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...
Friday, June 30, 2006
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...
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