herself: “I’m in the business of writing recipes but I hate following them, I find it quite frustrating,” she laughs.

“Growing up and having access to all this delicious food, I just sort of remember the flavours and try and recreate them, but I don’t write things down or get recipes from people.”

A recipe writer who doesn’t follow recipes might sound suspicious in any other setting, except Ottolenghi’s cooking is so flavour-centric and sensorial you can

see how it works. This latest book is built not around the concept of ‘flavour’ as the title might suggest, says Belfrage. But as is usual with Ottolenghi, it began as a collection of favourite recipes, from which a theme is pulled. This time it was their colleague Tara Wigley who identified the ‘three Ps’ that would become the chapters: process, pairing, and produce, as well as a little “extra curricular information”, adds Ottolenghi.

“We wanted to give a little bit of inside information into how things work,” he explains. “When you eat something delicious that’s vegetable-based, you don’t necessarily know how it happened.

“We wanted to learn something more about the background of what goes on in the dishes and how you layer flavour, and how you balance one thing against the other. All those things we were aware of, but we don’t normally tell, so that was part of the story of the book.”

Much has been said about the rise in scratch cooking during lockdown, the frantic rushes for flour and yeast, and expanding of culinary horizons. What’s less certain is whether any of this will change lifestyles permanently post-pandemic, if such a time ever arrives. But Ottolenghi, for one, believes some of it will last: “Before Covid, you had a choice. You could go and buy your food in a restaurant near where you work, or in a café for a sandwich or whatever. All these options disappeared from one day to the next and people decided that they were going to spend the time cooking,” he says.

“And I think that skill is something they will definitely keep because it’s a great thing to have, and in our busy lives many people didn’t manage it. But those who were forced to do it, at least what they tell me is this is something they really want to keep, because it’s a wonderful thing to have.”

Co-writer Ixta Belfrage has travelled extensively and brings inspiration from Brazil, Italy and Asia.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

Ottolenghi has inspired a nation in his trademark vegcentric, flavourful cooking.

We discuss what skills each has learnt during these last few months: for Belfrage, it was hours of intricate dough-making and stretching for the perfect Biang Biang noodles; for Ottolenghi it has been an initiation into the world of homeschooling, along with his partner Karl, of their two young sons.

Lockdown cooking in the Ottolenghi household, as a result, has included ““lots of children-focused food” and “every iteration of pasta in the world”. And it will be a relief to parents everywhere that even Ottolenghi has trouble getting greens into his kids.

“They do eat veg, but it’s not their first choice,” he says. “Their first choice is just carbs, like bread or pasta, preferably with nothing else. So I have tried to work around that. One day I made this one pot pasta with chicken, tomatoes and oregano, and then I just stuck it in the oven with the pasta cooking in the juices. And it developed this crust on the bottom, and that became lockdown favourite for the boys. I put some breadcrumbs to crisp up on top as well.”

Coronavirus and lockdown haven’t been the only things shaping change in the food industry in recent months.

The global spread of the Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd, has shone the spotlight like never before on every area of society, and prompted often uncomfortable reflection by individuals and companies alike.

Belfrage, who shared her own thoughts on Instagram around how many traditional Brazilian dishes originate in the slavery era, reflects that people are now more aware of the offence caused by cultural appropriation, and lack of crediting, in recipes. She recalls social media outrage over someone’s ‘buttery flatbread’ that was essentially a roti, and a ‘stew’ that made no mention of curry, and says: “It’s been a very eye-opening time. I’ve had to do a lot of

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reflection, especially because I am a white woman with privilege in this industry.”

At the head of a food empire that includes two restaurants, four delis, a test kitchen and a publishing trail, Ottolenghi says Black Lives Matter has “changed his perspective”. While three immigrant founders ensure a multicultural ethos, and gender equality in his kitchens is “pretty much there”, he accepts there is “a gaping hole in that we don’t have a lot of black people in the more prominent positions”. “I’m thinking about it a lot and at the moment we are forming ways in the company where we will try and redress this balance,” he says. “It does bother me that we don’t have that level of representation yet.”

The company will no longer passively wait for applications from people of colour, he says, but seek out new avenues of more representative recruitment, and, for the world of food media, which has its own equal, if not worse, black and minority representation issues, he is planning to begin a mentoring scheme for new writers.

In the meantime, he has mentoring advice for anyone new to Ottolenghi’s world of cooking. “If you flick through an Ottolenghi recipe book, whether it’s Flavour or another Plenty book, it’s really good to choose something that you feel vaguely familiar with,” he says. “If someone hasn’t cooked a lot, or doesn’t feel confident with this way of cooking, it’s much better to start somewhere you feel a little bit confident, and then next time you go for the challenge. So that’s just a psychological observation that I think really helps.

“And reading the recipes and familiarising yourself, so you don’t reach the end and realise there’s a process or an ingredient that you don’t know exactly what to do or how it works. Just start modest and work with something that makes you feel happy and you’re familiar with. That’s normally my little tip.”

If someone hasn’t cooked a lot, or is new to this way of cooking, it’s much better to start somewhere you feel a little bit confident, and then next time you go for the challenge. That’s a psychological observation that I think really helps.

THE BIG INTERVIEW

Asked what the store-cupboard staples should be for any Ottolenghi-enthusiast, the pair decide on rose harissa, soy sauce, miso and dried chillies, including the famous Aleppo chilli.

“I think another tip for the book is we have a couple of pages dedicated to ‘flavour bombs’, which are little subrecipes from the book, things like sauces, salsas, butters and oils, so if you don’t have time to make a whole recipe, you can make two or three of those and transform any meal,” says Belfrage. “With just normal roast potatoes, or plain rice or plain noodles, if you add a few of those flavour bombs you can make something really special.”

Their books are designed to be accessible and inspirational to all, but what do Ottolenghi chefs eat when they just can’t be bothered? Belfrage says “she likes fried chicken” and has an unusual taste for “bad quality milk chocolate”, while Ottolenghi admits to consuming “unhealthy amounts” of cheese and heavy Italian red wine after about 10 o’clock. “That’s basically what I had last night,” he recalls, “Pecorino Romano, my god that is just so good. I don’t feel guilty so much about what I’m having, but the quantities of it,” he says.

It all sounds very sophisticated and chef-esque until Belfrage volunteers his real food secret: eating oysters out of a tin. “Ah yes, the tinned smoked oysters,” his voice lights up. “You do not know what you’re missing. Get a roasted potato, take a little mayonnaise inside, and take a smoked oyster with its oil and put that on top like a stuffed potato, with a spring onion over that. It’s just the best thing.”

And just like that, almost like a tour through an Ottolenghi book or meal, it’s a moment of complete absorption and sheer food joy.

When you eat something delicious that is vegetable-based, you don’t necessarily know how it happened

Spicy mushroom lasagne features in the new OttolenghiBelfrage book, Flavour.

Dinner sorted!

Riverford recipe boxes deliver all you need to cook an inspiring organic meal from scratch.

Look out for our Ottolenghi Guest Chef recipe box coming soon in the next few weeks.

riverford.co.uk/organic-recipe-boxes

15

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

TALKING ‘BOUT REGENERATION Meet the farmers leading a new self-sufficient regenerative farming movement with benefits for soil, financial sustainability and mental health.

By Nina Pullman

Clockwise from right: Hedges and trees provide habitats for wildlife; Regenerative farming is based on rotating livestock; Better soil health has reduced flooding on the Renisons’ farm in Cumbria.

“I

t’s a bug that slowly bites,” says Nic Renison, one half of the farming husband and wife team at Cannerheugh Farm in Renwick, Cumbria, as she tries to define the term ‘regenerative agriculture’.

On the wall behind our Microsoft Teams video call is a canvas portrait of a hardy Lakeland sheep, while in the foreground Nic and Paul share slides to explain the root strength of grass in a regenerative farm system.

“When you continually nibble the grass, it doesn’t put down any deep roots, and there aren’t root structures to hold that soil and water in place. In addition, fertiliser makes roots become lazy,” she says, adding that the biggest benefit has been less soil runoff and flooding – crucial when your farm is located at the base of steep Lake District mountains.

“I don’t think there’s anything you have to do to be regenerative – I think it’s more of a mindset,” explains Nic, who says it all began after they visited regenerative farmers in Northumberland, and gained a new understanding of “how grass grows”.

The Renisons farm sheep, cows and have started growing a bit of veg, all sold locally. They rotate their animals frequently, while composting muck and green hay to fertilise fields and planting trees and hedges with guidance from the Woodland Trust. These hedges now provide vital shelter from the bitter ‘Helm Wind’, which quite literally “kills lambs”,

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says Nic, and provides habitat for a multitude of new birdlife.

“We used to have a very ‘take all’ mentality, which was very production orientated,” adds Paul, who taught himself how to replace fertiliser with compost with an old copy of a book by organic pioneer, Lady Evelyn Balfour.

It might sound like the latest green buzzword in ethical credentials, but regenerative farming is a growing movement of farmers across the UK, who organise themselves via social media and are deliberately moving away from buying feed, products and advice from agri businesses, with significant benefits to financial security and mental health.

It’s also part of a growing shift among some British farmers to farm closer to nature, protect biodiversity, keep carbon in the soil and reduce their impact as much as possible. Other iterations include the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), a similarly farmer-led movement that helps farmers farm in harmony with nature.

Organic farmers, of course, have been following this approach for years, the difference being that regenerative farming, or ‘Regen Ag’ as it’s colloquially known on Twitter, is being followed and trialled by both organic and non-organic farmers.

As Dorset-based organic dairy farmer Sam Vincent puts it: “Degenerative means leaving things worse off, sustainable is maintaining but not necessarily improving – regenerative

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

means leaving the land better than you found it.”

In practice, this involves rotating livestock more frequently in order to rest grass, reducing or avoiding chemicals and fertiliser, and a holistic approach to biodiversity and food production.

Ed Dickson, a first-generation farmer in Herefordshire’s Black Mountains, says: “Regenerative farming has to fit around what your farm will do. We are in a Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA), which is quite acidic, wet and marginal,” he says, adding that his farm is now “as much about biodiversity as red meat production”.

“Our ethos from the beginning has been let’s try and manage the land as sympathetically as possible. Rather than productionled,” he says.

In many ways, regenerative agriculture is not a new approach.

Certifications like organic and Pasture for Life – the label of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (PFLA) – are underpinned by many of the same soil care and biodiversity principles.

In fact, it may go back even further, as David Camp, organic livestock farmer in South Devon, and supplier to veg box company Riverford, puts it: “It’s coming full circle. My grandad always used to say: ‘sheep should never hear the church bells twice in the same field’. He never really gave a reason, other than they ‘do better’ if they’re moved on. The real reason is the grass does better: when it’s resting, it builds up roots.”

arable farms, they might want to spray their weeds – if they plough instead, that releases a lot of carbon into the atmosphere,” he explains. “It’s about the holistic approach for the least detrimental outcome.”

Of course, there are other benefits to certification that should not be underestimated. As Fidelity Weston, chairman of the PFLA, puts it: “To me the word [regenerative] sounds brilliant and it’s the buzzword at the moment, but what do you actually have to do?

If you’re trying to use your tractor less and do more walking – that’s regenerative. Or if it’s about soil, should you stop using all chemicals?

“From the consumer point of view, you do need to have a certification scheme so you can go online and look it up, and there is no scope for greenwash.”

Although the PFLA’s own label, Pasture for Life, does offer an audited version of regenerative agriculture and a guarantee of grass-fed livestock, Weston accepts that its size means it’s limited: with 600 members in the UK, only 100 are certified as 100 per cent pasture-fed.

In the US, a new certification, Regenerative Organic Certified, is regulating regenerative farming, using organic as a baseline and adding in soil health principles. But in the UK, the term is still primarily a grassroots movement among farmers, many of whom mention informal Zoom meetings, Twitter threads and WhatsApp groups as the primary means of sharing information. Some choose to An ethical dilemma certify under organic or PFLA, or One of the key differences some, like the Renisons, prefer between organic and regenerative to tell their story locally. “We can farming seems to be an ethical sell a chicken for £5 – if we were dilemma over whether to spray organic we’d have to sell it for or plough. With their focus on soil £18 and that really wouldn’t work health, regenerative farmers say in Cumbria,” explains Nic. “We’re A lower-input system is more resilient for they feel uncomfortable about planning for local people to know family farmers like the Dicksons ploughing the ground, which us and know our story, and then destroys intricate soil structures. It’s they won’t be looking for a label. a trade-off that organic farmers must make, however, But I suppose that’s difficult to scale up,” she muses. in order to keep on top of weeds without resorting to Dickson, who describes his farm as “nearly organic chemicals. but not certified”, says: “We don’t use any chemical “Ploughing releases carbon and disturbs soil inputs, no glyphosate or anything, but we don’t always structure; it essentially turns the worm houses upside buy organic grass seed, It would be easy to get certified down. Maybe an odd spray of glyphosate is the lesser as organic, but I’m happy in my own skin and that I’m of the two evils,” says Paul Renison, while clarifying “of following those principles.” course, over-use is disastrous”.

Key to this is a local supply chain, where consumers Dickson echoes the same concerns, summing up can visit the farm and see for themselves, or speak to the catch-22 facing sustainably-minded farmers as: well-informed local grocers or butchers, plus a huge “you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. “For amount of trust in those you buy from. “It’s not until you

Farming is a high pressure, cash intensive and low margin business - if you can find a way to make it more enjoyable, that should be celebrated.

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SUSTAINABLE FARMING get into the longer supply chains that you do need to underpin those credentials. Even with butchers you have to have a huge trust – their job is to get the meat out the door,” says Weston.

Self sufficiency and mental health Regenerative farming also seems to be allowing farmers a new level of self sufficiency: primarily because grass is healthier and there is more of it, so less feed needs to be bought in.

“The big driver in regen ag is to get rid of the ‘cake bag’, that is to say, all feed, and doing as much as possible by just feeding grass,” explains Camp, who farms on the Sharpham Estate in south Devon. Doing this reduces farmers’ reliance on imported soy for animal feed and cuts their indirect contribution to deforestation and offshore carbon emissions. But it also means a small family farm business, where margins are already very slim, is more viable. As Camp says: “Every time you get a cheque out, that’s something off your margin.”

And it has other, less tangible, impacts, around the mental health benefits of being more self-sufficient - a hugely important point in agriculture, which has the second worst suicide rates of all UK industries.

“It’s a lot lower risk; you make less but also spend less. You can try stuff out and it’s not a complete make or break situation,” says Dickson, who even sees some of the more labour-intensive sides to regenerative farming as positives.

“From a mental health point of view, ‘slow farming’, those moments when you’re moving the fence or you’re seeing the cattle or looking at the birds. That 10-15 minutes a day, it’s pleasant,” he says. “Farming is a very high pressure, cash intensive and low margin business, and if you can find a way to make it more enjoyable, that should be celebrated.”

The problem for ethical consumers There are clear benefits for nature, as well as the viability of sustainable family farming, for those who are practising regenerative farming, even if they aren’t certified. But how does all this help the ethical shopper?

For some, it goes back to the value of transparency that only a certification can offer, while for others it is about informing yourself and buying locally. The PFLA website has a map of all the certified butchers and farmers in the UK plus information of where to buy from them, says Weston, while the organic label is readily available across supermarkets, box schemes and independents. Dickson adds: “Know your farmer. Or if you can pick your box up from the farm then go for it – it’s a great way to see it all in action. As much as you can, be a conscious consumer.”

Shorter supply chains also offer a viable route to local informed consumers and an alternative for non-certified regenerative farmers, he says. “Village butchers and greengrocers punch above their weight in terms of the influence they have on the local area. It’s these hidden bits of the supply chain that are really important,” says Dickson, who says he is lucky to have a couple of small

18

abattoirs that take one or two cows a time.

On a wider scale, the new Agriculture Bill should, in theory, be incentivising a more holistic environmental approach to farming. Until then, the ‘regenerative ag’ community, under whatever umbrella they identify, is proving to be a progressive and informed group of farmers building viable, small-scale farm businesses with the environment firmly at the centre.

As Dickson puts it: “It would be nice if in 10 years’ time, all agriculture was regenerative agriculture.”

The Sharpham Estate in Devon is home to organic and regenerative farmers David and Helen Camp.

Using cows to store carbon

Farmers are well aware of the bad press linked to the methane emissions of cows, and regenerative agriculture is one way in which they are countering it.

“We wouldn’t sell a crop of hay, for example, as we don’t sell our ‘carbon nutrients’,” says farmer Paul Rennison in Cumbria. “Instead we use it to feed cows, which then fertilises our soil and ends up back as carbon on the farm. I know that if I buy some cheap hay, I can put it through a cow and turn it into organic fertiliser.”

Herefordshire-based livestock farmer Ed Dickson says: “I think red meat gets a bit of a battering. I’d be pretty confident to show anyone around our system – we do an awful lot of work off our own back to mitigate those effects [of ruminant emissions] as much as possible while using those animals to enhance the local environment. We’ve fenced off all our streams to make sure the cows and sheep can’t get into them – we’re in the Wye catchment area and we take that responsibility seriously,” he adds.

The magazine for sustainable food and ethical business.

Published by The mainstream media cycle can feel exhausting, and it’s hard to pick out the stories that really matter.

With our specialist focus on sustainable food and ethical business, Wicked Leeks brings you a carefully curated and edited selection of stories that you won’t find elsewhere. Exclusively written and edited by trained journalists, these include: A carefully curated news section covering food, farming, climate and the environment.

A regular column from organic farmer and Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson, plus other high-profile columnists, authors and new voices.

Exclusive interviews and features.

Ethical lifestyle inspiration, connecting good food, a love of the outdoors, health, cooking and growing.

Discover the Wicked Leeks community: wickedleeks.com/#join A weekly e-magazine in your inbox every Sunday with the latest stories On social media #WickedLeeks Quarterly in print

19

ETHICAL BUSINESS

FARM LIKE COMMON PEOPLE The enclosure of land away from public ownership from the 13th century led to today’s widespread inequality in land ownership – but could community farms recoup some of those losses? Hugh Thomas finds out.

O

ver the last few months, owing to more free time and restrictions on places we’d normally go, Brits have been exploring their own backyard. Of the new hobbies we’ve adopted over lockdown, generally roaming the outdoors has been the most popular: 18 per cent of Brits took up cycling, 18 per cent wild swimming, 17 per cent hiking, and five per cent kayaking or canoeing.

Unfortunately, laws surrounding the English countryside and waterways aren’t exactly sympathetic to these desires.

While in Scotland it’s legal to roam just about anywhere, under trespass laws in England, ordinary people are forbidden to enter 92 per cent of land, and 97 per cent of rivers and lakes. With much of English real estate owned by few, including the gentry, the crown estate, and corporations, this bridle on freedom extends to the land required to produce food, affecting its cost, availability, and sustainability.

My first introduction to the issue of land ownership – and our acquiescence to it – was from the travelling show Three Acres and a Cow (if you get a chance, do go see it). In the space of two hours, it lays out the sheer scale of the land rights issue and how much has been taken from public possession throughout the past thousand years or more.

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The most significant change in that time was perhaps that of enclosure, existing in some form since the 13th century. With the aim of increasing agricultural output, enclosure involved transferring plots of land from ‘the Commons’ (natural resources available to everyone) to private ownership. Many could no longer survive on the food they grew themselves alone, thereby necessitating a wage, and creating a class gap where some got incredibly rich while others starved.

The problems arising from enclosure are still felt today.

The Land Justice Network, consisting of academics, planners, bird watchers, and architects to name a few, is pretty much founded on the situation caused by enclosure.

“Poverty,” reads one of its tenets, “and many of society’s other problems, come from our land not being shared fairly.

We want our country to belong to all the people who live there.”

When talking about farming, the main argument against a fair division of the land invariably hinges on maximising production potential. “There has been a whole tendency in policy circles that bigger units are the only way of making it competitive on the basis of economies of scale,” says Dr Matt Reed, an associate professor in food citizenship at the

ETHICAL BUSINESS

University of Gloucestershire.

Food production volume as a barometer for a farm’s success has its problems, especially in relegating the importance of soil quality, biodiversity, and human health. So how do we convince higher powers that a more benign system of farming can also be efficient?

The Landworkers’ Alliance (LWA) – a union of farmers, foresters, and other growers – may have the answer.

Smaller, better managed farms can’t compete on raw yield, but they can outstrip bigger farms when input-toyield is accounted for. Say an industrial wheat farm produced 8.5 tonnes of wheat per hectare, and an organic wheat farm produced six. However, the industrial farm sprayed 110kg of nitrogen fertiliser per hectare in order to achieve its harvest, while the organic farm used none. Given the input-to-yield ratio of each farm in this case, and the well-documented effects of excessive nitrogen use on the atmosphere and waterways, which one should we prefer?

The LWA blames the lack of access to land as one of the major barriers for smaller, better-managed farms succeeding. And Reed agrees finding meaningful land to farm on is tough.

“But there are things that could be done to open that up, such as local authorities looking at their portfolio of land and making that available to people on a rental or lease basis,” he says. “Some of the big landowners like the National Trust already play a constructive role with smaller farms – they can play even more of a role in getting people growing.

And some of the big private landowners, like the Duchy of Cornwall. And also Mr [James] Dyson.”

Unfortunately, local authorities’ portfolios of agricultural land – known as county farms – are diminishing.

Recognised as one of the few ways in helping people afford to get into farming (purchasing farms outright can cost millions), organisations such as CPRE The Countryside Charity are encouraging the protection and promotion of whatever county farms councils have left.

Meanwhile, the LWA suggests improving the “provision of public access farmland through community integration of farms.” Plaw Hatch Farm in Sussex could be one example – though

the 500 acres of land it sits on is held as a trust, the business itself is owned by 700 ‘members’ of a co-operative. “This was instrumental in setting the farm up,” explains Nir Halfon, Plaw Hatch’s garden manager. “But it’s the local community that keeps us going, buying the food, and walking around the farm.”

Plaw Hatch uses biodynamic principles, where the vast majority of its inputs are from within the farm, sustaining a circular interaction between soil and plants, and plants and animals.

Some 45 varieties of fruit, veg, and herbs are grown on the farm, which also produces meat, cheese, yoghurt, raw milk, wool, honey, oats, and flowers, primarily sold from its on-site shop.

Ultimately, the setup is about providing community access to land. It just so happens the diverse landscape accompanying biodynamic farming also lends itself well to our recently rekindled lust for the outdoors. “You don’t get that desert of rapeseed,” says Halfon. “We want to make it a nice place to walk.”

With the aim of increasing agricultural output, enclosure transferred plots of land from ‘the Commons’ to private ownership.

Opposite: Over 90 per cent of land in England is not accessible to the public.

Clockwise from top: Small-scale farms are able to have a lower impact on the environment; Local supply chains can sustain communities; Plaw Hatch sells a broad variety of crops..

21

FEATURES

The kitchen start-up George Crossley used lockdown to launch the UK’s first British-grown oat milk out of his own kitchen – now he’s taken over the family farm and plans to expand. Nina Pullman hears more.

M

any people used lockdown to try a little amateur gardening, or a basic recipe for banana bread, at a push.

Not so for George Crossley, who used it as a chance to create a whole new market for his father’s oats and launch what is quite possibly the UK’s first British-grown oat milk.

“From my point of view, I want to create a better market for my dad’s oats,” says Crossley, founder of kitchen start-up oat milk brand, Toats Mylk. Crossley began making milk using oats from his parents’ farm at a friend’s suggestion about a year ago, using a beer-making vessel to “heat and mix” and experimenting with different recipes. But it took the arrival of the pandemic and ensuing lockdown, to prompt them to begin the business: selling British-grown oat milk in refillable glass bottles to the local area.

“We started at the beginning of lockdown. I didn’t think our recipe was quite ready but in supermarkets you could only buy three items and people didn’t want to go shopping so delivery seemed like a good idea,” said Crossley, who describes demand in the first three weeks as “crazy”.

Crossley, who completed a Level 2 food safety and hygiene course and registered the business with the local council for inspection purposes, has now returned to the family farm in Hampshire for a long-planned takeover from his father, and from where he plans to expand the business.

While converting the land to organic over a period of three years, Crossley said he will re-start oat milk production from the farm itself, and take on the whole process from growing, dehulling, malting, milling and finally, processing the oats into oat milk. He plans to build up a new customer base in Portsmouth, Southsea and London, as well as begin bulk deliveries to cafés, to offer them a better price through refillable containers.

“With Oatly, they [cafés] pay way over the price of cow’s milk and, therefore, they can’t mark it up as much and they’re not making any money. My aim is to sell in bulk up to 20 litres, in refillable containers,” he says. “The farming is going to be pretty full on and all encompassing, but I need to find local markets for small volumes of crops, so we’re not selling into the commodity market like we have to now.”

Sustainable farming was a major reason behind why Crossley began Toats, after seeing first-hand how selling oats and grains into the commodity market, where the vast majority of Britishgrown arable crops end up, leaves small farms at the mercy of fluctuating grain prices and huge input costs.

“Oatly were food scientists creating milk for lactose intolerant people. Rather than coming at it from the consumer’s point of view, I approach it from the side of the producer. In the UK, we

22

grow oats, and they’re abundant. But you can only sell them at 14p per kg. A kg of oat milk is worth about ten times that, so the producer loses out,” he says.

“The current farming system can leave you really vulnerable, where the farmer is tied into this loop that they can’t escape, using more and more fertiliser to increase yields and cover the risk of a bad year, or the price of grain going down.”

Oats are a resilient crop for British farmers, explains Crossley, who says: “They don’t take too much out of the soil, and they can grow quite well organically, too.”

In Falmouth, he began sourcing from local farmer Will Radmore, whose company Cornish Golden Grains produces heritage cereal flour for bakers, and, Crossley says, kindly dehulled and milled small quantities of oats, ready to turn into milk.

Toats is made by mixing this oatmeal with water, encouraging enzyme activity, and adding a little oil and salt to enable the all-important smooth mixing into coffee. “We’ve also been experimenting with adding a little seaweed, which helps stop it separating, and with malting and toasting oats, as well as natural nutritional enhancements,” he says. Another key aspect was the refillable glass bottles, as a deliberate alternative to the often non-recyclable Tetra Pak bottles used on most dairy-free milks.

In Falmouth, Crossley says “the public’s enthusiasm for the product made low volumes worthwhile”. Once he expanded, with the help of a housemate, to making two large batches a week, the company was breaking even and reached a capacity of 70 bottles a week. But, he says, lessons have been learnt ahead of the second launch: he’s invested in a bigger mixing vat and says more space on the farm will enable bigger volumes to be made.

While reaching full capacity within five weeks might be sign enough of the demand for plant milks that address packaging concerns as well as dairy alternatives, there is ample quantitative evidence to boot. According to the trade magazine the Grocer, the plant milk market is now worth £420 million in the UK and is seeing growth of around 25 per cent.

And as for the name, a play on ‘totally’ and oats, it has school playground slang to thank. Says Crossley: “‘Totes’ was a word we used all the time at school – ‘it’s totes amazing’ and I was just like, ‘that’ll do’.”

Hyper-local British-grown oat milk, Toats Mylk, launched during lockdown in Falmouth, Cornwall.

FEATURES

The magic bean solution?

One of the UK’s first commercial lentil growers tells Nina Pullman why scaling up unusual plant protein crops isn’t a quick fix for sustainable farming.

‘S

ave the world: grow peas and beans’, reads a recent Guardian headline on the magic of these lowly legumes.

And it’s a line that reflects the latest sustainability trend du jour: true plant-based proteins, that is, whole foods rather than plant-derived proteins used in processed food, are a valuable addition to diets to help wean us off too much processed food, red meat and dairy. They also help farmers increase crop diversity on their land, and fix nitrogen in the soil to replace the use of synthetic fertilisers.

So surely it makes sense to scale up such a wonderful family of crops? But when I put this to the founder of pioneering pulse company Hodmedod, whose work continues to lead in this particular field, Josiah Meldrum, he politely cuts me down. “‘Scaling up’ always rings slight alarm bells,” he explains. “It’s more about scaling out. I know that’s a pretty nuanced distinction but what we don’t want to do is just create another commodity, with all the problems that come with that commodification.”

To explain more, he refers me to Essex farmer George Young, whose eclectic profile of crops sounds like an alternative harvest festival stand, including linseed, hemp and buckwheat, as well as being one of the first commercial growers of British lentils.

And far from any hippie ideals you might associate with such a list, former banker Young is clear about exactly what is needed, and what is not, to make the growing of these more unusual crops commercially viable.

“There are numerous stories of people coming in and ruining an entire supply chain in one go,” says Young, who uses the example of quinoa, where the boom in demand was met with such a huge increase in global supply that the price went through the floor. This defeats the object of using these lesserknown crops to make a transition to sustainable, more diverse farming financially viable, as well as producing healthy food.

“I’ve seen it this year. I’ve been working with buckwheat for a couple of years now – and you’ve got to do a lot of work and investment. I’ve only ever grown 12 acres,” says Young, explaining how an abrupt increase in supply after someone spots an opportunity can make it hard for anyone to make a return.

“The total size of the buckwheat market in the UK is very small,” he says. “You’ve got to be very delicate in these crops until we can get the market and processors to see the value in British.”

Judging by the buzz around the first ever British-grown lentils available for sale last year, or a similar noise around the first UK chia seeds, both sold and developed by Hodmedod with farmers like Young, there is a healthy interest in UK origin of such crops.

But there is certainly work to be done to fill the gap from the

Buckwheat grows in the UK but there is a relatively small market..

first headlines, to a decent volume sold through mainstream supermarkets and brands, where the bulk of pulses like lentils, chickpeas and fashionable grains like quinoa are still imported.

A lot of this comes down to simply understanding the reality of farming, believes Young. He says: “On lentils, in a lot of ways they don’t fit in to my farm. They can be planted late, which is good, but they are fairly annoying crops to grow. The issue with all of these things are people in various institutes who don’t understand food very well. They think the answer is these alternative crops.”

“Another one is farro wheat, which you can use instead of rice if you pearl it. Or rivet, which can replace durum in pasta,” says Young. “We need consumers to understand that we can produce these crops in the UK. That’s why a company like Hodmedod is so critical because they understand the farming side of it,” he adds.

On his own farm, which totals around 1,200 acres, with roughly 300 used for cropping, Young is due to begin organic conversion.

He uses a ‘zero till’ approach, where possible, to minimise soil disruption from ploughing and is part way through cutting out artificial chemicals and fertilisers.

“To do that, I’ve been trying to grow as many different crops as possible. I’m now growing some spring crops like hemp, which grow tall and are good competition for weeds. I also grow buckwheat, which is good for agronomic reasons,” he says.

Perhaps more unusually, Young is also growing crops for nutritional purposes, like protein-rich hemp. “Lots of food that is produced at the moment goes into non nutritional supply chains, such as the wheat which goes into industrial bread, where pretty much no nutrients are made bio-available in the process,” he says, pointing out the contrast with fermented sourdough made from heritage wheat, where longer roots absorb,more nutrients.

It’s a holistic approach to health, food and sustainable farming and one that feels a world away from the mainstream, whether that’s down to farming pressures in a commodity-driven global market, or the challenge of widespread dietary change.

As Young puts it: “We are so lucky in the UK, we literally have one of the best climates in the world. We need to learn to eat what our land provides.”

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WICKED LEEKS LIFESTYLE From seasonal veg inspiration to ethical living: Wicked Leeks lifestyle is packed full of new ways to enjoy plant-based eating, tips for sharing food with friends, nurturing your own veggie patch, and celebrating the best of the seasons.

Go to wickedleeks.com/lifestyle for more.

MOST READ ONLINE Brunch with a difference Move over smashed avocado and eggs – to celebrate the first reopening of the Riverford Field Kitchen since coronavirus, head chef Lewis Glanvill has shared his seasonal brunch recipes with a twist exclusively in Wicked Leeks. Think pickled Padron peppers with charred corn, harissa and fried egg, followed by homemade sourdough crumpet with blackcurrants and mascarpone. Using leftover sourdough starter gives crumpets a delicious flavour - mix with milk, flour, sugar, salt and bicarb until light and bubbly and cook on both sides in a hot pan. For the full recipes, go to bitly.ws/9ybS.

Tips for a low-carbon diet Eat mostly vegetables, fruits and whole grains, and buy less tropical fruit and more of what’s available in the UK, including British-grown plant protein and higher quality meat. Those are some of the top tips for how to eat a low-carbon diet from Zac Goodall, the author of organic veg box company Riverford’s first sustainability report. Avoiding processed food, which is more likely to have a high embodied energy footprint, will also help, he said.

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Jazz up your side dishes Just right for the time of year and featuring seasonal veg, these dishes have a comforting feel but are a bit lighter and offer fresh inspiration for accompaniments to go with your meat, veggie or vegan centrepiece. A creamy beetroot gratin is an incredibly moreish side dish, delicious with roast beef or smoked fish, or try baked kohlrabi with an almond and parsley crust - good with pork chops or on its own with some roasted carrots for a veggie main.

LIFESTYLE

Why we are seed saving in a time of corona When lockdown took hold, seed companies ran dry as many turned their hand to growing their own food. Get ahead of the curve and save your own seeds for next year’s growing.

Sarah Brown, Wicked Leeks gardening columnist

T

his spring, lockdown and concerns over food supply led to many thousands of people taking up growing for the first time. The result was a huge surge in people trying to get hold of seed, causing websites to crash and stock to run out.

However, while many of us were desperately waiting for those precious little packets to arrive, gardeners who had mastered the art of saving their own seed were quietly getting ahead with their growing.

People save seed for different reasons, some do it to preserve a link to the past, growing a variety their parents grew, or one particular to the place they live. Some do it to assure themselves a supply of a variety no longer available to buy. Some are making a deliberate stand against current trends in the seed industry, and some do it to create seed to share and swap with other growers.

But perhaps the simplest and most tangible reasons to save seed are that it’s free and sustainable. Transportation miles are zero, and the carbon footprint next to nothing.

If you’d like to try seed saving, now’s the time to give it a go. Here are our top three veg to cut your teeth on.

Peas

Tomatoes

Peas are not only easy to grow, but they’re easy to save too. In fact, you could say they’re easy peasy…

When harvesting your peas to eat, seek out a few healthy pods and leave them on the vine to dry. As they mature, you’ll see them turning brown, and the pods becoming papery and thin.

If possible, leave them on the plant until they’re completely dry, but if there is a risk of frost or prolonged rain you can lift the entire plants and hang them inside somewhere warm until the pods are completely dried.

Then, pop the peas (seeds) out of the pod by hand and lay them out to dry further, removing any that are damaged or discoloured. Store them in a cool, dry place and they should last in storage for at least three years.

Tomatoes are one of the best fruit to save seed from as you still get to eat the tasty flesh during the process.

The seeds are fully mature once the tomatoes are ripe. First, scoop them out of the fruit and rinse them in a sieve under cold running water, rubbing the seeds against the sieve to remove the sticky gel coating. This can take a while so be patient.

Spread the seeds on a paper towel or piece of kitchen paper and leave to dry.

When completely dry, fold up the paper, label it, and store somewhere cool and dry. In the spring, you can either separate the seeds to sow as normal, or place the whole sheet of paper in compost to start your plants.

As with everything in the garden, seed saving can be as simple or as complex as you like.

French beans French beans, unlike some other types of bean, won’t cross pollinate, making them ideal to save seed from. The process for saving French beans is exactly the same as peas – let them dry out completely, then pod, check for damage, dry further and store.

The Grow Your Own Wicked Leeks series is written by Garden Organic, the national charity for organic growing. Each month we bring you timely advice on what to do in your organic patch. Share your own tips and gardening photos on social media under #GYOWickedLeeks.

Save seeds now for next year’s growing season.

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LIFESTYLE

Embracing Autumn Every season has its beauty and chance to connect to nature in a different way.

Get to know the autumn with its mists, frost, colour, earthy scents and new seasonal flavours, writes Becky Blench.

J

ust as we reach the end of summer, nature gives us a real time of plenty. Crops are gathered in, and traditionally celebrated by harvest festivals on the Sunday nearest the Harvest Moon. This bright full moon is close to the autumnal equinox in late September, and often appears much bigger than usual, with a hazy orange glow.

The equinox, which this year fell on the 22 September, is a balance point in the year when day and night are equal in length. A transition from busier outdoor-focused (usually more social) summer to the winter months, we can also see it as a reminder to find balance between being inside and outside, activity and rest: a gathering in of what we need for the winter, like the harvest.

We often want to fight against the end of the warmer months; even more so during a year when much time has been spent indoors. So how can we embrace it in a different way?

Below are some of our top tips for free activities that can help you stay active while giving a sense of connection and wellbeing during this beautiful season. After all that activity, we can value the quiet, slow, cosy space of home with fresh eyes. Contrast the bracing walks, night skies, and first frosts with warmth, comfort, and candlelight. Rest, replenish and reset.

Seasonal eating

Star watching

Eating outdoors

Seasonal eating helps our body adjust, giving us the right fuel at the right time of year. Cook a special meal at home with all the trimmings to celebrate the start of autumn and its plentiful produce.

If you live in an area without lots of light pollution, a sun lounger or waterproof picnic blanket on the ground in the garden at night can be your viewing platform. Mobile phone apps like Star Walk or Google Sky will tell you what you can see from your current location.

If you need to go further afield, try gostargazing.co.uk for lists of dark sky reserves.

Don’t just leave eating outdoors for the summer. Wrap up well, cook on a bonfire in your garden or the beach, and enjoy food around the fire.

Creative photography Autumn can be a real feast for the eyes as trees put on their magnificent colour displays. From ancient woods to inner city arboretums, there are many wonderful places to explore.

Try wildlifetrusts.org for ideas.

Foraging Foraging is a fun way to reconnect with nature. For anything more complicated than blackberries and hazelnuts, going with an expert is highly recommended, while eatweeds. co.uk is a great resource.

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‘Forest bathing’ Known as Shinrin-Yoku, which simply means spending time outdoors under the canopy of trees, immersing yourself in the forest and letting yourself unwind in the calm, woodland atmosphere.

Increasingly, research shows how essential to our physical and mental health this connection with nature is; focusing on the senses during a leisurely walk has many positive benefits for both.

Hunt for mushrooms Mushroom gathering is only one to do if you have the expertise, but there are many guided walks and groups across the UK – look online for ‘fungi forays’ in your area. .

Conservation Taking part in wildlife surveys is a good focus to get outdoors and really notice the seasonal signs near you. You can add your findings at naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org. uk and help climate scientists gain a fuller picture of nature, as they compare with records going back over the last 280 years.

LIFESTYLE

Get to know your squash

Green Kabocha

Storage Many squash will store through the winter if you keep them dry and at room temperature. Enjoy their decorative qualities by storing them on a kitchen shelf where they should last several months. Once cut, keep them in the fridge and use within a week.

Harlequin Spaghetti

Prep If your recipe uses peeled squash, using a large sharp knife slice off the top and bottom first. This provides a secure base to work from. Carefully pare away the tough outer skin (a good quality veg peeler works on softer skinned varieties such as Butternut). Once peeled, slice in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. You are then left with two halves to prepare as needed.

Easy ways to use

Red Kabocha

Different varieties work better in different recipes. Butternut is good for risotto or soup and Kabocha, Red Onion and Crown Prince are brilliant roasted. The seeds and inside trimmings from squash can be used in veg stock, giving a vibrant colour for use in a risotto or soup. Add squash trimmings to other stock ingredients, simmer in enough water to cover for about an hour and strain through a sieve.

Keep in the fridge for a week or freeze for future use.

Red Onion

Seasonal stars

Stuffed squash with kale, red cabbage & beet salad

Portobello toad-in-the-hole

Figs baked in honey, lemon & cinnamon

No need to peel - halved squash is filled with feta, quinoa and fresh herbs then roasted, and served with a crunchy salad of raw red cabbage, kale, red onion and toasted seeds, for a vibrant meal packed full of goodness.

This take on a traditional sausage toad in the hole uses Portobello mushrooms instead. Earthy savoury notes from the mushrooms add a special depth of flavour in this hearty veggie dish. Eat with mashed potato or roasted veg.

Totally moreish, this recipe marries the scented lusciousness of figs with citrus and spice. A wonderful autumn breakfast served with a dollop of thick yoghurt and granola, or enjoy them as a light pudding served with mascarpone.

For the full recipes, go to riverford.co.uk/recipes 27

LIFESTYLE

HEDGEROW TREASURES Cobnuts, elderberries and sea buckthorn – autumn’s hedgerows are full of edible treasures if you know where to look, writes Riverford Field Kitchen head chef Lewis Glanvill.

S

eptember is a time of abundance for edible wild foods, when hedgerows are heavy with ripening fruits and nuts. I believe that gathering and eating foraged foods is such a great way to understand and respect nature. Unlike shop-bought farmed foods, wild foods are not readily available at any other time and this means you really must make the most and capture those flavours before they disappear into the hedgerow for another year. You have the whole year to plan how to cook your finds, but just a small window to go and collect them.

It is important not to damage wildlife habitats or rare species, so always forage responsibly. This means only picking from an area with plentiful supply, leaving plenty behind for wildlife and avoiding damage to the roots of the plants you pick. Not only will this protect wildlife, but also improve your chances of coming back to the same spot next year.

There is a lot to choose from at this time of year, from elderberries, blackberries, rosehip, hawthorn, chestnuts, sloes, sea buckthorn, bilberries, hazelnuts, beach nuts, ceps, crab apples, dandelion roots, sea beets and jack-by-the-hedge. But here are some of my favourite wild recipes.

S ea Buckthorn Tart with Hay & Fig Leaf Cream Sea buckthorn trees come into fruit around September and sometimes continue until the end of the year. Mostly they are found in coastal areas, but they’re slowly introducing themselves inland. Personally, it is my favourite berry this time of year due to its striking colour and delicious taste, which is often likened to a sour orange, or sometimes slightly mango like.

They look like a large shrub, with bright orange berries and shimmering elongated oval leaves. Albeit easy to identify, the same can’t be said for harvesting: they have spikey branches so remember long sleeves, gloves and trousers is the attire. The tart can be served alone or with this infused cream.

Ingredients: 200ml sea buckthorn juice 50ml water 300g caster sugar

50ml lemon juice 6 eggs 50g butter

Handful of hay, 1 ltr double cream, 3 fig leaves (optional)

To make the sea buckthorn juice, add a little water to the berries in a blender and strain through a sieve.

To make the curd, cook out the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and water over a bain-marie until the mixture thickens and leaves a trail on the surface. Once off the heat, whisk in the butter and pour into a blind baked pastry case. Place in the fridge and leave to set.

For the cream, toast a handful of hay in the oven for 5 minutes at 180 degrees. Bring 1 ltr of double cream up to just under the boil and pour it over the hay and 3 fig leaves. Cling film the bowl and leave overnight. Then in the morning strain the cream and whisk it with icing sugar to taste and until thick. Portion the tart and spoon your flavoured cream on.

LIFESTYLE

Roasted Carrots with Pickled Blackberries & Cobnuts This dish is a great way to celebrate the start of autumn, rich in flavour and using two foraged ingredients, blackberries and cobnuts. It’s best to collect cobnuts around September or October time, and once collected and shelled they can be roasted in the oven.

Ingredients: 500g blackberries 1 tbsp sea salt 250ml red wine vinegar Bunch of carrots 125g granulated sugar Orange peel/juniper berries (optional)

To make: Place the blackberries in a warm sterilised jar. Heat the vinegar, salt and sugar, until the sugar has dissolved, then pour over the blackberries. Once cooled, sealed and stored in the fridge, these can be kept for months, but will be pickled enough to make this dish the following day.

Take one bunch of carrots, remove the tops, and lay the carrots in a roasting tray whole. Toss in olive oil and salt and roast at 190 degrees for 20 minutes. The carrots will caramelise but should be soft in the centre. Roast the cobnuts at 190 degrees for 8 minutes. Spoon the carrots onto a plate, slice the pickled blackberries in half and place on top of the carrots and scatter with toasted cobnuts.

Elderberry Honey Elderberries are easy to forage and grow in lots of locations.

It’s important to remember stems, leaves and unripe berries are toxic, so remove these before starting. The easiest way to remove the berries from the stems is to freeze them whole, as once frozen they will fall straight off. This recipe is a very simple sweet fermentation recipe: the moisture content from the fresh berries, when combined with raw honey and the natural yeast, will create the perfect environment for fermentation.

It can be used as an immuneboosting medicine, but I like to eat it spooned over yoghurt and granola, swirled through mascarpone for a dessert, or drizzled over ice cream.

Place the elderberries into a wide-mouthed sterilised jar and cover in raw honey. The volume depends on what you have available and how much you want to produce. Place the lid loosely

on the jar and put in a dark place out of direct sunlight. Turn your jar every few days, making sure you have tightened the lid. Within a few days you will see bubbles starting to form. Ferment for up to one month then store at room temperature for up to a year. Strain the elderberries before use.

Lewis Glanvill is head chef at the Riverford Field Kitchen. @lewis_glanvill and @riverfordfieldkitchen

The Riverford Field Kitchen SEASONAL BRUNCH, LUNCH & SUPPER Join us for a unique veg-centric dining experience on our organic farm. Our menu changes daily depending on what is in abundance in the fields around us.

Advance booking essential

theriverfordfieldkitchen.co.uk 01803 227391 Buckfastleigh, Devon, TQ11 0JU

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LIFESTYLE

Veg Hacks: All about apples

E

very year we anticipate the arrival of Discovery apples: the fragrant first variety of the English season. They signify the start of the autumn harvest, a plentiful time of year, while their colour reflects the leaves starting to fall from the trees.

Other early varieties include Windsor and Scrumptious, which are best eaten straight away, then comes later varieties like Crimson Crisp, which is picked in October and stores well through the winter.

This Veg Hack recipe combines three straightforward ways of using apples into one breakfast dish: apples are grated in bircher oats, cooked in honey and butter as a topping, and made into a spiced baked purée in a true celebration of the British apple season.

Each recipe can be made independently, too. The two toppings would each work well with Greek yogurt, on top of porridge, or with ice cream or custard as a dessert.

Bircher oats with honeyed apples and roast apple purée Serves 2, Prep 5 mins, plus an overnight soak Bircher oats can best be described as a cold, fruity porridge. The oats and apple are steeped in liquid overnight, plumping and softening. This version is all about the apples.

They are grated raw into the traditional bircher mix, and we’ve added two possible toppings. Try one, the other, or both.

A bircher base Add the following toppings to your usual bircher overnight oats or porridge recipe.

Honeyed apples These are best served warm, but can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

2 apples 1½ tbsp butter 2 tbsp runny honey Core the apples and cut each one into 12 equal wedges.

Warm the butter in a large frying pan and add the apples. Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, turning often, until starting to soften.

Add the honey and cook for a final 5 minutes, until they are sticky and caramelised.

Serve warm straight from the pan or lay out on baking parchment to cool.

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Baked apple purée This process gives a straightforward and intensely-flavoured purée with a rose-red blush to it from the skins. Nothing but apples and a scant pinch of salt – strangely, when used sparingly, the salt will increase the sweetness rather than make it taste savoury.

4 large red apples small pinch of fine sea salt ¼ tsp allspice – optional 1 lemon - optional Preheat your oven to 200˚C. Remove and discard the cores from all four apples. Keep them whole and place them in a roasting tray – although it doesn’t feel right, you don’t need any oil or butter. Roast for 30 minutes, until blistered and soft.

Throw the apples into a food processor and whizz into a purée. Tip it into a fine sieve and use a spatula or the back of a ladle to encourage the purée through.

Add a very small pinch of salt and mix well.

Add a little allspice if you want some warm spicing, and a little squeeze of lemon if you’d like it sharper.

Watch Riverford’s popular series of Veg Hacks on Facebook, YouTube or IGTV. Keep an eye out for a new release every Monday. They are the key to vegetable enlightenment!

One last thing… with Helen Browning Helen is the chief executive of the Soil Association and an organic farmer in Wiltshire, with dairy, beef, pigs and cereals. Her recent book ‘PIG; tales from an organic farm’ tells about the trials and tribulations of a farming and food life.

What’s been your worst job? Selling advertising space into the car industry.

Favourite late night snack? Our amazing ice cream with honey, granola, walnuts and Baileys.

One single thing you could change about the world? Get rid of industrial, intensive livestock farming.

Your biggest fear? Wasting opportunities to create a better future for people and other species.

What gives you strength? Spending time in nature, especially on the farm.

What’s your ideal day, including food, place and activity? Waking up to the sound of hornbills, under a mosquito net but not much else, on our desert island. Breakfast is coconut water, homemade yoghurt, fruit and muesli. This retreat is my time each year to step away, read, write, think, be. No pressure, no rush, just wonderful Thai food, swimming in the silky sea, never wearing shoes, amazing massage, lovely people. I’m renewed, and then able to enjoy every day for the rest of the year.

First music album or single you bought? Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly.

Most embarrassing moment? I’ve wiped them all from my hard drive, to allow me to continue functioning.

Lockdown fruit and veg When I received my first organic fruit and veg box after a month of making do on tins and dried goods, I washed every apple, every tomato, every single thing and laid them on a tea-towel to dry, looking at them as colourful treasures of the earth.

It was the end of supermarkets for me, not deemed vulnerable enough for a delivery any more according to their surveillance.

Goodbye supermarkets, I never liked you very much anyway.

I’ll make my own way now.

-A poem by Joel Biroco

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% 0O F F THE TRUE VALUE OF VEG We never do discounts. Someone always has to pay in the end – whether that’s squeezed farmers, or loyal customers paying hiked up prices.

Charging a fair, stable price means we can do things properly, pouring time, care and 33 years’ expertise into our veg.

When you taste it, you know it’s Riverford.

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