Off The Shelf #17: Slothy's Summer Break

Taking a hiatus this week as we enter the final days of the summer 'slowdown'.

Source: Javier Mazzeo

I’m not ashamed to admit it: balancing a job, a dog, some exciting personal developments, a garage clearout and a friend’s wedding has left me short of time this week. So, rather than subject you all to the mediocre output from an old-school essay crisis, I’m seizing on the Bank Holiday spirit and taking a break.

I’ll be back with a bang next week, with a whole load of notes already lined up about the real impact of chocolate - both from an environmental and social perspective.

In the meantime, here are a few interesting tidbits to keep you going.

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🌾 Rethinking the global food system. I’ve been reeling, and somewhat torn, since finishing the fascinating Regenesis by George Monbiot a few weeks ago. It has really forced me to challenge my old way of thinking - there are some uncomfortable perspectives here, but I think this is an important contribution to the debate about how our future food system needs to look.

🐄 Two views make a market. Monbiot is pretty full-on in calling for an end to livestock farming and a complete transformation to plant-based diets. This letter, recently published in the Guardian, makes the case for a middle-ground.

🎤 Words matter. I thought this was an interesting intervention from the head of the UK’s nature agency. In a world of culture wars and hyped-up tweets, I think a more temperate discourse is going to be important if we’re going to make any kind of progress on the environment.

🐔 Kentucky Fried Crisis. There’s no good news when it comes to KFC, to be honest.

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🥛 Data as of 28 August 2022. Price of milk represented by the average price of comparable 2-pint bottles at 5 major retailers in the United Kingdom (Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury’s Waitrose and Marks & Spencer). Index is equally weighted and based on online prices. Methodology is purely proprietary and utterly unscientific. For actual price data that might be remotely useful for economic analysis, try the Office for National Statistics.

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HOW CAN WE STAY IN TOUCH?

📸 I’m on Instagram where I chronicle my cooking @slothychef

👤 Same deal for Facebook Slothy Chef

📧 Drop me a note at info@slothychef.co.uk

GROWING OUR COMMUNITY

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