Jamie Oliver Saves Our Bacon

Thought this was very good, even if DW had to go into the kitchen at the slaughter scene.
Very enlightening, I used to consider Danish Bacon to be a quality and ethical product, and it seems some is.
We'll be buying only British produced pork from now on, I tended to prefer to do that anyway.

I watched it and agree with you.  V. enlightening. We only buy Scottish outdoor reared pork now, but have been guilty of buying bacon from origins unknown.  Must do better.  I was really glad to hear that the UK has at least more decent conditions for keeping pigs.  There are several outdoor pig farms around here. 

I watched this last night as well, and while I was initially very disturbed by the slaughter scene, when I reflected on it a while later, I realized that it was essential to understanding the entire life cycle of food.  We shop for meat almost exclusively at Waitrose, and I immediately checked out their website to see their policies with respect to their pork products.

I also really respect and appreciate the message.  The debate about eating meat always seems to be polarized into the "I eat meat" vs "Vegetarian" options.  I feel like programs like this introduce a viable "third way" to the mix: if you choose to eat meat, be educated about the welfare of the animals during their lives when you make your purchases.  Not that that choice wasn't always there, but getting it to be a bigger part of mainstream society and conversations about food is a good thing.

I didn't even make it as far as the slaughter scheme.
About 10 minutes in, when they were showing the over-crowded pig barn in some foreign country (dont remember which one it was, i only heard them say this type of thing had been banned in the UK)... I couldn't watch any more.

Every week I get closer and closer to becoming a vegetarian.  :\\\'(

I also really respect and appreciate the message.  The debate about eating meat always seems to be polarized into the "I eat meat" vs "Vegetarian" options.  I feel like programs like this introduce a viable "third way" to the mix: if you choose to eat meat, be educated about the welfare of the animals during their lives when you make your purchases.  Not that that choice wasn't always there, but getting it to be a bigger part of mainstream society and conversations about food is a good thing.

Absolutely!  Although since going free-range/outdoor reared, I think my parents would think me less odd if I just went vegetarian.  Just because it dies (and we all do) doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a decent humane existence as long as it's alive.  In this case, the journey is every bit as important as the end.   Wish I'd seen this. 

The debate about eating meat always seems to be polarized into the "I eat meat" vs "Vegetarian" options.  I feel like programs like this introduce a viable "third way" to the mix: if you choose to eat meat, be educated about the welfare of the animals during their lives when you make your purchases. 

Agreed!  We didn't catch this program, but could check it out on catch up tv.  We have occasionally watched episodes of the 'Kill It. Cook It. Eat It.' series, and they do show the slaughter on there - explaining how there are more humane and less humane ways of doing it, as well as looking at the kind of lives the animals had.

We buy our meat from our local butcher who sells this range:

http://www.threedales.co.uk/index.php

It was interesting but I don't really think it does much to change minds in the long term.  I respect the guy for trying though.

I barely eat meat anymore (too expensive for the good stuff) but I no doubt consume poorly raised meat in restaurants, in sandwiches etc.  It's not always possible to be 100% ethical.  I think it's good to make an effort though. 

We watched it last night on catch up TV!  Really good program & I'm still salivating over that pork belly and pork shoulder roast that Jamie did.

Can't remember if it was Jamie who said it, or I saw it somewhere else, but we're really big on the idea of 'Buy your meat from a person (professional butcher), not from a cabinet!'  We've been making an effort to have more veggie meals as time goes on (for health, cost cutting & also minimising environmental impact).  However, I don't foresee us ever going veggie entirely, because we want our local farmers to stay in business & for the traditional countryside to continue here (and we like meat too).  Maybe we'd go veggie if all the British farmers are driven out of business and the only choice is to buy meat from elsewhere in the EU or somewhere crazy-farflung like Argentina - which would be really sad.

Fortunately, since we know the provenance of the meat we do buy - down to the exact farms it comes from & where they are located (all in the dales - Yorkshire Dales - right around where we live), we know we're supporting our local farmers.  Also, there is definitely a difference in the quality of the product!

Every week I get closer and closer to becoming a vegetarian.  :\\\'(

I'll help!!!   

And me.

Though now I have the dilemma that I also want to wean myself of Tesco, but their veggie food is so good it is going to be hard.

Vicky

We've been eating ethically-raised meat from as local a source as possible for a few years now.

If you are in Edinburgh, I strongly recommend Ballencrieff Farms, who sell at the weekly farmer's market on Saturdays.  The farm is also open for visits and has a small shop on site, although you do need a car to access it as it is in Longniddry and a bit out of the way, as farms are.

Absolutely delicious meats, free range reared British rarebreed sows and the farmer is happy to let you stroke a piglet if he's got an agreeable sow.

Here, we buy ours from a farm in Toward/Innellan - again, open to customers and very happy pigs.

We do rely on Tesco and Lidl for staples, as the cost difference is really great, but veg and meat is all local.