Salt (and sugar) Tax

[vinteuil]

... what's with this mania for serving puy lentil with everything lark

... haven't had lark for ages

Here's a couple of recipes :

alouette normande - sliced apples tossed in butter and placed in the bottom of a cocotte*, lay the sautéed larks on the apple and put another layer of apple to finish, add a little cream and finish in the oven

alouette père philippe - baked potatoes, scoop enough of the pulp to make room for a lark wrapped in fat bacon and previously tossed in butter, replace the top, placed in greased paper and finish cooking in a slow oven



* not that kind of cocotte

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[french frank]

This is Mr Johnson's first reaction to his own government's review.

How will taxes raise the price of food if there is a reduction in the salt and sugar used in the first place? Food will only be more expensive if producers continue to shove it into their products and people insist on consuming too much of the stuff, surely?

[Sir Velo]

... haven't had lark for ages

Here's a couple of recipes :

Probably because it's been protected under the EU Birds Directive 79/409/EEC . With Brexit, it may start appearing on menus again...

[jayne lee wilson]

Probably because it's been protected under the EU Birds Directive 79/409/EEC . With Brexit, it may start appearing on menus again...

Absolutely....

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/skylark/threats/

I heard (and after much scanning, saw) a few skylarks over my local fields in winter/spring 2020, but this year...... nothing...

They are so precious. We need to look after them...

[vinteuil]

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... just for jayne -

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/dining/the-ortolan-a-tiny-songbird-as-a-french-cause-celebre.html?_r=0

https://www.myfrenchlife.org/2017/06/26/eat-ortolan/

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[jayne lee wilson]

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... just for jayne -

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/15/dining/the-ortolan-a-tiny-songbird-as-a-french-cause-celebre.html?_r=0

https://www.myfrenchlife.org/2017/06/26/eat-ortolan/

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No access to the NY one....doesn't take much guessing.

I've been campaigning for decades about the slaughter of songbirds in Southern Europe (and not only Southern).... details are very nasty - google "lime sticks/songbirds"...
....so I am of course, deeply shocked by your revelations... ....

One day, humans will learn to live in harmony with the planet we share, or die out....the flippancy and sarcasms about the creatures we share it with will come to seem as dated as racism or homophobia.

[Serial_Apologist]

No access to the NY one....

I've been campaigning for decades about the slaughter of songbirds in Southern Europe....
....so I am of course, deeply shocked by your revelations... ....:arm:

One day, humans will learn to live in harmony with the planet the share, or die out....the jokes and sarcasms about the creatures we share it with come to seem as dated as racism of homophobia.

Gregory Bateson (the double-bind theory adumbrator and friend of Alan Watts) said much the same at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress at The Roundhouse. I heard him speak. That was 54 years ago - May 1967.

[oddoneout]

This is Mr Johnson's first reaction to his own government's review.

How will taxes raise the price of food if there is a reduction in the salt and sugar used in the first place? Food will only be more expensive if producers continue to shove it into their products and people insist on consuming too much of the stuff, surely?

As you say the items that will go up will be those that use the taxed ingredients, as can be seen with the sugar levy on soft drinks. I don't buy them, but did notice how much more expensive "proper" tonic water (ie not sickly sweet with artificial sweeteners) became.
The cost per calorie graphic in the BBC piece is I think rather misleading since the satiating potential of eg a carrot is surely rather more than a cake, even before the question of additional qualities such as vitamins. Food items that satisfy hunger for longer are going to be of more benefit in the scheme of things and that isn't necessarily a function of the calorie content so even if initial cost is higher the overall result may not be? Addressing problems such as lack of skills and knowledge, or lack of access to decent food(so called food deserts) and the means to prepare it (inadequate housing situations) would be of greater benefit than tinkering with the type/amount of rubbish in rubbish foods, but the systematic running down of the means to deliver such things(school curriculum, community centres and support schemes, council funding to address local problems) rules that solution out.

[vinteuil]

Addressing problems such as lack of skills and knowledge, or lack of access to decent food(so called food deserts) and the means to prepare it (inadequate housing situations) would be of greater benefit than tinkering with the type/amount of rubbish in rubbish foods, but the systematic running down of the means to deliver such things(school curriculum, community centres and support schemes, council funding to address local problems) rules that solution out.

... yes. In the second part of Kathy Burke's two-parter on 'Money', devoted to poverty - a significant fact for me was the revelation that there is no supermarket in or near Jaywick. The poorest of the poor are forced to pay more for their stuff because there is no access to the relatively cheap food most of us can find


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[french frank]

One day, humans will learn to live in harmony with the planet we share, or die out....

Unfortunately, eating fish, foul and good red meat is now big business, globally. Eating meat never involved breeding millions and millions of animals solely to be consumed by humans, but businesses and individuals see no reason to modify what they do. It's not just politicians who only focus on the short term

[vinteuil]

Unfortunately, eating fish, foul and good red meat is now big business, globally.

... good meat better than foul usually

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[LMcD]

Absolutely....

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/skylark/threats/

I heard (and after much scanning, saw) a few skylarks over my local fields in winter/spring 2020, but this year...... nothing...

They are so precious. We need to look after them...

Sadly, no larks ascending above our local golf links so far this year.

[Bryn]

Gregory Bateson (the double-bind theory adumbrator and friend of Alan Watts) said much the same at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress at The Roundhouse. I heard him speak. That was 54 years ago - May 1967.

I missed the congress and only got the book. Even that, I only got because the organisation I was then associated with was so condemnatory of the congress. Though very much a Bateson 'fan'. I always associated the double-bind more with his fellow participant R D Laing. Perhaps I am getting tied up in knots.

[french frank]

... good meat better than foul usually

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A fowl jibe, if I may say so

[Sir Velo]

As you say the items that will go up will be those that use the taxed ingredients, as can be seen with the sugar levy on soft drinks. I don't buy them, but did notice how much more expensive "proper" tonic water (ie not sickly sweet with artificial sweeteners) became.
The cost per calorie graphic in the BBC piece is I think rather misleading since the satiating potential of eg a carrot is surely rather more than a cake, even before the question of additional qualities such as vitamins. Food items that satisfy hunger for longer are going to be of more benefit in the scheme of things and that isn't necessarily a function of the calorie content so even if initial cost is higher the overall result may not be? Addressing problems such as lack of skills and knowledge, or lack of access to decent food(so called food deserts) and the means to prepare it (inadequate housing situations) would be of greater benefit than tinkering with the type/amount of rubbish in rubbish foods, but the systematic running down of the means to deliver such things(school curriculum, community centres and support schemes, council funding to address local problems) rules that solution out.

Indeed. One should also consider the "hidden" cost to all of us of having to fork out for the NHS to treat all those with type 2 diabetes as a result of these products. If they don't want to levy the tax, then the manufacturers should surely be made to foot the bill.