Sugar Love

How do I start my first ever personal blog? Should I rave or should I rant? Well, against my better nature, I've decided to rant. And, believe it or not, I do have a better nature; it makes a rare appearance but it is there buried in layers of cynicism and one day I may actually have something to rave about. But not today. Today I have decided to befriend that much maligned ingredient – sugar and rant against the maligners. The biggest modern day nutrition crusader of all – Jamie Oliver – had an opinion and he brought out his pained expression, the same one he used when informing us about the disgraceful school lunches our children were consuming, to accompany his opinion. I thought that we would see him and his expression on a ‘School dinners revisited’ programme. I was wrong. That ship has sailed apparently, leaving behind a cargo of fat it was meant to take with it.

Now let me make it clear – I do not dislike Jamie Oliver. I don’t love him the way millions of people do but I don’t dislike him either. In fact, I have on a couple of occasions googled his recipes and tried out a couple. I won’t tell you the results because that is probably an indication of me as a cook – I did say that I had a better nature. Just as I neither like nor dislike Mr. Oliver, I neither like nor dislike sugar. It has its place in my food cupboard and if it wasn't for my fondness of wine, I probably would not consume much sugar at all. So you might wonder why I am ranting. Well, it’s to make the bigger point of our apparent inability to listen or understand anything unless it is endorsed by a ‘celebrity’.

I remember before the school meals exposé by Jamie Oliver, I had watched a programme on the BBC showing us exactly what went into chicken nuggets. It was quite horrific. It was disgusting. It was sick making stuff. The reconstituted meat was pretty awful to watch much less come to the realisation that it was what went into our children’s bodies. I remember mentioning it to some friends who tut tutted and simulated outrage, more out of politeness I suspect rather than real shock or anger. No one appeared to notice, no one made a fuss and chicken nuggets and their reconstituted contents, continued to be cheerfully consumed both in schools and at home. Fast forward to a few months, bring on a celebrity chef and everyone starts to froth at the mouth.  How dare our children be forced to eat this awful food! In schools no less! How dare the Government give just 3p (I exaggerate I know) for each child’s meal! How dare! How dare!  Changes were made, Jamie Oliver was declared a saint and saviour of school dinners and everyone moved on.

Press that fast forward button again and everyone’s weight appears to be up. Mine included. And I am aware that it is probably because of my liquid consumption of sugar found in grapes. But I take personal responsibility to do something about it. Not saying when or where! Exercise and moderation will sort most weight issues out. Before I go any further, I have to apologise and say that not everyone’s weight has gone up. A certain chef trimmed down before agilely jumping on his soap box to tell us what we already know – that sugar is bad for us. The Government, made up of politicians, that rare breed of human beings who resist temptation with every fibre of their being, decided that the right and pious thing to do for its people is to tax sugary drinks. Do they really think that the personwho goes to a vending machine for a coke, will actually reach in his or her pocket, stop midway, remember that is a 20p extra and walk away for their own good? If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

Apparently, the slogan ‘sugar is the new fat’ is now passé; the latest information that we are being given is that bacon is worse that smoking. Any takers? Not JO surely. He must be exhausted from his last ‘fight’ and besides doesn't his friend own a pig farm?

By the way, if like me, you cook most evening meals and are a tiny bit fed up, don’t worry. Recently, guess who popped up on a TV advertisement? Yes, he has joined forces with a company and together, they have pledged to take all the hard work away from cooking meals. The solution? Well, they will send us the ingredients and recipes for our meals! Doesn't that warm the cockles of your heart? Before anyone thinks of getting their heart and its cockles warm, may we all please remind ourselves that there is another option – on line recipes and on line supermarket shopping! I suspect it will be just a tad cheaper as well.

I shall stop now and rant no more…….until the next time!