The Clerk of the Kitchen is fussy about the flavour of tomatoes, and quite right too. Being an excellent husband, on occasion I prepare for her delight a simple breakfast of poached egg on a bed of tomatoes roughly chopped and sauted in good olive oil with rosemary picked fresh from our garden, and black pepper. I deliver this to her in her bed chamber with a slice of brown toast and a fragrant cup of fine Darjeeling tea. (You would not believe the Brownie points). But, and it's big but, the tomatoes have to be flavoursome, otherwise the Brownie Points earned are significantly reduced.
Bring on Tescos and Thanet Earth plc. (Bear with me, this is going somewhere)
Today I made The Dish using Thanet Earth plc Kent Temptation toms. on the vine sourced from Tescos. Brownie Points earned were substantial. So, out of curiosity I Googled Thanet Earth. Let's look at what I found.
The ever reliable Daily Mail dated 11th June 2008. (I couldn't find the 'and damages house prices' meme, but it'll be there, somewhere).
Looking further down the Google search, we find an article by a foodie from the even more reliable Guardian. also dated 11th June 2008. (Make sure you read the comments).
Better yet is this piece from the unbiased BBC
And here is the link to Thanet Earth plc's own website
Now, I admit that we are not what you would consider to be gourmands but we do like good grub made from the best ingredients we can source reasonably conveniently and sensibly priced. Not a lot to ask is it? And the household vote is that Kent Temptations are Damn' fine tomatoes for the money and available at Christmas. Not as good as could be grown by us perhaps, but then we couldn't get them in December, well not without a lot of fag and the denial of the economic advantages of specialisation.
So really its bloody lucky that Tesco's and Thanet Earth plc (brilliant name) didn't give a stuff about the sneering journalism of the Mail, and the journalism in the Gruniad which manages to be supercilious and Luddite simultaneously, or the attempted coercion by Unite for their own self-interest.
Capitalism is hated because it destroys privilege and special interest and elite power and the vested interests of small groups and undermines the ability of trades unions to use coercion whilst on the other side delivers brilliant products at an excellent price to average families pretty well all year round.
Result: Capitalism 1. Authoritarian Special Interests 0.
Here endeth.
Quick update
3 hours ago
11 comments:
From Thanet Earth's site -
"...provides us with the extra CO2 our plants need to grow to their potential."
Is that the same extra CO2 that all the windmills are being built around the Thames Estuary to elminate it?
The same extra CO2 that hasn't caused any increases in global warming for the last sixteen years?
Funny stuff this extra CO2!
all the powerplants on the Thames probably cause massive Kentish warming...until kent starts to stick out into the North Sea
You want to be a bit careful with "Brownie points" Lola, people could get all sorts of ideas.
Did you link to the right Grauniad piece above? The DM piece is hysterical DM nonsense, as might be expected; but the Guardian piece you've linked ("Welcome to Thanet Earth: is this a taste of future for UK agriculture?") is informative and almost wholly positive, with nobody even quoted who is opposed to the project.
Dutch=grown tomatoes are universally flavourless. I always avoid them.
Greenhouses are brilliant, if they use up a bit of pre-heated C02 from the neighbouring power station, then so much the better. I had meant to do a post about these greenhouses when I first saw them on a telly programme but I never got round to it.
If they could swap the tomatoes for marijuana, I think this would significantly help our balance of trade deficit.
BJ, I thought one of the major advantages of the wonderful hemp plant (cannabis sativa) was that you could grow it outside and you didn't need greenhouses or pesticides. After all, in the days when most ropes were made from hemp, the plant was widely cultivated all over south Britain.
BJ apparently most of the UK's cannabis consumption is met by local production these days.
I'm a bit surprised that the Mail bothered getting upset about the apparently un-natural production methods. Have their journalists forgotten that the tomato is an invention in its own right?
I have no problem with this method at all as long as the product tastes good. I shall look out for these tomatoes next time I shop.
I expect the Greenies have a major problem though: supposedly flying toms in from tom-producing countries is lower carbon than growing them here in the UK.
BE
John B - It was the comment thread that intrigued me.
Speaking as a fully paid up Guardianista, I was rather proud of the very balanced coverage in the Guardian. The Daily Mail, on the other hand...
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