The F Word - Series 4 Janet Street-Porter's final word

Date Published:

07/05/2008

With series 4 of the F Word now over, did Janet's Elton and David experience help to educate the masses?

Janet Street-Porter tells 4Food how she feels (post-slaugher) about her F Word veal calves experience

Was the slaughter harder (emotionally) than you thought it would be? Or was it more interesting for you?

I didn’t think I would be able to go into the abattoir…but when the day came, we put them in the trailer and it was all done very calmly. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had given me some advice when I interviewed him…the animals were treated very well. They had a nice clean barn with buckets of milk and I let them out in the field to roam about for the last two weeks. After the slaughter, I could see that the meat looked really good, so the project had been well worth while.

What's it like now they've gone – do you miss the daily trips to the shed?

I don’t miss the clearing up! It made me realise that being a farmer is very, very hard work and I could not have done the project without loads of help from Jack Graham, my neighbouring farmer.

Would it have been easier if there’d been slaughter on a grander scale (rather than just the two boys)?

No, the slaughter house was in the middle of the Yorkshire dales, just outside Bainbridge, in beautiful countryside, and was family run. It was the best slaughter house I have been to, but obviously these are not going to be my favourite places anyway.

Was having your mentor there more of a hindrance sometimes e.g. when you decided to let the boys go free-range?

I disagreed with Joe over that. I decided they should be free-range because I was impressed with the conditions on Dominic’s farm in Scotland. I also disagreed with Joe over the disbudding, I didn’t think they should have their horns taken off, but Joe got his way on that issue. Dominic didn’t do that, I discovered later.

Do you feel your decision to go free-range affected the taste – do you still stand by your decision?

The veal tasted absolutely delicious- going free-range made no difference whatsoever.

Do you feel you’ve made a real difference to the public’s perception of veal? If so, how?

I have got people in the street really talking about it - they used to stop me and ask me every day how the calves were. I think it’s all part of an important process of making the public think about what they are eating. It has been very, very successful at raising awareness about British veal.

Were you surprised by any of the reactions of people you met? The hard-nosed Yorkshire farmers claiming it was cruel to eat little baby calves seemed a bit of a shock!

I was surprised at the level of ignorance. Of course the old generation of dairy farmers will be set in their ways and harder to win round, but I am very optimistic about getting the younger farmers to think about raising British veal.

Was the veal as delicious as you’d hoped and/or experienced in other establishments?

I thought my veal (David) tasted excellent…I don’t ever eat that horrible white European veal; you don’t know how it’s been raised, and I find it flavourless. My veal was completely delicious. I have eaten some of the kidneys and the liver and it was better than any I’ve had in a restaurant.

Was Gordon happy with the results?

Yes, although I preferred how mine was cooked to the way he served up Elton!

Will yourself and Gordon continue to campaign for better public understanding of veal?

I’m anxious to get people to understand where their food comes from and why it’s important to care about how it was raised.

Will you continue to eat veal after this experience?

British veal, yes - continental veal, no.

Follow Janet’s veal cook-out here.

Eating veal – dastardly or delicious? Have your say in the user comments below.

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