ETN 239: Denials
Hello
Yes, this ought to be an episode not a newsletter, but sometimes life gets in the way. Also, a kind of housekeeping note prompted by the first article.
Good writing costs money. I know that. And I respect the desire of newspapers and magazines to put their work behind a paywall. The problem for me is that I could not possibly afford to subscribe to all the sources that I share here, because the cost per item would be prohibitive. Many people have tried to solve the problem of micro-payments and I’ve used some of them, but none has really stuck. So while I might be happy to pay €1 for a gift link to an article, at the moment it is impossible. That is why I support The Internet Archive and archive.today. It is also why when I find an interesting item on a site that smacks of link farming, I do my best to track down the original, so that they get the satisfaction of the clicks.
Big “food” fights back
In the wake of the British Medical Journal article on ultra-processed foods, which I linked to last week for its clear definition of UPFs, comes an in-depth investigation in the Financial Times. It’s a good long read that examines the industry’s “ferocious campaign against regulation” to great effect. The FT follows the money to the usual choice places, all designed to sow confusion and avoid any government action that might eat into big profits.
In many ways, this is indeed a story of deja vú all over again. I urge you to read the whole article and make your own mind up, but in the meantime here is the money quote:
In the US, the food and soft drinks industry spends nearly twice as much on lobbying than the tobacco and alcohol industries combined ...
I wonder why.
Little seed has its say
The motto of the European Union on agricultural diversity, especially with regard to seeds, has long been Everything Not Permitted Is Forbidden. That is to say, only varieties registered in the Common Catalogue are permitted to be placed on the market, all others cannot be sold. We’ve seen glimmers of hope over the past couple of decades as the EU tries to loosen these restrictions for purposes of conservation or to support smaller-scale growers, but nothing really substantive.
One of the umbrella organisations campaigning for people to have the freedom to plant whatever varieties they want is Let’s Liberate Diversity, a coalition of like-minded organisations that actually gets EU funding to campaign against the EU. All of which is a long introduction to a recent article from a Swedish activist that offers an interesting perspective on the current state of play and the “different degrees of disobedience to the EU”.
Sivert Stiernebro recounts his experience at a hearing in Sweden on proposed new seed regulations and makes this telling point:
It’s apparent that the legislation proposal has been carefully thought through to cover all types of plant reproductive materials and uses. A variety that doesn’t qualify for the official list can be registered as a “conservation variety”; but even if it falls outside the framework, there exists category after category of ‘special rules’. However all seeds must enter the system—a kind of population registry for plants. It could provide an opportunity for more varieties to become legal. But it could also become hopelessly expensive and cumbersome to handle unusual seed varieties. Registration and control fees could be a more effective barrier than explicit bans, which would arouse every gardener’s spirit of protest!
The part I truly do not understand — and Stiernebro doesn’t either — is why there even needs to be a single system for all seeds at all scales. Sivert writes about “conflicting interests”; where, truly, is the conflict between a farmer growing, say, 200 hectares of peas to be picked and frozen within the hour and an organic grower who wants to supply fresh peas for as long a season as possible? Or a gardener with a bad back who wants tall growing peas that they don’t have to stoop to pick”?
And speaking of lost vegetable varieties (slick, eh?) kudos to David Shields, whose new book The Ark of Taste has been shortlisted for a James Beard awards. Shields has done sterling work to help recover older varieties that were thought to have been lost, among them Cocke’s Prolific Corn, Sea Island White Flint Corn, and the Bradford Watermelon.
The Α and Ω of A to Z bread
There’s a thing, apparently, called A to Z Bread (which sounds so much nicer in English English).
A to Z bread is a sweet, rich bread leavened with baking soda and baking powder. It contains eggs and a great deal of oil, making it very moist. The titular “A to Z” are the fillings which are stirred into the bread, a long list of things from applesauce to zucchini. You don’t put all of them in, rather you choose any that you like. If you have had banana bread, then you’ve essentially had A to Z bread. That’s the texture and general flavor.
AK Krajewska wrote about their “mild obsession ... to find the origin of a recipe, and to correctly credit the creator”.
I can definitely relate to that. I won’t spoil the fun. I will say that the idea of permitting any two add-ins from a list of 26 could probably result in some challenging combinations. I wonder how many of the 325 possible combinations the recipe’s inventor actually tried before going public.
Pesto
Two months ago, an 56-year-old Italian engineer took first prize in the 10th handmade pesto Genovese competition in Genoa. Two months later, with no indication of any delay, an online magazine published the story, leading me to track down (see above) a contemporaneous and original version.
It’s a sweet story. Mattia Bassi entered the competition with no great hopes, but once he had progressed to the final 10 (of 100 contestants) and noticed that the judges seemed to be sampling his pesto more than the others’ he thought he might be in with a chance. His success, Mattia Bassi said, was at least in part because he used his Nonna Rosetta’s pestle, properly proportioned for the mortar. He doesn’t use much garlic, preferring a more delicate pesto. At home he uses the pestle and mortar while the water is boiling and the pasta cooking, but for a big crowd he confessed he brings out the mixer. (Gambero Rosso has a longer write-up, also in Italian.)
Take care
