My days of grousing about the absence of well-stocked HFS's may be at an end. It came to my attention yesterday that Whole Foods has stores in the UK. They are known here as Fresh and Wild and six are located in London, one in Bristol (a 2 hour drive from here).
The nearest is in Notting Hill, not far from a Sudanese restaurant I'd like to try. But I'm not getting my hopes up; most UK counterparts of US stores turn out to be smaller and less well stocked than their mother stores. (Asda, for instance, is a pale imitation of WalMart.)
I've also heard of an Asian grocery store, located near Hanger Lane. They can expect a visit from me soon also. Life here may be bearable after all.
In other news, Newsweek has more on Super Foods. Yes, they're all plant foods. Pomegranates help ward off prostate cancer (and seed spitting contests help ward off boredom) and apples we've discussed already. But did you know ordinary spices contain health bennies too? Two tablespoons contain as many anti-oxidents as 10 servings of fruit. Pass the cinnamon, please.
George Monbiot in The Guardian gives us good reason to avoid Brazilian beef:
...I do not believe that British beef farmers have a God-given right to stay in business. We shouldn't be eating beef at all. Because the conversion efficiency of feed to meat is so low in cattle, there is no more wasteful kind of food production. British beef producers would be extinct were it not for subsidies and European tariffs. Brazilian meat threatens them only because it is so cheap that it can outcompete theirs even after trade taxes have been paid. But if it's unethical to eat British beef, it's 100 times worse to eat Brazilian.
Read on to learn why, but included in the reasons: Not only is beef production destroying the Amazonian rainforest, but the foot and mouth outbreak in Britain several years ago originated in slops fed to pigs, slops that included Brazilian beef.
Foot in mouth not only resulted in the slaughter of countless herds of cattle, but now we've learned the suicide rate for the veterinarians is higher, partly due to FMD. And Arse Poetica reminds us why we need to save the rainforests.
The Gristmill Blog has more on how you can save the environment. Turns out it's soy easy!
Breakfast of Champions:
"I hadn't the heart to touch my breakfast. I told Jeeves to drink it himself." —P.G. Wodehouse
(Bad puns entirely mine.)
