Posted by Robyn Lee, August 15, 2008 at 12:15 PM
In a series of promotional videos by UK hospitality industry job search engine Caterer.com, Little Gordon, a prepubescent—but just as foul-mouthed—version of Gordon Ramsay, embarks "on a personal mission to rid the world of rubbish food and pathetic service." And by this, he instills terror into the hearts of anyone who makes or serves him food in a subpar manner, including his mother. Watch the first and second videos (a third is still on the way) after the jump.
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Posted by Hannah Howard, August 7, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Are we surprised that celebrity chefs aren't dutifully spending sweaty nights in their restaurant kitchens? The Telegraph investigates the presence of celebrity chefs in their restaurants' kitchens and bemoans, "celebrity chefs feel no compunction charging us top rates for the work of an underling." They liken absentee chefs to a tribute band playing "as stand-ins for the Rolling Stones."
The Telegraph set out to discover which rock star chefs might be found yielding a knife or stirring a sauce. The verdict: none. Jamie Oliver doesn't actually cook at Jamie's Italian in Oxford; Heston Blumenthal is nowhere to be found at his Berkshire spot, Fat Duck; and Gordon Ramsay's job description at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay entails overseeing the menu and visiting "occasionally."
We've asked before, are chef brands inherently evil? Is there an implied promise that a restaurant with a big name chef will serve food that has passed through those celebrity hands? Or do we understand that Gordon Ramsay is more likely sporting chef's whites for a photo opportunity than for a night overseeing the hot line?
Posted by Robyn Lee, July 24, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Clockwise from top left: "Fresh Flower Jelly" by Tonkin Liu, and "Wobbly Bridge" by Foster + Partners, "Eden Project Jelly" by Grimshaw, and "Copper St Paul's Mould" by Bompas & Parr.
The winners of this year's Architectural Jelly Design Competition have been revealed in all their colorful, wobbly, semi-translucent glory, with top prize awarded to "Fresh Flower Jelly" by Tonkin Liu. An auction raising money for architectural aid charity will allow those interested to buy photographs of the top entries and the actual molds themselves. Article 25. [via notcot]
Bad news for Peking Duck lovers and Chinese restaurants in Britain: the EU has banned ovens used to prepare Peking Duck that don't carry a CE mark, despite that no health problems have been associated with the ovens. [via pabo76]
Posted by Raphael, June 28, 2008 at 9:00 PM
The Guardian UK is reporting on gardeners who have unknowingly poisoned their own vegetables by using manure contaminated with a powerful herbicide, causing plants and vegetables to grow "deformed and withered" in gardens and allotments across the UK. The pesticide appears to have entered the food chain via grass treated twelve months ago: "Experts say the grass was probably made into silage, then fed to cattle during the winter months. The herbicide remained present in the silage, passed through the animal and into manure that was later sold."
The extent of this problem is not known, but gardeners are being warned not to eat any home-grown vegetables that bear signs of damage by the herbicide, and are being advised not to replant in the same soil for at least a year.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been inundated with calls from concerned gardeners who have seen potatoes, beans, peas, carrots and salad vegetables wither or become grossly deformed. The society admitted that it had no idea of the extent of the problem, but said it appeared 'significant'. The affected gardens and allotments have been contaminated by manure originating from farms where the hormone-based herbicide aminopyralid has been sprayed on fields.
Aminopyralid, which is found in several Dow products, the most popular being Forefront, a herbicide, is not licensed to be used on food crops and carries a label warning farmers using it not to sell manure that might contain residue to gardeners.
Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 28, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Is eating trash about to become cool? The forthcoming British Internet game show Ready Steady Skip, based on the popular TV show Ready Steady Cook, is poised to give dumpster diving some image-boosting publicity. Promoted as "the game show where needlessly wasted food is recovered from the bin and turned into delicious dishes before your very eyes," the full show will be released online in July. In the meantime, enjoy the cheerfully zany trailer, after the jump.
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Posted by Jamie Forrest, May 27, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Roll down this hill and you too may be victorious! Photographs courtesy of cheese-rolling-co.uk
Leave it to the Brits to come up with an annual event as nuts as Cheese-Rolling: every year on the Monday that corresponds with the American holiday of Memorial Day (Spring Bank Holiday in England), dozens of crazy people line up on a steep slope in Gloucestershire, England and propel themselves head-over-heels downhill, chasing after a wheel of cheese. Whoever makes it down the hill first wins. And what is this lucky winner's prize? Cheese!
According to the BBC, which has also published an amazing video of the event, the tradition of chasing after a rolling wheel of hand-made Double Gloucester is centuries old, which just means to me that these folks will never learn.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, May 1, 2008 at 12:45 PM
As part of this summer's London Festival of Architecture, the British jelly retailers behind Bompas & Parr will be holding a contest purely devoted to the best gelatinous architectural moulds. It all started during the 1990s when jelly consumption was down in the UK and two friends—one an architect—decided to make delicious wobbly spreads from organic fruit and bring back the jelly glory.
Entires for this year's contest are due May 23 and should include a detailed, scaled design that takes into account the collapse potential of too-tall or too-thin models. They warn: "there is fine line between outstanding 'wobble factor' and disaster." Check full contest rules at Bompas & Parr's website.
Where do you eat in London for fish-and-chips made only from nonthreatened species from small-scale farmers, or for a meal where 85% of the ingredients are sourced from within the limits of the London Tube system? Check out Portfolio.com's report on London's environmentally-conscious restaurants.
Posted by Zach Brooks, March 5, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Photograph from drewleavy on Flickr
We have no shortage of delicious bagels here in New York City. (Is there a better bagel city in the world?) We also have no shortage of fat laden, drool inducing corned beef. (Is there a better corned beef city in the world?) Yet, explain to me how London is the city that has combined the two into what looks like a pretty outstanding sandwich. It's called a hot salt beef bagel, and it leaves me wondering, "How on earth did we got scooped on this?"
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Posted by Robyn Lee, January 18, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Tonight on Great Britain's Channel 4 (or in half an hour if you live in UK), Gordon Ramsay will be cooking live for 60 minutes with his television audience to prepare a three course meal for four people. In anticipation of the nation's rush to buy ingredients for this special event, supermarket chains have stocked up with the provisions for tonight's menu: pan-roasted scallops with tomato and herb salsa as a starter, steak and chips with a rocket and parmesan salad as the main course, and chocolate mousse for dessert.
Watch the promo for tonight's show after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 3, 2007 at 6:45 PM
- Food safety concerns may stall farm bill: "Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she will block the Senate bill if it includes a House-passed provision that would allow some smaller meat processing plants to opt out of federal meat inspections in favor of state inspections. The bill hasn't even emerged from committee yet." [Associated Press]
- Food crises in Zimbabwe deepens: Bakeries are closing for lack of flour in the country once known as the "breadbasket of Africa." [Voice of America]
- Italians plan "vote" against genetically modified food: As opposition wanes in North and South American, Italy is hoping to renew Europe's stand against "Frankenfoods." [Reuters]
- U.K. egg supply threatened: If prices aren't raised, farmers say they won't have incentive to produce the incredible edible item. [farminguk.com]
- Kids don't like Jamie Oliver's school food: "One teenager told inspectors that he had become far fitter as a result of regular walks to a nearby chip shop." [The Guardian]
- Play with your food: Cooking Mama 2 for the Nintendo DS portable game system to include more Western foods, like apple pie, chili dogs, and pizza. [Wired]
Posted by Alaina Browne, September 14, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Researchers spent two months scouring Britain’s culinary history to reveal what ancient Brits ate and drank for UKTV's new series, The People's Cookbook and found that Research roast hedgehog was once as popular a dish in Britain as roast beef is now, and was a common preparation in 6000 BC. Other ancient recipe discoveries include a recipe for nettle pudding, dating back more 8,000 years, as well as foods that are still common today like pancakes.The Daily Mail's coverage includes a few of these ancient recipes.
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 8, 2007 at 1:15 PM
The BBQ Forecast for Grimsby, England.
For folks living in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, Metcheck.com has a BBQ Forecasts feature that gives you a heads-up on what the weather's going to do for your cookout. While it's not much more insightful than checking the basic forecast, I like its slightly motherly tone: "Bit too cold for a BBQ." [via 37signals]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 24, 2007 at 3:00 PM
The UK's Observer launches Word of Mouth, a daily food blog that will supplement food coverage in the Observer Food Monthly. Among the bloggers: Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner, Blur bassist Alex James, and a coterie of Observer staff. [via Graham "Noodlepie" Holliday ]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 1, 2007 at 8:45 AM
According to both the British Culinary Federation and the Master Chefs of Britain, chefs in the UK are becoming thinner—there's apparently been a 75 percent drop in chef obesity over the past 20 years!
Gordon Ramsay thinks he knows why: "Running a kitchen is like running a marathon," he says. "It demands stamina and the ability to pace yourself. Being on your feet for 18 hours a day requires a level of fitness and strength that doesn't work well with excess weight. Most chefs rarely sit down for a square meal: you don't want to start service weighed down by a heavy dinner." Fat or skinny, I don't really care—just make me something delicious to eat! (Oh, and please pass the lardo...) [via The Food Section]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 10, 2007 at 5:32 PM
Not all farmers' markets in the UK are certified or monitored, and so if you're visiting one caveat emptor definitely applies—the produce you buy may not be any better than what you get at the supermarket:
Consider, for example, Isle of Wight Tomatoes, one of the most established stallholders at London’s numerous farmers’ markets. It looks like a small, traditional enterprise and claims to sell its own homegrown produce. Think again. Its tomatoes, aubergines and cucumbers are bought from a separate company, Wight Salads, the bulk of whose £60m turnover comes from supplying supermarket chains.
Worse, as far as many green consumers may be concerned, many of the tomatoes are actually experimental genetic crossbreeds that Wight Salads is engineering to try to find the “next best thing” for the supermarkets. In short, these tomatoes are a far cry from traditional British produce homegrown in a smallholding.
I'd be really upset if I was going to a farmers' market and buying what I thought were more expensive but locally-grown vegetables from a small farm and they turned out to be experimental stuff from a big supplier, especially if I was making the effort for the safety of children. I imagine there are thousands of people who will be thinking twice before visiting a UK farmers market again, and that's a damn shame. [via The Grinder]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 4, 2007 at 4:00 PM
In the latest issue of the Observer Food Monthly, Mr. Bean discusses the peculiarities of French food, like for example how you really don't need to speak French to order off a menu:
Quite frankly, given the Frenchies haven't got enough of their own words and so have stolen and misspelled loads of ours, all sorts of recognisable delicacies can be teased out of the most unhelpful of Parisian menus. 'Moules Mariniere', for instance; any twit with a vague knowledge of the alphabet can get from 'Moules' to mules and 'Mariniere' to mariner and safely come out with seafaring donkeys. Another squeeze of the old loaf and bingo: seahorses! They don't get my taste buds a jumpin' but there you go.
His latest movie, Mr. Bean's Holiday, opened in the UK just last weekend, and he's also got a new book titled, perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. Bean's Definitive and Extremely Marvellous Guide to France.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 3, 2007 at 11:44 AM
One of the greatest April Fools pranks of all time was pulled in 1957 by the BBC, of all institutions. Aired as an ordinary episode of the renowned series Panorama, it purported to be a documentary about "a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry."
It sounds ridiculous now, sure, but back then many people had either never heard of spaghetti or had only ever had it from cans, and the episode was shot in a completely straightforward fashion and narrated by the respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. Hundreds of people called the BBC to ask where they could purchase spaghetti bushes for themselves!
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 23, 2007 at 8:57 AM
From the official SPAM UK site:
Frantic lifestyle? Need to prepare something fast for breakfast, lunch or evening meal? Or maybe you just want a traditional, comforting meal for the family in the colder weather.
Well, we’ve brought back the traditional SPAM® Fritter to fit just that bill. What’s more, all the hard preparation work is done for you – new SPAM® Fritters are ready to be ovenbaked for 15-20 minutes and served with your favourite vegetables or breakfast menu.
If you can't read the copy on the container in the photo above, the Fritters are described as "succulent pieces of SPAM® covered in a deliciously light and crispy golden batter." Truly, as Andrew said, the UK is the Hawaii of Europe when it comes to SPAM. God save the Queen!
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 21, 2007 at 7:30 PM
Yesterday's Question of the Day was about food-themed tattoos. How apropos that today I see this pizza tat. The proud owner, who resides in Wales, did it for charity and to mark the opening of his new take-out pizza joint.
Man has pizza tattooed on head [CBBC Newsround]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 16, 2007 at 2:54 PM
According to a survey from the Waste and Resources Action Programme, Britons throw out a third of all food purchased, about 6.7m tons of food a year: "Wrap figures suggest that around 20% of British climate change emissions are related to the production, processing, transportation and storage of food. The main reasons for having excess food were that more was bought than needed, that fridges were too warm and that many products with a short shelf life were not eaten prior to their best before date. Children refusing to eat food or pestering their parents to buy unwanted items while shopping further contributed to waste, Wrap said, along with informal or unplanned eating patterns." Appalling, but I can't imagine things are much better in the rest of the developed world—anyone know where I can find statistics?
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 12, 2007 at 7:20 PM
"My name is Alana, and I live in Scotland. I'm an American, and I've heard all the cultural stereotypes about British food, so I thought I would take the time to try a variety of British foods, drinks and dishes, and report on whether or not they really are all that bad." Her reviews of cheap store products are both sensible and funny, and if you're wondering where her sensibilities lie, she says Bubble and Squeak would go well with some glazed Spam. Me, I think Alana rocks!
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 19, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Can you imagine this happening in the US?
