GreenBean Radio
real food
real people
The sound of real food culture
A collection of recordings, interviews and adventures made by greenbean as part of a final project for an MA in Food Culture and Communication at the UNISG.
Some MP3s to download, but other links to interesting recordings and shows made by other people.
Tasty listening!
GreenBean Podcast:
Leeks of Daffodils? symbols of Wales
Thursday, October 19, 2006 at 10:21AM An interview with Pat and Nick Bean, Springfields about Daffodil growing in Pembrokeshire
Download here (right) click and save/play
Photos Daffodils by something.in.my.eye Leeks by Claudecf
Radio from:
Springfields Daffodils - Wales Radio International MP3 download
green bean
This article lifted from the Western Mail 25th March 2007
Our daffs may be simple but they're certainly not naff
WELSH growers have hit back at claims that "naff daffs" are being left on the shelf this spring because of demand for exotic blooms from abroad.
Fashion, snobbery and imported exotics have all played a part in reducing daffodil sales, according to Neil Tweedie, writing in The Telegraph.
He asked, "Doesn't the modern bouquet require at least one spray-painted, insect-devouring bloom from the Amazon Basin, complete with aromatic twig?
"In an age of designer floristry, when flowers with a carbon footprint the size of an elephant's are routinely flown into Britain from around the world, the daffodil just doesn't seem to cut it."
But Welsh growers and florists say the national emblem of Wales is a simple but attractive bloom that symbolises spring more than any other.
Nick Bean, who grows two million daffodils annually at Springfields in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, supplies farmers' markets, local retailers and supermarket giant Asda.
"Daffodils are the most en-vironmentally-friendly flowers you can have," he said.
"They grow all over Wales and the UK - and they don't need any air miles."
He blames the "dumbing down" of daffodils on supermarkets selling cheaper ones with a limited shelf life, instead of quality Welsh ones that can last for weeks.
"Another problem is that daffodils don't mix well with other flowers," he said.
"However, there are very few flowers that you can identify so much with one season."
Delightful daffs Some of the readers letters to the Telegraph in reaction to Mr Tweedie
Sir - Neil Tweedie thinks that "daffs are naff" (Features, March 23). I recently bought three bunches from my local supermarket, for £1.44.
They did look rather sad in the shop, all closed up in a black plastic bucket, but once home, I sloshed some water into a pretty old jug (I don't have a "sexy black vase", thank heavens), shoved the daffs in, and 18 hours later was greeted by a glorious riot of yellow.
Daffs may be naff, but they make me smile, whether happened upon by chance in the wild or sitting on my windowsill. I cannot think of a better flower to cheer up a cold, grey morning. Long live the daff.
Pauline Gill, Garmouth, Morayshire
Sir - Much as it is very satisfying to make floral statements and produce beautiful arrangements with exotic flowers, nothing can equal the sheer joy gained by plonking five or six bunches of daffodils into a pot and watching them burst into bloom.
The pleasure of their scent and their wonderfully brilliant colour is absolute. They are truly seasonal - when you see daffodils about, you know spring is not far behind. They bring happiness and hope. I refuse to believe in their demise.
Joyce Scorer, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire
Wailing Walls
Monday, September 25, 2006 at 02:31PM This is just excellent. Not produced by GreenBean. This show is from London's Resonance 104.4FM. Tim Pickup, an Audio Adventurer entering Gastronomical territory!
http://podcasts.resonancefm.com/archives/198
Flickr photo by limpfish
Thing is... The link between Ludlow's Mr Wall and his winning sausage and ice cream is an interesting one. He's not the same Mr Wall of industrial Walls sausage and ice-cream. But Walls industrial sausage and ice-cream are or were the same. Butchers and Ice cream makers??? strange combination. Not really, in the first instance, in the early 1920's making ice-cream was a summer sideline to keep the factories busy. The "stop me and buy one" format was pioneered with 3 wheeler handcarts in the streets.
I can't find the references to document the transition at the moment, but it was in the 1930's that "Mr Whippy" style whipped ice "cream" was invented... and this used pig fat.. lard excess to industrial meat production. Full industrial integration had been achieved, and packaged up so the consumer saw no difference, or the difference was better in some new and "delicious" way. Such is the way that industrial food crept into our diets and lives.
These jingles that Tim Pickup has put together are now cultural icons, full of food meaning and food memory
Ludlow's Sausage Competition
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 12:32AM In search of sausages! (right) click and save/play (13mb)
Billed as "Britains Wackiest Food Event", Green-Bean had to take part in the SAUSAGE TRAIL at the Ludlow food and drink festival.
Truly an excelent experience, delicious sausages and wonderful help from George and his Mum, Jane!
Steve (George's Uncle), with his funny ideas about roadside caffs gets a comment from the Sausage King Check out his wicked website people!!
I'm looking forward to interviewing the Benbow he's anxious to be properly represented. There's mileage in the debate about the quality of sausages. Use the comments box below to air your views.
There could be trouble as the mob find the "experts" choice hard to swallow!!
Music recorded live at the event, from The o'Farrel's Frolics or and Streets Alive
mushroom walk back
Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 11:49PM shrooming mp3 32 mb (right) click and save
This is a long one (30mins) and pretty sparse, its a real time adventure so download and listen... would be a nice antidote to an urban commute because its all about environment, the wild ambience and space of the Pembrokeshire coastline. Will suggested putting a sound track... I like the silences, but i'm really open to remixes!!
The simply amazing bright full moon let me little sleep, despite a long day in Ludlow, a drive back and a skinful of ralphs seidr . I woke up early on the campsite at Trevalen and went lookin for mushrooms out on the headland. It was according to Dylan, the biggest tide in 20 years and i had to walk right up by the lily ponds to get round. So this is the journey back. Get carried in a basket on a brisk walk, meet the horses, hear the waves, meet some walkers and jump a river!
