A good-food geek, animal welfare campaigner and floppy-haired mincey-man.
Hugh has changed policy of large shops and governments with his campaigns ‘chicken Out’ and ‘Fish Fight’ as well as setting up ‘Ground Share’ and other ventures.
Hugh Fearnly-Wittingstall:
“All meat is the product of a killing. All those who eat it share responsible for the manner of that killing. My own preference is to know where my meat comes from and how it was killed and if that means killing it myself then I will do it.”
I think a good attribute of a geek is to look at the bigger picture, to see the full effect of an action rather than focusing narrowly on the immediate and to be thorough in their investigation. Hugh’s campaigns for good food from good-welfare animals does this. There is a tendency to think cheap food is what we need to be able to live better lives. We need enough food to live on but most of us are overweight, live in overly-expensive houses, have excessive electronic gadgetry and spend a fair amount of money on social activities. Food and the quality of food becomes secondary. We often ignore the hugely social, simple and satisfying act of eating good food in good company.
I would not want to eat food that was made with slave labour or at the detriment to other humans – it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Neither do I want to eat an animal that has been bred in poor conditions; bred to grow so fast it cannot hold its own weight and which will never see the light of day. The problem is that society at large does not understand that this is what we mean when we brag at how we took advantage of the 2-for-£5 offer at Tesco, rather they commend us for our thriftiness.
Anyway, back to Hugh. He is a geek, if you don’t believe me – see his banter with his River-Cottage chefs. Geek-fest.
