Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Blog

A shift in supermarkets’ attitudes and a new judicial review could at last make us face up to this blot on our moral conscience

It’s been more than 15 years since my show Hugh’s Chicken Run exposed the treatment of the UK’s most farmed animal. The month after it aired, sales of factory-farmed chickens plummeted and free-range birds flew off the shelves as the public began to contemplate the short and brutal lives of animals they had seen only when headless, plucked and smothered in clingfilm.

The ...

By dropping boulders on the bottom of the seabed, Greenpeace is preventing trawlers from ploughing up vital habitat

Our oceans are in crisis. I saw it for myself while I was making my television series Hugh’s Fish Fight for Channel 4 over a decade ago. I saw the most destructive fishing practices first-hand, as I dived over the sea floor within minutes of fishing boats dragging their metal-toothed gear along the bottom and scraping everything in their path. And I witnessed the desert they created...

Most of us want to bring home less plastic, but shops don’t make it easy to cut back – that’s why I’m starting a new campaign

Last year Theresa May announced that by the year 2043 the government aimed to “eliminate all avoidable plastic waste”. It’s not soon enough. Over the past 12 months, the alarm bells have been ringing and the Blue Planet effect has got everyone’s attention. People want to see urgent action on plastics from the government and big business, and they also want to know how t...

Beetroot and walnut hummus, macaroni peas, rosemary polenta and roast roots frittata: if these don’t convince them, nothing will

Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4

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From delicious daiquiris to the sweetest of jams, transform your berries with these foolproof recipes

As the strawberry needle sabotage scare widens across Australia, supermarkets are pulling punnets from their shelves while farmers are dumping their harvests in fields.

Health officials are advising consumers to take extreme caution with any purchased fruit, but if you’d rather not throw strawberries out, there are plenty of ways to use them up.

Related: Model Natasha Poly: why I put fresh stra...

Chill with these five-minute thirst-quenchers: choose from a grapefruit and mint lemonade, a zesty pineapple crush or a herby mandarin cooler

Makes 1 litre

Related: Six of the best frozen desserts

Related: Six of the best chilled summer soups

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The 25-year deadline spells doom for many ocean species. One supermarket’s pledge to ban plastics puts the target to shame

The prime minister has declared war on plastic, with an announcement that the government hopes to “eliminate all avoidable plastic waste” within 25 years. You could say that this week saw the first troops landing on our plastic-strewn beaches. But, rather than our ministers or MPs, they turned out to be the shelf-stackers and checkout workers of Iceland supermarkets.

Those...

UK’s promise to create world’s largest continuous marine reserve shows those in power can really get things done when it comes to ocean conservation

Amidst the flurry of growth statistics and tax announcements in the budget, you might have missed the most important story of all. Buried in the small print of the red book was some brilliant news for Fish Fighters and ocean lovers everywhere.

The government responded to calls from a coalition of conservationists, and made a commitment to create th...

From Hugh's green beans to Yotam's baked artichokes, seasonal dishes from top chefs chosen by Observer Food Monthly
Part 3 of 20 best summer salad recipes available tomorrow

This recipe is based on the classic endive salad, with the addition of fine beans for texture and flavour.

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Grainy or smooth, slightly sweet or slightly bitter, fiercely hot or hardly hot at all: there's a mustard to pep up just about any dish

We've been getting a kick out of mustard for centuries. Roman sources describe the condiment, while medieval European royal households employed a mustardarius to ensure it was correctly prepared for table. These days, you just can't get the staff.

What you can get is ranks and ranks of different mustards: grainy or smooth, slightly sweet or slightly b...