wicked leeks SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL BUSINESS ISSUE 2 - SPRING 2020

INSIDE Why one man bought no food for a year

Plus Guy Singh-Watson on the ‘end of farming’

VOICES OF GEORGE MONBIOT • • MELISSA HEMSLEY • HENRY DIMBLEBY

WICKEDLEEKS.COM Published by Riverford Organic Farmers EDITOR’S LETTER CONTRIBUTORS

Editor of Idler magazine, , explains why, rather than doing more, simply doing less might save the world.

Sustainability pioneer and adventurer writes about how and why he spent a year without buying any food.

Founder of Riverford, Guy Singh-Watson, responds to the Apocalypse Cow documentary and a rumoured ‘end Welcome of farming’.

You may not agree with George Monbiot’s radical predictions of an end to Social media farming as we know it, but there’s no denying things are changing. expert Emily From the shake-up to farm subsidies sparked by Brexit, with farmers now Muddeman to be paid based on their environmental stewardship rather than size of farm, on the cultural to the increasing debates around rewilding, vertical farming and lab-grown barriers that mean food. This second print issue of Wicked Leeks aims to capture some of these is a conversations and changes, alongside four very different perspectives with predominantly our cover feature ‘Voices of Sustainability’ (see pages 8-11). The journalist, the female lifestyle. restaurateur, the activist and the cook all have very different takes on what it means to be sustainable and how to navigate the impacts of food choices and beyond; together they offer a combined alternative vision for a better world. Wicked Leeks magazine is It may seem a confusing time to be engaging with food sustainability, but published by Riverford Organic Farmers. I believe the complexity is to be embraced. After all, like in food and farming, there are no answers to be found in monocultures - whether that’s crops or Mailing address: Wash Farm, perspectives. Buckfastleigh, TQ11 0JU. We hope you enjoy reading this second issue, and don’t forget to sign up to E: [email protected] our weekly newsletter at www.wickedleeks.com/#join, for the latest five stories T: 01803 227416 in your inbox every Sunday. Follow us

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Editor: Nina Pullman Design: Arianne Marlow Marketing: Max Harrop Nina Pullman, Editor, Wicked Leeks NEWS Growers hit by devastating Storm Gloria wiping out months of work in one hour

By Nina Pullman

rowers in the south of Spain are counting the cost of a Many outdoor field crops, such as cabbage, are not yet Gdevastating hailstorm that collapsed over 1,000 hectares accessible due to the storm damage and suffered widespread of tunnels and wiped out entire crops. flooding. The disaster struck only months after growers in the Storm Gloria hit the Almería region of southern Spain in same area were hit by heavy flooding in September of last year, late January, where many vegetable, salad and other fresh wiping out much of the leafy salad crops, such as spinach. produce growers are based. The storm was also responsible for the deaths of nine people, reported, as high winds, snow, rainfall and huge waves hit buildings and other infrastructure. Around 1,000 hectares of glasshouses and polytunnels were decimated in Almería, with further damage in Valencia and Alicante said to have hit thousands more. The storm lasted only an hour but with hailstones up to 1cm in diameter it left a trail of destruction as tunnels collapsed and caused landslides onto crops. Courgettes, aubergines and bell peppers are among the worst hit, as well as cabbages, broccoli and onions in the outdoor fields. Spain is the main supplier of vegetables and salad to the UK during the winter months and shortages are expected to have knock-on effects on supply for staple vegetables over the next few months. Veg shortages are expected. Family-run organic vegetable grower Naturcharc, a supplier to veg box company Riverford, estimated around 16 hectares of damage to its glasshouses, while a thick layer of hail remained Fresh produce buyer for Riverford, Steve Monk, said on the soil and froze to become ice, causing more issues. Total shortages are expected as a result of the storm, but it’s too damage is yet to be fully calculated, the company said, but early to predict exactly what. “Several of our long-standing estimated that in one hour the storm had “wiped out months of grower partners in Spain have been affected by the storm work”. and we are supporting them as much as possible,” he said. “While growers will have insurance for tunnel rebuilding, the “There are likely to be some shortages coming up as the British crops themselves are not covered as no one expects damage autumn growing season was early, and it’s looking like an on this scale to happen,” said Flemming Anderson, Riverford’s earlier than usual ‘Hungry Gap’.” fresh produce manager in Spain and Italy. “We are here to help The Hungry Gap is the name given to the annual period the growers and will source what they ask us to source, and not during April and May just ahead of the summer UK growing only what we want them to deliver.” season, and after the winter crops have ended.

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3 NEWS Farming versus rewilding NEWS IN debate reignited BRIEF By Nina Pullman

Actor calls for end to factory farming A Game of Thrones actor has crouched in a metal cage in London’s busy Oxford Circus to highlight the “horrific” welfare standards of factory-farmed pork he debate around recommended reducing and urge food retailers the climate impact of intensively-produced meat T to stop buying from farming has been reignited and dairy as one of the best after the former chief ways to reduce carbon factory farms. Jerome scientist to Defra said half of footprints. The UK’s farming Flynn, who plays Bronn Globally, the UK’s farmland should be sector has fought to show in the award-winning rewilded to help tackle the that its largely grass-based TV series, is part of agriculture climate crisis. livestock systems have a the latest appeal by Sir Ian Boyd told the much lower footprint due campaign group Farms is estimated Guardian that restoring 50 to carbon storage potential not Factories, called to contribute per cent of farmland into and lower inputs. ‘Pigs in Chains’. woodlands and natural Responding to Boyd’s around 13 per habitat could mean the comments, NFU president amount of cattle and sheep Minette Batters said: “It Farmers paid to protect cent of carbon would fall by 90 per cent. took two world wars to environment He estimated this would realise the error of not The biggest shake-up emissions result in 20 per cent less being able to produce to farming subsidies food being produced, enough food for our island for 40 years is on which could be replaced by nation. I said [at the Oxford the horizon as part developing vertical farms, Farming Conference] last of the long-awaited he said. year you only turn the food Agriculture Bill. The comments put him production tap off once. Farmers will now be We cannot make the same in direct opposition with the paid subsidies based mistake again.” National Farmers Union, on their care of the which has set out plans for Another farmer, Joe environment, rather agriculture to reach net zero Stanley, tweeted that: than the amount carbon emissions by 2040 “Rewilding 50% of GB of land they own, without reducing livestock farmland will just offshore announced as the UK numbers. our food production to leaves the EU and its The NFU said precision countries with [lower] agricultural policy, techniques, greater environmental standards.” known as CAP. efficiencies, production of The debate escalated energy crops, and feed further with the release of additives for cattle, would ’s documentary, help the sector reduce and Apocalypse Cow, fronted by offset its carbon. George Monbiot, a leading Globally, agriculture is proponent of rewilding, and For more news on the estimated to contribute which set out how farming environment, farming and around 13 per cent of as we know it could end carbon emissions and within decades. food sustainability, visit: a series of studies have See p.7 and 15 for more. wickedleeks.com/news

4 NEWS

Vertical farming expands across UK Overfishing set to continue Vertical farming has been boosted in the UK uropean ministers have missed a including vulnerable species like Irish by a series of significant Elegal deadline to end overfishing by Sea whiting and cod in the west of investments and ignoring scientific advice and setting Scotland and in the Celtic Sea. expansions of farms in unsustainable fish quotas. ClientEarth fisheries lawyer Nick Bristol and Lincolnshire. Lawyers from environmental Goetschalckx said: “It was the collective One site, LettUs Grow, charity ClientEarth have warned that responsibility of EU fisheries ministers to a vertical farm start-up the decision, taken at a meeting of make sure that this year’s fishing quotas created by students fisheries ministries in December, are fully in line with the legal deadline to at the University breaches EU law and could result in end overfishing by 2020, but they failed of Bristol, has just legal action. The meeting resulted in to deliver.” setting unsustainable Total Allowable secured £2.35 million “This is not just a political failure. The Catches (TACs) for several stocks in the in funding that they deadline is a legal obligation and courts Northeast Atlantic, ClientEarth said, said would “accelerate” exist to enforce it.” development in 2020. The news comes as a recent ClientEarth report found that, over the last five years, countries like Ireland, France and Spain have repeatedly Trees and diet change pushed for unsustainable fishing limits, lead climate report while others, including Germany and the Cutting beef and dairy Netherlands, have failed to stop them. consumption by a Due to the lack of transparency fifth and increasing around the process, it has been tree cover are among notoriously difficult to hold anyone to account, ClientEarth said. recommendations by the government’s Fish quotas are not taking account For more on this story, advisors on climate of dwindling stocks. visit bit.ly/3aRiZX7. calling for a major transformation in land use. The Committee on Turn off the plastic tap, (CCC) said that, in 2017, land use – including says leading professor agriculture, forestry and peatland – accounted for 12 per cent of UK ingle-use plastic and an obsession material itself. “I certainly feel like in a emissions, and said it’s Swith convenience means plastic country like ours, why on earth do we possible to reduce that production is set to treble within a need bottled water? Take a flask of water by almost two thirds. decade and account for an increasing like you’d take a raincoat if it was raining,” percentage of the world’s oil production. he said. That was the message from marine Apple grower funds biologist and the so-called ‘godfather sustainable housing of micro plastics’ Professor Richard Organic apple grower Thompson, speaking on marine pollution Paul Ward is donating at Plymouth University. land worth over a Thompson, whose work is largely million pounds to a credited with sparking global awareness sustainable housing of micro plastics, said the material already accounts for eight per cent of project to offer the world’s oil production. affordable homes to “It’s estimated that the percentage employees. The land will be much higher by 2025. It’s not an will provide 15-20 zero- environmental problem that’s on its way carbon houses for local out, it’s getting worse. There will be a people working and threefold increase in a decade,” he said. living in the area. Thompson stressed that it’s plastic Plastic production is a major use of oil. that is the problem, rather than the

5 OPINION How I bought no food for a year Rob Greenfield Adventurer, activist and humanitarian

or the last year I grew and foraged 100 per cent of my mushrooms in the woods, and picked nutritious weeds from Ffood. No grocery stores, no restaurants, not even a people’s yards. drink at a bar. Nature was my garden, my pantry and my I grew my own medicine and vitamins too, including pharmacy. turmeric and ginger, elderberries to make elderberry syrup to Most would imagine me living in the countryside on a farm, prevent colds and flu and reishi mushrooms. but I chose to make my base in the city of Orlando, Florida. I cooked up dozens of different healthy meals, fermented When I arrived, I didn’t own any land so, to grow my food I veggies to make sauerkraut and made delicious beverages met people in the neighbourhood and turned their lawns into like honey wine and ginger beer. I think it’s safe to say I ate the gardens and shared the bounty of food with them. I’m a big healthiest diet of my life. I finished the year weighing the same believer in the philosophy ‘grow food, not lawns’. as when I started, and I didn’t get sick once. I trusted nature I needed a place to live so I built a 100 sq ft tiny house with and it paid off. friends to serve as my homestead. This project wasn’t just about growing and foraging all my food, though. It was about empowering others to grow their own food and take back their health. During this year I built gardens for 15 other people through my Gardens for the People programme, planted over 200 community fruit trees, sent out over 5,000 seed packs to help people grow their own organic, healthy food and I taught free gardening classes to the people in my community. I’ve been exploring food for nearly a decade and I believe the globalised, industrialised food system is broken. This was my personal quest to see whether I could step away from Big Ag and grow and forage every bite of my own food. I saw that it is indeed possible. But my message isn’t for you to produce all of your own food. I simply want you to question: where does it come from? How does it get to you? How did it impact the earth, other species and the people that Rob Greenfield grew 100 different over a year. grew it? And if you don’t like the answers you find, I want to empower you to change it. Over the year, I grew over 100 different foods in my gardens. The good news is that you don’t need to go for 100 per Dozens of different greens packed with nutrients, sweet cent. You can start where you are. potatoes for my caloric needs, delicious fruits like papayas and You can grow a little bit of your own food. You can learn and bananas, veggies like pumpkins, carrots, beans and beets and harvest the edible plants and weeds in your region. You can herbs and peppers to flavour all of my meals. I raised bees to source your food locally and purchase from local farmers and have my own candy shop right at home. gardeners. You can buy whole foods and cook more, rather Around half of my food came from my garden and the other than packaged processed foods. half was from foraging. I foraged over 200 foods from nature. This needn’t be a lonely journey. We can do this together in I harvested my own sea salt from the ocean, picked coconuts our communities. The solutions are here and they are delicious for a good source of fat, foraged my fruit from hundreds of and nutritious and part of a happier, healthier and more trees, caught fish from lakes, rivers and the ocean, harvested sustainable life.

6 OPINION Apocalypse Cow and Is veganism the end of farming a female lifestyle? Guy Singh-Watson Founder of organic veg box company Riverford Emily Muddeman Riverford co-owner and social media manager

f George Monbiot’s research is George says we and our he vast majority (84 per cent) Ito be trusted, it is all over for veg will be alright for now, until Tof people who signed up to farmers. Your food will be grown in vertical, indoor, soil-free farming Veganuary in 2019 were female. labs using bacteria which live on air does for us too. Speaking at the That’s acccording to Toni Vernelli, and electricity, generated by solar Oxford Real Farming Conference, head of communication and marketing panels occupying 1/10,000th of the he delivered his meticulously at the Veganuary campaign, who was land currently used for agriculture. researched message eloquently speaking at the Food Matters Live This has been proven possible and persuasively, inspiring irritation conference last November. She said in a lab in Finland. Farmland can in many and admiration in a few. that just 14 per cent of the 186,000 be rewilded, I will always be glad participants were male, a four per cent creating a carbon of the disruptive fresh increase on the previous year. sink that could air he brings – and I So where are all the meat-free reverse climate find my own beliefs lie men? Is veganism and breakdown closer to his than to the a female lifestyle? Vernelli went and restore carnivores who argue on to explain that she believes this biodiversity. If, that all is fine so long dramatic skew is down to the fact that as Monbiot’s If George as meat is grass fed. eating meat is still associated with documentary Both sides frustrate me masculinity. Apocalypse Cow Monbiot’s by cherry-picking data Perhaps it’s to do with strength and asserts, global to support their views. the ever prevalent ‘P’ word – protein, catastrophe can research is to For now, I will which the world only seems to be be averted by continue to sit on the getting more obsessed with. But sacrificing farmers be trusted, it fence: advocating protein isn’t just in meat and animal and eating uber- is all over for much less meat, products, and the new Game Changers processed protein, rewilding the least documentary on Netflix has done logically that must farmers productive 20-30 per its best to challenge the idea that be a price worth cent of land, more humans need meat to be strong, by paying. perennial food crops, showcasing world-class athletes who I find it hard to a lot more dahl, and as follow a plant-based diet. question the benefits, as depressing much lab-grown meat as you can I would take any Netflix health as I may find the prospect on an stomach. and lifestyle documentary with a emotional level. But I do have Perhaps my biggest divergence pinch of salt and acknowledgment rational concerns, too. What will with Monbiot is over his confidence of the production company having the health impacts be? How will that the future of our food and a particular bias or agenda, but our culture be impoverished if farming will be shaped by logic. regardless of the potentially we abandon the centuries of Since Eve picked the apple, there questionable science, perhaps knowledge embedded in farming? seems to be precious little logic showing these incredibly strong men What will become of the quarter in what we put in our mouths. We and women who are ahead of the of the world’s population whose already know how to grow food competition in their chosen sport is livelihoods depend on farming? with a lower impact – but appear exactly what we need to influence And will we end up with a global incapable of organising ourselves more men to reduce their meat intake. food supply controlled by a to do so. Let’s hope Monbiot is Although it’s true that sustainably small number of patent-owning right, and one way or another, logic produced livestock has a lower impact, corporations? prevails. eating less, albeit better quality meat, is still a valid part of the debate.

7 THE BIG INTERVIEW FIGHTING FOR NATURE The journalist and campaigner

By Nina Pullman

times over, [and] has the intellectual temerity to suggest how we might do it better from here on in.” These days, he is most well-known for his regular columns for the Guardian newspaper, some of which turn into books, and which can be tied together only through the sheer breadth

Photo Dave Stelfox Dave Photo of topics he tackles – from wealth, to land reform, to ecological and economic justice. His most recent column at the time of our interview outlines eorge Monbiot is a man who feels his moment has an idea to cap an individual’s wealth, citing a whistle-blower come. We’re speaking the day before the first of two G at a private airport where jets regularly take off with only Global Climate Strikes and the long-time environmental one passenger. Is he, after 34 years in reporting on the area, journalist and campaigner is jubilant about what it could resigned to such acts of environmental madness? achieve. “I am still shocked by the extraordinarily careless way in “I’ve been involved in loads of protest movements over which we treat the only planet known to harbour life,” he says. the years, but none of them have really been big enough “It’s almost a necrophiliac obsession, to counter the huge scale of our as if we want to accelerate towards a problems. Maybe one day we’ll look dead planet.” back and say this was the day the world woke up,” he says. As with any question put to him, the answer doesn’t end there – from He’s talking of the mass To rewild, you need land, wealth, we move to , awakening in environmental and something Monbiot believes capitalism, ecological collapse and climate consciousness, galvanized the need for a new economic system. and spearheaded by teenager Greta should come from getting Thunberg’s youth movement, and “One of the things we need to the powerful uprising of Extinction rid of livestock, period. recognise is there is no such thing Rebellion. as green consumerism, just less consumerism,” he says. “The one “I’ve been an environmental thing that is completely correlated journalist and campaigner now for 34 years, and it’s been a with environmental impact, is wealth. The richer you are, the pretty depressing 34 years, on the whole, where I’ve seen more harm you’ll do to the planet. It really is that simple. most things spiral downwards very rapidly,” he laughs, sadly. “But I also feel that this is the moment I’ve been waiting for, “What we need is a system that I call private sufficiency, throughout that entire time. public luxury,” he says, explaining how that includes public spaces like parks, galleries, allotments and other amenities “We’re seeing a level of engagement in terms of the that are owned under a ‘Commons’ system. number of people, but also the commitment, that is beginning to look commensurate with the scale of the problem we face.” As vocal as he is on consumerism and wealth, it’s on food and farming where Monbiot is perhaps most radical. His Monbiot’s career began as an investigative environmental thinking is underpinned by the concept of rewilding – letting documentary maker for the BBC, before travelling to nature restore itself as a natural climate solution and using Indonesia, and subsequently Brazil, where he became forests and other ecosystems as carbon sinks – something involved in social justice, indigenous rights movements, and he explains in a mesmerising TedTalk that has now been uncovered an illegal mahogany trade. seen by almost 170,000 people. But to rewild, you need land, His influence in environmental debate is well-established – something Monbiot believes should come from nothing less food writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall wrote in a book review than getting rid of livestock, period. that Monbiot has “reshaped the surface of the planet several Read the rest of the interview at bit.ly/2GD2oIF.

8 VOICES OF SUSTAINABILITY

ince World War II, there hasn’t been an official full-scale Dimbleby’s advisory panel, a group of food industry leaders Sevaluation of the UK’s national food system, even despite from both ends of the spectrum – from the general manager its failings. of Unilever to the chief executive of the Soil Association – and That is, until now. In June 2019, then environment as much as possible in-between. While some of these names secretary Michael Gove asked Henry Dimbleby to lead the may seem responsible for some of the issues Dimbleby is National Food Strategy and an independent review of Britain’s trying to correct, he doesn’t want to demonise supermarket food system from head to toe, set to publish in the coming chains or food processors. Spring. Its aims? To inform the government on how to create a “Is there a problem with the economics incentivising sustainable, environmentally friendly, resilient, affordable, and companies to do things that make us sick? Yes there is,” says healthy system for the future. Dimbleby. “Are there people whose intention it is to make that Dimbleby seems like a good choice to lead such an happen? No. So our task is: how do we resolve that? You have inquiry. As co-founder of healthy fast food chain Leon, to involve everyone who’s in the food system if you want to he has a solid grasp on distribution change it.” networks, what food is benign but also Dimbleby’s all-encompassing accessible, and why the food economy’s approach has yielded some surprising shortcomings – or as he tells me “things It’s no surprise there are findings. “What’s really striking,” he says, that are obviously stupid” – occur. He “is that wherever you go, whether it’s a also previously advised parliament on 28 versions of KitKat, tiny organic dairy in Lincolnshire, or a improving food in schools, is a director large arable farm in Hampshire, everyone of street food market London Union, a because they’re easier to is thinking about an agro-ecological former chef, and home cook. approach. Farmers who use pesticides, Better still, he has the brain of a sell than runner beans. even organic farmers, are thinking how sponge – during our conversation they can reduce inputs and increase the it’s evident he’s collected a range of fertility of the soil.” information from hard research, meetings At the moment, smaller farmers with business owners, farm visits, and ordinary citizens whom and businesses may be more willing to adopt ethical and the current food policy has failed. Dimbleby thinks it all sustainable practices, but the marketplace doesn’t reward started to go wrong with the Green Revolution, the 1950s-60s them in the same way it does those relying on economies of movement of industrialising agriculture to meet soaring scale. Will smaller local food producers get the helping hand demand. they need? “We were not going to have enough food to eat,” he says. “It’s more than a case of local good not local bad,” “And through the Green Revolution we managed to avoid Dimbleby says. “There are obvious examples like small global starvation. As a consequence of creating more calories abattoirs, where it is clear there’s a market failure harmful to per hectare, we drove out biodiversity. And as the food supply the system more broadly. It has become increasingly hard for increased, we became fatter and became sick. small local abattoirs to operate, and they’ve been going out “That second problem was made worse because we of business at a fast rate.” evolved not in a world of calorie denseness, but it’s those Read the full interview at bit.ly/2v87qua. foods that make cheap carbs, refined vegetable fats, and sugar. And those things are easy to market. So it’s no surprise there are 28 versions of KitKat, because they’re easier to sell than runner beans.” Those who’ve been blamed for helping propagate a culture of high-sugar, high-calorie diets form part of COOKING UP A FOOD STRATEGY The restaurateur

By Hugh

9 THE BIG INTERVIEW

A SIMPLE LIFE The activist

By Nina Pullman them to follow ’s teachings and a life of spiritual activism, and embarking on the journey that would change his life: walking 8,000 miles across the world to try and meet the leaders of each nuclear nation and ask them to disarm. ith a cream blanket around his shoulders and sandals “I got through eight pairs of shoes, lots of blisters, knee Won his feet, Satish Kumar is making a cup of tea. pain, going up to 10-11,000 feet of high mountains, then down, The former monk and lifelong environmentalist is bustling then up: lots of pain. And hunger,” he says, eyes smiling as he around the kitchen of Schumacher College in south Devon, the recalls the walk of over five decades ago that is still “as fresh as school of ecology and sustainability he founded, offering me a yesterday”. homemade ginger biscuit before we head up to the library. Two encounters stand out in his memory from that formative We are here to talk about his new book, Elegant Simplicity, journey: one, a Georgian woman working in a tea factory, who which is a culmination of Kumar’s thinking over the years, gave him packets of ‘peace tea’ to be given to the world leaders published at a time of mounting environmental, social and if he managed to meet them. personal crises. “She said, ‘tell them, if you ever have a bad thought about “The reason we have a climate crisis is because we are all over pressing the nuclear button, please stop for a moment and have consuming,” he explains. “We are churning natural resources into a fresh cup of tea, it’s a cup of peace and of love’. That was the gadgets, houses, roads, aeroplanes, airports, clothes and shoes: most inspiring and enduring memory of my entire journey.” the huge amount of things we are producing. The other meeting was perhaps more prestigious, though no “In the name of economy and consumerism, we are polluting, less memorable. “One of the most wonderful people I’ve met, wasting, and creating greenhouse gases. And so, the answer to who has left a strong and lasting impression, was Martin Luther climate change is elegant simplicity: living frugally, simply, and King,” says Kumar. “That was a most memorable meeting. He having things that you really use and not just accumulate and was a kind of dynamo of energy. And he had a kind of aura, a waste. presence around him. “For me, elegant simplicity is a prerequisite for sustainability. “I wrote to him and I said ‘I’ve heard your great speech. You And sustainability is a prerequisite to mitigating climate change.” have a great dream, and I have a small dream, and my dream is to meet you. I was with him for half an hour, but it went like five The premise of the book – essentially how to live a happy and minutes. Every word he was speaking was full of meaning, and low-impact life, and encourage others to do the same – may sincere, and authentic. sound like it fits neatly within the booming self-help genre. The crucial difference being that this isn’t your usual life coach. “He said: ‘for me, non-violence is not only a technique of protest and demonstration to change the law, it is also a way of Born in India, at the age of nine Kumar left his home to join the life. You have to be peaceful and non-violent in every moment, Jain monks, an austere monastic group that requires complete it’s a way of life.’ And that was very impressive.” renouncement of material possessions, money, shoes, and transport other than walking. To read the rest of the interview, visit bit.ly/37G8F2k. He spent almost a decade with the Jains, before leaving

10 VOICES OF SUSTAINABILITY

fter two weeks of train food on tour to promote her latest Hemsley credits her parents with inspiring her attention to Abook, Melissa Hemsley is understandably in raptures at the waste, including her mother, who, she jokes, should really be sight of fresh vegetables. receiving a cut of the book’s profits as she gave so many of her “I’m so pleased because I saw ‘light lunch’ on the itinerary tips without realising. and I had breakfast at 6.30 – I’m like I don’t want a light lunch,” “My mum didn’t ever sit with me and cook, but I knew from she says, tucking into colourful platters of heaped vegetables at watching her that you didn’t throw away cauliflower leaves or Riverford’s Field Kitchen restaurant. broccoli stems,” she says. “But also I think I absorbed it from Eat Green is Hemsley’s fourth book, and her second solo my dad and the army side, where everything has its place: they venture (she became known as one half of sister cooking duo wouldn’t even call it saving waste, they’d just say you can eat Hemsley and Hemsley), combining seasonal, mainly plant-based that, so eat it.” recipes, alongside tips to use up leftovers and cut out plastic, like She is critical of the food media industry for partly using a plate instead of cling film to seal leftovers in the fridge. encouraging food waste, noting that: “They might not do it in their More food arrives, this time venison, swede and lentil bake, own kitchen, because they’re throwing away money and chefs and the topic turns to meat. It’s one of the more contentious know that, but on TV, chefs will only chop to that part and then topics in the food sphere at the moment, but Hemsley is sweep the rest into the bin.” ambivalent. “I don’t really know how much I eat meat,” she muses. An advocate for organic food, Hemsley is aware about the “I would say my main form of animal products comes from accessibility issues, and says: “Obviously having better quality eggs, butter, cheese, and then I have a lot of broth. We grew meat is going to cost more”. “But I’m going to help you with that, up with most of our meals being broth-based, loads of chicken because I’m going to help you eat a little bit less if you want to, broth, beef broth, fish broth.” or if you don’t want to, I’m going to show you how you’re going to stretch your meat further,” she says. What bothers her more is the issue of food waste, which she sees as an issue that “can unite us all”. As awareness of sustainability issues grows, like carbon emissions of food, it becomes increasingly difficult to navigate “I remember a couple of years ago, people would be like ‘oh how to reduce your impact, and Hemsley is refreshingly open she’s so funny taking a doggy bag to a restaurant’,” she recalls. about how conflicting it can be. “I’m a bit like you, I’m confused, “Even if I was going out after, you’re in London – there’s always I’m trying to make sure I spend enough time every single week going to be someone to give it to within two seconds.” understanding what new information and evidence is coming to light,” she says. To read the full interview, go to wickedleeks.com/features. THE POWER OF PERSONALITY The cook

By Nina Pullman

11 FEATURES

RUMINATING ON SEAWEED

Could feeding cows and sheep with additives like reduce the effectiveness of a seaweed additive. seaweed cut the livestock industry’s greenhouse gas Dr Gordon McDougall, senior research scientist at the emissions? David Jesudason investigates. James Hutton Institute in Dundee, is not yet at the stage to feed any seaweed to cattle but has conducted tests here are numerous reasons why greenhouse gases on a “staggering” amount of varieties on the Scottish Tare increasing and accelerating global warming. coast. He says that seaweed may have other ecological Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia produces more advantages if fed to sheep or cows. emissions than the world’s cars, while the burning of fossil “[Reducing methane] is definitely something we fuels by giant oil and gas firms accounts for one third of are interested in, but at the moment it’s not our prime global emissions. consideration,” he says. “One of the first things we are Around 14 per cent of global greenhouse gas interested in is protein content. It’s relatively well known emissions come from agriculture, according to the Food that various seaweeds have a relatively high content of and Agriculture Organization, with roughly 40 per cent of protein. Therefore, one of the ideas we were toying with those emissions coming from methane released by cattle was that you could include up to a certain level in animal (although estimates vary). feed and then reduce the amount of things like soya So recent news saying scientists have discovered that bean.” methane emissions can be reduced by feeding cows This means instead of shipping in soya from places like seaweed, which reduces the methane emitted by their Brazil, where the crop contributes to deforestation, food farts and burps, offers a ray of hope. Initial studies found additives like seaweed could be grown locally, reducing that adding a small amount of seaweed, which contains the carbon footprint and reinvigorating local industry. a compound called bromoform, to the livestock’s overall “Also, there’s a supply issue,” McDougall adds. “[If feed disrupted the enzymes that produce methane in the farmers] are dependent on obtaining the soya from cow’s gut. somewhere like Brazil and if that supply was turned off However, one study revealed a more conflicting then they’re in trouble finding something with that protein picture. Not only would producing enough seaweed for level.” the world’s 1.5 billion cattle be impossible, research found, Replacing an imported feed with a local ingredient but the cows’ guts (microbiomes) seemed to adapt and would impress Orcadian cattle farmer Steven Sanderson,

12 FEATURES

who gives a little soya annually to his cows when they are pregnant, which makes their colostrum richer and improves their calves’ health. “It gives the calves a better start in life.” he says. “I’m surrounded by One of the ideas seaweed and if the product was there, I’ll be happy to pay for it.” we were toying Seaweed might not be the only additive with greenhouse gas-cutting with was that you abilities. There is a new trial looking at how charcoal (or biochar) can reduce could include a methane emissions, while another additive that is already on the market certain level of has yielded results for a UK farmer: Mootral. seaweed in animal Joe Towers, of Brades Farm, runs a dairy farm in the Lune Valley in feed, and reduce Lancashire, which milks 380 cows a day on 400 acres. After seeing the first the amount of headlines about seaweed research in 2017, he applied for a Nuffield soya. scholarship and began working with the biotech firm behind Mootral, an additive made from garlic and citrus. “Science has been pursuing a food additive to reduce methane for decades now,” says Towers. “The perennial issue is that the microbiome of the cow adapts and responds and, therefore, the impact tails off. Mootral seems to have overcome that problem.” It’s the start of the journey, but research into feeding seaweed, charcoal or garlic could help farmers cut emissions, improve animal health and have far-reaching consequences for the global livestock industry.

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13 LIFESTYLE

GETTING INTO A PICKLE Fermenting and pickling are the perfect ways to preserve the end of the year’s harvest – read our chef’s top tips to make green tomato chutney, fermented tomatoes & pickled chillies.

Chilli pickling Green tomato chutney One of our favourite ways to use leftover Has anyone else found themselves with chillies is to pickle them and use them in a glut of green tomatoes that haven’t salads. Once pickled, you can also put them managed to ripen before the sunshine on the grill and serve as a bar snack with a disappears? Green tomatoes are essentially cooling dip. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ perfect in every other way – their only Ingredients⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ challenge is that their sweetness hasn’t had a chance to develop. If you give them A bunch of fresh chillies a helping hand by adding some apples, 100ml water⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ sugar and onions, you create a chutney 100ml white wine vinegar⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ that makes a fantastic addition to a cheese ½ tsp sugar⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ board, a zingy flavour layer when stirred into ½ tsp salt⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ stews, or a happy accompaniment to cold 1 tsp coriander⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ meats. 1 tsp pepper corns ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Method⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Clean and dry the chillies and then prick Pickled ginger each one with a needle. Place all the other Ginger is one of those vegetables that ingredients into a pan and warm until the often gets forgotten at the bottom of the sugar and salt dissolve. Leave to cool down. veg drawer, only to be discovered at a later Once cooled, place the chillies in a mason stage in a limp and abandoned state. No jar until they are all fully submerged. Leave longer! The Japanese use pickled ginger for a week to pickle. Store in the fridge once as a palate cleanser in between courses of opened. sushi, and it’s also great to add a feisty bite to salads and roasted veg. Fermented green tomatoes Ingredients⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 500g fresh root ginger⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Fermented green tomatoes add a sharp and 1 tablespoon sea salt⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ sour note to salads and plates of roasted veg, much like a dill pickle. Quarter your 250ml rice vinegar⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ tomatoes and place in a sterilised jar. Add 125g granulated sugar⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ some spices, (try whole garlic cloves, dried Method⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ dill heads and peppercorns) and then cover Peel the ginger with a spoon and slice wafer with a two per cent brine and leave in a thin. Toss the slices in a bowl with salt and cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Make FOR MORE SEASONAL leave for an hour, then rinse and pat dry sure your tomatoes are fully submerged with a towel. Pack into a warm sterilised under the brine. Your pickles should be RECIPES AND TIPS, VISIT jar, quickly heat the vinegar and sugar until ready to eat in seven days. Leave for longer WICKEDLEEKS.COM/ sugar has dissolved then pour over the to allow their flavour develop. Best eaten ginger. Once cool store in the fridge for six within six months. LIFESTYLE months.

14 LIFESTYLE Why we should do less to save the planet Guest columnist and editor of Idler magazine, Tom Hodgkinson

n 1993, I had an idea, or what may be worrying about work and money-earning, not only on your own happiness but on the more grandly called an epiphany. It was you neglect your own wellbeing. In the happiness of those around you. People tell Ithat doing nothing – far from signalling US, work caused people so much physical me that they feel guilty for not working. inertia or laziness – was actually a very But they should feel guilty for overworking good thing. There are many benefits to because that leads to neglect of the soul sitting around with no particular place to and neglect of the people close to you. go. I started a magazine based on this But perhaps even more importantly, concept and called it the Idler. Don’t feel guilty for idling is good for the planet. It is activity For one thing, idling is creatively fertile. and interference that exhaust our energy It is when we are half asleep in bed or not doing enough to supplies. Overwork drains ourselves and it rambling around the woods or chatting in drains oil. Commuting, maintaining offices, the pub that we get ideas. It is when the heal the planet. You computer use, phone use, social media all idler looks most inactive that he or she use vast amounts of electricity and fossil may in fact be most deeply immersed in may in fact be doing fuels, as do going on holiday, travelling thinking. too much. to climate change conferences and not Idling is also good for the soul. Socrates having the good sense to stay at home, and the ancient Greek philosophical and lie on your back on the grass. schools that followed him taught that we So don’t feel guilty if you feel you are pain that they went to the doctor and should all make time for what they called not doing enough to heal the planet. You were prescribed opioids, which kept them schole, or leisure. We could also call idling may in fact be doing too much. So start working but destroyed their health. meditation, prayer, contemplation, study. now. Switch everything off and go and Ensuring that you maintain a 30-ish Further, idling is also good for the have a lie down. This could be the most hour working week has a fantastic effect health. When you spend too much time revolutionary act of all.

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15 Sod the supermarkets. Form a cooperative. Dare to hope, to trust your neighbour, to choose our children’s futures. Tell yourself: “Three times a day, I get to vote with my fork.” Together we can achieve what felt impossible alone.

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