Ethical Terrorist and bread soup

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 09/10/08 at 12:10:32 pm

Ethical Terrorism and the birth of the Ecorist

If you ignore what is going on with the banks and look at the bigger picture the news has been dominated in the last few years by two big topics namely the environment and the “War on Terror”. I was having a chat with a few mates about this and we wondered what an Ethical/Eco terrorist would be like. As journalists are always coming up with new names I thought I would too and our Ethical/Eco Terrorist would simply be called an Ecorist.

So what would define our ecorist? Firstly they would not be able to hurt anyone as it would be immoral. This would mean that all normal forms of terrorist attacks would be redundant as in general it would involve hurting people. They would also be concerned about where they bought their tools of terror ensuring that they are fair trade and sustainable. On top of that the Ecorist would be very aware of their carbon footprint ensuring that they terrorise in a carbon neutral or even carbon negative manner.

This meas they could not get on a plane as they would be increasing their carbon footprint. Nor would they want to destroy anything as it uses valuable resources that are no doubt sourced from dodgy dealings in Africa, raping the natural environment and giving next to nothing back to the local inhabitants. Indeed the only thing that they could even contemplate destroying would be a building built with sustainable and FSC materials. This building would also be part of what the Ecorist would be campaigning for so what would be the point.

So if the Ecorist can’t destroy anything or hurt anyone then I guess they will be left with protesting. We all know that travel is one of the highest personal contributers to greenhouse gasses this would rule out the protest march, unless you could get enough people to one place by bike. How would it then be advertised? You can’t flyer it or put posters up as they both cause litter they would also be unfair to dsylexics and non native speakers who might be unable to understand them. So protesting is out.

There are not many options left for the Ecorist, the only thing that we could come up with is going through peoples bins and pulling out the recycled products and sorting them out for them.

Bread Soup

Using the book I mentioned in my last blog, You can’t ration these I decided to give one of the recipes a go. It was a real war time make do recipe of Bread Soup. I basically cut up some stale bread (2 slices), boiled it for a little (in 1.5 pints of water) then simmered for 30 mins sprinkling some salt and pepper to the mix. Adding an egg yolk whipped up in some milk just at the end.

The results were certainly interesting. I wolfed mine down as I will eat almost anything whilst my two guests were not convinced.  It was just bread in hot water, it tasted almost like egg bread but not as nice and almost like bread and butter pudding and again not as nice.

I think that if you sweated down some onions in butter and added a little spice of your choosing this might be saved. It is not one however, that I would recomend unless you really don’t have any food in the cupboard.

3 Comments

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1. Theory has it that this is how gazpacho got its start, being at its beginning nothing more than a mash of stale bread, olive oil and garlic. It was not until many years later that tomatoes were added, along with other veggies.
   I think you are right that adding sweated onions would add a ton of flavor, and I think tomatoes, tinned or otherwise, would add even more. However, the tomatoes might be at odds with “war time” conservation idea. But I am sure other things can be found and added.
   The real point is that it is a great way to use up stale bread, especially in a time where any food wastage might be a bad thing.

   Comment by Erik — October 9, 2008 #

2. Never had a gazpacho with bread in it! That is pretty interesting though Erik.

   Perhaps tomatoes would fit in with the war time idea as fruit and vegetables were not rationed. It is a way to use up stale bread personally I would opt for putting them on the top of a gratin or something as breadcrumbs!

   Comment by andyhamilton — October 9, 2008 #

3. “my fennel and my lettuce went to seed and Emma had also planted some evening primrose, now everyone on our allotment site is weeding out those plants.” – from 07/10/08

   …I think you have your definition of an “Ecorist” right there!

   Comment by JohnathanKeen — October 20, 2008 #

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