10th April 2008
Colofn Golwg
evin Morgan, yr ysgolhaig cyfareddol o Brifysgol Caerdydd ac a gadeiriodd yr Ymgyrch Ie yn refferendwm ‘97, benododd fi i’m swydd gyntaf. Byth oddi ar hynny dwi wedi parchu ei reddfau. Pan ddechreuodd Kevin ddatblygu diddordeb newydd mewn bwyd fel maes ymchwil yng nghanol y 90au, roeddwn i’n gwybod bod yna rhywbeth o bwys ar droed. Degawd yn ddiweddarach, mae diogelwch bwyd, y ddadl GM, tyfiant syfrdanol y mudiad organig ac, o’r Eidal yn fwy diweddar y mudiad bwyd-araf, ciniawau ysgol a’r argyfwng gordewdra ar flaen yr agenda gwleidyddol. Bwyd hefyd yw’r roc-a-rol newydd, gyda’r Prif Weinidog yr un mor frwd i rannu llwyfan a Jamie Oliver ag yr oedd Harold Wilson gyda’r Beatles.
Mae’r obsesiwn yma â bwyd rhywsut yn greiddiol i’r oes yr ydym yn byw ynddi. Mae bywyd yn crisialu ar blât - yn llythrennol - ein consyrn cyfoes ag iechyd a’r amgylchedd. Ac yn yr un modd ag y mae unigolion yn ceisio gwahaniaethu eu hunain trwy eu sgil a’i chwaeth mewn coginio, mae yna gystadleuaeth debyg yn digwydd ar lefel rhyngwladol. Rhan annatod o ymchwydd Iwerddon o’r 80au ymlaen oedd nid dim ond Riverdance, tîm Cwpan y Byd Jackie Charlton a threthi corfforaethol isel, ond hefyd tyfiant math newydd arloesol o goginio Gwyddelig ym mwytai mwyaf chic ardal adfywiedig Temple Bar yn Nulyn. Roedd dibyniaeth ar y daten yn angheuol i Iwerddon gynt. Felly hefyd mae ei hamrywiaeth goginiol gyfoes yn arwydd o’i ffyniant.
Ac mae gwlad y teulu Guinness - ddygodd y rysáit o dafarn ym Meirionydd yn ôl y chwedl - yn gwybod pwysigrwydd a maint y farchnad ryngwladol. Does dim syndod felly bod y Weriniaeth yn buddsoddi £18 miliwn y flwyddyn mewn marchnata ei diwydiant bwyd a diod tramor. Mae’r ffigwr ar gyfer Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Gyfunol yn £4 miliwn - lawr £700,000 o’r llynedd. Yr ydym yn gwario mwy na hynny bob dydd yn Irac. Ac yn 2009 fe fydd ‘Bwyd o Brydain’, y corff ambarél sydd yn marchnata bwyd cynhenid Prydeinig ar draws marchnadoedd Ewrop -gan gynnwys chwisgi a chaws Cymreig - y dod i ben, gan nad yw bwyd yn flaenoriaeth bellach i Defra. Maen nhw am ganolbwyntio, mae’n debyg, ar glefydau anifeiliaid - h.y. y clwyf traed a genau wnaethon nhw greu eu hunain heb iawndal i ffermwyr Cymru’r llynedd a’r diciâu ymhlith gwartheg y maen nhw wedi bod yn llusgo’i traed yn ei gylch ers blynyddoedd. Pa syndod bod Elin Jones o blaid annibyniaeth?
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Kevin Morgan, the inspirational scholar from Cardiff University and the Chair of the Yes Campaign during the ‘97 referendum, appointed me to my first job. Ever since then, I’ve respected his instincts. When Kevin began developing an interest in food as a research field in the mid 90s, I knew that something of significance would come of it. A decade later, and food safety, the GM debate, growth of the organic industry, and more recently the development of slow-food in Italy, school lunches and obesity problems are all firmly placed on the political agenda. Food is the new rock-and-roll, with the Prime Minister just as keen to share a stage with Jamie Oliver as Harold Wilson was with the Beatles.
This obsession with food is an integral part of our society. Food represents our current concern with health and enviromental issues. And just as individuals differentiate between each other through their cooking skills and taste, a similar competition is happening on an international level. An integral part of Ireland’s growth from the 1980s onwards was not just Riverdance, Jackie Charlton’s World Cup team and low corporation taxes, but also the innovative growth in a new way of Irish cooking in some of Dublin’s Temple Bars’ most chic restaurants. Reliance on the potato once proved fatal for Ireland. Similarly, Ireland’s current plentiful cuisine reflects the country’s growth.
And the county of the Guinness family - who allegedly stole the receipe from a pub in Merionethshire - certainly knows the importance and the size of the international market. No wonder, therefore, that the Republic invests £18 million a year in promoting its food and drink industry abroad. The figure for the United Kingdom stands at £4 million - which is £700,000 less than last year. We spend more than that each day in Iraq. And in 2009, ‘Food from Britain’, the umbrella body which promotes British food produce across European markets - including Welsh whisky and cheeses - will come to an end, because food is no longer a priority for Defra. They are supposedly going to concentrate on animal diseases, such as foot an mouth disease which they themselves were responsible for last year and yet did not offer compensation to Welsh farmers and also TB amongst cattle, which they have done nothing about for years. No wonder Elin Jones is in favour of independence?
2 Responses to “Colofn Golwg”
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normalmouth says:
April 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Food production is some three times more important to the Irish economy than it is to the UK economy. This may go some way to explaining the relative size of the two state’s food promotion budgets.
Che_Grav-ara says:
April 10th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Maybe it is far more important to the Irish economy because it is given far more promotion.