OK so we've had Hugh doing the chickens, now it's Jamie doing the pigs.

Have any of you out there changed your chicken purchases and are any of you going to do the pig thing and buy British?

> Have any of you out there changed your chicken purchases

No :-)  Because I have only bought free range for about 20 years and before that I was vegetarian.  Similarly outdoor reared pork.  I am delighted to see these campaigns though :-)

>Have any of you out there changed your chicken purchases and are any of you going to do the pig thing and buy British?

No change, because I've been boycotting non-British pork and bacon for years. It was shown many, many years ago that overseas pigs (a species as intelligent as dogs) were treated worse than puppy-farm bitches. If you buy foreign pig products you are, essentially, supporting the principal of puppy farms.

Did the little house pigs tempt you to add to your pack? :-)

We've had arguments about this! The Boy would like a little house pig, OH wants Tamworths or Berkshires and I would only consider the (hideous) Middle White.

So far it's stalemate. :-)

I'm on the Chicken Out Campaign, at work they think I'm a weirdo, I cannot stomach the idea of cruel food, I have been buying free range myself for years, both chicken, eggs, pork and pork products, we will not have cruel food in our house or bellies. I have had a day of discussion at work trying to educate the heathens, it wore me down!!

I kept trying to explain that by buying the EU stuff not only were they supporting the cruelty that goes on over there but inadvertantly they are killing our own market/farmers. I live in Wiltshire and close to the Gloucestershire borders, several years back you could see fields of pigs and recently there seems to be less and less of them. I'm glad for likes of Hugh and Jamie and I'm sickened by the attitude of Te*@o. If only for patriotism more people should by British (if you can fathom it from the label)

>more people should by British (if you can fathom it from the label)

Ain't that the truth?! Trying to work out where produce has actually come from is like reading a foreign language. It was very interesting in Jamie's programme last night when the women from the official labelling department (or whatever her title as) said that it was ilegal for British produce to be noticeably proclaimed as such, and the rep fromthe Danish pig bureau (or wherever) immediately held up a prominent legal Danish-labelled pack to prove her wrong. British farmers are fighting the British government as well as the EU, and with one hand tied behind their backs.

> I have had a day of discussion at work trying to educate the heathens, it wore me down!!
>

Don't make yourself feared and hated :-D  Keep peck, peck, pecking away (do you see what I did there ;-)), we will get there in the end :-)

> Did the little house pigs tempt you to add to your pack? :-)

Didn't quite grasp that comment, but if you mean would I like to add pigs to my menagerie then yes I'd rescue them all in a halcion world, my 'pack' is full of many rescue animals.

I haven't seen this programme, but read about it, I am glad it has raised my awareness and made me think about what I am buying. Lately I've been buying whatever is cheapest (meat is expensive and I am trying to make the food budget stretch) but now I will try to look for the origin of the meat before I buy. We recently had a big joint of pork just because it was reduced and I have no idea where it came from! I will try to do better.

Have you not seen his programme yet, Pinky?  There were a couple of miniature, housetrained pigs.  Very sweet and very intelligent and rather distructive!

Apparently my great-granny had a pet pig - no idea what breed - it used to sleep in the kitchen in front of the range. ;-)

>meat is expensive and I am trying to make the food budget stretch

We've found that you can get better, cheaper meat (even British!) in a 'proper' butcher rather than in a supermarket. Far greater choice at much better prices.

My Grandparents rented a cottage on their smallholding to the local scavenger (road sweeper/rubbish collector) before the second world war.  One up, one down.  He and the wife upstairs and the pig downstairs.  Her one luxury was to buy real toilet soap to wash the pig and ensure companionable living conditions but my Gran referred to it as "her airs and graces".

> We've found that you can get better, cheaper meat (even British!) in a 'proper' butcher

It's getting rather more difficult to find a "proper" one though.  Perhaps this campaign may lead to their revival too with any luck.

It seems to me these days that we must embrace all that is European and forsake all that is British, I know this is touchy ground but I am British not European, I am happy to have links with Europe but I do not want to lose my Britishness and if that means care of animals that we eat, wonky veg and the so say silly 'lb' then so be it. Why can we not 'fly the flag' on our product but the Danes can legally do it?

Our government needs a kick up the pants for ham-stringing the farmers the way they do and the British buyers to boot.

It is very difficult because we also depend on Europe as a market for our goods. 

>I do not want to lose my Britishness and if that means care of animals that we eat, wonky veg and the so say silly 'lb' then so be it.

Behind you all the way. If we don't have faith in ourseles why should we expect anyone else to? Vive la difference (as they say in forrin!).

I have seen the programme, I watched it last night, it was slightly interupted by my own little pigs, Skye, Bonnie and Isla, 'the young ones', I missed the house trained pigs.

I know we depend on and need Europe for our market but often it seems as though it's not equally balanced.

>often it seems as though it's not equally balanced.

In a nutshell.

Our farmers are bound by tighter animal welfare rules, but we're not allowed to know if the meat we buy has been reared to the same standard. It's not a level playing field, and we're playing uphill, against the wind.

It could be a huge debate but I do wonder if perhaps girls learnt more about cooking at home and school (sorry this a bit of when I was a girl) they would know how to handle cheaper cuts of meat, the very ones that we no longer use, that we export, so that we can buy in the prime cuts of cruel meat because we can't produce enough of that to satisfy the market.

> I know we depend on and need Europe for our market but often it seems as though it's not equally balanced

I don't know.  Obviously we are more exposed to the British press take on things.

A friend of mine has two pigs who are clicker trained and do a recall and sit when asked :-) I can't remember the breed but they are New Zealand something or others and are miniature pigs with black spots on them.

Very few children are taught how to cook - even school cookery lessons (where they exist) don't seem to teach anything more complicated than how to put topping on a pizza.

>New Zealand something or others

Kune-kune?

> Obviously we are more exposed to the British press take on things.

This is of course true, often what the press prints can be OTT. If you speak to farmers though they feel themselves that there is not a level pitch. I have friends that are farmers, like I expect many of you do, how can they compete with these double standards.

Going back to the welfare of farm animals, OH and I regularly stay on a farm in Cornwall, the attitude there is that for good animal husbandry comes a cost, the meat will have lived well but it will cost you a few pennies more, I will pay that few pennies more but how do you educate the masses that a chicken is not a disposable thing, a pig is entitled to a decent life and that we should learn to use the lesser cuts

This sort of thing?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZPrcyxrrE&feature=related

> how do you educate the masses that a chicken is not a disposable thing, a pig is entitled to a decent life and that we should learn to use the lesser cuts

Well, hopefully this campaign will go someways towards it :-)  However it is not going to be easy in a recession amongst a population that has been so deskilled in the kitchen.

To have a truly clear conscience, you are a vegetarian!  ;-)

If anyone wants to know how to use cheap cuts of meat, watch the Victorian Farmhouse on BBC2.  They slaughtered one of their Tamworths in yesterdays programme and everything was used even the eyeballs!     Heave-ho!

I have always made it a point to buy British meat - if it's too expensive or unavailable - then I just don't buy!

I've always been aware of the fact that other countries (even the EU) are far more lax about the amounts of antibiotics pumped into animals than over here - let alone the commercial feed that they are raised on!

I've always tried where possible to buy my meat from a butcher who can tell me where it was raised - but when I can't do that, I'll always go for the red tractor mark!

This also means that I don't buy ready-cooked or pre-prepared meals - are you aware that some of the frozen chicken dinners are prepared from chickens raised in Thailand???????

OK - it might always be a little more expensive - but that doesn't stop you buying a smaller amount - if the meat is well-raised it will have good flavour!

Just after the war, my husband's family was in a "pig club".   This meant that about 10 families raised a pig between them - feeding it from family leftovers, pig nuts, acorns (picked up by OH & the other children of the club).    When it came to killing time, a local slaughter man would be called in, who would do the deed, and then come back and butcher the meat which was distributed amongst the members of the club.   Everything was used - the only thing that couldn't be used for something was the pig's squeal!

OH said that although all the kids would treat the piglet as a pet, they all knew that eventually it would give them good dinners!

What really horrifies me is the ' Mums go to Iceland' campaign. £1 a box for slop that contains goodness knows what and it's marketed showing a mother feeding her kids. I shudder to think what's in those packets, and how the animals were kept to produce such cheap food.  

Unfortunately i can't afford to be too choosy at the moment , but i always buy free-range eggs . And i have never been a Mum who goes to Iceland !
I try to buy good meat but use less of it and bulk out meals with chick peas , lentils , etc.

All the high schools near me do sewing and cookery , then other lessons such as woodwork and resistant materials . This is in single and mixed sex schools .

> "pig club".

That happened when I was a child too. A pig or a cow, each family bought a share.
Great idea,nothing wasted even brawn was made by one of my aunts.
Karen

Some of the cheaper cuts of meat are delicious.  We have some of our own beef in the freezer at the moment, and my favourite bit is the chin, it makes such tasty stew, which I cook in my huge slow cooker then freeze some for later.  Nobody ever refuses a second helping - and I'm not a great cook :)

>my favourite bit is the chin

Not a lot of meat on a cow's chin, is there? Or was that a typo for shin?

Ooops - yes, it was a typo :D

I am all for free range animals and their by products.
I am very much like this for fish and won't buy farmed fish if i can help it. I go for the wild fish options - currently Sainsburys have removed their wild smoked salmon, so i wait until they start to stock it again before i purchase it.
Same goes for sea bass, only wild sea bass for me.

I've been buying free range chicken, eggs and pork ever since a saw a video on a certain animal rights web site about how chickens destined for fried chicken are treated. 

It is more expensive but I need to know my food hasn't suffered.  My local supermarket closes at 10 and a lot of meat due to go out of date next day is heavily reduced just before closing so get plenty of bargains. 

no we only eat either my MIL or BIL own pork or that from the farm next to ours. I worked on a "danish" system rearing untit (in the uk in the 80;s) and would never touch indoor pork or bacon products......even less so those from overseas.

Suejaw, I don't understand that - wouldn't it be better only to buy farmed fish rather than wild fish, given so many populations of wild fish are threatened?  Explain please, I'm ignorant when it comes to fish  :-)

When there is a choice I only buy British.  Part of the reason is the environment.  I am shocked when I look at apples in the supermarket and see that some come from China and others from the U.S.   To me it is absolutely crazy to transport anything that far when there are British grown apples readily available - better are veg grown closer to us from Europe, but best case is British.

The other part of the reason is animal welfare standards here versus Europe and elsewhere. 

And, especially now, a big part of the reason I buy British is that I believe in supporting the local economy. 

In reply to the above about fish i recall watching a TV programme about whats in your Xmas dinner. They covered smoked salmon. Basically the fish are in a small area and are fed food which isn't found in their wild environment and lots of colours are added to it. So the brighter smoked salmon has more colouring in it and isn't natural, also not as meaty either.

I like to think that the fish i eat have also had a great life swimming around and eating their natural environment, just like the meat as well.
There will always been farmed fish as there will always be meat in which the animals haven't been kept in what i call good conditions. I won't eat battery farmed eggs, i buy eggs which i know come from a local farm, i have been to this farm and the hens are running about free range and it was great to see.

Got it, re the farmed fish.   Thanks.

I realize this thread is getting on a bit...but had to comment on something.
I was in the big T this afternoon and they had pork belly for sale in their finest range. Seasoned with lemon and pepper. Is was a very small portion that would do well to serve one person after the fat cooked out of it.
The cost....£5.50!

Unfortunate for the masses once a popular t.v chef starts endorsing a certain cut of meat...or group of "Cheap" meats or produce...they quite quickly cease to be...."Cheap".  I envision high prices for once affordable shoulder and pork belly parts etc...as well as the cheaper bits of beef.  Not done those of us who need cheap sources of REAL food any favours..:-(

I watched this show, very interesting & certainly makes you think twice. I had 2 packs of bacon in the fridge, & was horrified to see that it's origin was Holland, never thought when i was buying it. So, that went straight in the bin & on my next trip to Asda i bought some Wiltshire bacon, it was £2 a pack & had the British flag on it. We had it yesterday & it was much tastier than the one i used to buy. What saddened me at the supermarket is that the majority of the bacon on sale was from either Holland or Germany, there was only a small amount from this country.    

> pork belly for sale in their finest range. Seasoned with lemon and pepper. Is was a very small portion that would do well to serve one person after the fat cooked out of it.
> The cost....£5.50!
>

I think that is what they call adding value :-)  I am sure if you buy it or order it neat from the butchers it will still be a very economical price.

we spent ages in tesco going through the ham looking for one that was british.

Me too on Friday and if you ever find any let me know  :-D

It demostrates how difficult the supermarkets are making life for British farmers.