Video promo for Food Britannia
Here's a short promo for Food Britannia giving you just a taste of what the book's about, to see more of me on film visit the Showreel page
How to be a food writer & how to write for the web
Recently we began recruiting a new writer for the editorial jugganaut that is Lovefood.com. When one candidate asked about the team structure I replied ‘how many people do you think there are?’ ‘six?’ came the reply. Wrong, there’s one (me), soon to be two. Much of my time then is spent managing a team of...
Food Britannia is The Sunday Times’ food book of the year, and the FT likes it too
Golly, the lovely Bee Wilson (who's book Swindled is a great read btw) has very kindly named Food Britannia The Sunday Times' food book of the year, and what a year it was for interesting foodie books. Other contenders included some big tomes from the big names like Jamie's Great Britain, Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets...
Meet the new editor of lovefood.com… me
The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. Arnold Toynbee Just a quick one to let you know that on the 19th of October I 'got the keys' to Lovefood.com. Which as the apt URL suggests, is a website for people who love food. There’s a mix of recipes from chefs,...
Trullo, Islington
Jay Rayner's July 2010 review of Trullo contains the line 'My one fear, I said, was that they couldn't keep it up; that I'd give it a glowing review and then get emails from furious readers in six months' time saying it was no longer such a star'. Well if my experience the other night...
The supermarkets of Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court road used to be simple. South of Goodge street station and the Scientology shop were the technology bazaars; places where you'd haggle with young Asian men and their calculators over the price of the latest computer hardware and gadgets. North of Goodge street was the furniture shops, first and for most of which...
Who needs cookbooks?
How many cookbooks do you own? And how many recipes have you cooked from them? That's the question I ask in a piece I've written for the BBC food site. As a food journalist I own a lot of books about food. What often surprises people, however, is that I don’t own too many cookery...
Sipsmith Sloe Gin Showdown
As you may know I've a bit of previous with the Sipsmith boys. I interviewed them for Waitrose Kitchen (read it here) as well as my book, needless to say I'm a big fan, their setup and their product. So much so that last Christmas when the snow was deep and crisp and even the...
A man of appetites: Herbs go bananas
This week on AOL I take a European grand tour looking at the history and culinary uses of summer herbs. Historically herbalists can't seem to agree on the uses and effects of basil. The English botanist, Nicholas Culpeper (1616 – 1654) says of it 'all authors are together by the ears about, and rail at...
A man of appetites: the secret history of the meringue
This week Louisa and I got 'all white' as we got stuck into the meringue. There's a lot of history to this simple combination of eggs whites and vinegar. Larousse goes on to say that the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême - the king of chefs and the chef of kings – was the first to pipe the...
Review of Food Britannia on Guardian Books
Kathryn Hughes has reviewed Food Britannia in the Guardian Review (30th July). Here are some of the things she's said. In Food Britannia Andrew Webb embarks on a food-lover's tour of Britain, searching out regional specialities, meeting people who've started businesses from their kitchen table, and generally finding reasons to be cheerful about the state...
A man of appetites: Bloomin’ tasty
Despite Uncle Monty's assertion that 'I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees' flowers do have there place in the kitchen. It is to them, that Louisa and I have turned our eyes this week on AOL lifestyle Most of the...
Guide to buying local on ITV’s 10 Mile Menu
Here's something I wrote for ITV's new food show, Ten Mile Menu. If you've ever wanted to see Bobby Davro let loose in a kitchen, this is the show for you! We're all used to relying on our local supermarket for the food we eat every day. But with a few small changes,...
