The Guardian
By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Ten years after the birth of the world's first cloned animal, Dolly the Sheep, America was set yesterday to become the first country to introduce meat and milk from cloned cattle into the food supply.
After five years of study, the Food and Drug Administration, the government regulatory agency, yesterday ruled it saw no difference between conventionally raised farm animals and clones. The products of both were equally safe to eat.
"Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day," said Stephen Sundlof, director of veterinary medicine for the Food and Drug Administration. "There is just not anything there that is conceivably hazardous to the public health."
Read more...
Friday, December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Just add milk ... among other things
The Guardian
The technology used today is essentially the same as that developed from kitchen experiments by American religious reformers in late 19th century, although the sugar, salt and flavourings were generally added later.
Read more...
The technology used today is essentially the same as that developed from kitchen experiments by American religious reformers in late 19th century, although the sugar, salt and flavourings were generally added later.
Read more...
Saturday, December 23, 2006
First, stun your turkey: the day I looked lunch in the eye
The Guardian
By Emma Brockes
At Manor Farm in Bedfordshire, Richard Brown is about to kill the last turkey of the season. It's an 18kg whopper, known in the business as a catering bird. Mr Brown has performed in front of witnesses before. A woman from environmental health once came and was sprayed with turkey blood when a vessel in the bird's mouth exploded in the final stages of strangulation.
"She was wearing a beige raincoat," he says. "Ready?"
Read more...
By Emma Brockes
At Manor Farm in Bedfordshire, Richard Brown is about to kill the last turkey of the season. It's an 18kg whopper, known in the business as a catering bird. Mr Brown has performed in front of witnesses before. A woman from environmental health once came and was sprayed with turkey blood when a vessel in the bird's mouth exploded in the final stages of strangulation.
"She was wearing a beige raincoat," he says. "Ready?"
Read more...
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Town hall tussle to keep Perrier French refuses to lose its fizz
The Guardian
By Angelique Chrisafis in Vergèze
Small village seeks to reclaim name of mineral water from Nestlé.
Read more...
By Angelique Chrisafis in Vergèze
Small village seeks to reclaim name of mineral water from Nestlé.
Read more...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Top chefs' tips for Christmas dinner
The Guardian
Interviews by Andrew Shanahan
How do you keep turkey moist? How do you cater for vegetarians? Can sprouts be interesting? We asked leading British chefs to dish up their festive secrets
Read more...
Interviews by Andrew Shanahan
How do you keep turkey moist? How do you cater for vegetarians? Can sprouts be interesting? We asked leading British chefs to dish up their festive secrets
Read more...
Mouthfuls of snobbery
The Guardian
By Zoe Williams
The way we behave in restaurants shows that class still rears its ugly head at the table.
Read more...
By Zoe Williams
The way we behave in restaurants shows that class still rears its ugly head at the table.
Read more...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Drink up your greens
The Guardian
By Lucy Atkins
Juicing fruit and veg is all the rage for detox, weight loss and even disease prevention. But how much good does it really do?
Read more...
By Lucy Atkins
Juicing fruit and veg is all the rage for detox, weight loss and even disease prevention. But how much good does it really do?
Read more...
Celebrity restaurant passed off cheap meat as organic
The Independent
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
With its Gothic romance, golden velvet sofas and steep prices, Julie's in London makes no secret of its reputation as a celebrity hangout. Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Kylie Minogue, Jeremy Paxman and U2 are just a few of the glitzy guests the restaurant lists on its website.
As part of its commitment to fine dining, Julie's proclaims its use of organic food, which it says keeps the earth healthy and minimises pesticide residues.
But what it fails to mention is that guests who ordered organic dishes last winter were routinely cheated by the restaurant, which bought cheap meat and pocketed the change.
Now it has emerged that so great was the swindle uncovered by environmental health officers when they visited the kitchens of one of the oldest fixtures on the capital's dining scene, that its manager only just escaped prison last week.
Read more...
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
With its Gothic romance, golden velvet sofas and steep prices, Julie's in London makes no secret of its reputation as a celebrity hangout. Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Kylie Minogue, Jeremy Paxman and U2 are just a few of the glitzy guests the restaurant lists on its website.
As part of its commitment to fine dining, Julie's proclaims its use of organic food, which it says keeps the earth healthy and minimises pesticide residues.
But what it fails to mention is that guests who ordered organic dishes last winter were routinely cheated by the restaurant, which bought cheap meat and pocketed the change.
Now it has emerged that so great was the swindle uncovered by environmental health officers when they visited the kitchens of one of the oldest fixtures on the capital's dining scene, that its manager only just escaped prison last week.
Read more...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Diet products left on shelf as shoppers opt for healthy food
The Independent
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Weight-watchers are shunning "tasteless" diet products in favour of more normal food, suggests a survey of our shopping habits. An annual check on the brands shoppers buy shows sales of low-fat yoghurts, breads and ready meals have plunged.
The Grocer survey reflects a move from specialist products that replace fat and sugar with artificial sweeteners. Instead, shoppers seem to be spending more on naturally healthy foods such as fruit juice and soup.
Sales of 500 food and non-food brands were checked for the 52 weeks to October by the survey, which excludes fruit and vegetables. Although less stark than last year when sales of chocolate and cakes plummeted, the trend for healthy eating was marked.
Anna Suckling, spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said: "Dieting is probably increasing along with people being more concerned about their weight but the way dieting is different. People are going back to basics and having smaller amounts of normal products rather than low-fat brands."
Read more...
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Weight-watchers are shunning "tasteless" diet products in favour of more normal food, suggests a survey of our shopping habits. An annual check on the brands shoppers buy shows sales of low-fat yoghurts, breads and ready meals have plunged.
The Grocer survey reflects a move from specialist products that replace fat and sugar with artificial sweeteners. Instead, shoppers seem to be spending more on naturally healthy foods such as fruit juice and soup.
Sales of 500 food and non-food brands were checked for the 52 weeks to October by the survey, which excludes fruit and vegetables. Although less stark than last year when sales of chocolate and cakes plummeted, the trend for healthy eating was marked.
Anna Suckling, spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, said: "Dieting is probably increasing along with people being more concerned about their weight but the way dieting is different. People are going back to basics and having smaller amounts of normal products rather than low-fat brands."
Read more...
Sales of 'sexy' berries romp to record levels despite poor harvest
The Independent
By Andrew Johnson
Britain may be a nation of binge-drinkers and over-indulgers - especially at this time of year - but new figures show we are also a nation of berry lovers.
Sales of British strawberries, blackberries and raspberries have broken all records and suppliers are struggling to keep up with demand.
The soft fruits, which are credited with staving off cancer and enhancing sexual prowess, have seen sales hit £204m this year.
"It's because people are becoming more aware of the health benefits of eating fresh fruit, especially berries," said Laurence Olins, the chairman of British Summer Fruits (BSF), which represents nearly all of Britain's soft fruit growers.
The strawberry remains the quintessential summer fruit, with £165m worth sold this year, the figures from BSF show.
That represents a 5 per cent sales increase. In comparison, sales of blackberries shot up by 31 per cent to £4m while raspberry sales were up 26 per cent to £35m.
Such is the demand that none of Britain's home-grown fruit is exported. And in July and August, when demand is at its highest, berries have to be imported from Europe.
The berry bonanza is not just explained by Britons choosing the healthy option, however. BSF acknowledges it is also partly due to the increased availability of the fruit - more and more acres are being planted to keep up with demand - and a strong marketing campaign.
The increase in sales has been boosted by an extensive advertising campaign. This year's launch of the strawberry season saw the model Sophie Anderton pose naked with just strawberries to cover her modesty.
"The entire marketing campaign in June focused on the health benefits, more vitamin C, good for digestion, lots of anti-oxidants," a BSF spokeswoman said. "Sophie helped us create some noise to let us know it was the start of the British berry season. We did that because it was the World Cup, and sales traditionally fall during the World Cup while sales of beer and crisps go up."
BSF also recently used a marketing campaign headed by the television sex inspector Tracey Cox to extol the aphrodisiac qualities of berries.
Cox claimed the secret to improving attraction is eating raspberries and strawberries.
The main reason is that the berries contain high levels of zinc which is said to enhance sperm production in men and make women more receptive to sex.
Raspberries and strawberries also have high levels of anti-cancer molecules.
This year's record-breaking sales came despite a poor harvest due to adverse weather.
"It was hard this season for growers - most of which are family businesses - to satisfy the increasing consumer demand and maintain positive financial results," Mr Olins said. "Given the weather was against us pretty much all year, the sales figures are encouraging.
"The wet and cool weather in May, followed by record-breaking high temperatures in June and July, coupled with an extremely wet August and a mild autumn made for just about the worst growing conditions possible, negatively impacting on production levels."
Read more...
By Andrew Johnson
Britain may be a nation of binge-drinkers and over-indulgers - especially at this time of year - but new figures show we are also a nation of berry lovers.
Sales of British strawberries, blackberries and raspberries have broken all records and suppliers are struggling to keep up with demand.
The soft fruits, which are credited with staving off cancer and enhancing sexual prowess, have seen sales hit £204m this year.
"It's because people are becoming more aware of the health benefits of eating fresh fruit, especially berries," said Laurence Olins, the chairman of British Summer Fruits (BSF), which represents nearly all of Britain's soft fruit growers.
The strawberry remains the quintessential summer fruit, with £165m worth sold this year, the figures from BSF show.
That represents a 5 per cent sales increase. In comparison, sales of blackberries shot up by 31 per cent to £4m while raspberry sales were up 26 per cent to £35m.
Such is the demand that none of Britain's home-grown fruit is exported. And in July and August, when demand is at its highest, berries have to be imported from Europe.
The berry bonanza is not just explained by Britons choosing the healthy option, however. BSF acknowledges it is also partly due to the increased availability of the fruit - more and more acres are being planted to keep up with demand - and a strong marketing campaign.
The increase in sales has been boosted by an extensive advertising campaign. This year's launch of the strawberry season saw the model Sophie Anderton pose naked with just strawberries to cover her modesty.
"The entire marketing campaign in June focused on the health benefits, more vitamin C, good for digestion, lots of anti-oxidants," a BSF spokeswoman said. "Sophie helped us create some noise to let us know it was the start of the British berry season. We did that because it was the World Cup, and sales traditionally fall during the World Cup while sales of beer and crisps go up."
BSF also recently used a marketing campaign headed by the television sex inspector Tracey Cox to extol the aphrodisiac qualities of berries.
Cox claimed the secret to improving attraction is eating raspberries and strawberries.
The main reason is that the berries contain high levels of zinc which is said to enhance sperm production in men and make women more receptive to sex.
Raspberries and strawberries also have high levels of anti-cancer molecules.
This year's record-breaking sales came despite a poor harvest due to adverse weather.
"It was hard this season for growers - most of which are family businesses - to satisfy the increasing consumer demand and maintain positive financial results," Mr Olins said. "Given the weather was against us pretty much all year, the sales figures are encouraging.
"The wet and cool weather in May, followed by record-breaking high temperatures in June and July, coupled with an extremely wet August and a mild autumn made for just about the worst growing conditions possible, negatively impacting on production levels."
Read more...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Fancy squirrel stew or roast fox? TV chef gets meals from tarmac to table
The Times, Food & Drink
By Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent
Will fresh badger burgers replace Turkey Twizzlers? A new series from Jamie Oliver will champion the culinary merits of roadkill.
In the BBC programme Road Kill Café, viewers are shown how to forage by the roadside for foxes, squirrels and chickens that have met a sticky end.
Fergus Drennan, a food forager who supplies restaurants including The Ivy and Oliver’s Fifteen, demonstrates how to test animals for rigor mortis. If the death is recent, Drennan promises to create a tasty meal from tarmac to table within 24 hours of bumper impact.
The programme, created for BBC Three by Oliver’s Fresh One production company, aims to show that fresh fox, hedgehog and badger have a nutritional value that is greater than supermarket meats.
Read more...
By Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent
Will fresh badger burgers replace Turkey Twizzlers? A new series from Jamie Oliver will champion the culinary merits of roadkill.
In the BBC programme Road Kill Café, viewers are shown how to forage by the roadside for foxes, squirrels and chickens that have met a sticky end.
Fergus Drennan, a food forager who supplies restaurants including The Ivy and Oliver’s Fifteen, demonstrates how to test animals for rigor mortis. If the death is recent, Drennan promises to create a tasty meal from tarmac to table within 24 hours of bumper impact.
The programme, created for BBC Three by Oliver’s Fresh One production company, aims to show that fresh fox, hedgehog and badger have a nutritional value that is greater than supermarket meats.
Read more...
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
'Once you have eaten them you get obsessed'
The Guardian
They are said to appear only where lightning meets thunder, we need dogs and pigs to sniff them out, and a single one recently sold for £85,000. Just what is it about truffles? Pascal Wyse goes on the hunt
Read more...
They are said to appear only where lightning meets thunder, we need dogs and pigs to sniff them out, and a single one recently sold for £85,000. Just what is it about truffles? Pascal Wyse goes on the hunt
Read more...
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Mad scientist? No, I'm just serious about food
The Guardian
By Vanessa Thorpe
Heston Blumenthal, the king of 'molecular gastronomy', has a new, radical manifesto. He wants us to care less about technical wizardry - and more about good cooking.
read more...
By Vanessa Thorpe
Heston Blumenthal, the king of 'molecular gastronomy', has a new, radical manifesto. He wants us to care less about technical wizardry - and more about good cooking.
read more...
Saturday, December 09, 2006
River Cottage chef takes on Tesco in battle of Axminster supermarkets
The Guardian
By Esther Addley
He has been described as the Jamie Oliver of seasonal food, championing good quality local produce with the same enthusiasm with which his fellow chef tackled shoddy school dinners.
But while Oliver has earned millions as the face of the supermarket giant Sainsbury's, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is taking a rather different approach to its arch-rival Tesco. The cook and food writer plans to tackle the supermarket head-on by launching his own food store, selling only local produce, in the Devon town of Axminster, in a direct challenge to Tesco's overwhelming influence in the town.
Read more...
By Esther Addley
He has been described as the Jamie Oliver of seasonal food, championing good quality local produce with the same enthusiasm with which his fellow chef tackled shoddy school dinners.
But while Oliver has earned millions as the face of the supermarket giant Sainsbury's, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is taking a rather different approach to its arch-rival Tesco. The cook and food writer plans to tackle the supermarket head-on by launching his own food store, selling only local produce, in the Devon town of Axminster, in a direct challenge to Tesco's overwhelming influence in the town.
Read more...
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Japanese bite back in noodle wars
The Guardian
By Justin McCurry in Tokyo
The instant noodle is an easy target for food snobs. What could be attractive, they ask, about spindles of artificially flavoured flour and water that have been steeped in saturated fat before being boiled and served in a polystyrene cup?
In Japan, the question would be met with incredulity. Here, instant noodles have risen from humble beginnings in Osaka to become an industry worth $4.4bn (£2.24bn) a year. To the Japanese, the "cup noodle" isn't just a quick and easy snack - it is a cultural icon.
Read more...
By Justin McCurry in Tokyo
The instant noodle is an easy target for food snobs. What could be attractive, they ask, about spindles of artificially flavoured flour and water that have been steeped in saturated fat before being boiled and served in a polystyrene cup?
In Japan, the question would be met with incredulity. Here, instant noodles have risen from humble beginnings in Osaka to become an industry worth $4.4bn (£2.24bn) a year. To the Japanese, the "cup noodle" isn't just a quick and easy snack - it is a cultural icon.
Read more...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
'I'll make it but I'm not eating it'
The Guardian
Will teaching the kids how to make their own supper encourage them to actually eat it for once? Will Hodgkinson puts the latest raft of children's cookbooks to the test.
"A week in the kitchen has convinced me that children do indeed love cooking. Ours are as good at it as I am. They benefit from understanding how food works and enjoy the gratification that comes with creating a meal. But when it comes to getting them to eat, I can only offer this: bribes, threats, and outright lies."
Read more...
Will teaching the kids how to make their own supper encourage them to actually eat it for once? Will Hodgkinson puts the latest raft of children's cookbooks to the test.
"A week in the kitchen has convinced me that children do indeed love cooking. Ours are as good at it as I am. They benefit from understanding how food works and enjoy the gratification that comes with creating a meal. But when it comes to getting them to eat, I can only offer this: bribes, threats, and outright lies."
Read more...
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Superfoods: Cabbage
The Guardian
By Amanda Grant
Cabbages come in a number of guises, including red, savoy and spring. All have a great nutritional benefit, contributing good amounts of vitamin C, beta-carotene, fibre and folic acid to our diet. Dark green cabbages also contain iron.
Read more...
By Amanda Grant
Cabbages come in a number of guises, including red, savoy and spring. All have a great nutritional benefit, contributing good amounts of vitamin C, beta-carotene, fibre and folic acid to our diet. Dark green cabbages also contain iron.
Read more...
Friday, December 01, 2006
Cameron calls for 'good food' society
The Guardian
BY Hélène Mulholland
David Cameron today urged people to ditch TV dinners and spend more time in the kitchen preparing wholesome family meals to be eaten around the table.
As he nears his first anniversary as Tory leader next week, Mr Cameron drew on his own culinary passion to call for the re-emergence of a "good food" society.
Mr Cameron said that the British public "just don't respect food enough" as he vowed to take a lead on shaping a new outlook to food across Britain.
Read more...
BY Hélène Mulholland
David Cameron today urged people to ditch TV dinners and spend more time in the kitchen preparing wholesome family meals to be eaten around the table.
As he nears his first anniversary as Tory leader next week, Mr Cameron drew on his own culinary passion to call for the re-emergence of a "good food" society.
Mr Cameron said that the British public "just don't respect food enough" as he vowed to take a lead on shaping a new outlook to food across Britain.
Read more...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Poor school report pushes Compass into selling vending machine unit
The Guardian
By Terry Macalister
Compass, one of the school catering firms at the centre of the Jamie Oliver row over junk food, is to sell its £500m vending machine business after reporting a 4% annual fall in revenues in the education sector.
The world's largest contract caterer said its Scholarest canteen subsidiary was missing out at state secondary schools where it had worked hard to improve quality because "the take-up of healthier options remains slow". Its performance in primary schools was much better, it said. In September it had warned that it would pull out of schools if it could not make appropriate returns.
Read more...
By Terry Macalister
Compass, one of the school catering firms at the centre of the Jamie Oliver row over junk food, is to sell its £500m vending machine business after reporting a 4% annual fall in revenues in the education sector.
The world's largest contract caterer said its Scholarest canteen subsidiary was missing out at state secondary schools where it had worked hard to improve quality because "the take-up of healthier options remains slow". Its performance in primary schools was much better, it said. In September it had warned that it would pull out of schools if it could not make appropriate returns.
Read more...
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Fungus firsts and morel dilemmas
The Guardian
Mrs Tee-Hillman in wrong in thinking she was the first to sell wild mushrooms to London restaurants (Fifty kilos of pied de mouton in three hours: UK's top mushroomer is back in business, November 25). My Russian father was gathering fungi in the woods around London from the 1920s onwards. During the 50s and 60s my family would collect and dispatch hamperfuls of morels every spring.
I still have a carbon copy of our invoice, dated May 28 1963, to the Mirabelle Restaurant in Curzon Street for their month's total purchase of 28 pounds of morels at 27 shillings and sixpence (£1.37) per pound. Carriage, by train, was charged extra, although I remember delivering them at the kitchen entrance behind the restaurant, too. We also sold chanterelles and other freshly gathered fungi to Palm's delicatessen in Oxford market.
My father would be highly amused at the popularity of wild mushrooms today, although he would not have welcomed the competition. Mostly we picked to eat and not for profit, but selling the excess brought a welcome bonus.
Natasha de Chroustchoff
Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
£3,000 per daily delivery of mushrooms/fungi to London? Not bad for someone who pays nothing for the upkeep of the land from which she harvests them. I wonder how much she pays her "mostly young Pole" pickers? Probably not nearly enough for getting them to break the Wild Mushroom Picker's Code and open themselves to legal action. I wonder if any of them have a partner who is in the legal profession.
Peter J Berry
London
Read more...
Mrs Tee-Hillman in wrong in thinking she was the first to sell wild mushrooms to London restaurants (Fifty kilos of pied de mouton in three hours: UK's top mushroomer is back in business, November 25). My Russian father was gathering fungi in the woods around London from the 1920s onwards. During the 50s and 60s my family would collect and dispatch hamperfuls of morels every spring.
I still have a carbon copy of our invoice, dated May 28 1963, to the Mirabelle Restaurant in Curzon Street for their month's total purchase of 28 pounds of morels at 27 shillings and sixpence (£1.37) per pound. Carriage, by train, was charged extra, although I remember delivering them at the kitchen entrance behind the restaurant, too. We also sold chanterelles and other freshly gathered fungi to Palm's delicatessen in Oxford market.
My father would be highly amused at the popularity of wild mushrooms today, although he would not have welcomed the competition. Mostly we picked to eat and not for profit, but selling the excess brought a welcome bonus.
Natasha de Chroustchoff
Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
£3,000 per daily delivery of mushrooms/fungi to London? Not bad for someone who pays nothing for the upkeep of the land from which she harvests them. I wonder how much she pays her "mostly young Pole" pickers? Probably not nearly enough for getting them to break the Wild Mushroom Picker's Code and open themselves to legal action. I wonder if any of them have a partner who is in the legal profession.
Peter J Berry
London
Read more...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Fifty kilos of pied de mouton in three hours: UK's top mushroomer is back in business
The Guardian
By Aida Edemariam
The group has been foraging for about an hour when Brigitte Tee-Hillman strikes gold. She bends down and pushes away an overhanging fern, gently lifts away some leaf mould and with a brisk, practised pinch, claims her prize, leaving the roots behind.
The unusually large brown chanterelles have pale frilled edges and undersides like pleated skirts in mid-pirouette. She fits them together into a bouquet in her hands and holds them up. "Look!" Her face suffuses with light that has nothing to do with the sunshine dappling fitfully through the tall trees. "They are like flowers. Aren't they lovely? Now you see why I get excited."
Read more...
By Aida Edemariam
The group has been foraging for about an hour when Brigitte Tee-Hillman strikes gold. She bends down and pushes away an overhanging fern, gently lifts away some leaf mould and with a brisk, practised pinch, claims her prize, leaving the roots behind.
The unusually large brown chanterelles have pale frilled edges and undersides like pleated skirts in mid-pirouette. She fits them together into a bouquet in her hands and holds them up. "Look!" Her face suffuses with light that has nothing to do with the sunshine dappling fitfully through the tall trees. "They are like flowers. Aren't they lovely? Now you see why I get excited."
Read more...
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Literary lunch? Just take one potboiler...
The Times, T2
By Andrew Billen
Irish stew courtesy of John Lanchester and cheesecake à la Nora Ephron: our writer discovers a novel way to feed his dinner guests with recipes gleaned from his favourite fiction
Read more...
By Andrew Billen
Irish stew courtesy of John Lanchester and cheesecake à la Nora Ephron: our writer discovers a novel way to feed his dinner guests with recipes gleaned from his favourite fiction
Read more...
Monday, November 20, 2006
First catch your radish ...
The Guardian
We claim to be a nation of foodies, yet vegetables still mystify many cooks - especially those weird specimens that turn up in the weekly organic box. What exactly do you do with chard or salsify? Do turnips have to be a turnoff? Zoe Williams gets out the pots and pans
Read more...
We claim to be a nation of foodies, yet vegetables still mystify many cooks - especially those weird specimens that turn up in the weekly organic box. What exactly do you do with chard or salsify? Do turnips have to be a turnoff? Zoe Williams gets out the pots and pans
Read more...
Friday, November 17, 2006
Ad industry attacks 'flawed' proposals
The Guardian
By Leigh Holmwood
The advertising industry has reacted with alarm to Ofcom's junk food ban, saying that the proposals go much further than originally envisaged and would harm British television.
Ian Twinn, the director of public affairs at advertisers' trade body ISBA, said that Ofcom had been influenced by political opinions rather than hard evidence.
"These proposals are harmful to UK television, damaging to the competitiveness of UK plc and will not reduce obesity," he said. "We fear that the Ofcom board members have been influenced by political opinion and the campaign's assertions, not the evidence."
Read more...
By Leigh Holmwood
The advertising industry has reacted with alarm to Ofcom's junk food ban, saying that the proposals go much further than originally envisaged and would harm British television.
Ian Twinn, the director of public affairs at advertisers' trade body ISBA, said that Ofcom had been influenced by political opinions rather than hard evidence.
"These proposals are harmful to UK television, damaging to the competitiveness of UK plc and will not reduce obesity," he said. "We fear that the Ofcom board members have been influenced by political opinion and the campaign's assertions, not the evidence."
Read more...
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Free range egg fraud claims prompt inquiry
The Guardian
By Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
The government has launched an investigation into claims that millions of eggs are being falsely sold as free range every year to UK shoppers.
Up to 30m non-free range eggs could be deliberately mislabelled so that they command higher prices, it is alleged.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has ordered the industry and retailers to check immediately that the illegal practice is no longer taking place and that all produce on shop shelves is accurately labelled.
Read more...
By Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
The government has launched an investigation into claims that millions of eggs are being falsely sold as free range every year to UK shoppers.
Up to 30m non-free range eggs could be deliberately mislabelled so that they command higher prices, it is alleged.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has ordered the industry and retailers to check immediately that the illegal practice is no longer taking place and that all produce on shop shelves is accurately labelled.
Read more...
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Spice is right as La Mancha relaunches saffron as luxury brand
The Guardian
By Dale Fuchs in Madrid
Saffron, the spindly red spice known as "poor man's gold", is staging a comeback in the dusty plains of La Mancha, the seasoning heartland of Spain.
The painstaking production of the delicate filaments, which require 200 purple crocus flowers for every gram and sell for up to £24 an ounce, had been declining for decades because of competition from a cheaper variety grown in Iran.
But the regional government, looking for new schemes to raise La Mancha's profile, is promoting its saffron as a luxury export, following the success of other gourmet Spanish ingredients such as olive oil and wine. It recently established a quality control board with an official La Mancha seal, and is paying saffron producers to show their wares at food trade fairs abroad.
Read more...
By Dale Fuchs in Madrid
Saffron, the spindly red spice known as "poor man's gold", is staging a comeback in the dusty plains of La Mancha, the seasoning heartland of Spain.
The painstaking production of the delicate filaments, which require 200 purple crocus flowers for every gram and sell for up to £24 an ounce, had been declining for decades because of competition from a cheaper variety grown in Iran.
But the regional government, looking for new schemes to raise La Mancha's profile, is promoting its saffron as a luxury export, following the success of other gourmet Spanish ingredients such as olive oil and wine. It recently established a quality control board with an official La Mancha seal, and is paying saffron producers to show their wares at food trade fairs abroad.
Read more...
Monday, November 13, 2006
Devon claims 200-year lead on the Cornish pasty
The Guardian
By Matthew Taylor
For years it has been one of Cornwall's most famous and lucrative exports. But a dispute about the origins of the pasty has sparked a culinary feud, with historians from neighbouring Devon claiming the discovery of a 16th-century recipe proves it first appeared in their county.
Todd Gray, chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives, who found the recipe between the pages of a 16th-century audit book, said: "It has been a great joy for me, as a local historian, to have discovered that pasties may have originated in Devon and spread to Cornwall later.
Read more...
By Matthew Taylor
For years it has been one of Cornwall's most famous and lucrative exports. But a dispute about the origins of the pasty has sparked a culinary feud, with historians from neighbouring Devon claiming the discovery of a 16th-century recipe proves it first appeared in their county.
Todd Gray, chairman of the Friends of Devon's Archives, who found the recipe between the pages of a 16th-century audit book, said: "It has been a great joy for me, as a local historian, to have discovered that pasties may have originated in Devon and spread to Cornwall later.
Read more...
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Cornish? No, pasties are from Devon
The Guardian
By Robin McKie
They have proudly borne the name of Cornwall to every part of the globe and become a culinary mainstay for Britain and many parts of America and Australia. Yet Cornish pasties are imposters, it transpires. They really come from Devon, historians argued last week.
As suggestions go, it is one of the most regionally inflammatory claims that could be made: the equivalent to saying Rangers and Celtic are really Edinburgh clubs, or Yorkshire puddings are from Lancashire.
Read more...
By Robin McKie
They have proudly borne the name of Cornwall to every part of the globe and become a culinary mainstay for Britain and many parts of America and Australia. Yet Cornish pasties are imposters, it transpires. They really come from Devon, historians argued last week.
As suggestions go, it is one of the most regionally inflammatory claims that could be made: the equivalent to saying Rangers and Celtic are really Edinburgh clubs, or Yorkshire puddings are from Lancashire.
Read more...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Organic sales double in six years
The Guardian
By Katie Allen
Organic food sales have doubled over the past six years and shoppers' rising demand for healthier foods means fast growth should continue, a report out today says.
Around £1.6bn was spent on organic goods last year, up from £800m in 2000, according to Datamonitor. The market analysts said concerns over safety and health were some of the main reasons why people go pesticide-free. As awareness of health and environmental issues gathers steam, Datamonitor predicts the UK market will hit £2.7bn by 2010.
Read more...
By Katie Allen
Organic food sales have doubled over the past six years and shoppers' rising demand for healthier foods means fast growth should continue, a report out today says.
Around £1.6bn was spent on organic goods last year, up from £800m in 2000, according to Datamonitor. The market analysts said concerns over safety and health were some of the main reasons why people go pesticide-free. As awareness of health and environmental issues gathers steam, Datamonitor predicts the UK market will hit £2.7bn by 2010.
Read more...
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
U-turn as Blanc backs own reality restaurant TV show
The Guardian
By Matthew Taylor
When the French chef Raymond Blanc unleashed a scathing attack on those star-struck colleagues prepared to swap the kitchen for the television studio it seemed clear where his priorities lay.
The 55-year-old did not name names but said chefs who appeared on television shows degraded the profession and provided "sensational rubbish" for "morons" adding: "We have 8 million morons watching these programmes. The brains of the British have gone soft."
But yesterday as he launched his new reality television show, The Restaurant, it appeared all such concerns had disappeared. "To set up a business, especially a restaurant business, and make a success of it is one of the hardest things in the world," he said. "I look forward to sharing my experience and expertise with like-minded people who are eager to enter this crazy but irresistible world and achieve the dream for themselves."
Read more...
By Matthew Taylor
When the French chef Raymond Blanc unleashed a scathing attack on those star-struck colleagues prepared to swap the kitchen for the television studio it seemed clear where his priorities lay.
The 55-year-old did not name names but said chefs who appeared on television shows degraded the profession and provided "sensational rubbish" for "morons" adding: "We have 8 million morons watching these programmes. The brains of the British have gone soft."
But yesterday as he launched his new reality television show, The Restaurant, it appeared all such concerns had disappeared. "To set up a business, especially a restaurant business, and make a success of it is one of the hardest things in the world," he said. "I look forward to sharing my experience and expertise with like-minded people who are eager to enter this crazy but irresistible world and achieve the dream for themselves."
Read more...
Monday, October 23, 2006
Leader: In praise of ... Serge Hochar
The Guardian, Leader article
Barring an infestation of phylloxera, the worst calamity that winemakers in most places have to worry about is unsuitable weather. Naturally, these perils also matter to Serge Hochar, winemaker of the justly celebrated Chateau Musar. But Mr Hochar routinely has to contend with an additional hazard that happily afflicts few of his peers. For Chateau Musar's vineyards lie in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, between Beirut and Damascus, which means they have repeatedly found themselves in or near some of the world's most violent conflicts. Battles raged around the vineyard throughout the 1983 grape harvesting season, while in 1989 Mr Hochar's home and the Chateau Musar winery suffered direct hits from shelling, and his wine cellars served regularly as bomb shelters for local people. Yet through it all Mr Hochar has continued to produce often spectacular amounts of one of the world's more improbable fine wines. Remarkably, he missed only two vintages during Lebanon's 15-year civil war. This year he has triumphed over adversity again. In spite of the Israeli invasion in the summer, which struck just as early picking had begun at Chateau Musar, and which necessitated a nerve-jangling five-hour lorry trip to carry the grapes from the vineyards to the winery, the harvest has once again been safely gathered. Winemaking has taken place for 5,000 years in Lebanon and not even the Middle East conflict can stop the remarkable Mr Hochar from keeping that tradition alive.
Read more...
Barring an infestation of phylloxera, the worst calamity that winemakers in most places have to worry about is unsuitable weather. Naturally, these perils also matter to Serge Hochar, winemaker of the justly celebrated Chateau Musar. But Mr Hochar routinely has to contend with an additional hazard that happily afflicts few of his peers. For Chateau Musar's vineyards lie in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, between Beirut and Damascus, which means they have repeatedly found themselves in or near some of the world's most violent conflicts. Battles raged around the vineyard throughout the 1983 grape harvesting season, while in 1989 Mr Hochar's home and the Chateau Musar winery suffered direct hits from shelling, and his wine cellars served regularly as bomb shelters for local people. Yet through it all Mr Hochar has continued to produce often spectacular amounts of one of the world's more improbable fine wines. Remarkably, he missed only two vintages during Lebanon's 15-year civil war. This year he has triumphed over adversity again. In spite of the Israeli invasion in the summer, which struck just as early picking had begun at Chateau Musar, and which necessitated a nerve-jangling five-hour lorry trip to carry the grapes from the vineyards to the winery, the harvest has once again been safely gathered. Winemaking has taken place for 5,000 years in Lebanon and not even the Middle East conflict can stop the remarkable Mr Hochar from keeping that tradition alive.
Read more...
Saturday, October 07, 2006
The Times, body & soul, p.15
By Fiona Sims
The two chefs behind the success of Nobu are launching a cookery book with healthy recipes from the restaurant’s repertoire.
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet? Rubbish! Kipling didn’t know what he was talking about. But, to be fair, he died 60 years before the opening of Nobu, the super-glamorous (and sometimes infamous) Japanese restaurant in Park Lane, West London, and so he never tasted the creations of the owner Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (known as Nobu) and his head chef and right-hand man Mark Edwards.
Read more...
By Fiona Sims
The two chefs behind the success of Nobu are launching a cookery book with healthy recipes from the restaurant’s repertoire.
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet? Rubbish! Kipling didn’t know what he was talking about. But, to be fair, he died 60 years before the opening of Nobu, the super-glamorous (and sometimes infamous) Japanese restaurant in Park Lane, West London, and so he never tasted the creations of the owner Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (known as Nobu) and his head chef and right-hand man Mark Edwards.
Read more...
EU cheese ban is 'attack' on British dairy industry
The Times, p. 11
By David Charter, Valerie Elliott and Russell Jenkins
BRITAIN’S £5.6 billion dairy industry was facing serious food safety questions yesterday after European officials discovered cheese polluted with antibiotics, dyes and detergents and announced a series of emergency inspections.
The Government was forced to defend its health and safety tests for milk and insisted that dairy products were safe for consumption, but the European Commission gave warning that Britain must change its approach to guarantee hygiene standards.
A row that began as a dispute over sharp practice at a Lancashire cheesemakers escalated during the day to threaten the reputation of the entire dairy industry and raised the spectre of another food scare after the disastrous foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 and the beef ban over “mad cow” disease.
Read more...
By David Charter, Valerie Elliott and Russell Jenkins
BRITAIN’S £5.6 billion dairy industry was facing serious food safety questions yesterday after European officials discovered cheese polluted with antibiotics, dyes and detergents and announced a series of emergency inspections.
The Government was forced to defend its health and safety tests for milk and insisted that dairy products were safe for consumption, but the European Commission gave warning that Britain must change its approach to guarantee hygiene standards.
A row that began as a dispute over sharp practice at a Lancashire cheesemakers escalated during the day to threaten the reputation of the entire dairy industry and raised the spectre of another food scare after the disastrous foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 and the beef ban over “mad cow” disease.
Read more...
Monday, September 18, 2006
Choice and chipolatas
The Guardian
By Roy Hattersley
A revolt at a Rotherham school involving a piece of processed meat raises important political issues.
Read more...
By Roy Hattersley
A revolt at a Rotherham school involving a piece of processed meat raises important political issues.
Read more...
Crunch time for Tesco in row with crisp maker
The Guardian, p.25
By Dan Milmo
Tesco has bowed to the demands of a small supplier and withdrawn a product from its shelves after the supermarket was accused of "devious" behaviour in stocking a brand of crisps without the owner's permission.
Will Chase, the founder of Tyrrells Potato Chips, had threatened to sue the UK's largest supermarket because it was selling his produce despite having been asked not to stock the crisps. Tesco, which had sourced packets of Tyrrells from a wholesaler instead, yesterday said that it would stop selling the product.
Read more...
By Dan Milmo
Tesco has bowed to the demands of a small supplier and withdrawn a product from its shelves after the supermarket was accused of "devious" behaviour in stocking a brand of crisps without the owner's permission.
Will Chase, the founder of Tyrrells Potato Chips, had threatened to sue the UK's largest supermarket because it was selling his produce despite having been asked not to stock the crisps. Tesco, which had sourced packets of Tyrrells from a wholesaler instead, yesterday said that it would stop selling the product.
Read more...
Pay more or we quit, canteen operators to tell schools as vending machine purge hits profits
The Guardian, p.11
By Simon Bowers and Paul Lewis
Firms say pupils buy fizzy drinks and crisps outside
Setback for Jamie Oliver as new TV series begins
Read more...
By Simon Bowers and Paul Lewis
Firms say pupils buy fizzy drinks and crisps outside
Setback for Jamie Oliver as new TV series begins
Read more...
Ghetto-lattes have baristas in a froth
The Guardian, G2
By Dan Glaister
Think you know your coffee? Sip on this: what is the difference between a triple long extra pump white mocha and a triple long espresso con panna with white mocha? The answer, if you live in Seattle, home to Starbucks, is about $1.50 (80p). The drink is exactly the same, the difference is in the asking.
Some customers, though, have wised up to the world of à la carte coffee, and some baristas are, as they say, pissed. Call it the ghetto-latte wars.
Read more...
By Dan Glaister
Think you know your coffee? Sip on this: what is the difference between a triple long extra pump white mocha and a triple long espresso con panna with white mocha? The answer, if you live in Seattle, home to Starbucks, is about $1.50 (80p). The drink is exactly the same, the difference is in the asking.
Some customers, though, have wised up to the world of à la carte coffee, and some baristas are, as they say, pissed. Call it the ghetto-latte wars.
Read more...
Friday, September 15, 2006
Mothers deliver burgers to healthy-eating school
The Guardian
By Press Association
Two mothers have set up a delivery food service to pupils at a school that has cracked down on junk food and set up a healthy eating canteen.
Julie Critchlow and Sam Walker said they have supplied children at Rawmarsh comprehensive school, in South Yorkshire, with a range of food from burgers to potatoes since the school brought in a new healthy menu and banned pupils from going to local takeaways.
Mrs Critchlow said they are not selling only junk food to the children, but today delivered jacket potatoes and salad sandwiches. "It's not about junk food and it's not about healthy eating, it's about the freedom of choice," she said.
Read more...
By Press Association
Two mothers have set up a delivery food service to pupils at a school that has cracked down on junk food and set up a healthy eating canteen.
Julie Critchlow and Sam Walker said they have supplied children at Rawmarsh comprehensive school, in South Yorkshire, with a range of food from burgers to potatoes since the school brought in a new healthy menu and banned pupils from going to local takeaways.
Mrs Critchlow said they are not selling only junk food to the children, but today delivered jacket potatoes and salad sandwiches. "It's not about junk food and it's not about healthy eating, it's about the freedom of choice," she said.
Read more...
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Logo hope for sausage protection
BBC News
A campaign to gain protected status for Cumbria's famous sausage is looking for a logo to give it a boost.
Producers of Cumberland sausage hope to persuade the European Union to give it the same protection as Newcastle Brown Ale, Parma ham or Greek Feta cheese.
This would prevent sausage-makers outside the region using the title.
Read more...
A campaign to gain protected status for Cumbria's famous sausage is looking for a logo to give it a boost.
Producers of Cumberland sausage hope to persuade the European Union to give it the same protection as Newcastle Brown Ale, Parma ham or Greek Feta cheese.
This would prevent sausage-makers outside the region using the title.
Read more...
Friday, September 01, 2006
Quest to find the recipe for success
The Guardian
By Janet Murray
Following last year's debacle over school dinners, the government has been swift to act with a new policy banning junk food in canteens. But unless education is at the heart of these changes, it may ultimately prove futile.
Read more...
By Janet Murray
Following last year's debacle over school dinners, the government has been swift to act with a new policy banning junk food in canteens. But unless education is at the heart of these changes, it may ultimately prove futile.
Read more...
Monday, August 14, 2006
WI to sell rock cakes at pop festivals
The Daily Telegraph, p. 3
By Stephanie Condron
The idea of a Women's Institute tea tent at a pop festival might once have been laughable. But now WI groups across the country have their sights set on events including Glastonbury where they might forge links with younger generations by serving tea and cake.
One WI group has been baking since June in preparation for next month's Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight. Another group in Yorkshire hopes to attend the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset next June and moves are afoot for a tea tent at the 2007 Big Chill event near Ledbury in Herefordshire.
Read more...
By Stephanie Condron
The idea of a Women's Institute tea tent at a pop festival might once have been laughable. But now WI groups across the country have their sights set on events including Glastonbury where they might forge links with younger generations by serving tea and cake.
One WI group has been baking since June in preparation for next month's Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight. Another group in Yorkshire hopes to attend the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset next June and moves are afoot for a tea tent at the 2007 Big Chill event near Ledbury in Herefordshire.
Read more...
Heatwave will put 4p on a loaf, warn Britain's biggest millers
The Guardian, p. 7
By Martin Hodgson
It has scorched gardens in the home counties, melted roads in Plymouth and choked rivers with poisonous algae. Now the heatwave has claimed a new victim. Bakers warned yesterday that the hot weather will force up the price of bread by up to 4p a loaf, after flour manufacturers announced a rise in the cost of flour.
Rank Hovis and ADM Milling, the country's two biggest flour millers, are raising their prices by up to 20% after wheat crops wilted in the extreme July heat. Increasing energy costs were also blamed for the price rise.
Read more...
By Martin Hodgson
It has scorched gardens in the home counties, melted roads in Plymouth and choked rivers with poisonous algae. Now the heatwave has claimed a new victim. Bakers warned yesterday that the hot weather will force up the price of bread by up to 4p a loaf, after flour manufacturers announced a rise in the cost of flour.
Rank Hovis and ADM Milling, the country's two biggest flour millers, are raising their prices by up to 20% after wheat crops wilted in the extreme July heat. Increasing energy costs were also blamed for the price rise.
Read more...
Wine world soured as half-price offers are labelled misleading
The Guardian, Business, p. 20
By Simon Bowers
Jacob's Creek boss breaks ranks to say the £3.99 bottle smells.
Supermarkets and multinational wine groups are making pricing claims that bear little, or no, relation to the true value of the wine they sell, according to a leading industry executive.
Jean-Manuel Spriet, UK boss of the company behind Jacob's Creek, has broken industry ranks to accuse some of his competitors of promoting misleading "half-price" discount deals. He claimed they did so under pressure from powerful supermarket buyers. Mr Spriet, chief executive of Pernod Ricard UK, told the Guardian: "They [other wine suppliers] make the wines designed for sale at £3.99, introduce them at a higher price, and then bring the price down ... they start at £7.99 and are discounted down to half price, which is crazy."
Read more...
By Simon Bowers
Jacob's Creek boss breaks ranks to say the £3.99 bottle smells.
Supermarkets and multinational wine groups are making pricing claims that bear little, or no, relation to the true value of the wine they sell, according to a leading industry executive.
Jean-Manuel Spriet, UK boss of the company behind Jacob's Creek, has broken industry ranks to accuse some of his competitors of promoting misleading "half-price" discount deals. He claimed they did so under pressure from powerful supermarket buyers. Mr Spriet, chief executive of Pernod Ricard UK, told the Guardian: "They [other wine suppliers] make the wines designed for sale at £3.99, introduce them at a higher price, and then bring the price down ... they start at £7.99 and are discounted down to half price, which is crazy."
Read more...
All grown up?
The Guardian, G2
By Laura Barton
Marco Pierre White was the original enfant terrible of the kitchen, as famous for his tantrums as his fantastic, groundbreaking food. As his (ghost-written) autobiography is published, he talks about his three wives, his three Michelin stars, coming to terms with the death of his mother - and that feud with Gordon Ramsay.
Read more...
By Laura Barton
Marco Pierre White was the original enfant terrible of the kitchen, as famous for his tantrums as his fantastic, groundbreaking food. As his (ghost-written) autobiography is published, he talks about his three wives, his three Michelin stars, coming to terms with the death of his mother - and that feud with Gordon Ramsay.
Read more...
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Trapani on a plate
The Guardian
By Fiona Sims
It's closer to Africa than mainland Italy, and that's what gives the Sicilian town its unique flavours.
These are the best sardines I've ever tasted - filleted then stuffed with orange juice moistened breadcrumbs, raisins, pine kernels and fresh mint. It's classic Sicilian cooking - but the orange is a Trapani thing.
Read more...
By Fiona Sims
It's closer to Africa than mainland Italy, and that's what gives the Sicilian town its unique flavours.
These are the best sardines I've ever tasted - filleted then stuffed with orange juice moistened breadcrumbs, raisins, pine kernels and fresh mint. It's classic Sicilian cooking - but the orange is a Trapani thing.
Read more...
Little chef: teenage cook takes bestselling recipes to America
The Independent, p. 13
By Ian Herbert
Sam Stern has never been afraid of challenges. In the past 12 months, the 15-year-old has persuaded a generation of his peers to make everything from moules marinière to pre-exam hot chocolate, with his best-selling book, Cooking up a Storm.
Now, after a television career which had been limited to the friendly studios of Blue Peter and This Morning, he is making his biggest career move yet, by taking his talents to America.
Read more...
By Ian Herbert
Sam Stern has never been afraid of challenges. In the past 12 months, the 15-year-old has persuaded a generation of his peers to make everything from moules marinière to pre-exam hot chocolate, with his best-selling book, Cooking up a Storm.
Now, after a television career which had been limited to the friendly studios of Blue Peter and This Morning, he is making his biggest career move yet, by taking his talents to America.
Read more...
Friday, August 11, 2006
The chapati's over
The Guardian, G2
... for Indian home cooking. More and more British Asians are spurning tradition and dishing up ready-made meals instead. But, as Mira Katbamna reports, we're not talking a chicken biryiani from Tesco ...
Read more...
... for Indian home cooking. More and more British Asians are spurning tradition and dishing up ready-made meals instead. But, as Mira Katbamna reports, we're not talking a chicken biryiani from Tesco ...
Read more...
What's good now? Lobster
The Guardian, G2
By Paul Waddington
Nowadays, food is all about issues. Name me a food and I will name you the tricky issue that goes with it. Pork? Intensive farming. Strawberries? Proliferating polytunnels and blandness. Soya? Rainforest degradation. There are, of course, easy, tasty ways around many of these issues: eat genuinely free-range pork; choose only in-season, outdoor strawberries; give up tofu. High up the list of issues-laden food would be lobster. It is classified by the Marine Conservation Society as over-fished, although initiatives (such as marking egg-bearing females) are in place to try to restore stocks.
Read more...
By Paul Waddington
Nowadays, food is all about issues. Name me a food and I will name you the tricky issue that goes with it. Pork? Intensive farming. Strawberries? Proliferating polytunnels and blandness. Soya? Rainforest degradation. There are, of course, easy, tasty ways around many of these issues: eat genuinely free-range pork; choose only in-season, outdoor strawberries; give up tofu. High up the list of issues-laden food would be lobster. It is classified by the Marine Conservation Society as over-fished, although initiatives (such as marking egg-bearing females) are in place to try to restore stocks.
Read more...
Curse of Jamie Oliver strikes down burger firm
The Guardian
By Simon Bowers
A Bristol meat producer, which supplies schools and UK fast food chains with beefburgers and sausages, has appointed administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
TQF experienced falling orders in the wake of JTV chef Jamie Oliver's campaign for higher food standards in schools. The company, which operates from a factory in Yate, had been the meat manufacturing arm of Aim-listed Canterbury Foods, itself forced to call in PwC administrators in January. Canterbury suffered after the loss of a Burger King contract in 2002. PwC hopes to sell TQF as a going concern.
Read more...
By Simon Bowers
A Bristol meat producer, which supplies schools and UK fast food chains with beefburgers and sausages, has appointed administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
TQF experienced falling orders in the wake of JTV chef Jamie Oliver's campaign for higher food standards in schools. The company, which operates from a factory in Yate, had been the meat manufacturing arm of Aim-listed Canterbury Foods, itself forced to call in PwC administrators in January. Canterbury suffered after the loss of a Burger King contract in 2002. PwC hopes to sell TQF as a going concern.
Read more...
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
What's good now? Broad beans
The Guardian
By Paul Waddington
I love broad beans. Not necessarily for their gastronomic virtues, of which there are many, but for the simple reason that they make me look like a vaguely competent vegetable gardener. My second year as an allotment-holder is not going well. Thanks to unforgivable neglect during the crucial May-June period when all is mad growth, I am now fighting a desperate rearguard action against weeds and pests. Eagerly awaited peas and lettuces were utterly devoured by slugs, weevils and probably mice, and other crops are engaged in an unequal struggle with bindweed. But the broad beans are standing proud and cropping copiously, because that is what broad beans do.
Read more...
By Paul Waddington
I love broad beans. Not necessarily for their gastronomic virtues, of which there are many, but for the simple reason that they make me look like a vaguely competent vegetable gardener. My second year as an allotment-holder is not going well. Thanks to unforgivable neglect during the crucial May-June period when all is mad growth, I am now fighting a desperate rearguard action against weeds and pests. Eagerly awaited peas and lettuces were utterly devoured by slugs, weevils and probably mice, and other crops are engaged in an unequal struggle with bindweed. But the broad beans are standing proud and cropping copiously, because that is what broad beans do.
Read more...
Monday, August 07, 2006
Brewers and publicans lift their cask ale glasses to a rosy future
The Guardian, p. 21
By Katie Allen
As the Great British Beer Festival drew to a close in London over the weekend, real ale campaigners were celebrating a record number of visitors and predicting a brighter future for cask ale.
The onslaught of cheap lager multipacks, fewer manual labourers and desertion by big name brewers have all been blamed for cask ale's demise. While big names such as Abbot Ale and Old Empire have posted rises, overall sales of cask ale (living, unpasteurised beer) have been falling for years.
Read more...
By Katie Allen
As the Great British Beer Festival drew to a close in London over the weekend, real ale campaigners were celebrating a record number of visitors and predicting a brighter future for cask ale.
The onslaught of cheap lager multipacks, fewer manual labourers and desertion by big name brewers have all been blamed for cask ale's demise. While big names such as Abbot Ale and Old Empire have posted rises, overall sales of cask ale (living, unpasteurised beer) have been falling for years.
Read more...
Quorn helps double Premier profits
The Guardian
By Katie Allen
Quorn's reach has been increased with more advertising and more products. Premier Foods has more than doubled its profits thanks to booming sales of its fungus-based meat replacement, Quorn.
The food group behind Angel Delight and Branston pickle said today that pre-tax profits for the six months to July 1 rose to £27.9m. This was a 123% jump from a year ago, largely thanks to Quorn.
Read more...
By Katie Allen
Quorn's reach has been increased with more advertising and more products. Premier Foods has more than doubled its profits thanks to booming sales of its fungus-based meat replacement, Quorn.
The food group behind Angel Delight and Branston pickle said today that pre-tax profits for the six months to July 1 rose to £27.9m. This was a 123% jump from a year ago, largely thanks to Quorn.
Read more...
Beaune - the perfect place to avoid claret
The Independent, p. 19
By John Lichfield: Our Man In Burgundy
Where would you find a wine list in France without a single bottle of Bordeaux? Easy. Go to Beaune, capital of the Burgundy wine industry.
In a Beaune restaurant, we were given a list with 20 pages of Burgundy wines and then - as a sop to the obstinate - two pages of "wines from the provinces of France". The sub-list contained bottles from every French region, except Bordeaux.
Read more...
By John Lichfield: Our Man In Burgundy
Where would you find a wine list in France without a single bottle of Bordeaux? Easy. Go to Beaune, capital of the Burgundy wine industry.
In a Beaune restaurant, we were given a list with 20 pages of Burgundy wines and then - as a sop to the obstinate - two pages of "wines from the provinces of France". The sub-list contained bottles from every French region, except Bordeaux.
Read more...
Warning over food packaging allergy
The Independent, p. 12
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Chocolate bar and ice cream wrappers containing latex can trigger potentially fatal allergic reactions in sensitive people but there is no law for it to be listed on labels, experts have warned.
A study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that one-third of packaging tested was contaminated with latex, which in some cases transferred to the food.
Read more...
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Chocolate bar and ice cream wrappers containing latex can trigger potentially fatal allergic reactions in sensitive people but there is no law for it to be listed on labels, experts have warned.
A study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that one-third of packaging tested was contaminated with latex, which in some cases transferred to the food.
Read more...
Pitch perfect
The Guardian, G2
Modern Britain doesn't know what to make of its food markets. Noisy, smelly and crowded, they draw some customers in but drive others to safe, predictable supermarkets. Many traders have gone out of business. Those that remain, however, offer some of the freshest, most delicious fare you can imagine. Bibi van der Zee visits some of the country's most exciting survivors.
Read more...
Modern Britain doesn't know what to make of its food markets. Noisy, smelly and crowded, they draw some customers in but drive others to safe, predictable supermarkets. Many traders have gone out of business. Those that remain, however, offer some of the freshest, most delicious fare you can imagine. Bibi van der Zee visits some of the country's most exciting survivors.
Read more...
Friday, August 04, 2006
Soundbites: Dumplings and pancakes at the Russian bar, Korea
The Guardian, G2
We're wandering round the market in Incheon, Korea. Jean tells me that it's quiet today. The stallholders normally shout at you about how good their food is. Koreans are rather like Italians. We pass a stall loaded with dried fish - big ones staring from sunken eyes like marine mummies, tiny silver ones like metal filings in a sack.
Christine points at some microscopic shrimp. They are soaked in salt for a very long time so all the juice comes out, and the flavour is magnificent. We eat them with kimchi pancakes. I bring my face close to a bucket of clams in seawater. Semi-opaque tubes protrude from the shells; one gently breaks the surface like a periscope and shoots an arc of water at me.
Read more...
We're wandering round the market in Incheon, Korea. Jean tells me that it's quiet today. The stallholders normally shout at you about how good their food is. Koreans are rather like Italians. We pass a stall loaded with dried fish - big ones staring from sunken eyes like marine mummies, tiny silver ones like metal filings in a sack.
Christine points at some microscopic shrimp. They are soaked in salt for a very long time so all the juice comes out, and the flavour is magnificent. We eat them with kimchi pancakes. I bring my face close to a bucket of clams in seawater. Semi-opaque tubes protrude from the shells; one gently breaks the surface like a periscope and shoots an arc of water at me.
Read more...
Cooking with my hero
The Guardian, G2
For years Anna Del Conte's Italian recipes have entranced and inspired Charlotte Higgins. Now she is making lunch with her. Risotto has never seemed so daunting ...
Read more...
For years Anna Del Conte's Italian recipes have entranced and inspired Charlotte Higgins. Now she is making lunch with her. Risotto has never seemed so daunting ...
Read more...
Monday, July 31, 2006
The smart egg that shows you when it's boiled to perfection
The Times
By Ben Hoyle
DESPITE the best efforts of Delia Smith, millions of Britons will readily admit that they cannot boil an egg.
The experts at the British Egg Information Service have been inundated with queries — so much so that they have decided to eliminate the guesswork once and for all.
Their solution? A self-timing egg imbued with the powers of heat-sensitive invisible ink that turns black the minute that it is ready. All you need to do is decide whether you prefer your eggs soft, medium or hard-boiled, and buy accordingly.
Read more...
By Ben Hoyle
DESPITE the best efforts of Delia Smith, millions of Britons will readily admit that they cannot boil an egg.
The experts at the British Egg Information Service have been inundated with queries — so much so that they have decided to eliminate the guesswork once and for all.
Their solution? A self-timing egg imbued with the powers of heat-sensitive invisible ink that turns black the minute that it is ready. All you need to do is decide whether you prefer your eggs soft, medium or hard-boiled, and buy accordingly.
Read more...
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Sunday Lunch Campaign: 'Families drift apart if they don't eat together'
The Independent
By Jonathan Thompson
Sixty per cent of families don't eat together on Sundays. One in four don't even have a dining table. Top chef Aldo Zilli is horrified
Read more...
By Jonathan Thompson
Sixty per cent of families don't eat together on Sundays. One in four don't even have a dining table. Top chef Aldo Zilli is horrified
Read more...
A Hunger for Home
The Sunday Herald
By Barry Didcock
Claudia Roden’s cook books are more than collections of recipes … they place food at the heart of community, family and tradition. In a world losing touch with those values, she’s more important than ever.
Read more...
By Barry Didcock
Claudia Roden’s cook books are more than collections of recipes … they place food at the heart of community, family and tradition. In a world losing touch with those values, she’s more important than ever.
Read more...
Friday, July 28, 2006
The real thing. Or is it?
The Guardian
By James Flint
In a kitchen in the south of England, two women are devising a recipe that could change the world.
On a kitchen table two young women have assembled a variety of items. There are brown bottles, bags of white powder, a pestle and mortar, a collection of funnels, a roll of silver gaffer tape. There is a drill. There is a whisk.
Are they making bombs? Are they making drugs? No. They are doing something far more likely to change the world we live in. They're making their own version of Coca-Cola.
Read more...
By James Flint
In a kitchen in the south of England, two women are devising a recipe that could change the world.
On a kitchen table two young women have assembled a variety of items. There are brown bottles, bags of white powder, a pestle and mortar, a collection of funnels, a roll of silver gaffer tape. There is a drill. There is a whisk.
Are they making bombs? Are they making drugs? No. They are doing something far more likely to change the world we live in. They're making their own version of Coca-Cola.
Read more...
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Ramsay means business
The Scotsman, p. 12
By John Alridge
Gordon Ramsay may be best known as the Michelin star who has become a small-screen star in The F Word - a show in which he spends most of his time lampooning other TV chefs. But new figures confirm that he is as fiercely successful in the boardroom as he is in the kitchen.
Read more...
By John Alridge
Gordon Ramsay may be best known as the Michelin star who has become a small-screen star in The F Word - a show in which he spends most of his time lampooning other TV chefs. But new figures confirm that he is as fiercely successful in the boardroom as he is in the kitchen.
Read more...
It's on the house ... if you do the business
The Guardian, p. 8
By Steven Morris
As in any competitive business, it is not unknown for purveyors of fine wines to use the odd trick to get a step ahead of rivals. Sometimes it involves taking a powerful buyer for a fine lunch, to a swish sporting event or perhaps on a jolly to a lovely vineyard.
However, a major company decided on a different tactic as it attempted to secure a lucrative contract to get its drink chosen as house wine for a pub chain. It invited its staff to pop down to their local, treat themselves to eight bottles of its wine and claim it back on expenses to boost the number of bottles sold during a trial.
Read more...
By Steven Morris
As in any competitive business, it is not unknown for purveyors of fine wines to use the odd trick to get a step ahead of rivals. Sometimes it involves taking a powerful buyer for a fine lunch, to a swish sporting event or perhaps on a jolly to a lovely vineyard.
However, a major company decided on a different tactic as it attempted to secure a lucrative contract to get its drink chosen as house wine for a pub chain. It invited its staff to pop down to their local, treat themselves to eight bottles of its wine and claim it back on expenses to boost the number of bottles sold during a trial.
Read more...
Monday, July 24, 2006
Chips are down for Britain's classic dishes
The Guardian
By Martin Wainwright
Classic dishes which stiffened the backbone and upper lip of Britain in days gone by are set to vanish from the nation's larder, according to a survey of changing food tastes. Jugged hare, brawn and junket are unknown to the overwhelming majority of under-25s, who also shudder when confronted with many of the recipes' down-to-earth ingredients.
Increasing prosperity is tending to drive offal from young people's kitchens, the poll suggests, along with ingredients such as haddocks' heads and scrag end of neck. The runaway success of international cuisine, from pizza to Thai curries, has also eroded the appeal of pigs' cheeks in brine and boiled calf's foot which date from periods of austerity.
Out of favour
Ten most endangered savouries;
· Bath chaps
· Jugged hare
· Brawn
· Squirrel casserole
· Bedfordshire clanger (scrag end of mutton with kidneys)
· Pan haggerty (fried onions and potatoes)
· Hogs pudding
· Tripe and onion
· Faggots
· Bread and dripping
Ten most threatened puddings
· Calf's foot jelly
· Junket
· Sussex pond pudding (suet and lemon)
· Kentish pudding pie (rice and pastry)
· Dorset dumplings (apples and suet)
· Lardy cake
· Simnel cake
· Malvern pudding (fruit crumble)
· Singin hinnies (fried scone)
· Spotted dick
Read more...
By Martin Wainwright
Classic dishes which stiffened the backbone and upper lip of Britain in days gone by are set to vanish from the nation's larder, according to a survey of changing food tastes. Jugged hare, brawn and junket are unknown to the overwhelming majority of under-25s, who also shudder when confronted with many of the recipes' down-to-earth ingredients.
Increasing prosperity is tending to drive offal from young people's kitchens, the poll suggests, along with ingredients such as haddocks' heads and scrag end of neck. The runaway success of international cuisine, from pizza to Thai curries, has also eroded the appeal of pigs' cheeks in brine and boiled calf's foot which date from periods of austerity.
Out of favour
Ten most endangered savouries;
· Bath chaps
· Jugged hare
· Brawn
· Squirrel casserole
· Bedfordshire clanger (scrag end of mutton with kidneys)
· Pan haggerty (fried onions and potatoes)
· Hogs pudding
· Tripe and onion
· Faggots
· Bread and dripping
Ten most threatened puddings
· Calf's foot jelly
· Junket
· Sussex pond pudding (suet and lemon)
· Kentish pudding pie (rice and pastry)
· Dorset dumplings (apples and suet)
· Lardy cake
· Simnel cake
· Malvern pudding (fruit crumble)
· Singin hinnies (fried scone)
· Spotted dick
Read more...
Expert view: The joys of lardy cake
The Guardian
By Matthew Fort
It is almost impossible to overestimate the ignorance of the young. So they have no idea about the joys of lardy cake or Bath chap or dripping toast. Question them closely, and I dare say that a good many of them would have a hard time giving chapter and verse on the Long Parliament, the paintings of Samuel Palmer and the origins of the Wellington boot.
To say that people are ignorant of something is not the same as saying that it isn't important. The history of any country is written in its food. Ours is no different. Even a thoroughly modern dish such as chicken tikka masala, named as the nation's favourite dish a few years ago, is an epic on the history of immigration and the way in which one culture benefits another.
Read more...
By Matthew Fort
It is almost impossible to overestimate the ignorance of the young. So they have no idea about the joys of lardy cake or Bath chap or dripping toast. Question them closely, and I dare say that a good many of them would have a hard time giving chapter and verse on the Long Parliament, the paintings of Samuel Palmer and the origins of the Wellington boot.
To say that people are ignorant of something is not the same as saying that it isn't important. The history of any country is written in its food. Ours is no different. Even a thoroughly modern dish such as chicken tikka masala, named as the nation's favourite dish a few years ago, is an epic on the history of immigration and the way in which one culture benefits another.
Read more...
Food giants to boycott illegal Amazon soya
The Guardian
By Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal
Leading European supermarkets, food manufacturers and fast-food chains, including McDonald's, are expected to pledge today not to use soya illegally grown in the Amazon region in response to evidence that large areas of virgin forest are being felled for the crop.
In a victory for consumer power, the companies say they will not deal with the four trading giants who dominate production in Brazil unless they can show they are not sourcing soya from areas being farmed illegally. The traders met in Sao Paolo last week and are expected to sign up to a moratorium on using soya grown in the Amazon.
Read more...
By Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal
Leading European supermarkets, food manufacturers and fast-food chains, including McDonald's, are expected to pledge today not to use soya illegally grown in the Amazon region in response to evidence that large areas of virgin forest are being felled for the crop.
In a victory for consumer power, the companies say they will not deal with the four trading giants who dominate production in Brazil unless they can show they are not sourcing soya from areas being farmed illegally. The traders met in Sao Paolo last week and are expected to sign up to a moratorium on using soya grown in the Amazon.
Read more...
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Mustard ice-cream is hot stuff in France
The Independent
By John Lichfield in Paris
The scorching weather this summer has generated a boom in ice-cream sales in France - and a colourful explosion of exotic and bizarre flavours.
Lovers of ice-cream can now eat glaces that taste of grass or are flavoured with mustard, Roquefort cheese or oysters.
Read more...
By John Lichfield in Paris
The scorching weather this summer has generated a boom in ice-cream sales in France - and a colourful explosion of exotic and bizarre flavours.
Lovers of ice-cream can now eat glaces that taste of grass or are flavoured with mustard, Roquefort cheese or oysters.
Read more...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Ay, caramba! Tequila firm aims for record with £120,000 bottle
The Independent
By Jerome Taylor
Despite a long and proud history as Mexico's national drink, tequila tends to be the favourite tipple of students knocking back shots of the potent liquor during a drunken night out.
But now a Mexican company is trying to take the firewater upmarket by selling what it claims is the world's most expensive bottle of tequila.
Read more...
By Jerome Taylor
Despite a long and proud history as Mexico's national drink, tequila tends to be the favourite tipple of students knocking back shots of the potent liquor during a drunken night out.
But now a Mexican company is trying to take the firewater upmarket by selling what it claims is the world's most expensive bottle of tequila.
Read more...
Shop trumpets its £30 ice-cream cornet as a solution to heatwave
The Independent
By Helen McCormack
The heatwave may have left many prepared to go to extreme measures to cool down - but few are likely to fork out the prices one London shop has opted to charge for an ice-cream - £30.
La Maison du Chocolat in Knightsbridge prepared 10 of the pricey ten-inch desserts for sale. For the £30, consumers get a choice of flavours and a chance to sample Parisian chocolates.
Read more...
By Helen McCormack
The heatwave may have left many prepared to go to extreme measures to cool down - but few are likely to fork out the prices one London shop has opted to charge for an ice-cream - £30.
La Maison du Chocolat in Knightsbridge prepared 10 of the pricey ten-inch desserts for sale. For the £30, consumers get a choice of flavours and a chance to sample Parisian chocolates.
Read more...
Cadbury to consider payouts for victims of salmonella outbreak
The Independent
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Cadbury has said it will consider compensating victims of salmonella poisoning after health officials named its chocolate as the prime suspect for an outbreak earlier this year.
Britain's biggest confectioner promised to "take seriously" any case arising from a mysterious spate of infections throughout the spring, which put two children in hospital
Read more...
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Cadbury has said it will consider compensating victims of salmonella poisoning after health officials named its chocolate as the prime suspect for an outbreak earlier this year.
Britain's biggest confectioner promised to "take seriously" any case arising from a mysterious spate of infections throughout the spring, which put two children in hospital
Read more...
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Kitchen sink loses attraction as Britons get a better social life
The Guardian
By John Carvel, social affairs editor
The women and men of Britain are doing a lot less housework than six years ago and the half hour they are saving every day is providing the opportunity for more socialising and a few extra minutes of quality time with the children.
That, at least, is the official version of how we are spending our time - the result of an exhaustive survey by the Office for National Statistics, which asked a representative sample of nearly 5,000 adults to record what they did for every minute of the waking day.
Read more...
By John Carvel, social affairs editor
The women and men of Britain are doing a lot less housework than six years ago and the half hour they are saving every day is providing the opportunity for more socialising and a few extra minutes of quality time with the children.
That, at least, is the official version of how we are spending our time - the result of an exhaustive survey by the Office for National Statistics, which asked a representative sample of nearly 5,000 adults to record what they did for every minute of the waking day.
Read more...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Soundbites: Let me eat cake! I'm a rock star!
The Guardian, G2
By Alex Kapranos
The twin-propeller plane looked as if it was made of Lego. It flew us from Gdansk to Edinburgh this morning, our equipment strapped to the floor with rope webbing between us and the pilot. In-flight catering was watery, cold, scrambled eggs and cold bacon. The fat had congealed into hard white tears on the edge of the plastic tray. So, I'm hungry as we drive up the muddy track that leads to the artists' enclosure at T in the Park under evil, July winter clouds. Our tour bus, 15 tonnes of tinted excess, passes the security checkpoint where I stood on a parched summer's day three years ago, holding my guitar in its protective bin bag, as the security guard, after checking his list of bands, said, "Sorry son, I don't think you're playing - you shouldn't be in this area."
Read more...
By Alex Kapranos
The twin-propeller plane looked as if it was made of Lego. It flew us from Gdansk to Edinburgh this morning, our equipment strapped to the floor with rope webbing between us and the pilot. In-flight catering was watery, cold, scrambled eggs and cold bacon. The fat had congealed into hard white tears on the edge of the plastic tray. So, I'm hungry as we drive up the muddy track that leads to the artists' enclosure at T in the Park under evil, July winter clouds. Our tour bus, 15 tonnes of tinted excess, passes the security checkpoint where I stood on a parched summer's day three years ago, holding my guitar in its protective bin bag, as the security guard, after checking his list of bands, said, "Sorry son, I don't think you're playing - you shouldn't be in this area."
Read more...
Taking the eff out of chef
The Guardian
By Emine Saner
How can you stop bad-boy chefs from misbehaving in the kitchen? One London restaurant has hired an etiquette guru.
Read more...
By Emine Saner
How can you stop bad-boy chefs from misbehaving in the kitchen? One London restaurant has hired an etiquette guru.
Read more...
Friday, July 07, 2006
Taste for Quorn boosts Premier
The Guardian
By Katie Allen
Premier Foods is enjoying solid sales growth on the back of rising demand for its fungus-based meat replacement, Quorn. The food group behind Branston pickle bought Quorn last year in a £172m deal and the acquisition is paying off. Premier said in a trading update yesterday that Quorn sales had shown double-digit growth in the first half of this year thanks to more advertising and new products such as fajita strips and satay sticks.
Read more...
By Katie Allen
Premier Foods is enjoying solid sales growth on the back of rising demand for its fungus-based meat replacement, Quorn. The food group behind Branston pickle bought Quorn last year in a £172m deal and the acquisition is paying off. Premier said in a trading update yesterday that Quorn sales had shown double-digit growth in the first half of this year thanks to more advertising and new products such as fajita strips and satay sticks.
Read more...
Scare over salmonella in chocolate widens
The Guardian
By Felicity Lawrence and James Meikle
The alert over Cadbury products contaminated with salmonella widened yesterday as it emerged other food companies bought chocolate crumb from the Herefordshire factory at the heart of the crisis.
After a meeting with the authorities in London yesterday, it also emerged Cadbury has only now agreed to a comprehensive cleaning of all the production lines at the Marlbrook plant concerned.
Read more...
By Felicity Lawrence and James Meikle
The alert over Cadbury products contaminated with salmonella widened yesterday as it emerged other food companies bought chocolate crumb from the Herefordshire factory at the heart of the crisis.
After a meeting with the authorities in London yesterday, it also emerged Cadbury has only now agreed to a comprehensive cleaning of all the production lines at the Marlbrook plant concerned.
Read more...
Fears over health fuel 30% rise in sales of organic food
The Guardian
By James Meikle
The "healthy" image of organic food helped UK sales soar by 30% last year to nearly £1.6bn, a report by the Soil Association says today. The huge increase in sales followed the scare over the Sudan 1 food contaminant in processed foods, fears over obesity and good news about nutrients in organic milk.
But the massive rise in interest in organic produce - sales last year were three times greater than in 2004 - has also raised concerns that UK farmers cannot keep pace with the surge in demand.
Read more...
By James Meikle
The "healthy" image of organic food helped UK sales soar by 30% last year to nearly £1.6bn, a report by the Soil Association says today. The huge increase in sales followed the scare over the Sudan 1 food contaminant in processed foods, fears over obesity and good news about nutrients in organic milk.
But the massive rise in interest in organic produce - sales last year were three times greater than in 2004 - has also raised concerns that UK farmers cannot keep pace with the surge in demand.
Read more...
Thursday, July 06, 2006
A vintage year for cheating
The Guardian
By Andrew Catchpole
Poor old beaujolais. The wine that once launched a thousand races across La Manche is again the source of sour grapes. Beaujolais nouveau has lost its lustre, plummeting demand has seen hundreds of thousands of hecto-litres turned to vinegar and a critic in Lyon Mag creating a very public legal battle after describing the wine as "vin de merde" (Lyon Mag won on appeal). Now George Duboeuf, the region's best-known and most prolific producer, has been charged with fraud.
Read more...
By Andrew Catchpole
Poor old beaujolais. The wine that once launched a thousand races across La Manche is again the source of sour grapes. Beaujolais nouveau has lost its lustre, plummeting demand has seen hundreds of thousands of hecto-litres turned to vinegar and a critic in Lyon Mag creating a very public legal battle after describing the wine as "vin de merde" (Lyon Mag won on appeal). Now George Duboeuf, the region's best-known and most prolific producer, has been charged with fraud.
Read more...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Beaujolais Nouveau's inventor fined for fraud
The Guardian
By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Georges Duboeuf, the self-styled "king of Beaujolais", was yesterday fined €30,000 (£20,800) for fraud after wine produced by his estate was found to have been illegally blended from different types of grape rather than a single source.
Read more...
By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Georges Duboeuf, the self-styled "king of Beaujolais", was yesterday fined €30,000 (£20,800) for fraud after wine produced by his estate was found to have been illegally blended from different types of grape rather than a single source.
Read more...
Sunday, July 02, 2006
After 10 years of healthy eating campaigns costing millions .... Scots’ diet is worse than ever
The Sunday Herald
By Judith Duffy, Health Correspondent
Despite 10 years of government targets and millions of pounds spent to encourage healthier eating, a major report will this month reveal that the Scots diet is no better, and, in some cases, worse.
An independent review of the progress made on a major action plan published by the Scottish Office in 1996 – which set goals for changing diets over the following 10 years – will report that Scots are eating more sugar and the same level of saturated fats. There has been no change in the intake of fruit and vegetables, oil-rich fish, bread and breakfast cereals.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the review, due to be published by the Food Standards Agency later this month, has found the targets in many key areas have not been met.
Read more...
By Judith Duffy, Health Correspondent
Despite 10 years of government targets and millions of pounds spent to encourage healthier eating, a major report will this month reveal that the Scots diet is no better, and, in some cases, worse.
An independent review of the progress made on a major action plan published by the Scottish Office in 1996 – which set goals for changing diets over the following 10 years – will report that Scots are eating more sugar and the same level of saturated fats. There has been no change in the intake of fruit and vegetables, oil-rich fish, bread and breakfast cereals.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the review, due to be published by the Food Standards Agency later this month, has found the targets in many key areas have not been met.
Read more...
Bar-L stops Ramsay doing porridge
Scotland on Sunday
By Kate Foster
HIS fiery temper and foul language have earned him a reputation as Britain's toughest chef. But it appears Gordon Ramsay was not hard enough for Scotland's most fearsome jail.
After rescuing failing restaurateurs across the country, it has emerged the celebrity chef had his sights set on the kitchens at HMP Barlinnie, which houses some of the nation's most violent offenders.
Ramsay had an ambitious plan to improve Barlinnie's menus for his Kitchen Nightmares series.
But it turns out officials at the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had nightmares of their own over the idea. They feared the Glasgow-born chef might come off worse if he unleashed one of his trademark tantrums at a prisoner and a riot could follow.
Read more...
By Kate Foster
HIS fiery temper and foul language have earned him a reputation as Britain's toughest chef. But it appears Gordon Ramsay was not hard enough for Scotland's most fearsome jail.
After rescuing failing restaurateurs across the country, it has emerged the celebrity chef had his sights set on the kitchens at HMP Barlinnie, which houses some of the nation's most violent offenders.
Ramsay had an ambitious plan to improve Barlinnie's menus for his Kitchen Nightmares series.
But it turns out officials at the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had nightmares of their own over the idea. They feared the Glasgow-born chef might come off worse if he unleashed one of his trademark tantrums at a prisoner and a riot could follow.
Read more...
Cadbury salmonella bug may have affected up to 30 brands
The Independent
By Severin Carrell
The salmonella food poisoning bug found in Cadbury chocolate may have contaminated up to 30 different brands, food safety officials have warned.
Safety tests are now being carried out on a wide range of bars after it emerged that the contamination, which was caused by a leaking pipe discovered earlier this year at a Cadbury plant, may have been far greater than first realised. More than one million Cadbury chocolate bars were withdrawn from sale 10 days ago after the firm admitted that chocolate "crumb" was contaminated with traces of salmonella montevideo, a rare strain of the bug, six months ago.
Health officials in Birmingham are now testing another 30 brands and the Food Standards Agency has warned that other types of Cadbury chocolate could be withdrawn. The disclosures will add to Cadbury's embarrassment. Thecompany was forced to admit 13 days ago that it had known of the incident since January.
There has been an unusual rise in salmonella montevideo cases this year and safety officials are furious that the contamination was not disclosed earlier. Cadbury is facing prosecution for keeping quiet about the incident.
Read more...
By Severin Carrell
The salmonella food poisoning bug found in Cadbury chocolate may have contaminated up to 30 different brands, food safety officials have warned.
Safety tests are now being carried out on a wide range of bars after it emerged that the contamination, which was caused by a leaking pipe discovered earlier this year at a Cadbury plant, may have been far greater than first realised. More than one million Cadbury chocolate bars were withdrawn from sale 10 days ago after the firm admitted that chocolate "crumb" was contaminated with traces of salmonella montevideo, a rare strain of the bug, six months ago.
Health officials in Birmingham are now testing another 30 brands and the Food Standards Agency has warned that other types of Cadbury chocolate could be withdrawn. The disclosures will add to Cadbury's embarrassment. Thecompany was forced to admit 13 days ago that it had known of the incident since January.
There has been an unusual rise in salmonella montevideo cases this year and safety officials are furious that the contamination was not disclosed earlier. Cadbury is facing prosecution for keeping quiet about the incident.
Read more...
Beware the smoothie: Full of fruit - but they may be bad for you
The Independent
By Severin Carrell
They are one of the food industry's biggest sellers and consumers see them as a healthy option. They should think again.
Read more...
By Severin Carrell
They are one of the food industry's biggest sellers and consumers see them as a healthy option. They should think again.
Read more...
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Bad Science: The showbiz recipe for healthy eating
The Guardian
By Ben Goldacre
Last year I noticed that more and more of the lifestyle bunnies in the press and on the internet were showing off about being "RNutr" or "Registered Nutritionists". Registered with whom? Imagine a two-headed monster called "The Nutrition Society". On the one hand, they are a respectable and august research body, representing some of the sharpest academics in the country, doing research work on nutrition in both people and laboratories, publishing academic journals and so on. That's science. On the other hand, they "run" a "register", which I suspect is largely composed of commercial "nutritionists" making good money peddling lifestyle advice to the public.
Read more...
By Ben Goldacre
Last year I noticed that more and more of the lifestyle bunnies in the press and on the internet were showing off about being "RNutr" or "Registered Nutritionists". Registered with whom? Imagine a two-headed monster called "The Nutrition Society". On the one hand, they are a respectable and august research body, representing some of the sharpest academics in the country, doing research work on nutrition in both people and laboratories, publishing academic journals and so on. That's science. On the other hand, they "run" a "register", which I suspect is largely composed of commercial "nutritionists" making good money peddling lifestyle advice to the public.
Read more...
Friday, June 30, 2006
The chilling truth about ice cream
The Daily Mail
By Victoria Moore
When I was growing up, my dad’s cousin, struggling to make a living as a farmer after the introduction of milk quotas, decided to turn his hand to making ice cream.
I remember peering into the dairy where expensive machinery churned the fresh milk and cream from the cows that I could see grazing in the fields.
And I remember, too, how delicious it was to eat those cornets, piled high with dark chocolate ice cream, licking and slurping and being careful not to lose a single drip.
There can’t be a child in Britain who doesn’t know that ice cream is made from gloriously rich, frozen double cream, sugar and sometimes eggs — after all, it’s there in the name, isn’t it? Ice cream. Or is it?
Read more...
By Victoria Moore
When I was growing up, my dad’s cousin, struggling to make a living as a farmer after the introduction of milk quotas, decided to turn his hand to making ice cream.
I remember peering into the dairy where expensive machinery churned the fresh milk and cream from the cows that I could see grazing in the fields.
And I remember, too, how delicious it was to eat those cornets, piled high with dark chocolate ice cream, licking and slurping and being careful not to lose a single drip.
There can’t be a child in Britain who doesn’t know that ice cream is made from gloriously rich, frozen double cream, sugar and sometimes eggs — after all, it’s there in the name, isn’t it? Ice cream. Or is it?
Read more...
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Ali squares up to obesity crisis with snack line
The Guardian
By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
In the days when he could "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee", Muhammad Ali sparred with the establishment by refusing to fight in the Vietnam war. In middle age, slowed and silenced by Parkinson's disease, he became a folk hero when he lit the torch for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.
Now, aged 64, the evolution of the heavyweight champion has taken one more turn - into diet guru.
The heavyweight champion plans to introduce a line of reduced calorie snacks for young people, due to appear in American convenience stores early next year. The products from Goat - Greatest of All Time Food and Beverage - are intended to help fight America's youth obesity.
Read more...
By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
In the days when he could "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee", Muhammad Ali sparred with the establishment by refusing to fight in the Vietnam war. In middle age, slowed and silenced by Parkinson's disease, he became a folk hero when he lit the torch for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.
Now, aged 64, the evolution of the heavyweight champion has taken one more turn - into diet guru.
The heavyweight champion plans to introduce a line of reduced calorie snacks for young people, due to appear in American convenience stores early next year. The products from Goat - Greatest of All Time Food and Beverage - are intended to help fight America's youth obesity.
Read more...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Obituary: Robert Carrier
The Times
November 10, 1923 - June 27, 2006
Flamboyant restaurateur and writer whose cooking epitomised the new love of food in 1970s Britain
FAMOUS long before the term “celebrity chef” was coined, Robert Carrier epitomised fine dining in 1970s Britain. His restaurants, cookbooks and television programmes put truffles, brandy, saffron and spatchcock into the lexicon of many people still shaking off the memory of lumpy gravy, tinned fruit and food stamps.
His food, and his natural flamboyance, helped to persuade the British that there was nothing shameful in enjoying a good meal. He was as influential as Elizabeth David or Delia Smith, and some argued that he was the link between them.
Read more...
November 10, 1923 - June 27, 2006
Flamboyant restaurateur and writer whose cooking epitomised the new love of food in 1970s Britain
FAMOUS long before the term “celebrity chef” was coined, Robert Carrier epitomised fine dining in 1970s Britain. His restaurants, cookbooks and television programmes put truffles, brandy, saffron and spatchcock into the lexicon of many people still shaking off the memory of lumpy gravy, tinned fruit and food stamps.
His food, and his natural flamboyance, helped to persuade the British that there was nothing shameful in enjoying a good meal. He was as influential as Elizabeth David or Delia Smith, and some argued that he was the link between them.
Read more...
Obituary: Robert Carrier
The Observer
By Dennis Barker
Robert Carrier, who has died aged 82, was a cookery writer, restaurateur and television presenter whose programmes attracted audiences of millions in Britain. He also opened a chain of cooking utensils shop and was a leading figure in restaurant trade politics. He made making food seem a joyful art.
Read more...
By Dennis Barker
Robert Carrier, who has died aged 82, was a cookery writer, restaurateur and television presenter whose programmes attracted audiences of millions in Britain. He also opened a chain of cooking utensils shop and was a leading figure in restaurant trade politics. He made making food seem a joyful art.
Read more...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Jamie Oliver in talks over campaign for family meals
The Guardian, p 1
By David Brindle and Jacqueline Maley
The Department of Health is negotiating with Sainsbury's about a joint campaign, to be fronted by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, to encourage families to make time to eat together more often as a key means of improving the nation's diet.
The move would mark a controversial departure for government public health campaigns in its tie-up with a commercial brand. A report commissioned by the health department and published yesterday argues that such partnerships should be encouraged, provided appropriate ethical guidelines are put in place.
It comes as research showed that over the past year spending on frozen foods had fallen almost 3%, with sales of frozen ready meals and meat products - including the Turkey Twizzlers ridiculed by Oliver during his influential TV series on school meals - down more than 8%.
The family meal has been highlighted as a prominent factor in social cohesion, as well as nutritional wellbeing. Surveys suggest that as few as three in 10 families now sit down to eat together more than once a week, with most of those watching television at the same time. This year, the dining table was dropped from the official basket of goods said to reflect the country's buying habits.
Read more...
By David Brindle and Jacqueline Maley
The Department of Health is negotiating with Sainsbury's about a joint campaign, to be fronted by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, to encourage families to make time to eat together more often as a key means of improving the nation's diet.
The move would mark a controversial departure for government public health campaigns in its tie-up with a commercial brand. A report commissioned by the health department and published yesterday argues that such partnerships should be encouraged, provided appropriate ethical guidelines are put in place.
It comes as research showed that over the past year spending on frozen foods had fallen almost 3%, with sales of frozen ready meals and meat products - including the Turkey Twizzlers ridiculed by Oliver during his influential TV series on school meals - down more than 8%.
The family meal has been highlighted as a prominent factor in social cohesion, as well as nutritional wellbeing. Surveys suggest that as few as three in 10 families now sit down to eat together more than once a week, with most of those watching television at the same time. This year, the dining table was dropped from the official basket of goods said to reflect the country's buying habits.
Read more...
Sunday, June 25, 2006
The Meal: Allan Brown: Something fishy is going on
The Sunday Times - Scotland
The paintings on show at Fins in Fairlie are a riot, but the plates are a fine exhibition of tasty seafood at its simplest.
The works of Snurd, Batchelor of Dental Surgery, may not be known to you, but their influence upon the contemporary dining scene is pervasive. Snurd was Reginald Perrin’s dentist in the classic 1970s BBC comedy, but he was a dentist with a hobby: amateur landscape painting. Snurd’s frightful renditions of the Algarve hung throughout Perrin’s home, so luridly incompetent that they sold like hot cakes in his deliberately awful supermarket chain, Grot.
Read more...
The paintings on show at Fins in Fairlie are a riot, but the plates are a fine exhibition of tasty seafood at its simplest.
The works of Snurd, Batchelor of Dental Surgery, may not be known to you, but their influence upon the contemporary dining scene is pervasive. Snurd was Reginald Perrin’s dentist in the classic 1970s BBC comedy, but he was a dentist with a hobby: amateur landscape painting. Snurd’s frightful renditions of the Algarve hung throughout Perrin’s home, so luridly incompetent that they sold like hot cakes in his deliberately awful supermarket chain, Grot.
Read more...
Cadbury facing legal action
The Observer
By Jo Revill, health editor
Chocolate giant Cadbury faces the prospect of legal action and a fine for its failure to tell the authorities immediately that some of its products were contaminated with salmonella.
Read more...
By Jo Revill, health editor
Chocolate giant Cadbury faces the prospect of legal action and a fine for its failure to tell the authorities immediately that some of its products were contaminated with salmonella.
Read more...
An unforgivable affront to French civilisation
The Guardian, Comment
By Agnes Poirier
The news hasn't sunk in yet. French wine amateurs seem still oblivious. All they have been talking about these past few days is the extraordinary prices reached by 2005 primeur Bordeaux wines: '€350 euros for a bottle of Lafite Rothschild. Since Robert Parker came three months ago and gave unprecedented marks, such as 99/100, prices have gone through the ceiling,' says Jean-Louis, un amoureux du Bordeaux, half-worried, half-ecstatic. When I ask him whether he has heard of Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU commissioner for agriculture, and her wine reform, he replies: 'No; should I know about it?' Well, he might want to have a look at it. Her recommendations, if implemented, could change the face of the European wine industry for ever. I doubt she has realised the import of what she has set in motion.
Read more...
By Agnes Poirier
The news hasn't sunk in yet. French wine amateurs seem still oblivious. All they have been talking about these past few days is the extraordinary prices reached by 2005 primeur Bordeaux wines: '€350 euros for a bottle of Lafite Rothschild. Since Robert Parker came three months ago and gave unprecedented marks, such as 99/100, prices have gone through the ceiling,' says Jean-Louis, un amoureux du Bordeaux, half-worried, half-ecstatic. When I ask him whether he has heard of Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU commissioner for agriculture, and her wine reform, he replies: 'No; should I know about it?' Well, he might want to have a look at it. Her recommendations, if implemented, could change the face of the European wine industry for ever. I doubt she has realised the import of what she has set in motion.
Read more...
New calorie target will mean lean times ahead
The Observer
By Juliette Jowit
For those who find it hard enough to keep within the government's current recommended daily calorie levels, it's bad news: experts are looking to reduce the figure even further.
As food wrappers and health advice everywhere reminds us, guidelines are that women should eat 2,000 calories a day, and men 2,500. Surveys suggest people are eating less than that - but the nation is still getting fatter.
The government's Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition has been asked to investigate whether the official levels are wrong because they were based on estimates that people are more active than they actually are.
Read more...
By Juliette Jowit
For those who find it hard enough to keep within the government's current recommended daily calorie levels, it's bad news: experts are looking to reduce the figure even further.
As food wrappers and health advice everywhere reminds us, guidelines are that women should eat 2,000 calories a day, and men 2,500. Surveys suggest people are eating less than that - but the nation is still getting fatter.
The government's Scientific Advisory Committee for Nutrition has been asked to investigate whether the official levels are wrong because they were based on estimates that people are more active than they actually are.
Read more...
Meals bills 'need to soar by 40 per cent'
The Observer
By Jay Rayner
The outgoing head of the School Food Trust has demanded that the government increase spending on school meals by 40 per cent, from the present 50p per meal in primary schools to 70p.
Dame Suzi Leather, who resigned last week from the trust set up by Tony Blair to oversee improvements to school meals in response to a public outcry over standards, following last year's TV campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, said the government's plans were 'inadequate'. Last month Alan Johnson, the new Education Secretary, announced that primary schools should be spending at least 50p on ingredients for each meal, and secondary schools 60p.
Read more...
By Jay Rayner
The outgoing head of the School Food Trust has demanded that the government increase spending on school meals by 40 per cent, from the present 50p per meal in primary schools to 70p.
Dame Suzi Leather, who resigned last week from the trust set up by Tony Blair to oversee improvements to school meals in response to a public outcry over standards, following last year's TV campaign by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, said the government's plans were 'inadequate'. Last month Alan Johnson, the new Education Secretary, announced that primary schools should be spending at least 50p on ingredients for each meal, and secondary schools 60p.
Read more...
The truth about school dinners: what happened when Jamie went home
The Observer
By Jay Rayner
It's 16 months since the TV chef stormed through Britain's school kitchens and declared war on the Turkey Twizzler. So are our children now eating healthier foods?
Read more...
By Jay Rayner
It's 16 months since the TV chef stormed through Britain's school kitchens and declared war on the Turkey Twizzler. So are our children now eating healthier foods?
Read more...
Moroccan cuisine
The Independent
Oliver Bennett goes fishing for the family recipes that give Moroccan cuisine its unique flavour.
Read more...
Oliver Bennett goes fishing for the family recipes that give Moroccan cuisine its unique flavour.
Read more...
My Round: Richard Ehrlich cracks two cases of oenological obsession
The Independent
Who would choose to go into the wine business? By and large, it remains people who love wine. I've talked recently to two people working in very different areas of the wine industry, and both fit that description to a T. One is a Dutch wine enthusiast named David Bolomey, whose website (www.bordoverview.com) I first learnt about from the excellent wine blog at www.spittoon.biz. David hasn't yet made a penny from his arduous labours. But they have certainly paid off for us wine drinkers - or for those who like to buy the wines of Bordeaux en primeur.
Read more...
Who would choose to go into the wine business? By and large, it remains people who love wine. I've talked recently to two people working in very different areas of the wine industry, and both fit that description to a T. One is a Dutch wine enthusiast named David Bolomey, whose website (www.bordoverview.com) I first learnt about from the excellent wine blog at www.spittoon.biz. David hasn't yet made a penny from his arduous labours. But they have certainly paid off for us wine drinkers - or for those who like to buy the wines of Bordeaux en primeur.
Read more...
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Cooking with an Italian TV chef in Tuscany
The Times, Food & Travel
Amy Lamé cooks up a treat in Tuscany with the TV chef Giancarlo Caldesi.
Read more...
Amy Lamé cooks up a treat in Tuscany with the TV chef Giancarlo Caldesi.
Read more...
What's new: learn to make the perfect taco
The Times, Departures
Jill Crawshaw hunts out tasty new ideas, including coping with fiery salsas in Mexico.
Read more about holidays for food-lovers...
Jill Crawshaw hunts out tasty new ideas, including coping with fiery salsas in Mexico.
Read more about holidays for food-lovers...
A men-only Adriatic cookery school
The Times
With a chain-smoking Balkan chef at the helm, this Adriatic cookery school is a men-only affair. Ian Belcher drops anchor for a lesson.
Read more...
With a chain-smoking Balkan chef at the helm, this Adriatic cookery school is a men-only affair. Ian Belcher drops anchor for a lesson.
Read more...
Chocolate may have poisoned more than 40
The Guardian
By Jeevan Vasagar
Half a million bars of Cadbury's chocolate suspected of being contaminated with salmonella have been eaten by the public over the past six months, the company admitted yesterday as it took seven of its most popular brands off the shelves.
There are concerns that the contaminated bars may have triggered food poisoning among more than 40 people.
The Food Standards Agency accused Cadbury of failing to alert the agency after a leaking waste water pipe at a chocolate factory contaminated the "milk chocolate crumb" which is blended with fillings to make Cadbury's sweets, including the Dairy Milk Turkish bar, the Dairy Milk Buttons Easter egg and the Freddo bar.
Read more...
By Jeevan Vasagar
Half a million bars of Cadbury's chocolate suspected of being contaminated with salmonella have been eaten by the public over the past six months, the company admitted yesterday as it took seven of its most popular brands off the shelves.
There are concerns that the contaminated bars may have triggered food poisoning among more than 40 people.
The Food Standards Agency accused Cadbury of failing to alert the agency after a leaking waste water pipe at a chocolate factory contaminated the "milk chocolate crumb" which is blended with fillings to make Cadbury's sweets, including the Dairy Milk Turkish bar, the Dairy Milk Buttons Easter egg and the Freddo bar.
Read more...
Only five more packed lunches to go
The Guardian
By Ian Sansom
Sandwiches, for me as a child, consisted mostly of sliced, white bread with margarine and fish paste, or maybe sandwich spread or corned beef or sometimes, on a Sunday, a pilchard or beetroot or egg (sliced, and without mayonnaise, which was something we had heard of but never seen, and that was possibly medicinal). For a treat, my dad would sometimes make us sugar sandwiches or, if we were really lucky, a condensed-milk sandwich - which was something to do with the war, I think.
Read more...
By Ian Sansom
Sandwiches, for me as a child, consisted mostly of sliced, white bread with margarine and fish paste, or maybe sandwich spread or corned beef or sometimes, on a Sunday, a pilchard or beetroot or egg (sliced, and without mayonnaise, which was something we had heard of but never seen, and that was possibly medicinal). For a treat, my dad would sometimes make us sugar sandwiches or, if we were really lucky, a condensed-milk sandwich - which was something to do with the war, I think.
Read more...
Hannah Glasse: The original domestic goddess
The Independent
By Rose Prince
Centuries before Elizabeth David put garlic on our menus, in the days when Mrs Beeton was still a Miss, one book transformed the eating habits of the nation. So why does no one remember Hannah Glasse?
She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse. In the latest of a series of BBC drama-documentaries about cookery writers to emerge, we are told that Glasse's book, The Art Of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (now published as First Catch Your Hare) revolutionised the way the British cook.
Read more...
By Rose Prince
Centuries before Elizabeth David put garlic on our menus, in the days when Mrs Beeton was still a Miss, one book transformed the eating habits of the nation. So why does no one remember Hannah Glasse?
She's the first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party and the most important cookery writer to know about. No, not Isabella Beeton; not Delia Smith nor Nigella Lawson, but an earlier incarnation of a kitchen trouble-shooter, Hannah Glasse. In the latest of a series of BBC drama-documentaries about cookery writers to emerge, we are told that Glasse's book, The Art Of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (now published as First Catch Your Hare) revolutionised the way the British cook.
Read more...
Friday, June 23, 2006
Are you a gourmet snob?
The Guardian
You delight in dining off-menu. Your knives are worth more than your car. Self-confessed gastronome Tim Hayward on 10 tell-tale signs that you love food a little too much.
1) The chef's table
2) Ironic food
3) Ordering 'off-menu'
4) Kitchen slang
5) Foodie/chef relationship
6) Fats
7) Molecular gastronomy
8) Outrageous equipment
9) Travel
10) Collecting 'restos'
Read more...
You delight in dining off-menu. Your knives are worth more than your car. Self-confessed gastronome Tim Hayward on 10 tell-tale signs that you love food a little too much.
1) The chef's table
2) Ironic food
3) Ordering 'off-menu'
4) Kitchen slang
5) Foodie/chef relationship
6) Fats
7) Molecular gastronomy
8) Outrageous equipment
9) Travel
10) Collecting 'restos'
Read more...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Heart campaigners drop case over junk food ad ban
The Guardian
By Felicity Lawrence
The National Heart Forum has dropped its legal action against Ofcom over seeking a ban on TV advertising of junk food to children before the 9pm watershed.
The health campaign group, which was trying to force the broadcasting regulator to include a pre-watershed ban in its consultation on restricting marketing of unhealthy products to children, says Ofcom has changed its position and agreed to accept representations on a ban.
Ofcom insisted yesterday that a pre-9pm ban was always an option and that its position had been "misrepresented".
Read more...
By Felicity Lawrence
The National Heart Forum has dropped its legal action against Ofcom over seeking a ban on TV advertising of junk food to children before the 9pm watershed.
The health campaign group, which was trying to force the broadcasting regulator to include a pre-watershed ban in its consultation on restricting marketing of unhealthy products to children, says Ofcom has changed its position and agreed to accept representations on a ban.
Ofcom insisted yesterday that a pre-9pm ban was always an option and that its position had been "misrepresented".
Read more...
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Ramsay's kitchen nightmare over after £75,000 libel win
The Scotsman
By Fergus Sheppard
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and the makers of the hit TV show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares yesterday accepted libel damages of £75,000 after a newspaper claimed the programme was cynically faked to make average restaurant kitchens look like "public health hazards".
The libel action followed a story in the London Evening Standard last November by television reviewer Victor Lewis-Smith. The newspaper claimed that an episode of the series set in a West Yorkshire restaurant had been guilty of "gastronomic mendacity" by installing an incompetent chef and engineering various kitchen disasters.
The High Court in London was told the article suggested Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares "specialised in cynically faking scenes to make average restaurants look like public health hazards, driving some out of business".
However, the newspaper yesterday apologised to the fiery Glaswegian chef and Optomen Television, makers of the programme, after admitting the article was untrue.
Read more...
By Fergus Sheppard
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and the makers of the hit TV show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares yesterday accepted libel damages of £75,000 after a newspaper claimed the programme was cynically faked to make average restaurant kitchens look like "public health hazards".
The libel action followed a story in the London Evening Standard last November by television reviewer Victor Lewis-Smith. The newspaper claimed that an episode of the series set in a West Yorkshire restaurant had been guilty of "gastronomic mendacity" by installing an incompetent chef and engineering various kitchen disasters.
The High Court in London was told the article suggested Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares "specialised in cynically faking scenes to make average restaurants look like public health hazards, driving some out of business".
However, the newspaper yesterday apologised to the fiery Glaswegian chef and Optomen Television, makers of the programme, after admitting the article was untrue.
Read more...
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
In praise of ... rhubarb
The Guardian, Leader article
Rhubarb can trace its ancestors back to 2,700 BC in China when it was used for its medicinal qualities (well, purgative actually) and has had a rambunctious history ever since. Marco Polo wrote about it at length in his journals in the 15th century. By the 19th it had become so popular in Britain that Chinese bureaucrats threatened to cut off supplies if the "wicked British merchants" did not stop trading in opium, leading some historians to suggest that maybe it should have been called the rhubarb war rather than the opium war. Until comparatively recently Britain had cornered the market with an estimated 90% of the world's forced rhubarb being grown in the "rhubarb triangle" between Pontefract, Leeds and Wakefield (where a rhubarb festival is still held). Sometimes it is regarded as a joke, doubtless because mumblings of "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb" appeared as background noise in the Goon Show. It even achieved the notoriety of becoming a verb when City slickers talked about rhubarbing shares by artificially hyping their prices. Now, this mysterious vegetable masquerading as a fruit is being rehabilitated. It is appearing increasingly on fashionable menus from Abergavenny's Angel Hotel (rhubarb meringue with ginger ice cream) to London's Tate Modern (poached with elderflower sorbet). It has even reached the dizzy heights of being offered in a Michelin three star restaurant (Alain Ducasse's at Monaco): which only goes to show that you can't keep a good vegetable down.
Read the comments...
Rhubarb can trace its ancestors back to 2,700 BC in China when it was used for its medicinal qualities (well, purgative actually) and has had a rambunctious history ever since. Marco Polo wrote about it at length in his journals in the 15th century. By the 19th it had become so popular in Britain that Chinese bureaucrats threatened to cut off supplies if the "wicked British merchants" did not stop trading in opium, leading some historians to suggest that maybe it should have been called the rhubarb war rather than the opium war. Until comparatively recently Britain had cornered the market with an estimated 90% of the world's forced rhubarb being grown in the "rhubarb triangle" between Pontefract, Leeds and Wakefield (where a rhubarb festival is still held). Sometimes it is regarded as a joke, doubtless because mumblings of "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb" appeared as background noise in the Goon Show. It even achieved the notoriety of becoming a verb when City slickers talked about rhubarbing shares by artificially hyping their prices. Now, this mysterious vegetable masquerading as a fruit is being rehabilitated. It is appearing increasingly on fashionable menus from Abergavenny's Angel Hotel (rhubarb meringue with ginger ice cream) to London's Tate Modern (poached with elderflower sorbet). It has even reached the dizzy heights of being offered in a Michelin three star restaurant (Alain Ducasse's at Monaco): which only goes to show that you can't keep a good vegetable down.
Read the comments...
Monday, June 19, 2006
Australian rival could ignite smoothie wars as Britons seek healthier lifestyle
The Guardian
By Katie Allen
It started out as one man's quest for a lunchtime detox. Now it's a multimillion pound business with its eye on every high street in Britain. Crussh juice bars are revelling in the country's growing thirst for healthy eating and the government's latest attack on junk food.
The chain of natural fast foods and squeezed-to-order juices sells more than 1m smoothies a year and is opening a new branch every six weeks. Today sees the launch, on the Strand, London, of its 14th store and hopes to take its orange and lime green brand abroad by the end of the year.
Read more...
By Katie Allen
It started out as one man's quest for a lunchtime detox. Now it's a multimillion pound business with its eye on every high street in Britain. Crussh juice bars are revelling in the country's growing thirst for healthy eating and the government's latest attack on junk food.
The chain of natural fast foods and squeezed-to-order juices sells more than 1m smoothies a year and is opening a new branch every six weeks. Today sees the launch, on the Strand, London, of its 14th store and hopes to take its orange and lime green brand abroad by the end of the year.
Read more...
Waitrose offers 'ugly' fruit and vegetables at discount rate
The Independent
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
The first shift appears today in the big supermarkets' ruthless quest for picture-perfect fruit and vegetables, long hated by many farmers and growers for the waste that it involves.
Waitrose, the upmarket chain owned by the John Lewis partnership, is launching a range of "ugly" looking seasonal fruit at discounted prices for use in cooking. The "class two" produce will be either visually flawed or oddly shaped, according to Waitrose, but otherwise perfect for eating.
Read more...
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
The first shift appears today in the big supermarkets' ruthless quest for picture-perfect fruit and vegetables, long hated by many farmers and growers for the waste that it involves.
Waitrose, the upmarket chain owned by the John Lewis partnership, is launching a range of "ugly" looking seasonal fruit at discounted prices for use in cooking. The "class two" produce will be either visually flawed or oddly shaped, according to Waitrose, but otherwise perfect for eating.
Read more...
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Britain goes bananas for Fairtrade produce
The Independent
By Jonathan Brown
They call it capitalism with a conscience and in Britain it is flourishing. According to new figures, sales of Fairtrade coffee and bananas have doubled in two years with one in five cups of filter coffee drunk in the UK now being supplied from a "fair" source.
The Fairtrade movement, which began life just 18 years ago to protect Mexican coffee farmers against plummeting world prices, has transformed into a global business, with Britain the largest market.
Read more...
By Jonathan Brown
They call it capitalism with a conscience and in Britain it is flourishing. According to new figures, sales of Fairtrade coffee and bananas have doubled in two years with one in five cups of filter coffee drunk in the UK now being supplied from a "fair" source.
The Fairtrade movement, which began life just 18 years ago to protect Mexican coffee farmers against plummeting world prices, has transformed into a global business, with Britain the largest market.
Read more...
Le grand fromage: French cheese scoops the big prize
The Independent
By Terry Kirby, Chief Reporter
Only a few tons are produced every year by a small business located in the lush foothills of the French Pyrenees and you won't find it in any high street supermarket. But the cheese made by the Etcheleku family from the milk of their own ewes has beaten off the big boys from Camembert, Stilton and Gouda to be named this year's supreme champion in the World Cheese Awards.
The 10-month old Ossau Iraty Brebis, made at the Fromagerie Agour run by the Etcheleku family near the village of Helette in the Pays Basque and which has only been on sale in this country for six weeks, beat competition from more than 1,500 cheeses from across the world to scoop top place in the awards. It was awarded 90 points out of a possible 100.
Read more...
By Terry Kirby, Chief Reporter
Only a few tons are produced every year by a small business located in the lush foothills of the French Pyrenees and you won't find it in any high street supermarket. But the cheese made by the Etcheleku family from the milk of their own ewes has beaten off the big boys from Camembert, Stilton and Gouda to be named this year's supreme champion in the World Cheese Awards.
The 10-month old Ossau Iraty Brebis, made at the Fromagerie Agour run by the Etcheleku family near the village of Helette in the Pays Basque and which has only been on sale in this country for six weeks, beat competition from more than 1,500 cheeses from across the world to scoop top place in the awards. It was awarded 90 points out of a possible 100.
Read more...
Friday, June 16, 2006
Fast food for adults only
The Guardian
By Laura Barton
We have pin-pointed the problem, and the problem is this: monkey see, monkey do. Yes, it seems the waddlesome children of this isle are incapable of watching an advert for cheesy Wotsits without responding by wolfing down a 12-bag multipack of the sock-flavoured corn snack. This calls for desperate measures. Hence, the Food Standards Agency has urged Ofcom to ban junk food advertising from our television screens until after the nine o'clock watershed to keep the wee chimps away from temptation. This will, of course, unleash a whole new genre of "9:01" advertising, steeped in sex, violence and filthy language:
X-Rated KFC
After Eights, After Hours
Bondage Cheestrings
McDonald's: Late Night and Dangerous
Werther's Originals - the horror! the horror!
Junkie Pringles
Coke-O Pops Straws
Read more...
By Laura Barton
We have pin-pointed the problem, and the problem is this: monkey see, monkey do. Yes, it seems the waddlesome children of this isle are incapable of watching an advert for cheesy Wotsits without responding by wolfing down a 12-bag multipack of the sock-flavoured corn snack. This calls for desperate measures. Hence, the Food Standards Agency has urged Ofcom to ban junk food advertising from our television screens until after the nine o'clock watershed to keep the wee chimps away from temptation. This will, of course, unleash a whole new genre of "9:01" advertising, steeped in sex, violence and filthy language:
X-Rated KFC
After Eights, After Hours
Bondage Cheestrings
McDonald's: Late Night and Dangerous
Werther's Originals - the horror! the horror!
Junkie Pringles
Coke-O Pops Straws
Read more...
Monday, June 12, 2006
Asda accused of risking food hygiene to cut costs
The Independent, Home, p. 6
By Barrie Clement, Labour Editor
Asda is so keen to fulfil its advertising slogan of providing "more for less" that it cuts corners and puts food hygiene at risk, supermarket employees say.
Read more...
By Barrie Clement, Labour Editor
Asda is so keen to fulfil its advertising slogan of providing "more for less" that it cuts corners and puts food hygiene at risk, supermarket employees say.
Read more...
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Supermarkets treble food prices for children's portions
The Sunday Times, Scotland
By Camillo Fracassini and Aurelia Kassatly
SUPERMARKETS have been criticised for charging more than three times as much for specially packaged children’s portions of food products on their shelves.
Nutritionists and consumer groups have urged parents to vote with their feet after an investigation by The Sunday Times revealed premiums on products aimed at youngsters.
A survey of leading chains found dozens of examples of inflated prices for children’s food, ranging from fresh fruit and yoghurt to water and ready meals.
The biggest mark-up was on Sun-Maid raisins sold at Tesco. The “regular” variety sold in a 500g tub cost 20p per 100g, compared with 68p per 100g when sold in small snack boxes for children — an increase of 240%. Volvic water for kids costs 10p per 100ml, compared with 7p per 100ml for Volvic still mineral water, a price hike of 43%
Read more...
By Camillo Fracassini and Aurelia Kassatly
SUPERMARKETS have been criticised for charging more than three times as much for specially packaged children’s portions of food products on their shelves.
Nutritionists and consumer groups have urged parents to vote with their feet after an investigation by The Sunday Times revealed premiums on products aimed at youngsters.
A survey of leading chains found dozens of examples of inflated prices for children’s food, ranging from fresh fruit and yoghurt to water and ready meals.
The biggest mark-up was on Sun-Maid raisins sold at Tesco. The “regular” variety sold in a 500g tub cost 20p per 100g, compared with 68p per 100g when sold in small snack boxes for children — an increase of 240%. Volvic water for kids costs 10p per 100ml, compared with 7p per 100ml for Volvic still mineral water, a price hike of 43%
Read more...
Unhealthy fats make you a biscuit barrel
The Sunday Times
FOR the potbellied there is a new excuse. It is not the beer, it’s the biscuits, write Jonathan Leake and Will Iredale.
A study has found that the “hydrogenated”, or processed, fats used to cut manufacturing costs of foods such as biscuits and cakes can alter body shape, leading to potbellies.
People who eat a lot of pastry and ready meals containing hydrogenated fats are likely to put on weight more quickly around the stomach — an area where even small deposits can accelerate ill health — than if they consume naturally occurring fats.
Previous studies have shown that hydrogenated vegetable fats can contribute to heart disease, narrowing of blood vessels and diabetes.
Read more...
FOR the potbellied there is a new excuse. It is not the beer, it’s the biscuits, write Jonathan Leake and Will Iredale.
A study has found that the “hydrogenated”, or processed, fats used to cut manufacturing costs of foods such as biscuits and cakes can alter body shape, leading to potbellies.
People who eat a lot of pastry and ready meals containing hydrogenated fats are likely to put on weight more quickly around the stomach — an area where even small deposits can accelerate ill health — than if they consume naturally occurring fats.
Previous studies have shown that hydrogenated vegetable fats can contribute to heart disease, narrowing of blood vessels and diabetes.
Read more...
Marinated well, and served with new fonts
The Observer, Books, Food
Paul Levy enjoys Jake Tilson's radical cookbook, A Tale of 12 Kitchens: Family Cooking in Four Countries.
Read more...
Paul Levy enjoys Jake Tilson's radical cookbook, A Tale of 12 Kitchens: Family Cooking in Four Countries.
Read more...
Britain's grape expectations
The Observer, Escape
By Dinah Hatch
English wine has long been an object of derision, but on a tasting tour of the vineyards of the South Downs Dinah Hatch discovers that a quiet revolution has been under way. Could Sussex be the new Napa Valley?
Unless you are a bit of a wine buff, you may have missed the quiet revolution going on in English vineyards. We are, it seems, getting rather good at wine again after a long period of leaving it to the French because our monasteries had been dissolved and the monks had been the only ones who knew what they were doing.
Read more...
By Dinah Hatch
English wine has long been an object of derision, but on a tasting tour of the vineyards of the South Downs Dinah Hatch discovers that a quiet revolution has been under way. Could Sussex be the new Napa Valley?
Unless you are a bit of a wine buff, you may have missed the quiet revolution going on in English vineyards. We are, it seems, getting rather good at wine again after a long period of leaving it to the French because our monasteries had been dissolved and the monks had been the only ones who knew what they were doing.
Read more...
New World sparkles as French vineyards plunge into the red
The Observer, Business, p 5
By Conal Walsh
As well-marketed brands from Australia become the toast of the British market, Europe's wine lake is filling up with vin ordinaire.
Bordeaux's top wine producers are saying there's never been a season like it. Thanks to last year's ideal summer - not too warm, not too dry - the 2005 vintage is the best in a century. Wine merchants from across the world are flocking to the region, desperate to get their hands on Haut-Brions and Latours, and ready to pay twice the normal price.
Read more...
By Conal Walsh
As well-marketed brands from Australia become the toast of the British market, Europe's wine lake is filling up with vin ordinaire.
Bordeaux's top wine producers are saying there's never been a season like it. Thanks to last year's ideal summer - not too warm, not too dry - the 2005 vintage is the best in a century. Wine merchants from across the world are flocking to the region, desperate to get their hands on Haut-Brions and Latours, and ready to pay twice the normal price.
Read more...
How to go green without going broke
The Observer, Cash, Environment
By Guy Clapperton
Keen to do your bit for the planet, but fear that it will cost you?
By now, consumers are more aware than ever of issues surrounding the impact their goods and services have on the planet. The problem, so often, is the cost; you want to do the 'right thing' but you believe it's not affordable.
This is the sort of preconception that drives the green lobby to distraction. They believe that you can make a lot of small changes to your life that a) won't take much effort if any, b) will have a positive impact on the environment and c) will save you some money.
Read more...
By Guy Clapperton
Keen to do your bit for the planet, but fear that it will cost you?
By now, consumers are more aware than ever of issues surrounding the impact their goods and services have on the planet. The problem, so often, is the cost; you want to do the 'right thing' but you believe it's not affordable.
This is the sort of preconception that drives the green lobby to distraction. They believe that you can make a lot of small changes to your life that a) won't take much effort if any, b) will have a positive impact on the environment and c) will save you some money.
Read more...
Coffee rivals give Starbucks a wake up call
The Sunday Times, Business, p. 3
By Dominic Rushe in New York
Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King are battling for a bigger slice of an $8.4bn market. LAST YEAR Dunkin’ Donuts paid dozens of loyal customers $100 (£54) a week to buy their coffee at Starbucks instead. At the same time the company paid Starbucks’ customers to make the opposite switch.
Dunkin’s coffee has been voted the best in America. It is a favourite of cops and construction workers. Starbucks, with its vanilla soy lattes and laptop-toting customers is the anti-Dunkin’.
By the end of the experiment the two groups were so polarised that researchers dubbed them “tribes”. And each tribe loathed the things the other loved. Starbucks was pretentious, said Dunkin’ fans. Dunkin’ was austere and unoriginal, said the Starbuckians.
Read more...
By Dominic Rushe in New York
Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King are battling for a bigger slice of an $8.4bn market. LAST YEAR Dunkin’ Donuts paid dozens of loyal customers $100 (£54) a week to buy their coffee at Starbucks instead. At the same time the company paid Starbucks’ customers to make the opposite switch.
Dunkin’s coffee has been voted the best in America. It is a favourite of cops and construction workers. Starbucks, with its vanilla soy lattes and laptop-toting customers is the anti-Dunkin’.
By the end of the experiment the two groups were so polarised that researchers dubbed them “tribes”. And each tribe loathed the things the other loved. Starbucks was pretentious, said Dunkin’ fans. Dunkin’ was austere and unoriginal, said the Starbuckians.
Read more...
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Cheating chefs leave bad taste with fake food
The Times
From Adam Sage in Paris
THE table is laid, the waiter has taken the order and the diners are looking forward to an outstanding French meal.
But in the kitchen, the chefs are spraying an omelette with a truffle-flavoured chemical and injecting fake wild-mushroom drops into a duck filet.
Science fiction? No, this is the reality in many French restaurants, which are “cheating” their customers with a growing range of artificial products, according to gastronomic purists. They say that the use of flavourings to enhance the taste of otherwise ordinary dishes is misleading because they are rarely mentioned on the menu.
For years, secrecy surrounded the products, which come in liquid and powdered form. They were an unspoken ingredient of contemporary Gallic gastronomy.
But their existence has been brought into the open by two leading chefs, Joel Robuchon and Alain Passard, who have both spoken out against what they describe as a “scandal”.
Read more...
From Adam Sage in Paris
THE table is laid, the waiter has taken the order and the diners are looking forward to an outstanding French meal.
But in the kitchen, the chefs are spraying an omelette with a truffle-flavoured chemical and injecting fake wild-mushroom drops into a duck filet.
Science fiction? No, this is the reality in many French restaurants, which are “cheating” their customers with a growing range of artificial products, according to gastronomic purists. They say that the use of flavourings to enhance the taste of otherwise ordinary dishes is misleading because they are rarely mentioned on the menu.
For years, secrecy surrounded the products, which come in liquid and powdered form. They were an unspoken ingredient of contemporary Gallic gastronomy.
But their existence has been brought into the open by two leading chefs, Joel Robuchon and Alain Passard, who have both spoken out against what they describe as a “scandal”.
Read more...
Friday, June 09, 2006
The world on your plate
The Guardian, G2, Food
Some of the most passionate - not to say stomach-churning - writing about food is now found online. Vicky Frost offers a taste of the best of the blogs.
Featured blogs:
Chocolate & Zucchini
Chez Pim
Andy Hayler
Noodlepie
101 Cookbooks
eGullet
Megnut
Deep End Driving
Chubby Hubby
Is My Blog Burning
Also mentioned:
Baking for Britain
Cooking with Amy
Russell Davies
Food Blog S'cool
Dos Hermanos
Read more...
Some of the most passionate - not to say stomach-churning - writing about food is now found online. Vicky Frost offers a taste of the best of the blogs.
Featured blogs:
Chocolate & Zucchini
Chez Pim
Andy Hayler
Noodlepie
101 Cookbooks
eGullet
Megnut
Deep End Driving
Chubby Hubby
Is My Blog Burning
Also mentioned:
Baking for Britain
Cooking with Amy
Russell Davies
Food Blog S'cool
Dos Hermanos
Read more...
Soundbites: Azeitao cheese
The Guardian, G2, Food
By Alex Kapranos
I climb the steep Calçada da Glória by the funicular railway tracks, my leather soles slipping off marble cobbles that are like uneven cubes of volcanic ice. One foot goes and I grab the broken rail. This dramatic urban gorge slices through the old town of Lisbon. Graffiti covers the walls in spaghetti swirling scrawls of spray-can anarchist colour. I meet Parker outside Alfaia. The aluminium chair is on such a gradient that, as I sit, I slide into its back.
Read more
By Alex Kapranos
I climb the steep Calçada da Glória by the funicular railway tracks, my leather soles slipping off marble cobbles that are like uneven cubes of volcanic ice. One foot goes and I grab the broken rail. This dramatic urban gorge slices through the old town of Lisbon. Graffiti covers the walls in spaghetti swirling scrawls of spray-can anarchist colour. I meet Parker outside Alfaia. The aluminium chair is on such a gradient that, as I sit, I slide into its back.
Read more
Sushi and steaks face chop as world's larder is emptied
The Times, Asia
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo
SURROUNDED by fast-growing Asian economies and their even faster-growing appetites, Japan is facing a potential food crisis that could reduce daily diets to the austere meals of the 1950s, a senior government adviser believes.
According to the stark warning of Akio Shibata, director of the Marubeni Research Institute, the rise of China and the intensifying global race for commodities mean that the rich and highly varied diet of modern Japan could be savagely curtailed within the next ten years.
Read more...
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo
SURROUNDED by fast-growing Asian economies and their even faster-growing appetites, Japan is facing a potential food crisis that could reduce daily diets to the austere meals of the 1950s, a senior government adviser believes.
According to the stark warning of Akio Shibata, director of the Marubeni Research Institute, the rise of China and the intensifying global race for commodities mean that the rich and highly varied diet of modern Japan could be savagely curtailed within the next ten years.
Read more...
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Are vegetables overrated?
The Guardian
By Laura Barton
This week five brothers claimed to have made it into their 80s despite never having eaten any veg. So is the five-a-day rule just health-nut nonsense?
Read more...
By Laura Barton
This week five brothers claimed to have made it into their 80s despite never having eaten any veg. So is the five-a-day rule just health-nut nonsense?
Read more...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Have we become a nation of accidental drunks?
The Guardian
Campaigners say that super-size wine glasses help create 'unwitting alcoholics'. Can it be true? Patrick Barkham spends a lunch hour knocking a few back.
Read more...
Campaigners say that super-size wine glasses help create 'unwitting alcoholics'. Can it be true? Patrick Barkham spends a lunch hour knocking a few back.
Read more...
My sons are allergic to nuts. How can I give them a balanced diet?
The Times, Times2
By Jane Clarke
Q:
My sons, aged 12 and 10, are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. My older son is also allergic to sesame, coconut and chickpeas. But when we cut these foods from their diet they are missing out on many nutrients. And replacing chocolate in school vending machines with healthy alternatives that often include nuts is unfair on those with allergies.
A:
I can feel your frustration, but (having been part of Jamie Oliver's crusade to get the junk out of schools) I would say that part of bettering children's eating habits is to stock school vending machines with more nutritious things than chocolate and fizzy drinks, and I’m pleased that people are suggesting healthier snacks such as nuts. But I can see that for you this must be a nightmare, as nut allergies can be life-threatening.
Can I first say that although nuts are rich in things such as protein and zinc, you can easily obtain these nutrients (along with mono-unsaturated fat, which nuts are also famous for) from vegetable oils such as olive oil.
Read more...
By Jane Clarke
Q:
My sons, aged 12 and 10, are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. My older son is also allergic to sesame, coconut and chickpeas. But when we cut these foods from their diet they are missing out on many nutrients. And replacing chocolate in school vending machines with healthy alternatives that often include nuts is unfair on those with allergies.
A:
I can feel your frustration, but (having been part of Jamie Oliver's crusade to get the junk out of schools) I would say that part of bettering children's eating habits is to stock school vending machines with more nutritious things than chocolate and fizzy drinks, and I’m pleased that people are suggesting healthier snacks such as nuts. But I can see that for you this must be a nightmare, as nut allergies can be life-threatening.
Can I first say that although nuts are rich in things such as protein and zinc, you can easily obtain these nutrients (along with mono-unsaturated fat, which nuts are also famous for) from vegetable oils such as olive oil.
Read more...
Brothers spurn veg for 424 years
The Guardian
By David Ward
Children: next time parents order you to eat your broccoli so that you will have a long and healthy life, don't believe them.
If they press the point, contact the Campbell brothers of Aberdeen, who have lived to a collective age of 424 years and have almost never eaten peas (they fall off the fork), carrots (boring) or any other vegetables.
The Campbells - John, 91, Jim, 88, Colin, 85, Sid, 82, and Doug, 78 - are all fit and well despite having defied medical advice and spurned cabbage, beans and purple sprouting, let alone asparagus and mangetout. All except Colin have outlived their wives.
Read more...
By David Ward
Children: next time parents order you to eat your broccoli so that you will have a long and healthy life, don't believe them.
If they press the point, contact the Campbell brothers of Aberdeen, who have lived to a collective age of 424 years and have almost never eaten peas (they fall off the fork), carrots (boring) or any other vegetables.
The Campbells - John, 91, Jim, 88, Colin, 85, Sid, 82, and Doug, 78 - are all fit and well despite having defied medical advice and spurned cabbage, beans and purple sprouting, let alone asparagus and mangetout. All except Colin have outlived their wives.
Read more...
Sunday, June 04, 2006
British vineyards face blight from Brussels
The Observer
By Conal Walsh
Britain's booming wine industry faces drastic curbs if proposals in Brussels to tackle European-wide overproduction are adopted.
English wine producers are urging the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairsto stop the European Commission imposing a block on new vineyards.
The commission's measure is designed to reduce France's notorious 'wine lake' of surplus stocks that will never be drunk, but could have the side-effect of thwarting Britain's relatively tiny industry, which has grown by nearly 50 per cent in the past five years. Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU's agriculture commissioner, has promised to propose 'bold reform' later this month, which she admits is likely to entail much political wrangling.
In France, increased competition from 'new world' producers and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of EU subsidies each year have contributed to vast surplus stocks of mostly cheap table wine.
Read more...
By Conal Walsh
Britain's booming wine industry faces drastic curbs if proposals in Brussels to tackle European-wide overproduction are adopted.
English wine producers are urging the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairsto stop the European Commission imposing a block on new vineyards.
The commission's measure is designed to reduce France's notorious 'wine lake' of surplus stocks that will never be drunk, but could have the side-effect of thwarting Britain's relatively tiny industry, which has grown by nearly 50 per cent in the past five years. Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU's agriculture commissioner, has promised to propose 'bold reform' later this month, which she admits is likely to entail much political wrangling.
In France, increased competition from 'new world' producers and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of EU subsidies each year have contributed to vast surplus stocks of mostly cheap table wine.
Read more...
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Salad days are over as Big Mac gets bigger
By By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent
The England football team may be immersed in fitness training and healthy eating, but the rest of Britain is being urged to show its enthusiasm for the World Cup by wolfing down the biggest burger ever to hit the counters of McDonald's.
Three years after pledging to introduce more salads and phase out "supersize" portions, the fast- food giant has launched the Bigger Big Mac to celebrate the start of the tournament.
Read the full article in the Independent and the Leading article: Food for thought
The England football team may be immersed in fitness training and healthy eating, but the rest of Britain is being urged to show its enthusiasm for the World Cup by wolfing down the biggest burger ever to hit the counters of McDonald's.
Three years after pledging to introduce more salads and phase out "supersize" portions, the fast- food giant has launched the Bigger Big Mac to celebrate the start of the tournament.
Read the full article in the Independent and the Leading article: Food for thought
Pass the fruit and vegetables
The Times, Body & Soul
Future Premiership stars need proper fuel, says Jane Clarke
This pre-World-Cup period is the perfect time for parents to coax their budding football stars to sit up and take note of what makes good footie fuel. It’s something that David and his team at the academy take seriously and I was flattered to be asked to help them to teach the youngsters who pass through its doors that nutrition can help them to feel great. Here are the basics:
WATER
WHOLEGRAINS
FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
PROTEIN
Read more...
Future Premiership stars need proper fuel, says Jane Clarke
This pre-World-Cup period is the perfect time for parents to coax their budding football stars to sit up and take note of what makes good footie fuel. It’s something that David and his team at the academy take seriously and I was flattered to be asked to help them to teach the youngsters who pass through its doors that nutrition can help them to feel great. Here are the basics:
WATER
WHOLEGRAINS
FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
PROTEIN
Read more...
Not a bacon sarnie in sight on Great British Menu
The Guardian
By Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Forget fish and chips, roast beef or a fry-up. According to the results of an eight-week BBC search for the best British food, smoked salmon with blinis from Northern Ireland and Scottish loin of roe venison are more the order of the day.
Over 40 episodes, the BBC2 show The Great British Menu has conducted a nationwide competition among regional chefs using the best ingredients from their areas. At the end of each week of cooking a panel of experts judged the menus, with the best chefs moving forward to a public vote during the final week of the series.
Starter Smoked salmon with blinis, woodland sorrel and wild cress: Richard Corrigan (Northern Ireland)
Fish course Pan-fried turbot with cockles and oxtail: Bryn Williams (Wales)
Main course Loin of roe venison with potato cake, roast roots, creamed cabbage and game gravy: Nick Nairn (Scotland)
Dessert Custard tart with nutmeg: Marcus Wareing (north of England)
Read more...
By Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Forget fish and chips, roast beef or a fry-up. According to the results of an eight-week BBC search for the best British food, smoked salmon with blinis from Northern Ireland and Scottish loin of roe venison are more the order of the day.
Over 40 episodes, the BBC2 show The Great British Menu has conducted a nationwide competition among regional chefs using the best ingredients from their areas. At the end of each week of cooking a panel of experts judged the menus, with the best chefs moving forward to a public vote during the final week of the series.
Starter Smoked salmon with blinis, woodland sorrel and wild cress: Richard Corrigan (Northern Ireland)
Fish course Pan-fried turbot with cockles and oxtail: Bryn Williams (Wales)
Main course Loin of roe venison with potato cake, roast roots, creamed cabbage and game gravy: Nick Nairn (Scotland)
Dessert Custard tart with nutmeg: Marcus Wareing (north of England)
Read more...
Friday, June 02, 2006
Soundbites: Lost in translation
The Guardian, G2
By Alex Kapranos
Cologne sets itself aside by the way they serve beer. In the rest of Germany it froths over the lips of heavy dimpled steins, like thick glass buckets with a handle on the side. Kölsch is served in a slender tumbler called a Kölsch-Stange that looks more like a test tube. I'm drinking with Parker, our sound engineer, on a bench outside the Pfaffen Brauerei on the corner of the cobbled Heumarkt. It's drizzling and full inside, so we look for somewhere else to eat.
Read more...
By Alex Kapranos
Cologne sets itself aside by the way they serve beer. In the rest of Germany it froths over the lips of heavy dimpled steins, like thick glass buckets with a handle on the side. Kölsch is served in a slender tumbler called a Kölsch-Stange that looks more like a test tube. I'm drinking with Parker, our sound engineer, on a bench outside the Pfaffen Brauerei on the corner of the cobbled Heumarkt. It's drizzling and full inside, so we look for somewhere else to eat.
Read more...
Heinz cuts 2,700 jobs to fend off billionaire
The Guardian
By David Teather
HJ Heinz, the baked beans and ketchup company, yesterday said it plans to close 15 factories and cut 2,700 jobs, about 8% of its workforce worldwide.
The company said approximately 600 of the job losses would come from shutting four factories in Europe. [...]
The cost cutting is part of a package of measures designed to deflect pressure from the billionaire investor Nelson Peltz who has outlined his own plan for improving shareholder returns. He is aiming to get five of his allies on the Heinz board.
Read more...
By David Teather
HJ Heinz, the baked beans and ketchup company, yesterday said it plans to close 15 factories and cut 2,700 jobs, about 8% of its workforce worldwide.
The company said approximately 600 of the job losses would come from shutting four factories in Europe. [...]
The cost cutting is part of a package of measures designed to deflect pressure from the billionaire investor Nelson Peltz who has outlined his own plan for improving shareholder returns. He is aiming to get five of his allies on the Heinz board.
Read more...
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Food for Thought
The Times
Author Eric Schlosser talks about his new book, Chew On This, which exposes how the fast food industry works.
Chew On This (Puffin, £5.99) is out now.
Read more...
Author Eric Schlosser talks about his new book, Chew On This, which exposes how the fast food industry works.
Chew On This (Puffin, £5.99) is out now.
Read more...
Young couch potatoes risk illness
The Guardian
By Riazat Butt
Children and teenagers are spending an average of two and a half months a year staring at screens, with many watching television before they go to school or have breakfast, according to research published today.
The study by the British Dietetic Association suggests young people spend 20% of their day watching TV, looking at a monitor or playing on a games console. And this time is in addition to time spent at school using computers in lessons.
The BDA polled 3,000 children to learn about their eating, exercise and leisure habits as part of its new campaign to encourage young people to become more active.
Read more...
By Riazat Butt
Children and teenagers are spending an average of two and a half months a year staring at screens, with many watching television before they go to school or have breakfast, according to research published today.
The study by the British Dietetic Association suggests young people spend 20% of their day watching TV, looking at a monitor or playing on a games console. And this time is in addition to time spent at school using computers in lessons.
The BDA polled 3,000 children to learn about their eating, exercise and leisure habits as part of its new campaign to encourage young people to become more active.
Read more...
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Britain's food under threat: Buy now while stocks last
The Independent
By Martin Hickman and Geneviève Roberts
Cromer crabs are the latest local delicacy to be threatened with extinction.All across the UK, our traditional dishes are dying out.
* Cromer crabs, East Anglia
* Bakewell tart, Derbyshire
* Kentish apples, South of England
* Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Gloucestershire
* Grimsby cod, Humberside
* Blackcurrants, Herefordshire and Worcestershire
* Scottish wild salmon, Scotland
* Stilton, The Midlands
* Eels, Somerset
* Norfolk black turkeys, East Anglia
Read more...
By Martin Hickman and Geneviève Roberts
Cromer crabs are the latest local delicacy to be threatened with extinction.All across the UK, our traditional dishes are dying out.
* Cromer crabs, East Anglia
* Bakewell tart, Derbyshire
* Kentish apples, South of England
* Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Gloucestershire
* Grimsby cod, Humberside
* Blackcurrants, Herefordshire and Worcestershire
* Scottish wild salmon, Scotland
* Stilton, The Midlands
* Eels, Somerset
* Norfolk black turkeys, East Anglia
Read more...
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Scotch beef ambassador appointed
The Herald
By DAN BUGLASS
Ross Finnie, the rural development minister, yesterday announced the appointment of the first Scotch beef ambassador in Europe.
Cees Helder, of the internationally renowned Parkheuvel in Rotterdam, has been charged with raising the profile of Scotch beef in the Netherlands and throughout the EU, following the lifting of the 10-year ban on exports of British beef earlier this month.
Read more...
By DAN BUGLASS
Ross Finnie, the rural development minister, yesterday announced the appointment of the first Scotch beef ambassador in Europe.
Cees Helder, of the internationally renowned Parkheuvel in Rotterdam, has been charged with raising the profile of Scotch beef in the Netherlands and throughout the EU, following the lifting of the 10-year ban on exports of British beef earlier this month.
Read more...
The obstinate grandmother who lured Jamie Oliver to Cornwall
The Times
By Simon de Bruxelles
IT WAS not the golden sand, crashing surf or the lure of the West Country that persuaded Jamie Oliver to set up his latest restaurant on a Cornish beach. It was a 66-year-old grandmother who refused to take no for an answer.
Among the hundreds of guests at the launch party for Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen was Betty Hale. For two years Mrs Hale pestered the chef, saying that Cornwall had all the ingredients to make it the ideal location for his first branch outside London. Fifteen was set up by Oliver as a charity to put under-privileged young people in the kitchen to learn a trade and earn self-respect.
Read more...
By Simon de Bruxelles
IT WAS not the golden sand, crashing surf or the lure of the West Country that persuaded Jamie Oliver to set up his latest restaurant on a Cornish beach. It was a 66-year-old grandmother who refused to take no for an answer.
Among the hundreds of guests at the launch party for Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen was Betty Hale. For two years Mrs Hale pestered the chef, saying that Cornwall had all the ingredients to make it the ideal location for his first branch outside London. Fifteen was set up by Oliver as a charity to put under-privileged young people in the kitchen to learn a trade and earn self-respect.
Read more...
Monday, May 29, 2006
How do you make the perfect barbecue?
The Guardian, G2 p. 3
By Laura Barton
It is a little known fact that, much as beacons were once used to warn of imminent invasion, the bank holiday barbecue was originally introduced to warn drivers of tailbacks on the road to B&Q. Since then, it has become a cultural phenomenon, with every have-a-go-hero trying his or her hand at taming the blazing coals.
Read more...
By Laura Barton
It is a little known fact that, much as beacons were once used to warn of imminent invasion, the bank holiday barbecue was originally introduced to warn drivers of tailbacks on the road to B&Q. Since then, it has become a cultural phenomenon, with every have-a-go-hero trying his or her hand at taming the blazing coals.
Read more...
Sunday, May 28, 2006
My Round: Richard Ehrlich gets a chemistry lesson on the art of fine wine
The Independent
Two adjectives spring to mind for describing someone who keeps a book called Wine Science on his bedside table. One is dedicated. The other is sad. While others are reading a novel or watching late-night TV, this world-class nerd is reading about brettanomyces, sulphur dioxide, and micro-oxygenation. Is it sad, or dedicated, or perhaps a little bit of both? I have an urgent need to know, because the person in question is me.
Read more...
Two adjectives spring to mind for describing someone who keeps a book called Wine Science on his bedside table. One is dedicated. The other is sad. While others are reading a novel or watching late-night TV, this world-class nerd is reading about brettanomyces, sulphur dioxide, and micro-oxygenation. Is it sad, or dedicated, or perhaps a little bit of both? I have an urgent need to know, because the person in question is me.
Read more...
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