Everything In Moderation.

                                           A delivery box of organic friut and vegetables

Further to my post yesterday I had a lot of wonderful response via my Facebook page which I would like to thank you all for. I hate to think I'm just stabbing in the dark so I really appreciate connecting with my audience and knowing that like myself so many of you are passionate about our relationship with food.

Since writing this blog I have been doing a lot of research, one of my favourite authors is Michael Pollan, a journalist, activist and intellectual. He writes: 'That eating should be foremost about bodily health is a relatively new idea, and I think, destructive. No people on earth worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than Americans-and no people suffer from as many diet-related problems. We are becoming a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.'

He's right, we now have the western diet, with its seventeen thousand new food products every year and the marketing power-thirty billion pounds a year-used to sell us those products. As a direct consequence of our overindulgence, food companies had an opportunity to open up a 'health food' market. Pollan says: 'If you're concerned about your health, you should probably avoid products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a strong indication  it's not really food, and food is what you want to eat.'

The old adage of 'everything in moderation' has gone out the window. Corporate food chains have taken over from where our common sense and self regulation left off. We rely on food companies to help us decide what to eat, Pollan writes: 'Humans deciding what to eat without professional guidance - something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees - is seriously unprofitable for food companies.'

Unfortunately we are so brainwashed we can barely put the all things in moderation into practice. Our meat-heavy western diet is a typical example of our overindulgence, according to the FAO, every year each Briton eats 85kg of meat, roughly amounting to 33 chickens, one pig, three quarters of a sheep and a fifth of a cow. Clever marketing does little to tell consumers about the horrors of intensive factory farming and the true story of factory to fork.

Of course we all know that our demand for food is unsustainable, the future for our children doesn't look bright! Yet still we waste 7 million tonnes of food a year in the UK. We're governed by use by dates, another marketing tool, we haven't grasped that for generations people survived by using common sense and smell to discern whether their food was ok to eat!

Before massive supermarket chains, women like my mother would shop daily buying only as much as they could carry. We had a small fridge and one food cupboard which were rarely fully stocked. Cake was a treat we had for Sunday tea, snacks in between meals were unheard of and sweets were what you bought with your pocket money. Nowadays we don't even have to lift our backsides from the chair, we can order our food online by the bag full and have it delivered to our door. 50% of the total amount of food thrown away in the UK comes from our homes. My parents had one dustbin which was emptied once a week, it was never more than half full.

Interestingly in an experiment by Pollan, a group of Americans were shown the words 'chocolate cake' when he recorded their word associations 'Guilt' was the top response. French eaters to the same prompt: 'celebration.' The French, Italians, Spanish and Greeks have a much better relationship with food than Americans or us British. They still see the shared meal as a ritual, an act of culture. They don't consider eating in McDonald's or TV dinners as the norm. They will have a little of what they fancy, much as we used to not so many years ago.

In true Mediterranean style I like to do a cheese board for my family as a special treat for our Saturday evening meal. I like to add different things to the table to go with the cheeses, frozen grapes are a favourite as these become mini sorbets to cleanse the palette, marinated olives, lightly roasted nuts, sun dried tomatoes and celery are all lovely accompaniments. I love to use seasonal products and figs are in season, they are very delicious when baked and served with a blue Stilton or a Shropshire blue. I also made a relish, lovely with a mature Cheddar or a Wensleydale.

Baked figs

Recipe
6 fresh figs
Sea salt
2 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 glass wine

Preheat the oven 190c/gas 5
Halve the figs and place in baking dish
Sprinkle with sea salt and dot with butter
Drizzle honey over the figs, then pour the wine over figs

Roast the figs until the juices start to leak 12-15 minutes
Serve warm

Corn relish

Recipe
1 tin of sweetcorn, drained
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
1 small tomato, quartered
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon turmeric

Simply blitz the ingredients  for a tangy relish with a kick

'Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.'
- Jimmy Carter

'Fast food is as about as destructive and evil as it gets. It celebrates a mentality of sloth and convenience and a cheerful embrace of food we know is hurting us.'
- Anthony Bourdain.

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

Eating Disorders.

                                      I am forever engaged in a silent battle in my head
                                      Over whether or not to lift the fork to my mouth,
                                      And when I talk myself into doing so, I taste only shame.
                                      I have an eating disorder.
                                      - Jena Morrow.

In many of my posts I have talked about the increasing problems we have in society due to overeating, I have never written about the opposite end of the spectrum, anorexia nervosa.

As a child I grew up to the strains of the Carpenters, an American brother and sister duo, I loved karen Carpenter's voice, she had a contralto vocal range which sent shivers down my spine, I still love her to this day. In 1983 when I was nineteen years old Karen Carpenter died, she was thirty two. Carpenter died due to anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder which was little known and even less understood at the time. I certainly didn't really understand it or recognise that her skeletal appearance was due to a disorder known as anorexia, when I look at footage of Carpenter now I see a classic anoretic, emaciated body swathed in layers of clothes and a skeletal face which was all eyes.

In the final years of her life, Carpenter revealed to her therapist that she had been taking 80-90 laxatives a night. She also took drugs to speed up her metabolism and a medicine normally taken by people who have accidentally ingested poison to make them vomit. Carpenter, like many anoretics, was psychotic about her weight, her denial ran very deep, even when her weight had dropped to just over 5st she considered herself fat.

Anorexia is a complex, mental illness. Experts say that sufferers see it as a means of seeking self-authority. Whilst the anoretic feels she may not be able to control anything else, she will, by God, control every morsel that goes in her mouth. They also say the trigger can be that many sufferers are seeking attention. In Carpenter's case it is well documented that she craved affection from her mother who was known within the singers circle as the dragon lady. Never forthcoming with love for her daughter, when Carpenter over dieted there was a rush of attention from her mother, and she liked it.

Once the illness takes hold, anoretics will use different strategies to cover their tracks and deceive those closest to them, these include food rituals and purging. Among psychiatric disorders, anorexia nervosa has one of the highest mortality rates.

There are cultural factors at play, the promotion of thinness as the ideal female form in western industrialised nations has a lot to answer for. Poignantly, anorexia is more likely to occur in populations in which obesity is more prevalent.

The UK (where obesity is prevalent) has the highest rate of eating disorders in Europe. Figures suggest that 1 in 100 women has a clinically diagnosed eating disorder. However, due to the denial and secrecy that surrounds anorexia, many women won't even come into those statistics. It is averaged that between 11-13 million people in the UK have psychological issues or problems connected with food!

My passion regarding writing a food blog has always been above and beyond just producing endless recipes. My interest lies in our psychological relationship with food. In the space of one week I have witnessed the excesses of an 'all you can eat' culture, where young girls were eating gigantic meals in spite of being morbidly obese, to imploring a friend who, like karen Carpenter, is wasting away because she thinks the very act of eating is shameful.

I suppose the moral of the story is that here in the UK education regarding food is at an all time low. We tend to be circumspect in making a connection between food and the inner person. I'm not talking about cooking lessons, my son took food technology as an 'option' and spent a whole term doing the practical and theory of how to make a white sauce! Food is at the heart of our society, we are universally connected to each other through food, yet we aren't teaching our children the story behind the food we eat.

The sheer novelty and glamour of the processed western diet has overwhelmed the force of tradition. The sinister side of this is that educating our children about food would be seriously unprofitable to food companies, we now rely on journalism, government and marketing to influence us regarding what to eat and how we perceive food.

And so we find ourselves where we are now, an educated, modern, western society with up to 13 million people in the UK with issues and health problems connected with food! Isn't it about time we re-evaluated the situation?

'Eating disorders are like a gun that's formed by genetics, loaded by a culture and family ideals, and triggered by unbearable distress.'
- Aimee Liu

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

Eat Well, Feel Great.

                                    Having a leisurely al fresco lunch courtesy of my friend Gill.

My birthday is never a one day affair, I like to string it out spending time with various friends using it as an excuse for celebratory lunches and get togethers. Yesterday I was invited for a birthday lunch with my good friends Gill and Billy, the weather was splendid so we were able to eat outside.

Gill had read my post: 'The art of doing nothing' and had planned a leisurely day of eating, drinking and sitting in the sunshine......a perfect way to spend the day.

We started our meal with a delicious combination of Billy's homemade bread, king prawns, homemade dips and champagne.

Our main course was an interesting one in as much as Gill used an ingredient which was a staple in my diet during my vegetarian years. Quinoa is a vegetable protein that looks like a grain, it is a very efficient, cheap and healthy alternative to meat and is wheat free.

For thousands of years, quinoa formed the staple diet of the Incas and their descendants. In recent years, foodies have heralded it as a superior alternative to rice or cous cous due to its high nutritional content.

Quinoa, pronounced keen-wa, rather like polenta or pasta, has no discernable flavour of its own, it is a vessel to which other flavours have to be added. Combing beans and grains together forms a complete protein and because they break down easily in the body they are great for the metabolism.

Gill added a combination of ingredients: finely chopped onion, tomatoes and avocado along with red pepper, shredded spinach, chopped coriander and crumbled feta cheese.

The piece de resistance was the toasted pine nuts

Gill also made a delicious dressing with herbs, garlic and olive oil

This salad would work very well on its own, full of flavour, texture and essential amino acids it's a wholesome meal, but it was made all the more delicious by the added ingredient of pan fried sea bass.

There are many benefits from eating healthy food such as quinoa, you can make it taste great by experimenting with different flavours: vegetables, herbs and spices. It is easy to prepare so you don't have to have great culinary experience and when combined with nuts, beans, tofu, lean chicken or fish you can eat in abundance and feel great!

The beauty of eating a healthy meal is that you can afford to spoil yourself with an occasional treat. In true birthday style Gill brought me my birthday cake complete with candle.

Most supermarkets now stock quinoa grains which need to be rinsed and boiled, however, you can buy ready to use quinoa in sachets, brands such as merchant gourmet do a sachet of mixed red and white quinoa which whilst more expensive is very useful for quickness.

If you haven't experimented with quinoa I strongly urge you to, my next recipe is one I found very satisfying and comforting on many a chilly evening.

Warm vegetable quinoa peppers

Recipe
Serves 4 for a small appetite or two for a main meal
1 red pepper, deseeded and halved
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and halved
1 courgette, trimmed and finely chopped
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
60g quinoa grains
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
100g fresh rocket
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven 200c/gas mark 6
Place peppers cut side up on an ovenproof baking dish
Scatter the courgette and onion over the top, drizzle with a little olive oil and season
Bake for 15 minutes
Meanwhile, rinse and drain the quinoa, add to a pan of boiling water, along with the thyme and rosemary
Cook for 8-10 minutes, drain and set aside, discard herbs
Remove peppers from oven and place on warm plates
Spoon quinoa into the pepper halves, scatter with rocket, fresh basil and toasted pine nuts and arrange the lemon wedges (for squeezing) on top
Serve immediately

This is a very low calorie meal so if you desire you could grate some cheese onto the peppers along with the onions and courgettes for extra deliciousness.


'If time, so fleeting, must like humans die,
Let it be filled with good food and good talk,
And then embalmed in the perfumes of conviviality.'
- Serve It Forth.

Love Donna xxxx

All You Can Eat

                                                       The proprietor of The Eden Café

When I awoke on Saturday morning (my birthday) a card was propped on my bedside table, when I opened it I found a hotel reservation, Glenn had arranged a surprise night away in London.

Part of the surprise was that we would be meeting my brother and his partner later that evening for dinner. When we arrived at the hotel, which had been chosen purely for its proximity to my brother's home, it was adjoined to a Toby Carvery, a British carvery chain brand which serves 21 million meals a year.

When we arrived breakfast was still being served, (although actually it's all self service) every conceivable breakfast ingredient was displayed on hot plates, the concept being for four pounds you could help yourself to as much food as you want. None of it looked very appealing, I personally don't like old food that has been sitting under warmers, the eggs looked hard, the bacon and sausages looked like cheap quality, the bread was white processed bread, but hey you get what you pay for.

What I found most off putting, as we hastily made our way through the restaurant to the hotel, was the sheer volume of food on peoples plates.

On coming back downstairs the breakfast buffet had been replaced with the all you can eat carvery and already the restaurant was heaving. As with the breakfast, people were piling so much food onto their plates that Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes were dropping from plates and scattered across the floor.

'All you can eat' sums up much of what is wrong about our relationship with food. One third of the world's population are consuming their way to obesity and diabetes, eating far more than they need, while for the rest of humanity-especially the 900 million people around the world who suffer from chronic hunger-all you can eat is unattainable and inconceivable.

There can be no doubt that our penchant for meat particularly the cheap factory farmed kind is ravaging our planet. Our want for excessive amounts of food is in turn causing colossal food waste which just isn't sustainable.

 We decided to venture out for some brunch. Further up the street was a café that looked rather appealing, we sat on the terrace and immediately a very friendly waitress was by our side. The menu didn't look promising, the photos of the food weren't appealing everything looked very processed. However, when I asked the waitress if (fat chance I thought) the bubble and squeak was home made, she went into raptures about fresh ingredients and the chefs wonderful cooking. When my food arrived it looked delicious although there were some random onion rings on my plate?

This breakfast cost nearly double the 'all you can eat' breakfast yet it was worth every penny in terms of taste and quality.

                                These young girls had come for the 'all you can eat' carvery

It had been a while since I'd last had bubble and squeak, it was so good I went and personally complimented the chef, and that's the thing, instead of a loveless meal just churned out by robots, I appreciated the passion involved and the chef was pleased with the compliment. As Jamie Oliver says: 'If I'm grumpy when cooking, my recipes never turn out right, good food is about a happy cook.'

Bubble and squeak, such a simple dish and one which we ate regularly throughout my childhood, is a dish created out of leftovers. Shredded meat and leftover vegetables from Sunday's dinner would be fried in a big pan for Monday's supper. As long as 60% is potato you can add any vegetables you choose, serve with eggs and beans for a meat free meal or add a couple of rashers of good quality crispy bacon and a big dollop of HP sauce.

Bubble and squeak

Recipe
Serves 6
1kg potatoes
600g vegetables, carrots, Brussels, swede, parsnips, leeks......whatever you like
Olive oil
Butter
Salt and pepper

Peel and trim all the vegetables, chop into even size pieces
Boil vegetables rapidly for 10 minutes then drain

Put a frying pan over a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil and a large knob of butter
Once hot add the vegetables and mash everything up in the pan, season well

Cook for 4 minutes, until a crust starts forming underneath, keep folding the crispy bits back into the mash
Keep repeating this process, moving the crispy bits around
Once the bubble starts to set flip it over, let the underside crisp up
Serve onto hot plates

'Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.'
- Mahatma Gandhi

Love Donna xxxxxxxx

The Art Of Doing Nothing

Italians and Spaniards have a totally different lifestyle from the English. The weather dictates a lot of our behaviour and they have the good fortune to be able to spend a lot of their life outdoors. Food plays a very important role in their lifestyles the belief being that eating good food isn't a privilege, but a basic right. Eating well is a sign of well being, of the normal functioning of a family.

Whilst we Brits lead very frentic lives compared with our Mediterranean counterparts, we find it harder to relax and enjoy our leisure time. The Italian writer Umberto Eco once said that throughout history Italians have been able to appreciate sitting down and doing nothing. This is called non far nulla in Italian and it's true, Mediterranean people have raised the act of doing absolutely nothing in their leisure time to a fine art.

Stroll through the village of my second home in Jacarilla Spain on a late Saturday afternoon and you will find the shops are closed but the bars and cafés will be buzzing with families. They will sit quite literally for hours with maybe one coffee chatting in their very expressive, outgoing way, it's just instinctive for them to relax. We Brits don't have these instincts, we have to be doing something be it wandering aimlessly around a shopping precinct, a garden centre or a DIY store, or furiously pumping iron at the gym.

After a hard weeks work my partner spends most of his weekend finding jobs to do around the home, the concept of just sitting makes him feel guilty. Yet in Spain he can just 'be', he'll happily wander into the village and sit outside a café, watching the world go by for a couple of hours.

                                               Non far nulla. Courtesy of Tony and Giorgio

When staying in Jacarilla I love the morning ritual of shopping. Most of the women take great pleasure in buying their food daily, they have good relationships with the local shopkeepers and popping out for a few groceries can turn into quite an event. I have stood in a queue many a time where women are talking and gesticulating, smelling the fruit, tasting the ham, insisting on the best ingredients. This takes me back to my childhood when my mother shopped daily and would spend whole mornings chatting with the grocer, the baker and the butcher, not to mention being waylaid by various neighbours.

My next dish is one that is as popular to us Brits as a roast dinner or fish and chips. I'm guessing everyone has at some stage made a lasagne. However, lasagne has also become one of the highest selling ready meals in the UK which horrifies me! Please look back on a post I wrote in April: Autism and our eating habits, I have photographed a processed lasagne which alarmingly has (in bright red) warnings of high fat and salt content. Aside from the fact processed lasagne has no substance, the meat sauce is more like gravy, and that it is pretty tasteless, it is also harmful if eaten on a regular basis.

It is a shame that we have come to see food as just fuel stops rather than as a celebration of good ingredients, taste and nutritional value. We are so preoccupied with watching the TV or looking at our mobile phones whilst eating that we've become de sensitized. If you are going to eat lasagne make it from scratch and really appreciate it, I always double the quantity I've given below and freeze a lasagne for another time.

Lasagne al ragu di carne

Recipe
Lasagne sheets
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1lb minced beef
1 teaspoon dried oregano
150ml red wine
200g tin of tomatoes
75g cheese, you can use Parmesan, Cheddar or a combination of Cheddar and mozzarella

For the white sauce
50g butter
50g plain flour
1 pint of milk

To make the meat sauce, heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and carrot and sweat over a low heat for 3-4 minutes

Add the garlic, oregano and minced beef and cook until the beef is browned

Season with salt and pepper, add red wine and bubble until completely evaporated
Stir in the tomatoes plus 2 tomato tins full of water

Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally

Meanwhile make the white sauce, melt butter in a pan, stir in the flour and gradually add the milk, stirring all the time
Bring to the boil, stirring continuously, reduce heat, simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat

Preheat oven 180c/gas 4
Cover the bottom of a large lasagne dish (or you can like me make individual portions) with a couple of tablespoons of each sauce

Cover with a single layer of pasta sheets, then with a couple more tablespoons of each sauce, keep layering in this way until you have about 7 layers of pasta and sauces
Finish with a layer of white sauce and sprinkle cheese on top

Bake for 35 minutes, until golden and bubbling

A final word on lasagne, the pasta is the equal star in this dish, you should be able to slice your lasagne and see the layers of pasta. It should never be a runny, saucy, glutinous mess, as processed lasagne tends to be.

'Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.'
- Marthe Troly-Curtin

'The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your time.'
- Marcus Aurelius

Love Donna xxxxx

A Little Bit Of Kindness Goes A Long Way

                            A beautiful butterfly on my buddleia, known as a butterfly bush

In many cultures from all over the world butterflies are believed to have links with the human soul. Many people report seeing a butterfly in their home shortly after a loved one's death, I had personal experience of this shortly after my mother passed away.

Spiritual enlightenment is the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice, this is attained when all limitations have been removed from our minds - a state characterised by infinite compassion towards others, wisdom and skill.

Today's science has usurped mythological beliefs, fables and superstitions, bearing facts as opposed to beliefs. We are less about spirit and soul and more about all things material, physical and technological, we like to think we are masters of our own destiny.

Yet in China it is still widely believed that we are all connected by the red string of fate, the ancient Chinese proverb says: 'An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.'

According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red cord around the corresponding ankles of those who are destined to meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way. The red thread doesn't just refer to the person we marry, or our own children, but to every person we meet in our lives.

The Chinese believe the red threads emanate from us from birth, as we age the threads grow tighter, pulling us closer to the people whose lives are destined to intertwine with ours, we just have to recognise those people.

I personally take comfort from this belief, rather than just randomly being born, living and dying, unconnected and with seemingly no reason, I like to think that those closest to me will always be bound together by the red thread, for eternity.

With so many atrocities going on in within our society one has to believe there is a reason. I was working in Harrods on that fateful Saturday back in 1983 when we were subjected to a terrible terrorist attack. Being in close range to the bomb and seeing the carnage first hand was a shocking experience. However, it is the small acts of unkindness from people I have trusted and liked that have affected me the most in life. We see it everyday, on the Internet and in the workplace, people being malevolent, cruel, malicious, mean-spirited and ruthless, like a dripping tap these little droplets of unkindness are within all of us on a daily basis when dealing with one another, a harsh word, a treacherous action, an unsympathetic ear, we're all guilty to some extent.

One can only hope life literally is a learning curve and that the red thread that binds us eventually heals us of all misdemeanours towards one another.

This next recipe is one I cooked recently for someone with whom I have a slightly tempestuous relationship, I always hope that the act of cooking for and eating with this person is an olive branch, as Gautama Buddha said: 'purity or impurity depends on oneself, no one can purify another.' But we can at least try!

Cola ham

Recipe
1 medium gammon ham
1 onion
2 litres Coca Cola
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons runny honey
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place ham in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and drain
Cover ham in cola, add onion, bring pan to the boil and reduce to a simmer
Put lid on and cook for 2 1/2 hours
When the ham is cooked, preheat oven 240c/gas 9
Take gammon out of pan and allow to cool, remove skin leaving a thin layer of fat
Score fat with a sharp knife
Combine soy, honey and oil, place ham in a greaseproof paper lined roasting tin and glaze

             I cooked my ham in a slow cooker which does tend to make the ham fall apart

Place ham in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, remove and re glaze with juices at the bottom of the pan
Cook for a further 15-20 minutes until burnished and bubbly

Allow to rest for 15 minutes under a foil tent before carving

Serve with seasonal vegetables and pour juices from the bottom of the roasting tin over the top

'You must be the change you wish to see in the world.'
- Mahatma Gandhi

Love Donna xxxxxxxx

Dying On The NHS

                                                                 My gorgeous Bert

On his twenty first birthday my son Bert was struck down with glandular fever and quinsy. Both of these illnesses have the potential to be very serious and indeed Bert was extremely unwell to the extent he was hospitalised.

Bert didn't fare very well in hospital, due to the severe swelling in his tonsil area swallowing was nearly impossible for him, of course he was hydrated through a drip, but my family doctor suggested I take Bert home and nurse him myself, his suggestion was that Bert needed lots of nutrition to aid his recovery. It was a frightening time for me, Bert had a fever and enlarged spleen and could barely stay awake. I had to administer water little and often along with other liquids such as Jewish penicillin soup and manuka honey and lemon.

Gradually as the swelling subsided I introduced organic fruit and vegetable smoothies, I froze live yoghurt onto lolly sticks for Bert to suck, I froze juice in my ice cube tray, l made garlic soup which is great for building up the immunity system.

Initially the prognosis for Bert's recovery hadn't been good, we were told that he could be debilitated for anything up to two years and that most certainly Bert wouldn't be able to engage in any contact sports for the foreseeable future.

As it was Bert made a full recovery within six months which my family doctor maintained was down to Bert's nutritional diet. I wrote a post a couple of days ago about superfood blogger Ella Woodward, she too was struck down by a debilitating illness but ate herself well. Please take a minute to read that post and also to look at Ella's blog.

This past week NHS patients across the UK have been uploading photos of their hospital food in a bid to shame bosses into doing something about the appalling quality of food being served.

The evidence has been shocking! Just when people need good nutritional food most, the elderly, the infirm and the weak are being served meals that are almost unfit for human consumption. Even Prince Charles has commented on the parlous state of NHS hospital food saying 'food is a medicine in itself' he believes it should be made 'a clinical priority'.

This crisis of care needs addressing! Sadly people die in hospital, surely they are entitled to have at least eaten well before death. Food is important to the sick - a little bit of brightness to lift the gloom of illness in difficult days, days when there is little else to look forward to.

Of course like most of our institutions here in the UK, the NHS is overstretched, it's all about cuts and budgets and cost effectiveness.

I have recently been watching re-runs of the British medical drama series The Royal. Set in the 1960s the royal takes us back to a time when hospitals were sanctuaries, where weak and elderly people were lovingly spoon fed. Figures disclosed today state that 43 hospital patients starved to death last year and 111 died of thirst! A report by the health service ombudsman condemned the NHS for its inhumane treatment of the most vulnerable.

Ironically, in this morally twisted society of ours, prisoners in the UK are offered luxury menus and inmates are given up to twelve choices of meals a day.

                                                              A typical NHS meal

With hospital kitchens closing because it's more 'cost effective' to buy in pre-prepared meals, healthy, delicious food made from scratch has become a dim and distant memory. Yet good food can be made in large quantities very economically, as for example my next recipe. We should all be campaigning for better hospital food.

Cheesy vegetable bake

Recipe
Mixed vegetables, cauliflower florets, broccoli, carrots
50g butter
50g plain flour
500ml milk
2 teaspoons English mustard
150g mature Cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven 190c/gas 5
Place vegetables in a large saucepan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 3-5 minutes
Tip into a colander and leave to drain
Melt butter in a frying pan, stir in flour

Gradually add milk a little at a time, stirring continuously, add mustard and 100g of cheese

Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring continuously
Arrange vegetables in an ovenproof dish, cover in sauce, scatter over the remaining cheese

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbling

The vibrant colours make this dish look appetising, it is delicious and nutritious and goes very well with hand cut, oven baked potato wedges.


'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food'
- Hippocrates

'The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition'
- Thomas Edison

Love Donna xxxxx