Blog articles from the Action section of The Big Idea

Food Culture

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Appetisers

Adding an appetiser course would be a great improvement to our British “meat and two veg” meal format.

Getting the British Pulse Racing Again

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It is exciting to see the revival of ancient pulses, which we were in danger of losing altogether. One strong factor that works in favour of a resurgence in popularity is the general trend towards eating less meat. There are certainly many recipes to choose from.

Webinar no. 2: The absolute importance of peas and beans

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Colin Tudge talks to JOSIAH MELDRUM and NICK SALTMARSH, co-founders of HODMEDODS, and arch developers and promoteRS of pulses. Pulses have long been key players in agriculture and the human diet and in almost all the world’s cuisines – fixing nitrogen, rich in protein, and the basis of some of the world’s most popular and … Read more

Eating for Pleasure

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As someone who lives to eat rather than the other way around, I am rather shocked by the rapid rise in serious eating disorders. Summer presents numerous opportunities for making a meal an occasion to remember so lets enjoy them!

Endangered Foods

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Many “endangered” foods are still being grown in people’s gardens, however the commercial sources have become extremely scarce.  The summer months provide an abundance of examples.

Hospitality

Barbequing is the one form of entertaining that seems to be growing in popularity rather than declining. Hospitality seems to come less naturally to us than the Greeks. But can you learn to be a good host?

Should we all turn vegetarian?

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Perhaps in a perfect world we should all be vegetarian – or indeed vegan. But, says Colin Tudge, this isn’t a perfect world and a low-meat diet served by agroecological farming is probably the best that we should aim for  Rumour has it that Oxford City Council, following the County Council’s lead of two years … Read more

The absolute importance of “Cryptonutrients” and why “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”

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The following – based on a on a lecture I gave in 1999 at the Royal Society no less – is an example of a “paradigm shift”: one that is now taking the science of nutrition into the realms of microbiology and evolutionary biology.

Rotten Tomatoes

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The parlous state of the British food system was laid bare for all to see, or rather not see, from the empty shelves in supermarkets this February. The loudest complaint concerned lack of tomatoes, but other salad ingredients such as cucumbers and peppers were absent. Why were people expecting to find these things in February?