From a less scientific and perhaps news based angle, this post is just a list of the reasons to find tv chefs despicable.
The way they pornographise the cooking and glazing and stuffing of pieces of corpses is a horror to watch. These are pieces of an individual’s body they urge us to salivate over. Often a member of a family group who will be missed. An intelligent animal that has been terrified and killed. Whilst they earn a fortune writing cookery books for the unimaginative to join in as participants of the mass murder that is the meat industry.
For cheap, tasty and environmentally friendly meat, look to the skies, says Jamie Oliver
Even though I grew up in the Essex countryside, I’d never been game-shooting until about four years ago. I was invited by my brother-in-law, who’s a pretty down-to-earth bloke, but I was a bit nervous, as I had this idea that shoots were just for flash people and the aristocracy, and that ordinary people didn’t get to do it.
I was amazed by the different kinds of people I met there - everyone from plumbers, farmers and builders to surgeons and even a group of JCB drivers! There couldn’t have been more of a mix of people, all passionate and knowledgeable about the sport of shooting and the flavour of a roast partridge.
Shoots should be, and generally are, held on carefully managed estates that buy in young birds, most often baby partridges and pheasants called ‘poults’, in the summer, and release them into their fields, woods and hedgerows.
Although they could fly away, the birds are fed regularly to encourage them to stay on the estate as they grow. They’re looked after by gamekeepers who keep an eye on them and any wild birds and control would-be predators. By the end of the summer the birds reach a good weight for eating, and the shooting season begins.
The first thing I realised when I went to a shoot is that they’re very well organised. Obviously, when there are loaded guns around there has to be a strict emphasis on safety, but there is also a lot of tradition and etiquette. In Britain in particular there’s a great history behind hunting and shooting compared with other countries.
The shoot organisers are often very specific about what to shoot. Shooting ‘easy’ birds is frowned upon because it’s not thought to be sporting, but they might ask you not to shoot pheasants if it’s too early for them, or woodcock if the numbers are low. Shoots I’ve been on have ranged from 90- to 250-bird days with eight guns. If that sounds like a lot, remember that in the average poultry abattoir 200 birds are slaughtered every few minutes. I’ve heard people say they think shooting is cruel, as sometimes the birds aren’t killed outright, but many more commercially farmed birds are killed without stunning in abattoirs if their necks are too short to reach the electric water bath. If I were a bird, I know which way I’d rather go.
At the end of the shoot you normally get a brace of birds to take home, and the option to buy a few more. The beaters - the people who drive the birds out of their cover towards the guns - are normally paid a set amount for their day’s work and get a pick of the birds, too. The rest goes to game dealers who supply butchers, farmer’s markets and even supermarkets in the area. So a great deal of the money raised through shoots goes into the local economy. A recent government audit has shown that the game business supports 70,000 jobs and is worth £1.6 billion a year.
Shoots have also helped the topography of the countryside to stay as it is for many hundreds of years, as it’s in the interests of the estate owners to look after their woods and the hedgerows where the birds like to live. Generally, I find the people involved in the sport very aware of the environment. Few other sports can claim this, and I think it’s one of the best things about shooting.
My favourite thing, though, is the game itself. It’s a brilliant source of quality meat with plenty of vitamins and nutrients, most of it is incredibly cheap when bought close to source - and it is absolutely delicious. It’s a common misconception that game is very strong-tasting, but it doesn’t have to be.
It’s true that some people like to hang it without gutting before they eat it, but you don’t have to and, if you don’t, it’s actually pretty mild in flavour. A partridge tastes no stronger than the leg meat on an organic chicken and, if I cook the rabbit I shoot in my garden, my wife and kids think it’s the best-ever chicken. Not a word please…
Some people may not like the idea of shooting, but as a keen meat-eater who has a great respect for animals and nature, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. It’s a great day out and I’ve met lots of interesting people doing it.
The game season in Britain lasts until the end of January, so you have a month left to try out these recipes. If you’re lucky enough to get a place on a shoot, you won’t have to worry about getting hold of your birds, and if you’re not, call in at your local butcher or farmer’s market and see what’s around.
Get stuck in, and watch out for lead shot - game may be cheap but dentists aren’t!
Lamb to the slaughter on Jamie’s Great Escape
Jamie Oliver hit the headlines when he was seen slaughtering a lamb during the filming of Jamie’s Great Escape.
Some viewers complained to Channel 4 claiming the killing was ‘barbarous’ and should not have been broadcast before the 9pm watershed.
Jamie himself was close to tears during the killing and afterwards admitted it was ‘pretty emotional - pretty hard-core’.
Britain’s favourite chef was shown holding a knife to the lamb’s throat and hesitating before killing the animal.
He said on the show;’It’s a beautiful creature, but it is tasty and we are top of the food chain. If that offends you, you shouldn’t eat it. A chef who has cooked 2,000 sheep should kill at least one, otherwise you’re a fake.’
The programme featured Jamie staying with a family of farmers and hunters in Le Marche region of Italy. Not only did he kill the lamb for a family feast – but he was seen trying to shoot, but missing a wild boar while on a hunting trip. It later showed a three year old girl joining in as the family skinned and gutted the wild boar into her paddling pool.
Some critics felt that the killing, the way many lambs are killed in rural Italy, was inhumane as the animal was still conscious.
In the UK animals must be killed on licensed premises and must first be stunned - normally with a bolt to the head.
However both the Jewish and Muslim faiths are exempt from this law because their religions demand animals are killed with a single cut to the throat.
Others felt that the footage should not have been shown at a time when young children could possibly have been watching.
A spokesman for Jamie said: ‘When put on the spot, Jamie felt that to kill one lamb out of the thousands that he has already cooked was an honest and important experience. It wasn’t the easiest thing for him to do as you can see from the footage.
The method of killing the lamb was one not out of the ordinary in rural Italy and one considered humane by all present.
Jamie feels that the piece is an honest and powerful account of how meat is respected in Italy. Italians consider animal welfare of the utmost importance. A large percentage of animals are reared organically rather than by battery methods.
The hunters of the La Marche region have a much purer notion of the relationship between animals and meat than, say, a person who buys beef burgers on a weekly basis, without any consideration for how the animal in the products was raised or by the way in which they were killed.”
A Channel 4 spokesman added: ‘We were aware of the sensitivity of the scene and ensured that it was clearly flagged to viewers immediately before the start of the programme.
It was a difficult scene but one which was relevant in the context and important to include in the programme.’
Ramsay’s pizza joke outrages vegetarians
By Roya Nikkhah
Gordon Ramsay, a chef almost as famous for his four-letter outbursts in the kitchen as for his food, has sparked outrage after feeding meat to a vegetarian in his new television show.
The programme was filmed for the second series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, which will be broadcast later this month on Channel 4.
In the first episode, which coincidentally will be shown during National Vegetarian Week, Ramsay invites passers-by to sample pizzas at La Lanterna, a struggling Italian -restaurant in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
One of the volunteers who agrees to take part says that he has been a vegetarian for eight years. Ramsay replies that the restaurant’s chefs have prepared a vegetarian pizza and gives him one to try. After the volunteer - identified only as “Bob” - has eaten the pizza, Ramsay tells him: “Unfortunately, that pizza has got a lot of mozzarella and tomatoes, but underneath all that there is parma ham.”
The vegetarian complains to Ramsay that he has played a “mean” trick on him, but Ramsay jokes that he “hasn’t come out in a big rash”. He is then filmed laughing at the man and asking him if he would like some more, while telling the restaurant’s chefs that they have “converted a vegetarian”. As the volunteer hurries out of the restaurant, Ramsay calls out after him, “Good luck with the Vegemite!”
The incident has infuriated vegetarians, who have denounced Ramsay’s actions as offensive and unethical. Tina Fox, the chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said: “I am amazed that Gordon Ramsay can find the discomfort of a fellow human being so amusing.
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“It can be deeply upsetting for vegetarians to find they have eaten any part of an animal in error. Would Gordon find it equally amusing if an anaphylactic customer died at the table due to eating nuts?”
Rose Elliot, the award-winning vegetarian food writer, called Ramsay’s behaviour “outrageous” and said that she would no longer visit his restaurants.
Dave Spikey, the actor who stars in Channel 4’s comedy series Phoenix Nights, who has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years, said: “I find it extraordinary that anyone could have so little respect and regard for other people’s sincerely held moral beliefs and ethical choices.”
Leading chefs were also critical. Tom Aikens, the chef-patron of the eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, said: “People often choose to be vegetarians for serious dietary or religious reasons. To feed them meat is unnecessary, unkind and certainly not funny.”
Heston Blumenthal, the owner of the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, said: “If someone decides not to eat meat they have made that decision for a reason and it should be respected.”
Alex Scott, the owner and head chef at La Lanterna, said that the vegetarian in question appeared distressed after the incident: “I did feel a bit sorry for the guy as he ran out of the restaurant looking very sick and pale. Gordon fell about laughing and I think it made his night, as he’s not known for his liking of -vegetarians. I think Gordon just forgot to tell him the pizza had parma ham in it, but he definitely knew because he oversaw us making it and discussed the ingredients with us.”
A Channel 4 spokesman said: “We believe this was a genuine mistake and that Gordon Ramsay did not deliberately set out to give meat to a vegetarian.”
In an interview to promote the BBC’s Comic Relief programme in 2003, Ramsay was asked what had been his most recent lie, to which he replied: “To a table of vegetarians who had artichoke soup. I told them it was made with vegetable stock when it was chicken stock.”
Foie Gras, Veal and killing your own pigs
Sponsor of Gordon Ramsay’s latest series of ‘The F-Word’ on Channel 4’s digital channel More4, Tio Pepe has produced an ad at the start of the programme with the slogan ‘Foie Gras without Tio Pepe?’ The implication is that you cannot consume one without the other. Animal Defenders International, which has waged a campaign to extend prohibition on force-feeding across Europe, has condemned the inappropriate ad.
Jan Creamer, chief executive of ADI said: “I have witnessed this appalling cruelty. ADI carried out an investigation into the production of foie gras and the findings were horrendous. To produce this ‘delicacy’ up to 6lbs of ground maize is forced down the throats of geese and ducks over two or three weeks. The bird’s liver becomes so enlarged it can weigh up to 1,300 grammes when a normal liver weighs around 120 grammes. ADI is calling on Gordon Ramsay to dissociate himself with such unspeakable practices and to encourage his fellow chefs to do the same.”
The European Union’s Scientific Committee on Animal Welfare has concluded that force-feeding is detrimental to the welfare of the birds. Force-feeding is banned in Poland, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway. Legislation in the UK and in Switzerland is interpreted as a ban on force-feeding.
In the programme, ‘The F-Word’ amateur chefs are challenged to cook in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant kitchen and the food prepared is judged by the people eating in the restaurant. If they don’t enjoy the meal then they do not have to pay. There are often celebrity guests invited to cook a meal and sample the food such as Dermot O’Leary and Jonathon Ross.
Gordon Ramsay has already been the subject of much controversy this year regarding animal welfare for slaughtering his two pigs ‘Trinny’ and Suzanna’ on TV and making them into sausages in his restaurant. He also promoted veal consumption on television with the aide of fellow celebrity Janet Street Porter. In October, Gordon was injured while taking up the cruel sport of bull fighting in Spain when filming his show, then told of how his private parts had been bruised.
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