What are you doing for Christmas?

Tell us about your Christmas plans. What are you going to cook? Are you having turkey, goose or something totally different? And come 26th December tell us whether it went to plan or not. Does it ever? Go on, tell all.....

Borough Market - What's Its Future...?

As the person responsible for the "fragile start" way back in 1998, I want to have my say. In her article in G2 today, Ms van der Zee says the market "will survive" - I'm not altogether so sure. I hope I'm proved wrong but Borough, like any market, is a living, breathing organism that needs to support - and be supported by - its traders. A consequence of the lack of the former brings about the lack of the latter and over the past few years rumours have swirled around the market and its environs - difficulties, quarrels, heavy-handedness of the former towards the latter... Whilst I'm not privy to details, and whilst I also know from years of running the FoodLovers Fairs how tricky it can be to found and build upon those delicate relationships, to be honest, over the years I have had some concerns about how Borough Market has been run - too many foreign stalls, too much food-to-go, no emphasis on food shopping, little long-term planning and development. The worry is that the temptation by the organisers is to go for the easier, more lucrative option - to turn it into a tourist attraction. This should not be allowed for a variety of reasons and primarily because as consumers we will all lose out. PS: Any suggestions as yo who could come in to help here? Boris, our mayor, for example.....

Carnivores vs Vegetarians - What do you think?

At Ludlow Food Festival last weekend I chaired a lively debate on Carnivores vs Vegetarians - What does the future hold? Speaking for meat-eaters were Tim Dobson of Chestnut Meats and Adam Glyn Jones of September Organic Dairy; veggies were represented by Das Sreedharan and Keith Squires, both vegetarian chefs. If the two sides didn't quite lock horns, then the points debated were certainly contentious. You might be surprised to hear that the pro-vegetarians were actively encouraging the meat-eaters and the carnivores were all for eating less meat... and both sides made some interesting points, particularly with regards the contribution rearing livestock makes to carbon emissions and how essential pasture land is to transforming the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It was all good-natured fun - mostly - and by the end on a show of hands, it was felt that one of the answers to this conundrum is to eat less meat - but better quality (higher welfare, etc) over the year. I think this is an argument that bears further exploration. Is it better to eat less, high-welfare meat or to abstain completely? If you're a vegetarian, would you prefer that cows, sheep, pigs, etc didn't exist at all or is there a way to get the world farming responsibly? Is farming even a viable existence these days or are farmers just out for the profit - and what role does the government play...? What do you think...?

The Food Lovers have spoken...

Last month at FoodLoversBritain.com we launched our first FoodLovers Poll in order to see what you, our discerning foodie public, think of some topical issues. We asked: "When shopping for food, which is most important?" with the options of organic, locally sourced and price. The results are now in: Organic 10% (8 votes) Locally Sourced 64% (52 votes) Price 26% (21 votes) What do you think of these results? Do they match with your views? From my perspective they're spot on. Organic is all well and good but what's the point in seeking out organic produce if it's travelled miles to get to you? Let us know your thoughts or if you have any suggestions for future polls....

Recommened Reads

The Ultimate Student Cookbook by Fiona Beckett with Signe Johansen, Guy Millon & James Ramsden Since writing the now infamous Beyond Baked Beans cookbook, Fiona Beckett has become something of a queen of the student cookery scene. The book opened the proverbial can and now has its own website where students can exchange recipes, cooking tips & general hints on budget living. Sounds pretty good whether you’re a student or not. Anyway, six years and many books (several other student cookbooks, our recent favourite the frugal cook, and many more on subjects such as beer and wine) later, Fiona’s back with what has been bravely called The Ultimate Student Cookbook. A bold choice of title indeed. The beauty of the book, though, is that it is just that. It’s formed from a compilation of the best recipes & techniques which have been posted by students on the beyond baked beans website over the six years since it launched and comes complete with helpful hints from 3 of the website’s most prolific posters – Guy, James & Sig. Fiona Beckett’s student cookbooks are known for their un-patronising, straight-talking style – in fact it’s largely this which sets them aside from the others on the market, and which made Beyond Baked Beans such a revelation. The Ultimate Student Cookbook is no exception and, using Sig, Guy & James’ repertoires as a starting point goes off into unchartered student territories such as smoking (food smoking, obviously…), ice cream making & - shock-horror - healthy eating. As a foodie student with reasonable cooking skills, I must admit that the last cookery book I would have ever considered buying was one aimed at students. If there’s anyone out there who thinks the same, then take a look at this as it is something of an exception. It’s not about fairly edible meals which cost 50p and take 3.5 minutes to make, instead it is full of ideas for cooking delicious, varied and interesting meals which happen to be fairly quick, fairly easy and, most importantly, good on a budget. Cleverly, it also comes at a very student-friendly price…. for just Buy online at Amazon for just £7

post your own book reviews and see other people's recommended reads here

STOP PRESS: CherryBake

STOP PRESS!

Our CherryBake line-up is hotting up.

Ed Baines of Randall & Aubin, Oliver Rowe of Konstam, The Sunday Times' Lucas Hollweg, Sainsbury's Magazine's Sarah Randell & cherry expert Helen Lindsay Clark are now confirmed.

We've had lots of entries but there's still room for more so if you'd like to take part, please sign up online - Sign up for CherryBake now! For more information on our cause, see our special CherryAid microsite. and become an official CherryAider & join our Facebook Group

CherryAid is back!

We're gearing up for CherryAid 2009 - building on the huge success last year - and you should be doing the same! Over the past 50 years, Britain has lost around 90% of its cherry orchards and now 95% of the cherries sold here are imported - so we really do need your help to save the British Cherry.

There will be cherry-tastic events up and down the country throughout the summer and particularly on National Cherry Day - Saturday 18th July.

Put the date in your diaries now as we'll be spending the CherryAid weekend from Thursday 16th July - Saturday 18th July at London's Borough Market. There'll be fresh cherries, trees & all kinds of special products from raised pies with cherries to cherry fudge.

The highlight of the weekend will be our CherryBake contest on Saturday 18th July. We want you to come along with your masterfully baked cherry dishes (made with English cherries, obviously!) to enter into the competition for the chance to win a Cherry Tree (& all the cherries on it) in Michael Dallway's Kent Orchard. Celebrity Foodies Diana Henry, Ed Baines & Oliver Rowe will be on hand to judge & a winner will be chosen on the day. It could be you....

If you'd like to take part, please sign up online - Sign up for CherryBake now!For more information on our cause, see our special CherryAid microsite.Become a CherryAider & join our Facebook Group

Home-Grown Harvests - It's all over

We've had enough. As Oscar memorably said - it's a fight to the death and one of us shall have to go. So the rocket, my friends, is going. I shall pick as much as I am physically able without giving myself a disc rupture, give it away to everyone in the office and the neighbours, and then we're.... starting all over again - this time sowing less more often as it were. We are also the proud owners of a nice neat row of celery - what is one to do with so much - and a wigwam of beans. However the beans in the bucket, so happy the other day, are determinedly dying on us and we haven't figured out why. Any clues? Oh and another pearl of wisdom - oh how they do come... Never plant melons in the same grow bag as tomatoes. They will hate it, them, you and then die. However they seem to get on better with courgettes. Go figure...

Henrietta on Radio 4 - The Deighton File

Make sure you tune in to Radio 4 on Tuesday 26 May at 11.30am for The Deighton File. Patrick Humphries will be talking to Len Deighton about his writing career stretching back to The Ipcress File in 1962. Of course, he wasn't just a writer of spy novels - he was also a food writer of some renown. Amongst the highlights, Henrietta, a complete fan, will be talking about his Action Cook Book.

Home Grown Harvests - the rocket is taking over...

Aargh - we're being overtaken by rocket. As I mentioned in my last post, it's a straight-edged variety rather than jagged, but - and I'll be posting new pictures soon - the leaves are massive. Truly massive. A small handful easily does enough for two of us as a side salad to whatever we might be having. MCD is threatening to give bags away at the roadside. However it wilts down a treat - which saves on washing up, so we can fit it on the same plate as our main meal. It also doesn't have that sometimes antiseptic taste that supermarket rocket increasingly seems to have. It's not all a raving success though. One of the runner beans seems to have been invaded by black fly and treatment might have come a little too late. But the kale and cavolo nero are fighting back against the odds - the C.V. even looks a little like it should... god knows what we're to do with it all if it all grows well. This weekend we get our next batch of goodies - tomatoes, courgettes and perhaps melons. We're going to have a go at growing them against our sunny wall. I'm not hopeful but - hey - experimentation is all. Tonight's treat - Chicken caesar salad made with lettuce leaves and rocket from the garden - I can finally make a stand against supermarket lettuce!

Home Grown Harvests - it's still hard

Further to my rant - gosh a little carried away there - on the de-merits of seed packet labelling, we've now planted out our cavolo nero and kale. Well, people, at this early stage, it's hard to tell whether it's disaster or triumph (again). Some of the cavolo are looking a little - well - green around the leaves and have slumped to the soil, overcome at the challenge; some are sturdy upright and going great guns. Others have been decapitated as if by a tiny, discriminating beastie... The kale, widely spaced as we thought they grow so very wide, have taken to it a little better, but now, with all this weather - (eh - so much for May's blissful sunshine), will our little seedlings survive the weekend - gales, rain - it might be too much... On a brighter note, the lettuces are looking fulsome, the rocket is curiously smooth-edged rather than jagged, but tastes like it should and the broad beans are flowering. Should they be - does anyone know? And how do you know when onions are ready? Next time - pictures for the defence.

Home Grown Harvest - The Hard Way

Well - I don't know if it's a disaster or a triumph. The spinach, as mentioned in my last post, was going great guns on the kitchen windowsill. There's not a huge amount of advice on the back of the packet about when to plant out - in fact it disregards the process entirely - so MCD went for it, and planted out about half of the seedlings into the veg garden. So severely traumatised where they by the experience, they've all fallen over, and he now thinks they might be dying. So i am fiercely protecting the half left in the seed tray - they need to toughen up a little more I think, but at what stage do you plant out - does anyone know? How tall should they be? And further to the seed packets - a little rant. I wanted to grow Cavolo nero - or Tuscan black cabbage as you might know it. Quite distinctive and completely addictive with anchovies or chilli and garlic.... When we were buying our seed packets from the local garden centre, how can you tell if you're buying the right thing when the packet quite clearly shows an image of cavolo nero, but calls it curly kale - something else entirely - and if you haven't got that much space, it does make quite a difference. Who is making these decisions and why - where are they getting the information and is it even worth complaining when they might bamboozle you with a whole load of Latin genus and sub-genus jargon. Here in the office, we're starting to feel the whole world of vegetable naming (think swede/turnip or any of the various lettuces) is starting to become a bit like the world of fish - endlessly confusing with anyone sticking any old name on they fancy, be it right or not... Vis a vis sainsburys and their pollack/colin fiasco. Not that I'm sure anyone has the slightest problem with pollack, but we were under the impression - from holidays in France - that colin is hake - but then the only person to know all this absolutely and lay down the law was Alan Davidson - and he's no longer here. However, on a happier note the basil is coming through, it seems to like the terracotta pots as they're nice and deep, and the afore-mentioned cavolo nero seems to benefit from a little more water than we thought. In the garden, the broad beans are coming up thick and fast and we can start to see the tops of the onions and even a sprinkling of rocket. It's looking good...

Home Grown Harvest - The Hard Way

The cavolo nero has been planted - and according to the packet, we should leave it in the seed tray till June. But given that in a week - in a week! - it's a couple of inches already, it'll be Day of the Brassica Triffids on the kitchen windowsill by the end of May. Any ideas on whether it can go out a bit sooner...? The spinach and rocket are - ahem - rocketing along - perfect for summer salads. Rocket is particularly good tossed through those Mediterranean bread salads like Panzanella or Fattoush. Don't spoil them by using tasteless tomatoes. Although the little sproutlings won't be ready by this weekend, we'll be having our first BBQ of the year with a similar accompaniment. I also plan to barbecue asparagus - now gloriously in season - until golden and wilted, then with a little lemon juice and shaved Parmesan. Or even some semi-melted potted shrimps for a delicate Spring lunch - why not?. Check out Focus On... Asparagus for details of asparagus events, menus and celebrations around the country. And if any of you have managed to get hold of some wild garlic, I've been snipping it over the first Jersey Royals, sometimes simply boiled or boiled and then lightly smashed with a rolling pin and roasted in hot oil until sticky. An amazing combination...

Home-Grown Harvests - the hard way

So we've finally got it. A veg plot - almost an allotment if you will - courtesy of my fabulous father who turned up unexpectedly and unannounced a couple of miserable rainy wednesdays ago to build my husband a surprise raised bed for his birthday. Well, i say it was meant to be a surprise - I was working from home and my husband (henceforth MCD) was made redundant not an hour later - so in the end we all built it together - well i supplied bacon and mushrooms sandwiches and coffee, and MCD was allowed towards the end to dig the compost in - but only after the tree trunks had been removed, the 3 feet deep concrete drilled through (that wasn't part of the plan) and 4 or 5 tonnes of soil worked in to our frankly nutritionless mud. All in the pouring rain. And with birthday banners to boot.

But still - it's done and is a thing of joy and beauty. We've got potatoes, broad beans, onions, rocket planted out in serried ranks - with cavolo nero, rocket, runner beans, sorrel and lettuces all straggling through on the kitchen windowsill till they're old enough to look after themselves.

I shall be posting on a regular (hopefully weekly!) basis on how we're doing. We're complete novices - it's my parents with the green up to their elbows (They're in the Yellow Book of Gardens for Goodness' sake - how can we compete?) but we are embracing the grow-your-own zeitgeist with open-armed and unalloyed naive enthusiasm. After all last year we had a stonking crop of tomatoes. But it's hard work - we don't know what we're doing AT ALL - and Alan Titchmarsh is a godsend, but MCD isn't one much for reading, so the theory comes via me - and i'm not the one at home doing it all (Gardening leave need not be a euphemism...).

Any hints, suggestions, even - god forbid - questions, i shall try to answer them or direct you to the lovely Alan at the allotment blog on the observer. He really does know it all. Hopefully in a year's time - so will we.

Recommended Reads

Essence & Dessert by David Everitt-Matthias

Essence and Dessert are proper chef’s books filled with recipes from David Everitt-Matthias’ Cheltenham restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage. What makes them such a refreshing change to the horde of books brought out by the TV personality chefs is that there is no dumbing down. The recipes are exactly as you will find at the restaurant. In Everitt-Matthias’ case, this is particularly exciting since the recipes in question are just about as dynamic as they come. Though a look through the index did initially make me think that recipes may have been created with the specific intention of being unnecessarily quirky and different, the excitement soon regained control. The array of ingredients, many of them wildfoods such as silverweed and woodruff, which are used is enthralling – and Essence’s glossary of these less common ingredients and the accompanying suppliers list makes a useful reference tool as well as an aide to the recipes. The dishes themselves are equally intriguing. Ingredients are used in ways you would not imagine – and surely that is what a cookbook should do, inspire you to think of things that you wouldn’t otherwise. Everitt-Matthais plays with taste, texture and presentation, as well as our preconceived ideas of sweet and savoury. Dessert in particular does this with puddings including Jerusalem artichoke cheesecake, beetroot parfait and a swiss chard tart – all of which are high up on my list of must-try recipes. Though perhaps not ideal for beginner cooks, the recipes themselves are less complex than you might imagine. Split into their constituent sections, they are time consuming and protruded but very doable. The way they are broken down also means that they can be adapted easily to suit what you’re cooking. Accompaniments such as jellies, sorbets & sauces can be mixed and matched as desired or even made as stand-alones. If you’re as interested in different ingredients and flavour combinations as I am, then these books are must haves.

buy Essence online at Amazon

buy Dessert online at Amazon

post your own book reviews and see other people's recommended reads here

Recommended Reads

Arabesque by Greg & Lucy Malouf

I always think middle eastern food has something magical and precious about it. Scattered pomegranate seeds, the bold contrasts of savoury and sweet and the warm fragrance of spices such as cumin and cardamom evoke an intriguing sense of enchantment that no other cuisine can. In many ways, I find this book has similar properties. The beautiful photography, high quality paper, and rich content makes it one of those occasional books which you’ll treasure, but rarer still, one you will both treasure and regularly use. Divided into ingredient-specific chapters, authors Greg and Lucy Malouf take a heartfelt approach in guiding readers through modern middle-eastern food. As well as covering basics such as ingredients’ flavours and uses, they address the mythologies which surround them and the feelings and memories they evoke for them. This isn’t limited to the ingredients, either. Recipes are given life by introductions which explain their origins and the reasons for their inclusion in the book and their repportoirs. These descriptions are so vivid that they almost make up for the distinct lack of photographs of many of the recipes – though this could still be seen as the book’s one real downside. The recipes take a clever approach to middle-eastern cooking. Although classics such as hummus, tabbouleh and falafel are all present, it is the modern adaptations which are of the most interest. Preserved lemon guacamole, goat’s cheese dolmades, saffron scrambled eggs and rose water infused berry fool all show how the cuisine’s staple ingredients can be played around with and used to bring new life to classics from completely separate cuisines. A genuinely inspiring book which, despite the array of exciting recipes, encourages experimentation and the creation of your own recipes from the list of ingredients provided. I can’t tell you the number of banquets this book has been responsible for in my house….

buy Arabesque online at Amazon

post your own book reviews and see other people's recommended reads here

The Office Snacks

From time to time at FoodLovers Britain, we hear about and get samples from businesses which we really love but just can't put onto the site because they're not British. The latest case in point is Conscious Food. Based in India, they make an intriguing range of sweet and savoury 'Power Snacks'.

These pure, unrefined snacks are all wheat, dairy and gluten free, using less common ingredients such as millet, rice, sorghum, nuts and seeds. Their philosophy is to source pure, unrefined and often local ingredients from small organic farms and communities in India. The snacks are then handmade in small 'factories' before being packaged and sold.

The range includes such delicious oddities as walnuts coated in palm mollasses and cocoa powder; coconut nuggets; millet crackers and chewy peanut and mollasses bites and - my personal favourite - sesame chews which are made with black and white ssame seeds and more palm mollasses.

After Kristina Locke discovered these snacks on a trip to India in 2006, they've now been brought to the UK and can be bought from the Conscious Food Website which is great. Apparently there's more to come - and organic flours too....

Try them for yourself and let me know what you think.

ITV1's Taste the Nation

So last night saw Henrietta's debut on Taste the Nation as one of the fearsome panel of judges, along with William Sitwell of Waitrose Food Illustrated and Food Writer Richard Johnson. Here at the office we're waiting for Nick Hancock to get into his stride and be funnier and for John Burton-Race to hit his stride and blow his top at someone - anyone...please.... But what did you think? Will you be watching the rest of the series - did it entice you in for more. Will you be looking for another glimpse of Henrietta's incredible cherry lips top? Did you think the scoring complicated - or did it add interest? And most importantly - do you think the judges made the right decision? Tell us what you think. We're dying to hear your feedback and it's got to be more interesting than blogging about minimum prices on booze or chocolate taxes...

Recommended Reads

Pepper by Christine McFadden

“A whole book on Pepper! Are you mad?” you might think wondering the mileage of that all purpose seasoning sitting in your mill.

Well, at times I may be a bit mad but I found this book fascinating. Of course, it’s not just about that stuff in your mill, though. The part of the book which I found most enlightening was Christine’s listing and explaining of the many different types of pepper. Black, white, pink, red and green peppercorns are literally the tip of the iceberg. Long, Cubec, Szechwan and Sansyo are all included along with numerous others which, though I was mostly familiar with (I’m a bit of a spice junkie), I would never have categorized as pepper. Admittedly, many are completely unrelated and so a little bit of a cheat on Christine’s part, but still the botanical family is extensive.

The confusion of terms was another point of interest. I now know, for example, that whilst proper green peppercorns are a totally separate, though related, variety to the black we are so familiar with; others labeled as ‘green’ may be the under-ripe versions of the black.

Christine also goes into great depth about the history of pepper, the sheer quantity of this detail is initially slightly daunting but once you start reading it, I guarantee you’ll be fascinated to learn the huge impact the spice has had on the world, playing a considerable part in deciding which countries are rich and which are poor, even to this day.

There’s so much knowledge in the book, that you could almost forget there are also 100 recipes. Though some are fairly standard, others are extremely interesting. Paradise Cake, for example, which uses ‘grains of paradise’ in a syrupy sponge-cake, or peppered figs, which are made by pressing layers of dried figs and black peppercorns together and leaving to mature.

All in all, it’s a fascinating book for both reference and recipes, and is well worth a place on your bookcase – though it’s unlikely to be one that just sits there.

buy Pepper at Amazon

post your own book reviews and see other people's recommended reads here

We Are The Champions

Food Inc's How To Be A Better Foodie quiz at Whitleys shopping centre on Thursday set the scene for FoodLovers Britain's monumental victory and proved once and for all that our foodie knowledge is second-to-none. Not to mention our modesty, of course.

Eventful from the start, the quiz seemed blighted by various unavoidables. Thanks to quiz master Sudi Pigott's shaky and flu ridden voice, her equally shaky understanding of her megaphone, and a group of noisy onlookers, actually hearing the questions was the first hurdle to overcome. In honesty, our rather boisterous team probably didn't help much either.

A mixture of table shuffling, careful listening and can you repeat that's got us through, and anyway the growing risk of pneumonia was slightly more pressing. Although we didn't manage to beat the air conditioning, which had the upper hand throughout, we did manage to remain focused on the job in hand. We named obscure kitchen paraphernalia, we identified restaurants and we solved foodie riddles before being crowned (not literally, unfortunately) the winners.

In retrospect, the quirks of the evening probably made it all the more fun and, volume aside, Sudi was great. May I say, though, that I do hold doubts about the validity of the question "Cassia, Star Anise, Cloves, Fennel and which other ingredient makes up Chinese 5 Spice?".

The recipe varies enormously and actually tends to include more like 6 or 7 spices. My (ever so slightly obsessive) label reading over the last few days has revealed mixtures including Coriander, Ginger, Szechwan Pepper, Black Pepper, White Pepper, Cinnamon and even Dill. Since we won, I'll let it drop but I would be interested to hear what you think. Are some Chinese 5 Spice recipes more authentic than others? which ingredients do you think should be included?