This was written for www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Whilst doing some research into the horse meat burger scandal, I started to ask myself how did it get to this point? As a global community we unconsciously consume so much meat that the farming industry cannot keep up with the demand. Leading water scientists say that by 2050 the human population would have to switch to an almost entirely vegetarian diet to avoid catastrophic global food and water shortages.

"There will not be enough water available ... to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends," Malin Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute.

The problem is, that this is a domino effect. The amount of ruminant livestock we produced globally is having an immediate effect on our ozone layer. 80 million metric tones of methane gas is produced in the farming of animals annually, which is 28% of the potent greenhouse gasses, which contributes to global climate change resulting in extreme weather events. Drought is the major concern for the on-going production of meat.

"It's a simple numbers game: Cattle, for example, consume a shocking 17 times more grain calories than they produce as meat calories. All that lost grain (which humans could have eaten) requires water. "Producing food requires more water than any other human activity -- and meat production is very water-intensive," Josh Weinberg, the institute's communications officer"

I feel very strongly that all of this is a result of unconscious choices, not asking the questions. If you go back 100 years, eating animal produce was a luxury and you knew where your meat came from. Now it's so readily available I am not surprised that companies are padding out what they sell with animal meat such as horses.

The question I would like to ask people buying processed meat is, do you know how that animal lived, what it was fed and how it was killed? If yes and you are happy with the answers then you are making a conscious choice. But a large percentage of people don't really care what they are eating.

Its time to start being more conscious of what we are eating. If we ask the questions loudly enough then the companies producing it will have to step up to the mark. The amount of hormones pumped into these animals to grow & produce faster has a massive health impact on our bodies that we, as a nation, don't think about when we order it off a menu or pay for it at a check out.

The scientific proof that eating a predominately alkaline diet has major impacts on our health, which is not to be ignored. Meat when digested is very acid forming in the body - so with all this knowledge of producing meat and eating it, is rapidly having extreme effects on our planet and health... I think making conscious choices would be a good starting point. Its time to look after our families and world we live in.

Some great watching to help you make conscious decisions:
Foodmatters.tv
Foodinc.com
Forksoverknives.com

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/people-really-forced-stop-eating-meat-130251968.ht...
http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/2838-meat-eating-vegetarianism.html
www.epa.gov

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/natasha-corrett/horse-meat-how-did-it-ge...

Happy New year!
I have just got back from an amazing 2 weeks in Vietnam and as i thought was blown away by the abundent colour and freshness of all the food in the markets. I went to the Mekong delta which is a river that runs from China to Cambodia where thousands live.  Its like a motorway for the locals and not only that they use it for their gorgeous markets.  I went to a floating market in Can Tho which was beautiful.  Walking around the market after getting off the boat looking at all the vegetables and fruits that they grow and eat i was astonished at how they use every last piece of a veggie, animal or flower.  Nothing goes to waste. 
They eat the steams of water lillies in soup which was amazing to the flowers off trees.  I was also excited by the fact that they made non GM tofu and also they use Agar Agar flakes in loads of desserts!  Inspiraton for the next book! They made the most amazing deserts and snacks with coconut, yes they use sugar but with my exciting alternatives i am going to try and use the same main ingridents and techniques to create something pretty exciting! 
Watch this space!