Second part of Cyril tonight

[Alexis]

After the little people last week, Cyril tries to convert the teenagers to healthy eating.

M6, 20.50.

[Cassis]

I never saw Jamie's series - how does this compare, would you say, if you have seen them both?

[Alexis]

No, I've never seen Jamie.

(Or Nigella, Little Britain, The Office, Pride and Prejudice, make over programmes or any decent gardening programmes......)

[Cassis]

Oh, for a decent gardening programme!!!!

[julia]

I have seen them both, Jamie I would say is more big headed and mouthed than Cyril, jamie did home made chicken nuggets and introduced veg the brit kids didn't even recognise, Cyril did  homemade mash and pureed carrot amongst other things, the adults loved it but the children(who it was made for ) didn't.

I feel that as far as I am concerned, both of them are teaching grandma to suck eggs. It is basic common sence, eat a varied and fresh food diet , cook it properly and you cannot go wrong! 

Why do people buy convenience food? It is buerk taste wise and take a peep on the label, monosodeum  glutomate in pre prepared seafood salad, why?

Can't wait for tonight, lets see how the teens react .

 

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="julia"]

I feel that as far as I am concerned, both of them are teaching grandma to suck eggs. It is basic common sence, eat a varied and fresh food diet , cook it properly and you cannot go wrong! 

Why do people buy convenience food? It is buerk taste wise and take a peep on the label, monosodeum  glutomate in pre prepared seafood salad, why?

[/quote]

First answer, I guess that not everyone does know about or do that - simply saying that people are dumb doesn't make them smarter; and as far as convenience foods go the clue is in the name.

Not sure what buerk tastes of (is it that canned whale meat?), but monosodium glutamate is used to provide umami and to enhance flavours. It occurs naturally as well as a food additive, so I've never been sure of what the objection to it actually is.

[Alexis]

I watched it all this time.  Apologies for saying the Normandy dinner lady was a bit bolshie when, in fact, it was the one from Pas de Calais.  I had missed the first twenty minutes of the first programme last week making marmalade and had got confused.

I thought it was a good programme.  Felt sorry for Cyril as he takes it very much to heart and for the first half of the programme that Jean-Yves was a right pig.  His staff weren't exactly sparkling either.  The lycee he went to where it was all homemade was outstanding and it just shows what can be done.

I believe the kitchen staff started work at 6.00 so goodness knows what they did until lunchtime if all they prepared was either frozen or from tins.

I must admit that I was fascinated by Cyril's eyebrows.  They seem to have a life of their own.  Have you noticed how bendy and curvy they are?  Like little slugs.

 

[julia]

[quote user="Dick Smith"][quote user="julia"]

I feel that as far as I am concerned, both of them are teaching grandma to suck eggs. It is basic common sence, eat a varied and fresh food diet , cook it properly and you cannot go wrong! 

Why do people buy convenience food? It is buerk taste wise and take a peep on the label, monosodeum  glutomate in pre prepared seafood salad, why?

[/quote]

First answer, I guess that not everyone does know about or do that - simply saying that people are dumb doesn't make them smarter; and as far as convenience foods go the clue is in the name.

Not sure what buerk tastes of (is it that canned whale meat?), but monosodium glutamate is used to provide umami and to enhance flavours. It occurs naturally as well as a food additive, so I've never been sure of what the objection to it actually is.
[/quote]

I suppose I walked into that answer.

Surely by now people have  got the message, after all there must be a cookery program on everyday of the week , adverts and even the supermarkets have banners telling us all we should eat 5 fruits/veg a day, or is it 7 in France?  

Convenience food, If we are meaning baked beans on toast, great I'll join you, but if we are choosing frozen lasagne I could cook and bake one from scratch in the time it would take to wait for one of those things to defrost and cook and it would be cheaper as I am sure I wouldn't find one big enough to feed a family.

So where did I learn to cook, the same place as lots of other ordinary people, at school, at home (though not the lasagne, no garlic in my mothers kitchen) watching cookery programmes and of course recipe books.

For buerk, read yuk! my objection to monosudium glutamate is it gives me a headache, so I do read the labels on things such as crisps and pre prepared foods or anything new I fancy trying.  I do occassionaly fall into the trap of buying 'convenience ' or 'fast food'  and always say after that I wish I had made my own as I hadn't enjoyed them!

 

Cyril last night, I felt that the staff in the kitchen wanted an easy life. As Alexis said, what on earth did they do all morning if they started work at 6 am to prepare a meal that they were only heating up? they must have had the best jobs in france until Cyril put them through their paces. That singing  African assistant seemed horified that he wanted her to prepare fresh veg and salad and Cyrils face was a picture when he watched the canteen chef add anything into that huge pan of what was supposed to be Bourginon.

Even the students looked wary when they couldn't spot chips and roast chicken on the hot plate.  He certainly changed their tune though as by the end of the week their were hardly any plates with food being scraped into the swill bin. As to the salad bar that was in the other Cantine, my daughter would not be getting an evening meal if I knew her cantine served up a stunning menu like that as I know she would pile her plate high.

Those students he targeted in the fast food outlets realy did look ill when he showed them the % of sugar and fats etc that were in their burgers, frites and kebabs. I must admit I was taken aback at the amount of oils etc that they contain when shown in liquid quantity.

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Not sure what buerk tastes of (is it that

canned whale meat?), but monosodium glutamate is used to provide umami

and to enhance flavours. It occurs naturally as well as a food

additive, so I've never been sure of what the objection to it actually

is.

[/quote]

Glutamate (glutamic acid) is indeed a natural substance (one of the

amino acids). It is known that glutamate in evelvated levels in the

blood can cause neurological damage: it belongs to a group of toxins

know as excitotoxins. It is linked to strokes and sizzures and may be

implicated in the onset of some forms of dementia. It may also change

metabolism in a way that encourages obesity.

The body can make glutamate all by itself, so there is no unequivocal

link with monosodium glutamate from dietary sources causing these

problems. Personally, I avoid foods that list it as an ingredient.

[julia]

It is driving me mad, I have got that song in my head. Near the end of the programme last night , Cyril had that yellow diner/bus and there was a record playing  " all that I see is just another lemon tree"  who did that  and real song name please?

[Cassis]

I think added MSG in foodstuffs is extracted from seaweed.  Or at least it used to be.

[Alexis]

Blimey!  Now you have started me off!

Thank goodness for google....Fool's Garden, Lemon Tree.

[julia]

You can stop singing now , its is my turn,

........ with the blue blue skies and all that I see is just another lemon tree...

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="Cassis"]I think added MSG in foodstuffs is extracted from seaweed.  Or at least it used to be.
[/quote]

 

That is certainly how it is/was added to Chinese food.

[Russethouse]

I think the government have at last caught on that too many children know nothing of basic cookery and nutrition and because it hasn't been taught in schools for so long neither do their mothers. I believe it is being bought back, but I think I can remember debating the issue here years ago......

[Alexis]

Part of the programme showed Cyril in a very fetching hat taking a tour of a school in Denmark.  Here also they have a problem with the weight/eating habits of the children.  They served up healthy food in a little plastic carrier and they went off and ate with their friends.  They only had half an hour for lunch so that is perhaps why there wasn't a hot meal.  That was the idea of the yellow bus.

Anyway, the Danes taught the children to cook at school.  Three hours a week from the age of twelve but the tots cooked too and the kitchen had little steps under the work surfaces to pull out so they could stand on them and reach the counter.  Very nice kitchens too.

I loved cookery at school.  Struggling onto the bus with a satchel, cake tin, hockey stick, games bag and a violin.  All stuffed full of the dried fruit and cherries nicked from the store cupboard[;-)]

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Cassis"]I think added MSG in foodstuffs is extracted from seaweed.  Or at least it used to be.

[/quote]

I think that these days it is mostly manufactured from bacterial fermentation of the byproducts of sugar manufacture.

[Cassis]

Shucks.  Another cottage industry goes under.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Cassis"]Shucks.  Another cottage industry goes under.

[/quote]

Well, every cloud has a silver lining. Seaweed gatherers are now able

to dry out their harvest and sell it a very good prices as organic

fertiliser and animal feed supplement. I give a little to the chickens

to keep their mineral contents up.