Friday 28 August 2009

late summer reading and viewing

Since the last post, on tans sunbeds and kellogs i've had 2 weeks holiday...in ireland....without much sun. But in the meantime Mary Harney the beleaguered health minister has called for a complete ban on sunbeds in ireland. Also in my absense a related book Sunshine: why we love the sun has arrived in the library. Written by Robert Mighall he wants to know why does it make us happy, when did it become the essential summer holiday ingredient? It's a good summer read - 1 for the beach under the (sun) umbrella; witty, idiosyncratic, full of timely anecdotes. Not so easy to read in term of subject matter is Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal by Tristram Stuart a self confessed freegan......agh look it up yourself.












FIGURES
1.6m - the est. number of tons of food waste produced by British retailers annually.
5.4m - the est. number of tons of edible food British households throw away annually.
40% - the est. proportion of UK fruit&veg that supermarkets reject on cosmetic grounds.
40% - the est. proportion of salad that British households throw away.

To finish on a lighter note perhaps, we also saw a slew of good movies arrive over the summer including Ratatouille (prehaps one of the best foodie movies of all time) which i took home and savoured last night.
DIT - intelligentsia and good taste.

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