Archive for cookery

A year of fruit and veg in Scottish Field

Workers at Angus Soft Fruits, mostly from Eastern Europe, gather strawberries from dawn on a farm by the sea.

Workers at Angus Soft Fruits, mostly from Eastern Europe, gather strawberries from dawn on a farm by the sea. © Angus Blackburn, Scottish Field

Over the past year, in a series of columns published in Scottish Field, I have explored an ethical issue about a fruit or vegetable grown in Scotland every month. It has been a privilege to meet the farmers growing our food and I hope to go into more detail about some of the challenges of feeding the world without destroying the environment in my next book. If there is a subject you would like me to explore please post comments below. Read more

How writing The Ethical Carnivore taught me the true meaning of Thanksgiving

Free-range turkeys raised with care by farmer Lucy Beattie

Free-range turkeys raised with care by farmer Lucy Beattie

Writing The Ethical Carnivore taught me how to shoot, fish and butcher animals. Most importantly, it taught me to be grateful for the meat we eat. Read more

Why eating squirrel can be the ethical option

Preparing squirrel to a Nigella recipe.

Preparing squirrel to a Nigella recipe.


In the latest update to The Ethical Carnivore project, I eat grey squirrel killed as part of a programme to protect the red population. Read more

In which I meet my illustrator…

Learning to shoot with Chris Wheatley-Hubbard of Four Feathers. Illustration by Sam Goodlet.

Learning to shoot with Chris Wheatley-Hubbard of Four Feathers. Illustration by Sam Goodlet. I like my ‘flippers’, like I could swim away…

The Ethical Carnivore is to be illustrated by Sam Goodlet, a talented artist and a vegan… Read more

Want to meet the farmer? Come to a dinner party in a field

Enroot: A dinner party in a field with local ingredients. What's not to like?

Enroot: A dinner party in a field with local ingredients. What’s not to like?

I was lucky enough to take part in a project recently helping to connect people with where their food comes from. Enroot, a farm-to-table pop-up restaurant, is very much in keeping with my book and was an opportunity to experience the joy of preparing and eating food sourced locally.     Read more

Photos of farmers – because we probably don’t appreciate them enough

Producers supplying Farmdrop, a kind of online farmers' market that provides Londoners with fresh produce.

Producers supplying Farmdrop, an online farmers’ market that provides Londoners with fresh produce.

Pork, chicken, lamb, beef, eggs, dairy – it all came from a farmer getting up early and working on your behalf – as these Farmdrop producers did. Here are some other farmers that I have met during research for my book The Ethical Carnivore. I will try and update it as I go along… Read more

Hitting the target – but not how you think – with the BBC & Scottish Field

My rifle skills are improving but does that mean I'll make a clean shot?

My rifle skills are improving but does that mean I’ll make a clean shot?

My year spent only eating animals I have killed myself has featured on the BBC and in Scottish Field, leading to some expected ribbing about ‘glamorous’ photos with guns and some unexpected conclusions about the nature of shooting. Read more

Gregg Wallace didn’t like my vegan shepherd’s pie, so I made a real lamb roast

 

Wild soay sheep

Wild soay sheep

This blog is about to get bloody. Sorry, but I did say I was writing a book about only eating animals I have killed myself. This means at some point I will have to kill something. The point is to do it in as humane a way as possible and to educate people about where meat comes from.  Read more