Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Monday, 2 July 2012
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Friday, 11 May 2012
Monday, 23 April 2012
IN PRAISE OF ... Man v. Food
I know that, on one level, it is truly gross and, as a vegetarian, I should be appalled by it but I absolutely love Man v. Food. It's my guilty secret. If you've not seen it you must.
Originally a Travel Channel programme, it's currently being aired on Dave in the UK.
Beginning in 2008, Adam Richman has now had four seasons of eating his way around America's favourite "pig out" joints - finding out about the food, how it's prepared and, at the end of each show, taking on an eating challenge.
The eating challenges vary. Some are sheer quantity (huge platefuls of meat or seafood, a 12 patty burger, etc.) while some are because of the number of super hot chillies in the food. Always, the task is incredible and most, but not all, of the time Adam succeeds in defeating Food!
It's all very macho and you could easily think he's talking about sports or cars, but Richman genuinely loves food and, in this slightly gross out way, the programme is a celebration of food.
It ought to be awful and cringeworthy but, because Adam
Is both likeable and knowledgable, as well as being a good presenter, it is compelling television.
Man v. Food makes Gordon Ramsey's approach to cooking and presentation seem very timid and effete.
I'm sure there are dieticians and doctors appalled by the size of platters that get devoured, and I dread to think what the calorie count is on each show, but it's not like it's every meal, and he's not saying that it's good to just stuff your face. Indeed, he visits the kitchens and sees the food being prepared with love and care.
I'd love there to be a European edition, or a worldwide series, but, sadly, the most international Man v. Food has got so far is to cross the Northern border into Canada!
Originally a Travel Channel programme, it's currently being aired on Dave in the UK.
Beginning in 2008, Adam Richman has now had four seasons of eating his way around America's favourite "pig out" joints - finding out about the food, how it's prepared and, at the end of each show, taking on an eating challenge.
The eating challenges vary. Some are sheer quantity (huge platefuls of meat or seafood, a 12 patty burger, etc.) while some are because of the number of super hot chillies in the food. Always, the task is incredible and most, but not all, of the time Adam succeeds in defeating Food!
It's all very macho and you could easily think he's talking about sports or cars, but Richman genuinely loves food and, in this slightly gross out way, the programme is a celebration of food.
It ought to be awful and cringeworthy but, because Adam
Is both likeable and knowledgable, as well as being a good presenter, it is compelling television.
Man v. Food makes Gordon Ramsey's approach to cooking and presentation seem very timid and effete.
I'm sure there are dieticians and doctors appalled by the size of platters that get devoured, and I dread to think what the calorie count is on each show, but it's not like it's every meal, and he's not saying that it's good to just stuff your face. Indeed, he visits the kitchens and sees the food being prepared with love and care.
I'd love there to be a European edition, or a worldwide series, but, sadly, the most international Man v. Food has got so far is to cross the Northern border into Canada!
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Saturday, 24 March 2012
COMMENT: Cutting calories from foods
Plans are afoot for food manufacturers to voluntarily cut the number of calories in a wide range of their products.
What's the point?
I suspect that the tiny (and yes the proposals are no more than a tiny slither from the calorie count of the products) will have a negligible effect on the daily calorie consumption of most people. It has been suggested that it might be as little as the equivalent of 16 peanuts a day!
The problem is the current proposal is voluntary. It's not backed by any legislation or code of conduct.
To improve diets there are two sensible tactics the government should be legislating for.
1) Heavily tax all high fat, high salt, unhealthy food. High taxation has been used to try to put off smokers so why not as a tool to adjust eating habits? And, instead of the money being lost in the Treasury's coffers, why not use the money raised to subsidise healthy foods?
2) Educate more and better about the dangers of eating badly as well as how to cook.
On BBC News just now a mother said she welcomed foods that children eat being made more healthy. The examples she used were two chocolate bars!
D'oh!
What's the point?
I suspect that the tiny (and yes the proposals are no more than a tiny slither from the calorie count of the products) will have a negligible effect on the daily calorie consumption of most people. It has been suggested that it might be as little as the equivalent of 16 peanuts a day!
The problem is the current proposal is voluntary. It's not backed by any legislation or code of conduct.
To improve diets there are two sensible tactics the government should be legislating for.
1) Heavily tax all high fat, high salt, unhealthy food. High taxation has been used to try to put off smokers so why not as a tool to adjust eating habits? And, instead of the money being lost in the Treasury's coffers, why not use the money raised to subsidise healthy foods?
2) Educate more and better about the dangers of eating badly as well as how to cook.
On BBC News just now a mother said she welcomed foods that children eat being made more healthy. The examples she used were two chocolate bars!
D'oh!
Monday, 19 March 2012
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Breakfast at Fresh Basil
I'd recently read good things about Fresh Basil, a deli and eaterie in Belper, and so, without the normal Saturday morning commitments due to it being half term, I decided to go there for breakfast this morning.
Belper is an odd town, at the heart of a World Heritage Site but with a disturbing number of charity shops. It has an independent cinema, The Ritz, two supermarkets, and a rail station that you can almost miss (the rail line, and the station, runs in a cutting through the middle of the town).
Fresh Basil can be found in a lovely building on Strutt Street that used to be depot for horse drawn fire engines. Internally, it is on two floors, with the deli and a few tables and armchairs on the ground floor and additional tale seating upstairs. canvas bags and wicker baskets hang from hooks on a bar across the ceiling to add to the informal and, perhaps, slightly rustic feel.
The deli counter has plenty of meats and cheeses (the vast majority of which are locally sourced) and olives. The Independent listed it in its Top 50 delicatessens in the UK. The eaterie, too, has a menu that is impressive in its range of options with wraps, sandwiches, breakfasts...
Fresh Basil won the award for Best Breakfast in the Derbyshire Food & Drink Awards last year. I had the vegetarian breakfast which comprised vegetarian haggis, grilled halloumi, fried egg, mushrooms, tomato, fried potatoes and toast. All for £5.90 (the same price as the Full English breakfast for meat eaters).
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and the staff amiable and helpful (they knew many of the "regulars" by name). Sunlight streamed through the windows and Fresh Basil was a place that anyone would want to be, whether for breakfast coffee, a snack..
I have only two criticisms:
1. There was no free public wifi - surely, all cafés/eateries these days should provide free wifi?
2. They don't accept cards for payment under £10 (yes, I understand the reasons but I don't like cash and look forward to a time when all payment is via card)
Having said that, I had a great breakfast and hope it's not too long until I get the chance to return.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fresh Basil
Strutt Street
Belper
DE56 1UN
Website: www.freshbasil.co.uk
Belper is an odd town, at the heart of a World Heritage Site but with a disturbing number of charity shops. It has an independent cinema, The Ritz, two supermarkets, and a rail station that you can almost miss (the rail line, and the station, runs in a cutting through the middle of the town).
Fresh Basil can be found in a lovely building on Strutt Street that used to be depot for horse drawn fire engines. Internally, it is on two floors, with the deli and a few tables and armchairs on the ground floor and additional tale seating upstairs. canvas bags and wicker baskets hang from hooks on a bar across the ceiling to add to the informal and, perhaps, slightly rustic feel.
The deli counter has plenty of meats and cheeses (the vast majority of which are locally sourced) and olives. The Independent listed it in its Top 50 delicatessens in the UK. The eaterie, too, has a menu that is impressive in its range of options with wraps, sandwiches, breakfasts...
Fresh Basil won the award for Best Breakfast in the Derbyshire Food & Drink Awards last year. I had the vegetarian breakfast which comprised vegetarian haggis, grilled halloumi, fried egg, mushrooms, tomato, fried potatoes and toast. All for £5.90 (the same price as the Full English breakfast for meat eaters).
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and the staff amiable and helpful (they knew many of the "regulars" by name). Sunlight streamed through the windows and Fresh Basil was a place that anyone would want to be, whether for breakfast coffee, a snack..
I have only two criticisms:
1. There was no free public wifi - surely, all cafés/eateries these days should provide free wifi?
2. They don't accept cards for payment under £10 (yes, I understand the reasons but I don't like cash and look forward to a time when all payment is via card)
Having said that, I had a great breakfast and hope it's not too long until I get the chance to return.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fresh Basil
Strutt Street
Belper
DE56 1UN
Website: www.freshbasil.co.uk
Thursday, 27 October 2011
RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie
As it's Halloween on Monday here's a spooktacularly simple Pumpkin Pie recipe.
Ingredients
Pastry
Use ready-made SweetShort Crust Pastry or ready-baked case (why waste time?)
- 23cm diameter, 4cm deep
Filling
Pumpkin flesh - 450g cut into 2.5 cm cubes
2 eggs
1 egg yolk (in addition to the other 2 eggs)
Soft dark brown sugar - 75g
Double Cream - 275 ml
1/2 teaspoon each of the following spices: cinammon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger
Preparation
* Pre-heat oven: 180C/350F/Gas mark 4
* Steam the pumpkin then sieve to remove excess water and turn pumpkin into a purée
* Whisk eggs and yolk together
* Put sugar, spices and cream in a pan and bring to near simmering - quick whisk - pour over eggs - whisk again
* Add pumpkin and whisk everything together
* Pour mix into pastry case
Cooking
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes
Cool then chill in fridge
Serve with créme fraïche.
Ingredients
Pastry
Use ready-made SweetShort Crust Pastry or ready-baked case (why waste time?)
- 23cm diameter, 4cm deep
Filling
Pumpkin flesh - 450g cut into 2.5 cm cubes
2 eggs
1 egg yolk (in addition to the other 2 eggs)
Soft dark brown sugar - 75g
Double Cream - 275 ml
1/2 teaspoon each of the following spices: cinammon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger
Preparation
* Pre-heat oven: 180C/350F/Gas mark 4
* Steam the pumpkin then sieve to remove excess water and turn pumpkin into a purée
* Whisk eggs and yolk together
* Put sugar, spices and cream in a pan and bring to near simmering - quick whisk - pour over eggs - whisk again
* Add pumpkin and whisk everything together
* Pour mix into pastry case
Cooking
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes
Cool then chill in fridge
Serve with créme fraïche.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
The politics of weight loss...
I popped into the supermarket to get a few bits and pieces: milk and fruit mostly. As usual there weren't enough tills open and so what should have been a quick in and out involved a long queue and lots of wasted time. I really don't understand why the shops can't work out the right number of staff they need on specific days and times based on analysis of shopping patterns! It's not, to use a phrase I hate, "rocket science".
Anyhow, whilst wandering up and down the aisles it struck me how the food that's supposedly bad for you tends to be cheap whilst the healthy food is expensive. Surely this is absurd?
Now I realize this is because of the "free market" and supply and demand but surely any government with any interest in the health of the nation would do something about this ridiculous situation?
And this isn't an attack on just the current government, it has been the case with governments of all colours over the past few decades - do the easy and popular and let's not give a shit about principles or tackling genuine problems. In the meantime the nation is slowly killing itself in an ocean of fat, salt and sugar.
So what should they do? It's so, so simple. All foodstuffs need to be classified properly by how good they are for you and how much harm they will do to you if you eat them. This shouldn't be tricky - a tomato would, I would suggest, be in a good and healthy category 1 while a burger from one of the popular fast food chains would be in category 5. And foods of other levels would fall somewhere in between. All the category 1 foods (and drinks) would have a zero rated Healthy Eating Sales tax added while the higher levels would get higher and higher.
it's often the only way to stop people doing harm to themselves and to others - hit them in their pocket. Tax them so heavily on crap food and use that money to subsidize healthier options that there is no argument for not changing habits.
Sure, I hear a cry of "but it's not just the content but the quantity that's an issue" - this is true but it would help enormously if the fat-laiden, salt soaked and sugar heavy ready meal cost £20 and the ingredients to be able to make it yourself only cost £2! Or, if people are too lazy or stupid to try to cook for themselves, a healthy ready meal is £5.
And this wouldn't just benefit the individual it would benefit the whole of society by reducing the tax burden of the NHS by having a healthier and fitter population. That money could, again, be spent on more beneficial things like free swimming passes for everyone or annual check ups for all
The same should be done with alcohol - the tax should be so much higher and the monies raised used to encourage and, to some extent, force people to cut down their booze intake.
Maybe politicians are too far up their own arses to do anything, maybe they're too scared they might upset someone, maybe they just don't care as long as they get their big salary and all the perks but with each piece of tokenism they simply tinker with the problem of a society of lard arses, they're not really tackling it and not really doing anything that will genuinely change the habits of a nation who need to be pulled by the scruff of the neck into the modern world.
Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]
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