Reading about food: a few of my favourite books
When the weather’s too depressing to go out and forage or search for good eating places, I stay in to cook and read. Recently, I’ve been revisiting some of my favourite books about food.
Category Archives: food
A feast of foraging
John and Miles are at Edinburgh Science Festival on March 31, 2013 How many of us actually eat wild plants these days? Picking blackberries, elderflowers and elderberries, sloes and wild garlic are all popular finds for me. Much as we like the idea of mushroom picking, that’s fraught with problems.…
A Taste of Kerala
I’ve become rather obsessed with India over the last few years, not least when I discovered Atul Kochhar on the Great British Menu and started cooking dishes from his two great cookery books. He gave me an insight to a subtle balance of spices and flavours with very easy to…
We’re having a moment! Celebrating Scandinavian food
The Hairy Bikers went to Norway on their ‘bakeation’ this year, and Jamie Oliver went to Sweden last year. Scandinavian cuisine is having a moment (as Steffi Dellner pointed out in Prospect Magazine). I had noticed too and I was thinking about what makes Scandinavia hip at the moment. My…
Comfort stew – eating when the vegetarian’s away
I don’t really miss meat or fish. I miss particular dishes. When C goes away I cook and eat differently from when he’s here. Within minutes of the door closing behind him I revert to an earlier eating pattern and slow cooking for pleasure. Breakfast becomes fruit salad instead of…
Grow your chips this year!
If you’ve any outside space at all, this year is the year to grow potatoes. Why? It’s really simple and honestly there is nothing like the taste of a freshly dug potato. I bet you’ve got one of those blue Ikea bags lurking about somewhere? That’s all you need or…
Instant blinis: pancakes with a difference
Pancake day. When I was a kid, me and my friends would get together and do things with flour, eggs, milk and butter that were probably not healthy but very satisfying. There was usually honey, lingonberry, blueberry and cloud berry jam on the table too, occasionally Nutella, often whipped cream but…
Speciality Food Fair – simply saucy
Not so long ago jams and chutneys seemed to form the bulk of products you’d find at such a food fair. At the Speciality Food Fair in Glasgow, there were plenty of sauces and chutneys on display in such a range and variety! Caroline and I enjoyed our discovering the…
Speciality Food Fair: A refreshing look
It was my second visit to the Speciality Food Fair in Glasgow. It’s a trade show brim full of local producers and those from further afield. The aim: to attract delis, shops and restaurants to stock their products. I firmly believe there is nothing like meeting the producer in person,…
Quick bites: Meals in a hurry
Recently, I had the chance to taste a range of cooked meats from Tarbet’s fine foods. I particularly enjoyed the slow roast beef – it was moist and very much like the sort of beef you’d like to cook yourself if you had the time! As it was chilly, salads…