For many families, Christmas brings everyone together around one table to share the delights of a festive feast. In this week's Green Room, Michelin-starred chef and long-standing food campaigner Raymond Blanc urges us to embrace the seasonal spirit at every mealtime throughout the year.
For many families, Christmas brings everyone together around one table to share the delights of a festive feast. In this week's Green Room, Michelin-starred chef and long-standing food campaigner Raymond Blanc urges us to embrace the seasonal spirit at every mealtime throughout the year.
The Christmas feast is a good time to step back and take a look at our food supply chain and the state of our farming I'm a good French Republican, but at this time of year I become slightly monarchist, pleased that Cromwell's ban on Christmas was lifted with the Restoration.
The Christmas feast is a good time to step back and take a look at our food supply chain and the state of our farming I'm a good French Republican, but at this time of year I become slightly monarchist, pleased that Cromwell's ban on Christmas was lifted with the Restoration.
Of course the clergy complain that Christmas has been robbed of its religious meaning - it's their metier - but for me, the season of Christmas has a meaning that goes beyond and deeper than that assigned to it by any particular religion.
Of course the clergy complain that Christmas has been robbed of its religious meaning - it's their metier - but for me, the season of Christmas has a meaning that goes beyond and deeper than that assigned to it by any particular religion.
Christmas has always been able to change people. Think about the British and German troops facing each other across their trenches in World War I, and how even this hideous carnage was calmed for a few hours on Christmas Eve 1914.
Christmas has always been able to change people. Think about the British and German troops facing each other across their trenches in World War I, and how even this hideous carnage was calmed for a few hours on Christmas Eve 1914.
The festival has value for this alone but, in addition, it is an excuse for a feast.
The festival has value for this alone but, in addition, it is an excuse for a feast.
A celebration at this time of year seems almost to be part of humankind's genetic code.
A celebration at this time of year seems almost to be part of humankind's genetic code.
Even before the pagan Saturnalia, indeed as soon as human beings became pastoralists, midwinter was the time when livestock that could not be over-wintered was killed and feasted upon.
Even before the pagan Saturnalia, indeed as soon as human beings became pastoralists, midwinter was the time when livestock that could not be over-wintered was killed and feasted upon.
A time of feasts makes us more generous, even when it is not normally in our nature to be so; that is the essential truth Dickens captured in the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
A time of feasts makes us more generous, even when it is not normally in our nature to be so; that is the essential truth Dickens captured in the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Health and happiness
Health and happiness
Religious or not, Christmas-tide (all 12 days of it) is heavily charged with emotion. Food that has been grown for its quality, not its quantity, is in the end better for our enjoyment, our families and better for the environment
Religious or not, Christmas-tide (all 12 days of it) is heavily charged with emotion. Food that has been grown for its quality, not its quantity, is in the end better for our enjoyment, our families and better for the environment
It is a time to connect with our families, a time when we recollect, honour and cherish our roots.
It is a time to connect with our families, a time when we recollect, honour and cherish our roots.
Of course, we take everything to excess; we eat too much and drink too much, but we also revel in companionship and the third legacy of the French trilogy, fraternity, even if we sometimes feel by Boxing Day or Twelfth Night (in the worst case) that we have also had a touch too much extended family contact.
Of course, we take everything to excess; we eat too much and drink too much, but we also revel in companionship and the third legacy of the French trilogy, fraternity, even if we sometimes feel by Boxing Day or Twelfth Night (in the worst case) that we have also had a touch too much extended family contact.
So lucky us; we celebrate the time of year with a long meal that has a roast at its centre.
So lucky us; we celebrate the time of year with a long meal that has a roast at its centre.
Every family has its own rules for the meal, but it always hooks into some tradition; the great thing now, something of which we can be proud, is that our traditional feasting is at last beginning to reconnect with our traditional agriculture.
Every family has its own rules for the meal, but it always hooks into some tradition; the great thing now, something of which we can be proud, is that our traditional feasting is at last beginning to reconnect with our traditional agriculture.
Here in the UK and in France, the roast course is now usually a goose, a chapon or even a turkey.
Here in the UK and in France, the roast course is now usually a goose, a chapon or even a turkey.
Even if we weren't plunging headlong into a recession, we must admit that most of us would still buy a cheaper turkey, rather than a Kelly bronze, or a Norfolk black turkey.
Even if we weren't plunging headlong into a recession, we must admit that most of us would still buy a cheaper turkey, rather than a Kelly bronze, or a Norfolk black turkey.
But it is to our credit that we have revived these heirloom birds, these traditional breeds; and that, almost universally, they are reared and slaughtered in humane conditions.
But it is to our credit that we have revived these heirloom birds, these traditional breeds; and that, almost universally, they are reared and slaughtered in humane conditions.
It is no small thing, after all, that these birds are now available once again. If turkeys did have a vote as to whether we celebrate Christmas, they'd certainly be happier that some of them were at least being reared in accordance with higher animal welfare standards.
It is no small thing, after all, that these birds are now available once again. If turkeys did have a vote as to whether we celebrate Christmas, they'd certainly be happier that some of them were at least being reared in accordance with higher animal welfare standards.
Food for thought
Food for thought
The Christmas feast is a good time to step back and take a look at our food supply chain and the state of our farming.Understanding the importance of good food is a great gift
The Christmas feast is a good time to step back and take a look at our food supply chain and the state of our farming.Understanding the importance of good food is a great gift
It's the one time of year when, even if we don't splash out on an organic turkey, we do ungrudgingly spend a little more than usual on our food.
It's the one time of year when, even if we don't splash out on an organic turkey, we do ungrudgingly spend a little more than usual on our food.
If only it were possible for us to adopt this attitude for the rest of the year, what a difference it would make to our agriculture, to our regions, to our farmers and to our well-being.
If only it were possible for us to adopt this attitude for the rest of the year, what a difference it would make to our agriculture, to our regions, to our farmers and to our well-being.
Merely by dint of the fact that we allow ourselves a few food "luxuries" in our Christmas shopping, we trade up from our normal diet, and we try to buy food of a better quality than what we consume the rest of the year.
Merely by dint of the fact that we allow ourselves a few food "luxuries" in our Christmas shopping, we trade up from our normal diet, and we try to buy food of a better quality than what we consume the rest of the year.
Admitting this to ourselves is the first step in improving our diet - and our relationship to the sources of our food.
Admitting this to ourselves is the first step in improving our diet - and our relationship to the sources of our food.
Yes, we can tell the difference. Food that has been grown for its quality, not its quantity, is in the end better for our enjoyment, our families and better for the environment. I don't need to argue this - deep down, we all know it's true.
Yes, we can tell the difference. Food that has been grown for its quality, not its quantity, is in the end better for our enjoyment, our families and better for the environment. I don't need to argue this - deep down, we all know it's true.
I have little time for those who patronise the poor by saying that they can't actually afford better food.
I have little time for those who patronise the poor by saying that they can't actually afford better food.
We can all afford better food - it is a question of priorities. Sadly, we in Britain choose to spend a lower proportion of our disposable income on our food than do other people in Europe.
We can all afford better food - it is a question of priorities. Sadly, we in Britain choose to spend a lower proportion of our disposable income on our food than do other people in Europe.
Every British government since World War II has colluded in this skewed value system by pursuing a policy of cheap food.
Every British government since World War II has colluded in this skewed value system by pursuing a policy of cheap food.
We don't need cheap food any more than we need junk food. We need good, wholesome, nutritious, interesting food, sold at a realistic price, and grown in a way that does not damage the environment but enhances it.
We don't need cheap food any more than we need junk food. We need good, wholesome, nutritious, interesting food, sold at a realistic price, and grown in a way that does not damage the environment but enhances it.
And if that means saving a bit of money by spending less on the tinsel, why, what better time than Christmas to learn that lesson and teach it to our children?
And if that means saving a bit of money by spending less on the tinsel, why, what better time than Christmas to learn that lesson and teach it to our children?
Bon appetit et Joyeux Noel!
Bon appetit et Joyeux Noel!
Raymond Blanc is proprietor of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire, UK
Raymond Blanc is proprietor of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire, UK
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
Do you agree with Raymond Blanc? Do we pay more attention to food at Christmas time? Should we care more and pay more for the food we put on the table? Will your New Year's resolution be to pay more attention to what you put in your mouth?
Do you agree with Raymond Blanc? Do we pay more attention to food at Christmas time? Should we care more and pay more for the food we put on the table? Will your New Year's resolution be to pay more attention to what you put in your mouth?
HERE ON THE ISLE OF MAN WE HAVE THE VERY BEST OF HOME BREED FARE,TREATED WELL SO THAT THEY EAT WELL. RAYMOND KNOWS HOW GOOD OUR SPECIAL LOUGHTAN LAMB IS AND OUR SEA FOOD. WHY NOT COME AND TRY IT YOURSELF..... PAULINE CORLETT, ISLE OF MAN
I totally agree. Some people argue that free range, organic meat would be too expensive to eat every day, and that is correct. We afford it by eating less meat, so when we come to eat meat it's the best quality available. Eating a balance of fresh veggie, sustainable fish and free range organic meat meals may be a little more pricey over the month, but it certainly isn't unattainable and is worth that LITTLE extra in our opinion. My Wife is a Teacher and I am an IT desktop engineer and we have two small children, we're certainly not millionaires, but it's very important that we have the best and most wholesome diet as possible. Eating processed food and cheap meat products just isn't an option for our family. It's bad for your health, your families health and for the environment. It's a no brainer isn't it?Kevin Bray, Billericay, Essex
I agree 100% we need more organic , free range farmers, and all farmers to improve wealth fair standards we need to push supermarkets, goverments to help our farmers and encourage them to help wildlife thrive on their land by financal incentivescarl holmes, wirral
I agree with Raymond utterly. Many folks have the money for CDs, DVDs, clothes etc. but won't spend a few pennies more on good food. I usually find the difference between ordinary meat and free-range/organic can be as little as 20p a kilo. Also, many people who say they can't afford good food are often overweight.FW, Bath, Somerset
He does not know what he is talking about it. British governments have not pursued cheap food policies other than post war years where clearly there was a desire to feed the populace (the ground nut fiasco - we cannot all eat Fois Gras Raymond). However after the EU was joined this was (and was accepted as) the start of expensive food, it guarantees the prices of often sub standard food versus the rest of the worldJack Kilms, Turin
