What’s it like to work, live and eat on the road?
‘If you’ve got it, it came by truck’ says veteran trucker John Eden at one point during my interview with him for The Food Programme. You can listen to the full programme here. John’s right of course, practically everything we enjoy in Britain today is moved around by an army of truckers, couriers and van drivers....
Lunch with a little ‘un – The Jugged Hare
Pre lunch venue: Art and Science on the Brain, Barbican Venue verdict: Playing with brains, what’s not to like? @foodjournalist adopt me please. @thejuggedhare — Melanie Jappy (@japster2008) April 9, 2013 Neuroscience and brains formed the prelude to the latest lunch with a little ‘un, and you can’t get cooler than getting kids into science....
Why I really love ordering ‘chicken to share’
To break bread or chew the same piece of meat was one of the human race's most primitive acts of companionship. But fast forward to the present and, though we still eat out communally, what’s eaten has often become separate choices on separate plates. Some venues, however, have embraced family-style serving, sending out a large...
Lunch with a little ‘un – Balthazar
Balthazar doesn’t have a children’s menu, it doesn’t have high chairs, on the face of it, it doesn’t ‘do’ children. And yet within its gilded and mirrored walls daughts and I encountered some of the most child-friendly hospitality we’ve yet received. This past month all of London has been abuzz with the news of Balthazar's...
Lunch with a little ‘un – Trullo, Islington
Pre lunch venue: Highbury fields playground. Venue verdict: Hopefully the refurb will make it even better If George Orwell ever decided to add ‘the perfect neighbourhood Italian restaurant’ to his 1946 search for the perfect English pub, he could a lot worse than Trullo. Loved by the critics (and me) since it opened in 2010,...
Belle Époque redux and the return of the brasserie
London isn’t really one city, but two, we’ve just done a better welding job than Buda and Pest. So while in the East it’s mainly pop-ups, Americana-influenced speak easies, and drinking from kilner jars. In the West End some of the newest restaurants hark back to a golden age of style, it’s just a shame...
The tall tale of Richard III and Bosworth jumbles
So, the skeleton in the car park is indeed that of Richard III. With that in mind here's an entry from my book on Bosworth Jumbles biscuits, which comemortate the battle that ultimately put him there. When matters need celebrating, we reach for cakes, pastries and other sweet delicacies. Getting hitched? Time for a wedding cake....
Lunch with a little ‘un – Clissold House
Pre-lunch venue: Clissold Park Venue verdict: Great park, but not enough swings Among the various tribes of North London, Stoke Newington parents stand apart. These are thee most flexible of workers; the elite of the bearded mankles-out camper-shoe wearing earth-mothers – and that’s just the dads. Kelross passage marks the no-mans-land between Highbury and Stoke...
Food on a pension: what’s it like to shop, cook and eat when you’re old?
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Recently, I 'time travelled' 30 years into my own food future for Radio 4's The Food Programme. I looked at the eating habits of the elderly, and tried to cook while wearing a suit that mimics some...
The most heartwarming tale from last year
My latest piece for lovefood.com, a tale, of friendship, good food, and a young family facing tough times. Before Christmas we ran a competition to win £500 worth of le Creuset kitchenware and a years supply of stock from our friends at Knorr. To enter, we asked which one of our tasty recipes you would...
The man who really knows his onions
Like the rest of us, farm manager Tim Pratt stores onions in a cool, dark, dry place… it just happens to be an old WWII aircraft hanger in Suffolk. Take down one of your cookery books from the shelf, pick a savoury recipe at random, and chances are it begins ‘first chop one onion’. Yet onions...
Lunch with a little ‘un – Assiette Anglais, Islington
Pre lunch venue: Freightliners Farm Venue Verdict: Railway themed city farm that’s in need of an upgrade Ludo and Mairead own a great little cafe, Le Peche Mignon, tucked away on a back street off the Holloway Rd. Small, with only one communal table, it’s a shop packed with deli items, and serves really...