Melamine Again

When I was a kid we were not well off. Not dirt poor, just working class making do. I had a couple of maiden aunts with their own business who were better off and I used to spend some time in my holidays helping them out in their work in rural Oxfordshire. To me they were rolling in it and one of my sharpest memories was their new melamine dinner set. Cups, saucers, plates all in vibrant colours and virtually unbreakable. It was the latest thing. To someone whose crockery was thick weekly-market bought remainders this was bling of the highest order. They were almost royalty.
Little did I realise that fifty years down the track this wonder substance would be making a spectacular reappearance only this time I wouldn't be eating off it so much as eating of it.

The melamine scandal just wont go away and it now seems as if several Chinese individuals will be gracing the docks of the Chinese legal system early in the New Year charged with adding melamine to all manner of foodstuffs from pet food (who cares they're only dogs) to baby milk powder ( who care they're only babies) to sweets ( who cares they're only kids) to seafood (who cares they're only consumers). Of course, we can all pat ourselves smugly on the backs and scoff at the lax regulation of the Chinese food industry. But perhaps our self-satisfaction should be tempered but the thought that our own food industry has had so much longer to learn the ropes and cover up their adulterations much better.

Back to my mantra - only eat food with one ingredient.