Member of the Royal Academy and famous as a leader of the British
Rural Naturalism and Social Realism movement. His work often expressed the
natural and symbolic relationship between human beings and the Earth.
His paintings depict, with astonishing use of colour and brushwork, the splendour
of the toil of the peasant. 'The Last Furrow' is considered to be one of his
finest works. His paintings are held in galleries such as the National Gallery
and Tate.
Once
food was grown in season and sold locally. Now we import much of it from abroad.
This means transporting it great distances, and storing it for long periods.
This wastes energy and reduces freshness, goodness and taste.
We buy much of our food from supermarkets. These provide a huge range of
choice but draw customers away from small local shops which may go out of
business as a result. The food in supermarkets is highly packaged, mainly
in plastics, and contains a variety of herbicides and pesticides. It has been
cleaned to look presentable.
Shopping habits have started to change recently. Local farmers' markets have
become more popular, and supermarkets now stock organic food due to customer
demand. People are beginning to think differently about where they get their
food, and how it is produced. Today men are just as likely to buy and cook
food as the women in this image.
"Well, last night, I must tell you, I had the most marvellous dream."
"Did you really my dear, how intriguing, do tell."
"Well, it was marvellous, I dreamt the future was today, and I had a brand
new, shiny bright kitchen with such wondrous inventions."
"Oh. I thought you were going to - never mind, tell me all about your brand
new, shiny bright kitchen with such wondrous inventions."
"Well, there were so many wondrous inventions of which I might tell.
There was the 'nuke,' oh, the 'nuke' was truly wondrous."
"What on earth is a 'nuke,' my dear"
"Well, a 'nuke' is the wondrous oven of the future, my dear, and it is
really no bigger than little Lucy's rabbit hutch, yet it cooks, or should I
say, it 'nukes,' for that is the new word for cooking in the future, it 'nukes'
food amazingly quickly, why, I could nuke a rabbit pie in only thirty minutes
if the ears were chopped off."
"How extraordinary. How long for a lobster?"
"Well, I don't know, I fear a lobster might explode in a 'nuke.' "
"How bizarre. And would a chicken explode in a 'nuke' ?"
"Well, a chicken would be no problem, 'nuke' a leg for ten minutes, 'nuke'
a whole chicken for forty minutes, and it is advisable to stick an onion up
the chicken's bum."
"Is it really?"
"Well, yes, and If you wanted a baked potato you could 'nuke' it in ten
minutes. A bowl of porridge: nuke for two minutes without syrup, with syrup:
nuke for two minutes, ten seconds. A rasher of bacon: nuke for two minutes.
Lamb's fries -
"Yes, all right my dear, I get the picture. But tell me, was there nothing
at all disturbing in your dream of the future."
"Well, other than the terrible waste of food that seemed to take place;
the unnecessary packaging; the numerous poisons and strange additives; the lack
of freshness; mad cows disease and other food scares; the almost complete lack
of genuine nourishment contained in many food products; the disturbing images
of so many people in the world starving to death; the threat to global biodiversity
presented by the ways we produce and consume… apart from that, why, the
future was so bright I had to wear shades."
"Shades, my dear? What are 'shades' ?"
)
