Great British Food revival

Hooray!! gracesmum I want to hug you (sorry a bit over the top) You speak my language.
With another Mumsnetter I tried to get a petition going with regard to the rotten practices of the supermarkets. We faltered rather when the petitions to No 10 were stopped whilst a new epetition system was set up. It has now been set up again but I think I've run out of steam and enthusiasm for it. The one problem is that convenient shopping is the aim.

Sorry - I have done naughties and deviated from the original subject.
OH HOW I HATE SUPERMARKETS

Sorry, absentgrana Great British cooking may never have gone away but FOOD - maybe. I challenge you to find a majority of British produce in your average supermarket. And before anybody says they don't shop in an average supermarket, what about Farmers' Markets etc, just think what % of households shop in a supermarket. The s/markets dictate what we buy and so to a large extent, what we eat. At the luxury end of the market there will always be some small producers, but people also have to make a living. Distant cousins used to be (I think) the largest cauli producers in Kent. No more - people don't want the humble cauli, they want broccoli/ asparagus/ baby sweetcorn/ pak choi etc - mostly imported and in my opinion, tasteless. Welsh lamb is more expensive than New Zealand, salmon is farmed and rarely comes from Scotland (Lochmuir - M&S is a totally made up name) English cheeses which are superb are largely replaced with "Scottish" Cheddar (?)or shrink-wrapped so-called West-Country Cheddar which is developed with a sweeter flavour than traditional. (We also have cousins who make one of the best Cheddars in the country, at Cadbury in Somerset so I have a tub to thump!!)
We are at the mercy of the supermarkets and they are PROFITS DRIVEN.

Bagitha - DD is cooking it at the moment. It smells lovely!

gangy5, agree with you there. This is the second series as well. The first one was bad enough. I dont mind a bit of gentle telly but this is so padded with stuff thats not really new and each presenter looks a little as if they are trying too hard.

I enjoyed Jamie's prog the other evening, I had not intended to watch it but he still manages to give us some of that very natural cheeky charm as well as some jolly good looking food with a bit of original thought behind it.

Great British food never really went away. Home-cooking in Britain has always been tasty, nourishing, imaginative and interesting (obviously there are individual exceptions, but as a rule this is true). British restaurants, on the other hand, didn't match up to their continental cousins except in the case of top of the range and top of the price places such as the Savoy. They have improved enormously since the middle of the last century. As for home cooking – think about the great produce – Scottish salmon, beef and raspberries, Welsh lamb and cheese, English fruit and vegetables and a wealth of fish and seafood all round the coastline. And what did people do with it – meal-in-a bowl soups such as cock-a-leekie, hotpots from all kinds of places in addition to Lancashire, potted shrimp, dressed crab, the roast beef of Old England plus Yorkshire pudding, of course, the full English breakfast or kippers. Not to mention all those lovely local dishes from Cornish pasties to Singin' Hinny.

I've actually got all that in at the moment Bags. Willwill get daughter to do it tomorrow for lunch.

Winter warmer (and filler): wedged potato, parsnip and carrots, roasted in the oven with chopped onion, jeera (ground cumin), turmeric if you want, pine nuts towards the end of the cooking process and, if you eat meat and want some, bacon rashers on top at the end. [tummy touching table emoticon]

Josie, we often have shepherds pie with swede mash, much more interesting that potato mash.

I love watching foodie programmes but this was like watching paint dry. Won't be watching any more.

Shepherds pie with parsnip mash sounds delicious! Will definitely do that one. And the Parsnip and apple soup too. Love parsnips.

I just saw a recipe in the Recipes Section (there's a surprise ) for spinach and sweet potato puree. That sounds good. Ok it's in the toddler food section, but I'm not proud.

Have you seen Jamie Olivers new programme on British Food -his steak pie was amazing!

pompa I agree we need ideas with food that is in season