Hugh's vegetables

Finally got around to watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingtsall's new vegetable programme. Pardon me, but for someone who has dedicated his life to showing us how to eat obscure parts of animals, it seems slightly strange that he should suddenly discover vegetables - even stranger for him to present a series addressing us as if we have not yet seen the light ! I could be being cynical, but I can't help thinking that perhaps he has run out of obscure bits of intestine to tell us about ?

I find it also strange that, having discovered vegetables, he has to swing completely to the vegetarian end of the spectrum - it is possible to eat more vegetables and less meat without going the whole way. And also, given that he started out with an eco-based argument for exploring vegetables, there are quite a few exotic ingredients (and food miles) involved - I doubt the cashews were from the garden !

I didn't think much to his soup. A rather green collection of simmered vegetables with no bulk to it. Some croutons with parmezan grilled onto them might have helped. Didn't much fancy that lamb dish either, but the polenta sounded nice (if not entirely original).

What I did like though was the fantastic vegetable barbeque tumbler thing he had, probably the one new idea I took from the programme. Now where in my dumping ground of a garage is my MIG welder ??

That's strange: I had the exact opposite reaction when I watched it. I confess I have not really bothered with the last few series of RC, having lost interest when it stopped being about smallholding and started being about persuading one-legged vegans to make dishes of liver.

As a fairly committed carnivore I was also slightly cynical when I first read of his conversion to vegetarianism to coincide with releasing a book on Veg. However I did watch the programme, and thought it was really good.

To be fair the original RC and Cook on the Wild Side books and programmes were as much about veg as they were meat, it's just the weird meaty bits that everyone remembers. I post probably as many veggie recipes and desserts as i do meat ones, but it is the unusual meat stuff that everyone associates with me (fresh goose blood with onion for lunch today, btw).

I thought what he was saying about making meat not the centrepiece of every meal was a very good point and much more likely to reduce the meat consumption of the nation that way rather than the vegan society's insistence that we completely eschew all things meaty.

The fact that he decided to avoid all meat for the course of the summer as an experiment and to illustrate his point has been splurged all over the press as him 'turning vegetarian, but is clearly not the case, as is the reporting of him saying we should eat puppies.

I wasn't impressed by the soup either tbh, but its hard to make veg soup look sexy. The polenta looked super and I will try that this week. Cheesy chilli polenta fish fingers - my kids will love that.

I have ordered the book (half price via RC bookshop on Amazon). It's good to have a bit of a nudge towards more veg every now and then. It is all too easy to eat meat three times a day otherwise.

well I now have the book and must admit I am a bit underwhelmed. Recipes for poached egg on toast and sundried tomatoes. Lots of interesting ideas for side dished but not much in the way of everyday meals, which is what I was hoping for and the title of 'Veg everyday' rather implied.

However, I am actively pursuing the concept of easting more non-meat dishes. In the spirit of which we are having tartiflette for supper tonight, which is entirely meatfree apart from the bacon, and barring the cheese, cream and creme fraiche, could almost be construed as vegan.

Wilhelm Von Rhomboid wrote: which is entirely meatfree apart from the bacon, and barring the cheese, cream and creme fraiche, could almost be construed as vegan.

Finally catching up with this - can't say I was all that impressed with the programme. The monkey puzzle nut thing was interesting, but not exactly something that most of us can do. The local show competition didn't really do much for me on last nights show and the bit about smoking cheese only seemed to be saying that cheese can be added to some vegetarian meals to make them taste better. So overall there weren't all that many recipes in it at all! And that was only the second show in the series - has he run out of content already?

Mrs C

Went round a friend's house the other day and she had the book so I had a good look through it. I actually thought it was quite good. So much so that I ordered a copy from Amazon whilst it was still half price on there. My friend has done quite a few meals from it already and was impressed that her kids enjoyed them too. In her case there's a financial motivation to cutting down on meat, but she's impressed at how much the family like the meals too.

Mrs C

Not having owned a TV for a good couple of years now, I haven't seen any of the recent series, but a post on the RC forum prompted me to catch up with the last one, via the computer. It was the one about the wonderful permaculture MIck and his garden - loved that, looks a bit like mine Wondering if Hugh will try permaculture next? I lvoed Cook on the Wild Side all those years ago - was a great comfort to me to know there was at least one bod out there as 'odd' as I am The very first series was my favourite in the RC programmes, have some of the books, but don't use them very often. Can recommend his murgh makhani if you want an exellent curry though, I mkae that regularly.