It makes me laugh, at the beginning of Market Kitchen, the presenter introduces MK as an ethical program. I think its great that MK shows us film of wonderful free range pigs, and, you would never see a recipe with a battery egg from a battery hen. But liver with a posh name from a battery goose/duck is acceptable

I watched MK series 1 half a dozen times and on 4 occasions fois gras was actively promoted. (I stopped watching as I think it is a poor quality programme). At the time I asked (on the message boards) for a film of the fois gras being produced to prove it is not cruel. I don't think this has
happened on MK yet. Mind you, I don't think anyone on UKTV looks at these boards. I couldn't believe that on the first time I tune in to see if MK has improved (it hasn't) fois gras is being promoted again!!!!!

Anyhoo MK, please please please make a film of happy free range fois gras birds (inspected by the RSPCA) or stop actively promoting it! If this has already happened...plz let me know.

Market Kitchen? Ethical? Come now, everything on this show is a veneer designed to cover over terrible programming. It's not ethical just like it has nothing to do with a market. Even the presenters were picked solely for their names, not to mention the artificial cafe set and its over the top, pretentious name.

Foie gras is just another example of a show without direction, that doesn't know what it really is, that has no specific intended audience, and that just flails about from week to week desparate for some viewership.

liz0, you're right, I've never seen a programme that has showcased an ingredient so often, much less something like foie gras.

Pretentious drivel.

Liz by now I *think* many realise what horrid fare Market Kitchen is. Every television programme has its faults, of course. What is unique about MK is just how MANY faults there are. It's as if it was specifically designed to be the worst programme ever conceived. There's just nothing at all to commend it.

OMG! foie gras again???? Are they trying to wind me up?

Tana explained that she chose british veal (more ethical than the european), and the quail was a game bird, this is good!

But no consideration for the foie gras? Why? European battery offal is so delicious that MK does not need to justify it!

If MK were using ethical, british foie gras I am sure they would shout about it. The double standards sicken me. Just once, could MK acknowlede one of my posts... No? coz no one is there....no one in uktv-land cares or listens.

On gfl Jenni used to read out posts ( I believe she may have even chosen some herself). She used to repremand chefs who used foie gras and even avoided eating it on occasion.

For Pete's sake liz0, yet *another* dish with foie gras? Do they think we're made of money? I'll have to start buying it in bulk!

Or are they just trying to kill off any remaining viewers with coronary disease?

Foie gras features far too much in Market Kitchen, it also comes across as such an upper-middle class programmes.

Maybe it may be my Blackpool working class (though now middle class) lifestyle as I grew up, but such things as "and from the larder you will need", most people don't have larders, or access to good markets, thankfully Blackpool has a good market, but however, it only consists of one seafood stall (who hardly ever have anything amazingly exciting, the occasional squid is about as much as you get), an average fruit and veg stall, and no particularly spectacular butcher.

As I say, it seems targeted at people with higher qualities of life (which isn't the majority of the people I know who watch UKTV Food), people with fatter wallets, and those who have access to all these ingredients.

Oh and people who can afford foie gras

HAHA!!

I was watching last nights repeat earlier today on my college break, and they brought in some boffin with a machine to kill a crab humanly, which I'm all for... but they still.cook.with.foie.gras.

'most people don't have larders, or access to good markets,' - I don't agree! maybe the chip chomping, ready meal buying section of the population don't but anyone with any interest in food surely has a cupboard where they keep basic ingredients - does it matter whether it's called a larder? And nearly every town now has a market or a farmers' market.

I do not think Foie Gras should be promoted as I agree it is unethical. It is also, as anyone who has tasted the stuff will confirm, like eating pure fat!

I do watch MK but what I found unacceptable recently was the promotion of Argentine beef - thousands of unnecessary food miles when there is excellent British beef to be had. MK is supposed to promote LOCAL produce - when did Argentina become local?

"ethical, local food" ... ermm?

Well you can buy Argentinean beef locally, because TESCO sell it - perhaps that's what they mean

If Market Kitchen portrays themselves anywhere as "ethical, local food" then they are complete hypocrites. That's the last thing they are.

Where do they say this?

Slightly off topic I was in the local supermarket yesterday and noticed bottles of Perrier [bottled at the source] on sale for 97¢ each. Can you imagine the air miles to get that stuff here? It all just seems so silly, fizzy water? We have tons of local brands, we just seem to be burning up the planet with all this nonsense.

OysterMan:-

If Market Kitchen portrays themselves anywhere as "ethical, local food" then they are complete hypocrites. That's the last thing they are.

Where do they say this?

>>>Before they role the credits, the show is sometimes introduced as a local, seasonal, ethical show>>> by the presenter who reads out the links.

You are all being ridiculous!

The vast majority of the time, all the Market Kitchen programmes I have seen have used produce that you can buy locally. Obviously, if you shop in large supermarkets they have a vast amount of choice and you can buy the same ingredient that has travelled miles further than the one lying next to it on the shelf. At the end of the day it is down to you which one you decide to purchase and use and that is hardly the fault of anyone on Market Kitchen.

The show gives ordinary, everyday people the chance to learn new cooking skills and try out foods that they probably have never thought about trying before. I come online regularly to get all the receipies and my whole family have enjoyed everything I have made. My teenage daughter has also started trying them too, so she is learning new skills. The whole point is to get more people into the kitchen learning new skills and eating healthier foods, that has certainly happened in my family.

Nelly.
Better get into the bomb shelter.
How dare you argue a point against the "General Consensus of Opinion".
They'll come and get you.

Yup, better get those yellow wellies on, and put the 4x4 into road mode, and keep a sharp eye on the rear view mirror!

No, no, no gastro. SO last week the yellow wellies!

[link]

Come on get a grip

OMG! sorry posset!

I'm sooooOOO out of the loop...

Another cold shower I suppose..... BRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I keep me wellies on?

OMG! You all have a sence of humour, I thought all you did was moan!

I challenge you all to try some of the receipies and write about them without moaning as I don't believe you can do it. It will be: I chopped an onion and couldn't believe how many miles it had travelled before it got to my kitchen
(moan!). Try the Chicken Tagine, I made it tonight in a normal glass casserole dish. It was so easy to make and tasted amazing, the chicken was so tender with a lovely lemon flavour. You should try it. It would make a change from moaning!

I did try the braised goldfish stuffed with foie gras, ground almonds and dates, but didn't like it - far too greasy for me!

Wish I hadn't bothered now - I used to like watching that goldfish swimming round his bowl

No moaning today I am surprised!

Just wanted to say sorry to disappoint you Gastrosurf and Posset but us country folk wear green wellies and drive tractors. I will wave to you when I drive past you both on your tandem, i'm sure you wouldn't even consider driving a car and adding your bit towards world polution after all the moaning you have been doing!

Farmers are up a the crack of dawn and work really long hours to grow produce to feed this country. The least you could do is walk to your local market or farm shop and support them, or maybe you think potatoes grow in plastic bags on the supermarket shelf!

I have a sence of humour but the way you have been running people down isn't at all funny and I am sure there are countless people out there that agree with me. Look at yourself in the mirror and your own life first. I bet you drive a car and use central heating and get on a plane to jet off on holiday. When you are prepared to give it up and pitch a tent in the local farmers field to save energy etc then you may have room to talk! Until that day consider other people.

Market Kitchen is great and I and loads of my family, friends and neighbours have learnt a great deal. At least they are trying to support the local farmers and markets, perhaps you could now try and do your bit to help the farmers in your area and support Market Kitchen instead of moaning about nothing!

A bit of advice Nelly7. Get your facts right before you start attacking me personally. You know absolutely nothing about the way I lead my life.

Moaning and pontificating seem to be your strengths. And no you don't have a sense of humour.

Please stop moaning about other posters and their views Nelly7, I am actually surprised that you think you know *anything* about anyone that posts here.

I don't think Market Kitchen gives two whits about "local farmers" considering what I've seen on the show. It's all so patronising, Argentinean beef, rattlesnakes, etc.

Don't be fooled by the silly intros about the show, the may SAY they support farmers, ethical produce, "footprints" etc but all they're interested in is......guess what.

I flipped though the FoodChannel Sunday and lo and behold, there's this guy holding up a skinned rattlesnake

I thought you guys were just joking about this and made it up after yet one more foie gras duckiness episode.

But there it was, how GROSS.

Needless to say, I kept flipping channels and settled on Discovery Channel.

MK is pure drivel.

Personally Nelly I think it's better to disagree in a humorous way than get acrimonious and personal about what other people like or dislike.

I could say: "why don't farmers stop moaning about the supermarkets and get out of farming if all they can do is moan about their lot!" But I don't, and wouldn't dream of taking such an adversarial position.

Rather, I would like to see if some restraint can be bought to bear on the big supermarkets that use their purchasing power to severely squeeze some farmer's profits. But of course, it's a complex problem that involves masses of EU legislation; the move into a global market place; lifestyle issues of the majority of working people, and an obsession with systems and profit over and above the welfare of people and human need, etc, etc. It's certainly not one that will be solved by a relatively tiny minority of people doing their shopping in farmer's markets. Not that I'm critical of people who choose to shop in farmer's markets - I respect their right to choose where they want to spend their money. All that I ask is that I should be shown the same respect?

The term "local food" has become a marketing strategy, i.e. a buzzword used to promote the position of the small retailer by some parts of the media who aim to make their own personal fortunes from such a theme. For some time ASDA have been showing the source of their mainly *local* fresh produce on the packaging, which includes the name of the farmer, the location, etc.

Supermarkets are here to stay, as indicated by the way the very great majority of people vote with their feet when they set out to shop. I'm not suggesting that is a good thing - just recognising the reality of the situation.

There are many facets of modern society that concern me Nelly, not least the shift of manufacturing industry to areas of the world that can provide cheap labour. You see Nelly, I'm from a school of thought that is now referred to as: "old labour" - an un-trendy lefty I suppose - although in my opinion I'm just rooted in the middle ground of the 80's.

Over time, I've come into contact with quite a few farmers, and I've yet to meet one who wasn't a Tory, so in some ways, I think the average farmer's political leanings have come back and bitten them on the nether regions! Even so, I do hope they can find a way to ensure that they get a fair deal from the supermarkets - who really do hold all the cards when it comes to supplying the UK public with food, and just about every other item you can possibly think of.

So Nelly, I would hope to convince you that I would never mock the more serious issues that surround food production in the UK.

I think that where we are at odds is that you take MK as a serious representation of such issues, whereas I do not.

From what I’ve seen, the food used in RSC was generally far more local than that used in MK – but there wasn’t the same pious play on local food as a “selling point” – i.e. a marketing strategy that shows no genuine respect for the use of local food, but rather uses the term hypocritically as ‘a means to an end’.

Having said that, RSC does have problems of its own.

Nor was there the display of Hessian sacking (is that really polypropylene?), or the odd wicker basket shot (nice lighting), and seed-box style veg boxes. All of course well-placed and powdered up with real country dirt.

RSC also uses professional cooks who have worked their way up in the world of cooking, rather than people recruited by way of nepotism, or jobs for the boys (and girls – so there is an element of equal opportunity in there! [sic] ). Personally, I think the choice of presenters was the biggest mistake the producers made – who have been so obviously chosen because of who they are. Perhaps there’s an OBE in it for someone?

Realistically, MK is just a media creation. It’s a representation of what a TV producer sees as the lifestyle of middle Englanders who bang the drum for local food, and the right to wear brightly coloured wellies when lecturing others on issues of global warming and healthy eating, while humping copious amounts of lard, duck fat, sugar, cream, and mountains of red meat into the back of their 4x4’s – all bought at great expense from farmer Greenways in the village square.

It really doesn't bother me what other people eat, what I find irritating is the amount of preaching that goes on about food under the self-righteous banner of "good food", "good shopping", etc, etc. The current "good" advice on food seems to boil down to becoming a vegetarian, who doesn't smoke, drink, or ever allow sugar, fat, or more than 5 grams of salt per day to cross their lips, so my guess is that the very great majority of food board dwellers can be seen as people with an unhealthy interest in perverse and anti-social cooking!

I'm somewhat surprised the Government haven't banned the existence of food boards completely - no doubt someone at Westminster is working on such a Bill at this very moment.

As for serious MK viewers, I can only assume that because such people would rather miss their Christmas dinner than ever set foot in a supermarket, that Waitrose is well “out of bounds” – errmm, I mention this because there is a rumour going around that Waitrose sponsor MK?

Or, should we consider that Waitrose can never be considered to be so commonplace as a “supermarket”?

Is it perhaps a chain of: ‘super stores within the market place that cater for people who wear yellow wellies and shun the food of the common people’?

What I’m saying Nelly is that we have taken a pop at the image management presented by a TV company, nothing more and nothing less. The stereotype of a middle Englander in yellow wellies is obviously one that people can choose to identify with, or not, as they please.

UKTV has the power to remove any posts they feel uncomfortable with, so ultimately they have the last word.

Also, the threads that are critical of MK are clearly recognisable and can easily be avoided by anyone who might be offended by criticism of the program, so why not just avoid reading them?

There are threads that have been started by people who have said they would like to keep them positive, and I don’t post anything adverse in those threads. People have every right to their opinions and to share those opinions with like-minded people, but surely that works both ways round?

If you do want to engage in some banter about the show or the people in it (who are well paid, and as public figures will expect to receive some criticism) why not keep it friendly and focus any criticism you have on the program rather than on fellow board members?

I shall keep a sharp eye out for anyone doing the school run on a tractor and wearing yellow wellies, and give them a big wave

Green wellies gastro! What is it with you and yellow wellies?

I know I'm out of the loop posset - but it really is tooooo chilly for a cold shower today … brrrrrrrr

Plus, I think "yellow wellie" fits the stereotype more accurately

Not so sure about the 4x4 though?

I hear the latest 'in' mode of conveyance for the school run is a restored 50's electric milk float with a 24v upgrade and with the disc-brake conversion pack fitted.

I can't quite see how a tractor would do the job, because how would you get 2.5 children into a tractor?

You’d need a trailer, and as we all know, people in yellow wellies who do the school run can’t park anywhere near the kerb anyway, so I think the idea is a no, no.