Kitchen Sink
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
Stephen Robertson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium has claimed that ultra low prices for beer in Supermarkets have no effect on drinking habits, according to an article published in the Independent.
“Promotions don’t create excessive consumption,” He said. “They simply offer customers value for money alongside other groceries. Irresponsible drinking is not about price, it’s a cultural issue, as many police officers recognise. There is a lot of nonsense talked about below-cost selling. No business could survive if it routinely sold products for less then it paid the manufacturers for them.” (more…)
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Sometimes I am a fan of (not so young now) Mr Oliver and sometimes I am not. But when it comes to food education it is difficult to fault him – basically he had it spot on. Of course the media had it in for him immediately. How dare he suggest that the great British school diet of rubbish and chips is anything but the best? Some members of the press went so far as “encouraging” some parents to push meat pies through a school fence. (What, you thought the parents thought of that one themselves?) But despite the attempts of the media bullies, Jamie Oliver was still right – in this country, when it comes to food, we haven’t the foggiest and it is showing in the health of our children. So, now, Mr. O is having another go – and this time with his own money.
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Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
Not wishing to upset the local bird population, but I fancy a roast Turkey this Easter. My main problem is trying to get one, and I will probably have to settle for a frozen one from Sainsbury’s shop. We don’t really get turkey in this country, despite the Christmas rush for them. For the rest of the year they are reduced to a corner of our meat shelves, normally battery bred birds by the likes of B. Matthews, variously labelled as healthy eating or best buy.
Some years ago I was in Majorca for Christmas and promised my hosts I would cook them a traditional turkey extravaganza. I was taking to this vast indoor market in Palma to buy the bird. The upper floor of this market was packed with small stalls, all selling meat and all vigourously competing with each other. The turkeys on sale were very different to the ones I was used to. None of this super fat bird business, barely able to walk; these birds with thin and lean and you can bet the farmer earned his feast trying to catch them!
And the result was delicious – a strong, even meat, full of turkey gaminess and cooked easily and evenly, since the breasts were much thinner. It would be wonderful to see such birds here, but since Marco Pierre White has sold his soul to help Bernard Matthews sell birds all year round, you know that what we are going to get is more force fed, tame birds, hardly worth the effort. But I live in hope. Now, where is the freezer section?
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
I notice in a BBC article today that an attempt by a group of MEP in the EU to reinstate the food standardisation laws has failed. The fact that they were ever repealed has been testament to the media intentionally misrepresenting what the standards said in the first place and political idiocy taking precedence over stopping producers selling rubbish. I was sad to see the BBC dragging out the same old myths about what the legislation actually said (a journalist obviously too damned lazy to actually read the thing.) I have been digging in my own archives and I can only find reference to the humble carrot. This is what the standards used to say about what a good carrot should be:
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Monday, March 29th, 2010
I am never quite sure what to put in a directory. I don’t want to list things I have never tried or that do not come well recommended – that is too easy and let’s face it, most of the food directories out there do exactly that. I am working on the opinion that if you read this blog it is not because you want me to be a yellow pages, you just want to know what I like, and maybe what some of the visitors like too.
So, I have started a new section called, and I apologise for my lack of originality, Food Heroes. It will be just a list of links and comments to places that I think are really, really worth your time and trouble to look at more carefully. I can’t guarantee they are amazing, I might have got them on their one and only good day, but they should at least be interesting!
Also, for those people who realise they can logon with their Facebook, Twitter, Google or Windows Live account, you can send me a link of your own – they wont be automatically published, I will have to like them too, but I would welcome any solid suggestions you guys may have. I have only put four up at the moment, and that was enough to get my stomach rumbling! I am going to be in a right state after 20 or 30 of them.
Hope you like them – click on Food Heroes above.
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Okay, check list:
- Imported articles from Le Sanglier (my more political blog)
- Done a nice design for the site
- Used Whiteboard as the starter template (well recommended that)
- Done loads of messing about
- Got logins working – you can now login to comment using your account from Facebook, Blogger, Windows Live, Google, twitter or OpenID
- Had take-away (which was one of the less clever ideas)
- Got the manual out for the kids camera
- Sharpened HUGE chef’s knife
- Pruned the cherry tree (don’t ask)
And this is my first proper article using the new site, and to be honest I am too knackered to write anything sensible!
Tomorrow I start in earnest!
All the best, dear one!
Joss
Stephen Robertson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium has claimed that ultra low prices for beer in Supermarkets have no effect on drinking habits, according to an article published in the Independent.
