Clare Townhill

Weasel Words

As a stubborn (and 'pesky') vegetarian I've taken an above average interest in food labels, ingredients and nutrition for the last twenty years. A series of programmes shot for BBC's Horizon explore some of the fads to hit our shelves and capture our paranoid imaginations in the quest for 'healthy' living amidst a media swimming in scares. I particularly enjoyed the gruff opinions of a university-based nutritionalist on the topic of what he called 'weasel words'. According to him, and a review of the robust research available re. the following hot topics, these words are tricky rodents not to be trusted:

Antioxidents
Superfoods
Organic
Probiotic

The programmes can be found here and are well worth a look.

'Unser Taeglich Brot'

I feel a bit mean blogging about this given that it's only showing for one more day at the ICA (8.45pm tomorrow is the last one, and if you can you should, although it's not really Valentine's Day fodder for the romantically inclined). This strange and wonderful film blew me away. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas about the scenes of mechanised farming and slaughter. Having the chance to breathe as a viewer, a chance to think whilst mesmerised by the process of grand scale of harvest and death is strangely moving. This precious, un-VO-ed documentary is such a far cry from the recent extravaganza of opinionated, celebrity chef-driven programming on C4.

Good news! UTB is on until the end of the month. Go! Go! Go!