The Lie of the Land

[expatinscotland]

Anyone watching?

abbatoir hell here we come.

They aren't pleasant, but it is possible to buy ethically produced and killed meat.

Recently, the first organic halaal farm in Britain opened up.

Demand is huge.

And let's hope it continues to grow.

it's a bit shocking that not many people probably watched it.

what a brilliant documentary.

she has such a light touch...no heavy handed michael mooresque shooting fish in barrells.

never had you down as a socialist girl expat btw

I always have been, soph.

With a dash of strong sense of personal responsibility and duty thrown in, straight from my Conservative-child-of-poor-immigrants father.

It's strange that it probably didn't get many viewers.

I think it's because it's uncomfortable to get in touch with where your food comes from and put a face - animal and human - to the impact of cheap food.

When things hit home in an unpleasant way, people tend to steer well clear of it.

When really, the best way to get over it is the face it head on.

Bumping for the morning.

thought this was a fabulous programme. Really opened my eyes.

Great programme - fair to all sides and I hope that lots of people watched it although, as it made for uncomfortable viewing, I fear not.

As somebody who does hunt and has visited various hunt kennells I thought was a great job to stockman was doing. Those places really smell but he just got on with helping out the farmers and feeding his hounds. They were the only ones benefiting from the grizzly business.

I learned loads and certainly we've decided as a family not to buy foreign meet anymore and we don't eat burgers from takeways anyway.

I would say we'd give up drinking milk (we're not great users anyway) but like the programme states if you stop eating/drinking then it just means that the animals won't be bred or will be kept in worse circumstances.

At least the hunting people came across as the normal people they generally are. Most documentaries visit the shire packs and concentrate on the aristos and in-breds which do not make up the majority.

I only saw the last half hour of this programme, but what I did see was excellent. Honest and well balanced. Does anyone know if it is going to be repeated?

Those cows at the end coming when the farmer called... made me weep when he said 'if they love me enough they'll find the entrance in the hedge'.. and they did

me too the moon!!!! definitely want to see the whole thing, only say last 30 mins too !

He really loved those animals, didn't he?

That poor horse, though! They Lord, she looked in awful pain - gone lame in one of her back legs.

Her sisters all round her.

Made me take back all those comments I made about their being smelly .

Don't buy foreign meat, folks. Source locally as much as possible.

If you've got a farmer's market, try it out.

We've made some changes in our lives so we can spend more on food.

Your bodies are worth more than cheap crap!

And so are your nation's food producers.

It was on Channel 4. Maybe check the listings and see if it's not on for Sunday.

Saw this. Wonder how many complaints Channel 4 will have got (from people who buy factory farmed meat, of course) about the graphic slaughtering scenes.

Bit shocked to hear they're battery-rearing pheasants now - yet another animal I can no longer assume is generally ok to eat

Yeah, despite warning people there were graphic slaughter scenes.

People sort of make me sick a lot of times.

.

my uncle raised pheasants.

they're cute.

but not too clever.

If I had my way I would make it compulsory to label food with the method of production - a picture of a little cage and a syringe for battery reared food stuffed with hormones etc.
It's the denial that drives me mad.

Because it makes people uncomfortable with their cheap food.

And peoples' demand for that cheap food keeps big business . . . in business.

It's all linked, folks, just like the lifecycle on the farm and the turn of the seasons.

Big business brings you cheap food which you stuff yourself with to get even fatter and you refuse to pay more for food or cook it so big business continues to drive the prices down so small farmers go out of business so you can stuff your face with more cheap food.

I think I will try to make an effort not to buy at least meat in the supermarkets. Trouble is we don't eat much red meat - just really chicken and the odd bit of beef. It seems to be hard to find non-supermarket chicken??

A touch of laziness as well (part of the wider problem really) but with the 3 of them, its a drag shopping around. Must make more of an effor tho, was shocked last night.

Is there any point buying organic/British grown/reared in smarkets? Is that better than nowt?

Niceglasses - yes, organic is still a lot better, but you are paying over the odds for it in supermarkets. Be wary of British labels as the rules are a bit dodgy so it can just mean it was packed here, and if it doesn't actually say free range or organic it won't be, even if it costs a fortune and is described as 'traditional' or 'corn-fed' or is covered in pictures of happy hens in a field.
Do you have a butcher's shop or farmers' market near you? If not, you can easily buy meat over the internet - it will cost more but if you don't eat it that often it won't matter so much.
Proper chicken is much yummier, which makes you feel better about the extra effort/expense!

I wish I'd seen this.I forgot it was on.It would probably have made me weep with frustration & anger though.My family are small farmers & most of my friends are too,so I'm all too aware of the way the countryside has been hung out to dry.

My veggie friend said that it was one of the best programmes she'd ever watched & even made her think about changing her views over hunting.

A farmer friend was telling me this morning,that her friend does the recipes for ready meals.Guess where the chicken comes from? Thailand.I feel a stroppy letter coming on.

Our cows used to come when called & most had names.We had over 60,now there is just one left & the dairy equipment is awaiting the scrapmans next visit.When I was little,every farm locally had cows,only one does now.It just doesn't pay.

Is the progmamme being repeated?

yes, being disgusted by the slaughter scenes (although they were hard to watch) is the ultimate hypocrisy if you eat factory farmed meat of any sort.

i thought the guy whose (sp pedants that's not right is it?) horse was shot said it beautifully....we've all forgotten and prefer not to remember the death that is all around us.

Wise words indeed Sophable.

I've always found fear of death absurd considering its eventuality.

Hey, long time no speak, but I'm interested in this thread. Sadly, I missed this one, so if anyone knows when it's to be repeated, please let us know.

I actually know one of the guys in it, although I'm not sure how he's portrayed in it - he's huntsman and farmer, but having doing a 3rd job as a driver for the local abattoir/butcher to make ends meet I guess. He's also in the past been beaten up more than once by the anti-hunting gang, I think once being put in hospital, but he's still going. And he's a genuinely nice guy.

I agree with everything you're all saying, but the sad thing, in this part of the world where all this amazing good locally sourced food is produced, it is very difficult to find. Tesco is the predominant supermarket, with Asda down the road.

We tried producing and selling our own free range range rare breed 'happy' pork locally at supermarket prices (yes, it was economically viable in production terms) but no-one was interested. After they'd had our 'taster packs' sold at a discount to encourage people, no-one ever came back for repeat orders. Now what does that say?

A local butcher once told us that though there's loads of money here (in places), people spend their money on the wrong things, like cars, widescreen tvs or whatever. Not on food. And young mothers, understandably, find it a sight easier to take their babies around Tescos in a trolly than up and down the high street. Sad but true....

Expat - I've not always agreed with other stuff you've posted, but in this case you are bang on!

Am happy to write that, in the 5 years I've been shopping at Edinburgh Farmer's Market, it has gone from strength to strength and is now bigger and better than ever!

Was just there today and by 11.30, vendors were selling out.

And that the honey seller's son is now producing beeswax candles which are the best I've ever used.

2 for £1.80 - sold out by noon, though!