Red and Processed Meat

There has been a recent report of a scientific study that says eating Red and processed meat shortens you life. Now these proclamations by “food experts” come out leading to rather simple statements regarding food.

The classic two one study that showed drinking a glass or two of red wine per day helped health, then out came another saying drinking more than half a glass of red wine per day was bad for your health. Therefore people end up with mixed messages and grow to distrust and ignore the health messages.

As I was a vegetarian for twenty five years, and my reason for avoiding meat was that the animals were being feed or given, chemicals, drugs, additives and foods that were dubious to say the least, I was not prepared to consume them. Therefore, I was left wondering if factory farming was or could have been a factor that had effected the results. The further I looked into this Epidemiological study, the more I realised that it was. As it looked at meat consumption and eating habits over 28 years.

We only have to look at a list of the chemicals that have been banned for use in foods, but were previously allowed, to see that these would have had an effect on the studies results. Equally, this applies to the industrial farming practices, including the routine use of drugs, that have now been stopped, to see a similar effect in the results.

If anything the study shows that we were eating to much red meat and processed meat in the past.

I personally know that some additives still used in foods effect me. I get an allergic rhinitis from eating processed cheese. Therefore, I prefer to buy a good quality cheese, in all its wonderful variations. However, sometimes when eating out I can get caught out and latter get a reaction from what I have eaten.

Therefore, if governments really want to improve health and nutrition they should “Regulate” (I know that's a dirty word to many) the chemicals that are allowed in the processing of foods. If those of us that are old enough to remember, things like Peanut allergies were so rare when I was young, but has developed into something that’s quite common. I strongly suspect that it is something that is being used frequently in food. It may not be a single additive, but combinations of them interacting to induce this once rare condition.

Here in Britain over the past thirty years, food policy has been characterised as “Leave it to Tesco”. In other words it has been left to the supermarkets and major food processors. During the same time frame, we have seen a growth in Obesity and Diabetes Et Al. As the supermarkets are cynical and will sell their customers any old rubbish as long as it makes them a profit. They will dispute this, but the telling thing is how many of the managers and executives would regularly eat the low nutritional value foods they sell? Not many if any.

The bast way of avoiding health problems is by eating a healthy balanced diet, and avoiding over processed foods. As the government and regulators will not help by controlling what big businesses do.

Zahtar

As the long suffering reader of my other web logs know, I have an interest in world politics and human rights. Thus the grass roots demonstrations in Tunis and Egypt sparked me needing to re-contact people I had lost touch with. Not least with having moved house and having been seriously let down by the telephone company I was with, and had been left for twenty weeks with no telephone or Internet access.

However, I have been utilising my time to work on some of the spice blends that I am creating. Therefore, it was great to re connect to people who could give me an unbiased opinion on my efforts. As while I am trying to make authentic spice blends, it is only when I can test them on and with people for whom these are part of their culture can I really be sure I have got them right.

Among the many blends that I have been putting together is Zahtar, this is an aromatic blend from North Africa that is also found in places like Jordan and around the Mediterranean, mainly Turkey.

It is often used as a spice when making meatballs or cooked with vegetables. Also traditionally it can be blended into a paste with olive oil and spread over bread before baking it.

I was very pleased to find that my efforts were appreciated and people really liked the blend. With most saying it was as good as the blends that their mothers or wives made and genuinely invoked the tastes of home.

The paste I created I used to coat some Tilapia, a Fish, that was baked in the oven, making a fish that I personally find rather bland, come to life with flavour.

Further, this paste can be used to coat meat, other fish or vegetables before going on the barbecue or under the grill, or baked in the oven.

  

Caraway Seeds

Caraway seeds are best known when used in bread, biscuits (cookies) and Cakes. However, they can also be used in savoury dishes too.

Here is a recipe for a warming Autumn/Winter Gammon Stew. Serves six

15ml Olive Oil
1 red onion, Chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, Chopped
454g (1lb) Gammon, Diced (cubed)
Half medium head of cabbage, Chopped
235ml 8floz Water
2 large potatoes, sliced
3 carrots, Chopped
½ Teaspoon Celery seeds
½ Teaspoon Caraway seeds
½ Teaspoon Paprika
Salt & Black Pepper to taste
100g (4oz) Greens such as Spinach, Chard or beet tops

Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large pot. Stir in the onions and cook for about three minutes until tender. Stir in the garlic and the gammon and cook for a further two minutes. Stir in the cabbage and water, bring to a simmer and cover and cook for ten minutes.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery seeds, caraway seeds, paprika, salt and pepper, cover and simmer for ten to twelve minutes.

Reduce the heat and add the greens and cover and simmer for ten more minutes. Serve with a good home made bread.


The seeds can also be used as a herbal tea too. Half to one teaspoon of the seeds gently pressed in a mortar and pestle, then infused by having boiling water poured on them for five minutes will release the flavours. A tea made from caraway is reputed to help with treating gum disease.

While most people will use herbs and spices for the flavours they add to the diet, all herbs and spices are also reputed to have health benefits too. Caraway seeds are reputed to help with Bronchitis, coughs and colds. As well as helping the body fight off infections. It is also said to be very helpful in reducing the effects of IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Like all natural products that add benefits to health via the diet, they must be used in moderation.

Whiskey Cake

I love making cakes, especially ones for adults that contain or are made with alcohol. So when I was asked if I had a recipe for Whiskey Cake, I knew I had a good one.

So here is my recipe: Whiskey Cake

6oz 170g Chopped Walnuts

3oz 85g Raisins, Chopped

3oz 85g Currants

4oz Plain Flour

1 Teaspoon (5ml) Baking Powder

¼ Teaspoon (1.25ml) Salt

4oz 115g Butter

8oz 225g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs at room temperature, Separated

1½ Teaspoon Love the Diet Mixed Spice

3floz (85ml) Irish Whiskey or Whisky

Icing sugar for dusting optional

Method

Preheat the oven to 325f/170c/Gas Mark 3. And line a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) Loaf tin with greaseproof paper, grease the paper and the sides of the tin.

Place the Walnuts, Raisins and Currants in a bowl and sprinkle two Tablespoons (30ml) of the flour, mix and set aside. Sift together the remaining flour with the baking powder and salt.

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks.

Mix the spices with the Whiskey/Whisky.

Fold the butter into the flour mixture.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the Whiskey/Whisky mixture until blended, then fold into the walnut mixture.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about one hour, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the tin, dust with icing sugar if using.

Talking Spices

On Saturday I was at the 151st Slaley show. The village fate, in a village in Northumberland. I have my better half to thank for discovering that it was occurring, she spotted signs for the event and while my initial enquiry to see if I could exhibit there were rejected, as all the spaces were gone, after returning from doing another market I had a message asking if I wanted to attend as other people had dropped out. So I went to the village fair at Slaley.

The aspect that I really love about attending shows like these is the real passion for food and cooking. There are many people who are passionate about creating great food, and even the most reluctant cook does use a few herbs and spices. And I love seeing that sparkle you can see in peoples eyes when I make a suggestion of how to enhance the flavour of food by using a particular herb or spice.

One of the aspects that I am pleased to discover, is that many more people seem to want to learn how to use the spices properly. There was a time when if you talked to people about using spices, the folks I was talking to were only interested in adding heat. Thus spicy food was only about the chilli burn to far to many people. Yet having learnt how to use spices from others, I knew that used well, they can enhance the flavours not smother them.

While there are still a few people encountered that want nothing but the chilli burn, the majority are not seeking that macho torture by food, but ways of enhancing the flavours of dishes. Often it is a direct result of travelling to far away places as well as the meeting and mixing of cultures.

There have been three examples of this, that I will deal with in different postings. The first was a woman from Germany who after having had a holiday in Scotland wanted the spices to make a whiskey cake. I will be posting the recipe here soon. Another was a woman from Scotland who had lived in Holland and had wanted to find a particular spice blend that was common there but like hens teeth here. A blend called Shawarma, Shoarma or Shwarma. The different spellings of the name, was half the problem, but I was able to recreate that blend too. I will be posting recipes here soon of how to use this one too.

The next one was a more complex one, as I was being asked to recreate something that was from someone’s memory of a dish that his grandmother cooked. However, he wants it to be very hot, equating spiciness with heat. Therefore, I actually think I may fail to create what he wants, but it has led me to discover the different flavours of a cultures food that I had known little about. So if when my testing of the blend(s) is done, I should have a fragrant Burmese mix too.

I really am excited by all these different flavours that spices can bring.

The Spice of Life

None of us ever knows where life and events will lead us. Having avoided the initial effects of the credit crunch, the collapse of the banks, and I was even predicting it in blog postings elsewhere. The effects still caught up with me.

Therefore, needing to develop other ways of earning my crust, I looked at utilising my skills developed from a life long passion and concern about food. Having previously owned and run a small whole-food shop, I looked at various aspects of my experience there to see if there were skills and previously garnered knowledge that I could use.

When I had the shop, one of the aspects that was profitable and enjoyable was the herbs and spices. I had been lucky, as when younger and lodging with an Indian family, I had learnt how to use many of the spices and utilise them to lift rather bland foods to create something special. Thus, when I started selling the spices, I had some knowledge of how to use them and with good suppliers too, I became well known for my herbs and spices.

However, rents and business rates started to rise and even though the business was paying its way, at that time, I could see it would not last. Therefore I closed it down. At that time it was the right thing to do. But while most supermarkets do now carry an extensive range, they were/are never as fresh as I used to get.

Therefore, I took the chance and started re-contacting my previous suppliers, and while some were no longer trading, enough where so that I could start buying in the stock I needed. As well as selling the herbs and spices I would make my own blends. As I had done previously.

The one important difference between the time I had the shop, and now was the Internet. It was then in its infancy and trying to get to understand how to sell online was not easy. Further, everyone I spoke to had different opinions about how it should be done, and even if it should be done. Most of the business folks that I spoke to and sought advice from, actually told me that the web would disappear in a few years, and I would be wasting my time and money. It was true that the costs I was being quoted then were far more than I could have afforded. Or if I did find enthusiastic people, they would be talking in terms of millions in sales potential, that my small scale ideas would have been lost.

But, the ideas persisted and I have started selling my herbs and spices online, at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/lovethediet It is a small scale operation and I also sell the spices at markets too, but I am pleased about the reaction I am getting thus far.

While I never envisioned this web log as something commercial, with me now selling these spices on line, I can see advantages in providing information that I just don’t have the room on the Ebay site to provide. Further, it enables me to interact with people regarding the way that different herbs and spices can be used.

It was just such an interaction that made me realise this, as I had a question regarding some spices for a Whiskey Cake from a German customer who had just been to Scotland. So over the next few months, I will add a few recipes and ideas of how these spices can be used.

The Low Carbohydrate Diet

I have never been a fan of faddy diets to control weight. Not least because it is only by changing the food habits that is causing the consumption of greater calories than the body needs and changing this permanently can anyone really lose weight and keep it off. Therefore I was rather concerned when my better half said that she was planing to go on a low carb diet.

Having lived on a vegetarian diet for many many years, I understand the need for a good balanced diet. However having expressed my concerns, I am fully supporting her wish to follow this diet. As I am the cook, to her own regret she never learnt to cook, something I am trying to help change, my greatest problem was trying to understand how to cook and prepare interesting meals that we can both eat. As I just do not have the time to make separate meals and dishes.

As folks will probably know, the low carb (Carbohydrate) diet is a development of the Atkins Diet. When the Atkins diet was the vogue, I was really intrigued as it seemed to go against intuition and by eating many of the foods that a dieter was normally expected to cut out or severally reduce, yet people were loosing weight. As I was not overweight, my interest was more academic, but even though I had a very open mind, having a better than the average persons understanding regarding nutrition, I had worries about the long term effects of this diet. There was so much interest in this diet as it did work for so many people, that science actually caught up with this and it was simply that eating protein satisfies the hunger craving better than carbohydrates. But as with all diets that restrict any food group, the science also showed that the Atkins diet was dangerous. Quite simply following the Atkins diet people were not getting the full range of nutrition that the body needs.

Thus as the high protein diet was actually working for many people, a less severe alternative to the Atkins diet the Low Carbohydrate Diet emerged as safer alternative. Therefore while I have concerns about anyone I care about going on a diet that stops the intake of any food group, I am less worried about this diet. Also, as I can keep an eye on what she is doing nutritionally, I can make sure that this diet does not make her ill.

So I have been learning to cook meals that are low carbohydrate. Using grated Cauliflower as a rice substitute, or green beans as an alternative to pasta. It is my experience with adapting recipes to be vegetarian that has really helped though. Fortunately she got a book of Low Carb Recipes to help me too. But this book has not been written by a cook as in one recipe for example, while the time for cooking was given the oven temperature was not. Using experience I was still able to make the recipe and it did turn out quite well.

One other aspect to this low carb diet is just how expensive it is. It really has got me thinking that I can design a weight loss diet that does work and is not expensive.