The 16th century acquisition of the versatile tomato from Mesoamerica influenced the culinary direction of travel in the Mediterranean world, wider Europe and Asia, once collectors and traders learned the full value this exotic plant. Tomatoes remain inexpensive and versatile - and tinned (canned) tomatoes on toast is a very cheap meal indeed. If you need or want to eat healthily for pennies not pounds, read on.
Read moreAre 30p Meals Really Possible, Including Hidden Costs? No, Not Really
Food is political. ‘Lee’s 30p meals’ still occasionally trends on Twitter. Sometimes it’s ‘Lee’s 10p meals’. Lee Anderson - quite a big fella himself - is the daftie Conservative MP who decided that the British people could live on meals that cost just 30 pennies per person. Apparently he saw it done at a food bank kitchen - completely ignoring the facts of food donations, the massive aconomies of scale and the energy costs - and now he has visions of the impoverished doing the same. Student or budget setter, cook or parent, this is the new narrative of aspiration. Trouble is, ‘30p Lee’ is an idiot.
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