Talking to the Bowler Hat Farmer - 30th April 2024: Part 2 - Alternatives to supermarkets

I first spoke to Mark Byford on the 9th April, but thanks to my amazing ability to mess things up, it did not quite go according to plan. This was our second conversation with each other.
In this part Mark spoke about alternatives to supermarkets and a number of initiatives to help people find other ways of getting their food.

Mark Byford, the Bowler Hat farmer, can be found on Youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/@Thebowlerhatfarmer

"The Bowlerhat Farmer - CONNECTING YOU WITH REAL FOOD PRODUCERS in the UK and Ireland WE NEED THIS"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OQYmwZz6OA

The Sustainable Directory:
https://sustainabledirectory.co.uk/

Big Barn local food map:
https://www.bigbarn.co.uk/local-food-map/

https://openfoodnetwork.net/

https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/

"The People’s Food and Farming Alliance champions food sovereignty and security, for The People, by The People."
https://the-pffa.org/

Just in case you thought the 'you will eat the insects' was a conspiracy theory:
"Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/5 of 3 January 2023 authorising the placing on the market of Acheta domesticus (house cricket) partially defatted powder as a novel food and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470 (Text with EEA relevance)"
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023R0005

Some of the labelling methods are here:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-know-if-the-product-you-re-eating-has-insects-EU

"Chitin and Its Effects on Inflammatory and Immune Responses
Immune recognition of chitin also involves pattern recognition receptors, mainly via TLR-2 and Dectin-1, to activate immune cells to induce cytokine production and creation of an immune network that results in inflammatory and allergic responses."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5680136/

"Chitin is found throughout the exoskeletons of most insects, where it may be present in amounts ranging up to 60% in special parts such as the flexible portions. The average chitin content in the cuticle of a number of different species is reported to be 33%. The cuticle consists of alternate layers of protein and chitin impregnated with calcium carbonate and pigments and interspersed with polyphenols."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/chitin

No thanks...
"My first attempts at feeding insects to friends and family did not go down well. “What the hell is wrong with you?” asked my wife when I revealed that the tomato and oregano-flavoured cracker bites we had been munching with our G&Ts were made from crickets."
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/08/if-we-want-to-save-the-planet-the-future-of-food-is-insects

The UK government on geo-engineering:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5eb13050e90e0723bad30a11/geoengineering-position-statement.pdf

"Geoengineering, the large-scale manipulation of a specific process central to controlling Earth’s climate for the purpose of obtaining a specific benefit."
https://www.britannica.com/science/geoengineering