12 Days of a 'eco foody' - Caroline's take on the traditional Christmas Carol

12 Days of becoming an eco eater
Is becoming a more eco-friendly eater going to be one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2012? If so, you’ve got a head start with Caroline's take on the old Christmas carol...

On the first day of Christmas, my true Love gave to me...

1 lovely partridge shot from a tree – Wild game is ge-nerally a great eco meat, it supports huge ‘carbon sinks’. The meat is very high welfare and nutritious, game estates support the local economy and help keep the countryside working.

2 times the hooves – The world used 71 million tonnes of meat in 1961, 284 tonnes in 2007 and is expected to need twice as much again by 2050. We all need to eat much less meat, especially grain fed ‘factory’ meat. Eat less, pay more and chose carefully.

3 metre hot tub – of water is embedded (used) for every 150 grams of grain fed burger. Water is hugely scarce within our world and indoor grain fed beef uses an obscene amount. Buy meat that requires no supplementary water, i.e. reared outdoors in wet hilly areas.

4 Season cows – Traditional breeds of ‘hardy’ cattle and sheep can live outdoors on the fells or grass all year round. This reduces; cereal feed, fertilisers and straw and is far better for the environment. It is better for the animal’s welfare, the consumer’s nutrition and the world’s carbon footprint. Buy meat that is reared outside for the four seasons.

5 Golden auction rings – Always ask your butcher where he buys his meat, ideally he should know the farmer and the farm from visi¬ting the auction ring. Butchers that buy from a meat wholesaler may get meat from anywhere.

6 Grass reared geese – Animals reared on fells and mixed leaf pasture, create meat that is higher in Omega 3, lower in saturated fat and higher in a wide range of beneficial minerals and vitamins than grain fed animals. They taste better too.

7 lambs a-springing – ‘Spring lamb’ is a bit of a myth, lamb that is ready to eat in spring has come from sheep that have given birth in win¬ter. This process is often brought about by ‘sponging’ the ewe with hor¬mones and the resulting lamb is often fed on cereal, as there is little grass growing in winter. Eat British autumn lamb, hogget or mutton for a grass fed natural lifecycle.

8 million tons of food mush – The UK wastes 8.4 million tonnes of household food a year, most of which could have been eaten. The amount of food we throw away is a major contributor to the pro¬duction of greenhouse gases in the UK. Only buy what you will use.

9 local foodies – There has been much made of ‘locavores’ – people that only eat food sourced within a certain radius of their home. Unfortunately this is often a little too simplistic and other factors such as production methods, transportation and cooking/wastage are not consi¬dered. Eating locally within season is a good rule of thumb, but investigate further to find our more detail about a producers carbon footprint.

10 landlords laughing – ’Local food’ has become big business, unfortunately the phrase is often exploited. Recently Trading Standards conducted spot checks all over the UK and found huge numbers of esta-blishments claiming their food was local, while it was nothing of the sort. A sample in North Wales found only half of the meat sold as ‘Welsh lamb’ was actually from the country. Ask questions; give your favorite chefs and landlords a hard time, demand provenance.

11 cooks a-cooking – Over the ‘energy life cycle’ of a UK grown potato (from seed to mouth) 48% of the energy used is in the cooking process. Food miles are a factor when purchasing food, but simple energy saving efforts such as keeping pan lids on, food thrift and cooking efficient¬ly play a massive part.

12 thrifty Grandmothers – Eating and wasting less meat is vital. Our Grandparents can often teach us some great tricks, like a Sunday roast should do Sunday with the trimmings, Monday in sandwiches or with a salad and the rest of the week as soup or stock. Make meat last and waste nothing.