BY JOHN NASH The Anabaptist movement began in the early 16th Century in a civilised, bottom-up, grassroots move away from the authoritarian, top-down, Catholic Church. The Baptists believed in religious freedom and the separation of church and state – “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”, another way of saying that a government has no right to … Continue reading Flaky Vegetarians
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN The venue for this year’s much anticipated S*l*n**r Club dinner looked distinctly crummy on a Street View. The location of Hakkasan in Hanway Place also appeared somewhat familiar, as most quiet backdoor backstreets in that part of London tend to, to those who have done time as a student in the metropolis and been caught short on the way back to halls … Continue reading Hakkasan
BY ALEX STORY Eating bugs used to be the preserve of small children. Whilst not officially on any recommended menu, the practice was part and parcel of a toddler’s journey to adulthood. What looked eminently edible to the untrained eye of an infant as it crawled around playgrounds or gardens was sometimes, at best, an insect. Sometimes, in parks frequented by busy dog walkers, it … Continue reading A Question of Taste
BY ROGER WATSON I have just spent one of several weeks this year working in Italy. As with most countries I visit regularly, after initial impressions are over about similarities and differences, once you get to know more people and to know them in depth, you appreciate more of the differences and begin to understand at least part of what makes Italians the way they … Continue reading Have We Lost Our Link to the Land?
BY MARGARET ASHWORTH There are loads of thistles round here but until I started looking closely at them I didn’t realise there were many different types. It is not always easy to identify them from books because they tend to concentrate on the flowers, which are pretty similar. It is the leaves which vary. These are the four main varieties I have found. First is … Continue reading Eating Thistles
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN This odd and ongoing trend for producers of vegan food to describe their products as ‘meat’ products seems, at base, a mere marketing ploy to convince meat eaters to have a try. People ask, ‘Why do people who hate meat name their food after meat?’ but it’s the manufacturers doing the naming, rarely the vegans. After all, why would proud vegans want … Continue reading And Never the Twain Shall Meat
BY NOEL YAXLEY If ever there was a time of the year to conjure up images of the ‘winter blues’ it is January. If Covid restrictions had you reaching for the bottle, how about a spot of Dry January? But for those who truly aspire to reach the heights of ascetic self-denial, how about signing up for Veganuary? For the uninitiated, Veganuary is an annual … Continue reading Veganuary
BY JIM WEBSTER Well, are food prices going to rise? After all, governments have successfully held prices down for decades. Milk is cheaper in the shops in cash terms than it was back in the 1990s. Is the tide turning? One advantage of living on the side of Morecambe Bay is that you get used to the tides. I once spent some time in Scarborough … Continue reading Food Prices on the Rise?
BY NICK PEARCE Last Friday the Independent noted how a London food bank has been criticised for refusing to accept a donation of ‘Brexit biscuits’ because they would be ‘too political’, in a move which ‘some would no doubt argue takes the biscuit’. Political Confectioneries (conveniently shortened to ‘PC’) are behind the snack, which comes wrapped in a copy of Article 50 of the Lisbon … Continue reading Taking the Brexit Biscuit
Satire is a powerful art form, one with the ability to point out questionable human behaviours and the social issues resulting from them so that they become absurd and even hilarious, entertaining a wide audience in the process. “You can’t make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you’re doing is recording it.” — Art Buchwald. This beautiful medium of expression has existed … Continue reading The Sweet Taste of Satire
BY DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI Here in the United Kingdom, we are rightly proud of our world-leading approach to animal welfare and food safety. Not only does this offer peace of mind to millions of us here in Britain, but they are a real selling point for British produce around the world. As we prepare to leave the European Union, Parliament is taking back control of our … Continue reading UK Food Standards Sacrosanct
BY JIM WEBSTER From talking to fellow farmers and others over the last few months, there has been ‘considerable dislocation’ in the market. The nearer you are to ‘commodity’ food production the more stable things have been. Whereas if you’ve specialised to produce for niche markets or even sell direct to the catering trade or at farmers’ markets, everything went very messy very quickly in … Continue reading Food Prices & Bumps in the Road
BY AMANDA CUMMINS So many of our favourite puddings in the summer have one ingredient in common. Cream. Specifically, double cream. Fools, mousses, possets, syllabubs. And luscious, seductively moreish homemade ice-cream. The idea of homemade ice cream might seem a bit of a faff if one lacks an ice-cream maker but, frankly, an ice-cream maker is one of those kitchen gizmos which seem a good idea … Continue reading Glorious Cream
BY TONY WOODS I am an experimenter. Trying things out and seeing whether they live up to the hype is definitely worth a go, providing it’s not going to kill me or destroy my moral compass. For quite a while I have been hearing about the benefits of veganism. Vegans always seemed a little too angry for me to try going full vegan. However, with … Continue reading A Month of Carnivore
Ingredients: 2 red onions, chopped 30g shitake mushrooms 50g dice pancetta bacon 300ml Port 500ml chicken stock 400g Beluga lentils 2 sprigs rosemary 3 sprigs thyme 1 bay leave 1 chicken, backbone removed and halved 50ml olive oil Sea salt Method: Preheat your oven to 200°C/390°F/gas mark 6. Add chopped onions to a large roasting pan. Sprinkle over the sliced shitake mushrooms and chopped pancetta … Continue reading Roast Chicken Lentils Pancetta & Port
Ingredients: 4 large carrots 1 large onion 1 green chilli 1/3 cup coconut milk 1/4 cup water 2 tsps chilli powder (adjust according to taste) 2 tsps ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 2 tbsps oil Fresh coriander leaves, chopped for garnish Salt to taste Method: Peel, wash and cut carrots into 2 inched pieces, chop onions and a green chilli. … Continue reading Carrot and Coconut Curry
BY RUCHIRA GHOSH Ingredients: Tapioca pearls: 1/2cup Boiled potatoes: 1cup Roasted peanuts 2tbsp Parsley: 2tbsp chopped Spinach : ½ cup chopped Salt to taste Green chilli: 1 or 2 chopped Plain white oats 2tbsp Oil for cooking Method Wash the tapioca pearls and soak them for 6-8 hours. Drain the water, transfer to a large wide bowl. Add boiled potatoes, peanuts, parsley, spinach salt and … Continue reading Tapioca Pearl Spinach & Oat Patties
A recipe invented by the regional magistrate of Yangzhou province in late 18th Century China, popularly known as Special Fried Rice in Chinese Restaurants today. Enjoy! Ingredients: 400g long grain white rice (cook a day before, cool and leave in fridge until ready to use) 3 tablespoons ground nut oil 2 large eggs, beaten 120g fresh prawns, de-veined and shells removed 3 shallots finely chopped … Continue reading Yang Zhou Fried Rice
BY NONI CHRISTOPOULOS As the weather warms up we naturally want to spend more time outdoors and gardens come alive with the sound of people socialising as we fire up the BBQ. Gone are the days though when we chucked a few sausages on the BBQ and stood around a wasp invested lawn balancing that burnt sausage on a flimsy paper plate and holding a … Continue reading #NationalBBQWeek – Top 10 Recipes for Al-Fresco Dining
Ingredients: 1 Chicken Breast 2 rashers of bacon 1 tbsp Barbeque sauce 15- 20g of cheese Instructions: Cook the chicken breast by whichever method preferred Cook the bacon slightly less than you would have it Once cooked, place the chicken on the grill pan then add a small amount of bbq sauce, top with bacon, then add the rest of the bbq sauce Finally, … Continue reading Simple Hunter’s Chicken
