Is salt bad for you? I visit the salt basins of La Baleine in the south of France to find out more.
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Oxford Food Symposium 2019
I’ve been wanting to attend the Oxford Food Symposium for the last decade, since several symposiasts came to my supper club just prior to the 2009 conference. The idea of several days in an Oxford university student digs, learning about food history, anthropology, politics, nutrition and general geekery feels like a heaven-sent opportunity. The only…
Timber festival 2019
Timber is a new festival, only in its second year, run by the National Forest, based in the Midlands, near the exotically named Ashby-De-La-Zouch. I’m into the Japanese concept of ‘forest bathing’ and trees in general so this sounded right up my street. The festival is small, clean, and very much directed towards families. Although…
Picota cherry season in Spain plus a recipe for cherry gazpacho
The Picota cherry comes from the Jerté valley, in Extremadura, Spain after being introduced by Arab farmers in the 14th century. Earlier this year I went to visit the valley in a cloud of snowy blossom. Last week I visited the trees while in fruit, drooping with ‘red diamonds’ as they are called locally. The…
Summer in the Alps, Val Gardena plus recipe for apple fritters
I’m usually more of a beach person in the summer. But having visited the Dolomites in southern Italy only a couple of weeks ago, I was keen to visit the northern end of the range up up towards the Alps. This area, Val Gardena, is one of the most beautiful Alpine areas (unlike the grim…
Discover Basilicata in Southern Italy
Basilicata, formerly known as Lucania, persists as one of the lesser known Italian regions. For the visitor, this is an advantage: it’s cheaper, there are less tourists, the people are friendlier. You have everything in this region: mountains, countryside, historic cities, archeological sites, palazzos, forests, two coasts – the white sandy beach facing the Ionian…
Apple blossom tart recipe
I did two versions of this. Both looked and tasted great, but the cinnamon apple blossom was spectacular, like a healthy cinnamon roll. Ideally you will possess a mandolin. If you don’t, please buy one. It will make you look like a pro in the kitchen in so many ways; from finely cut slices of…
Apples and Pears/SA fruit supper club
Why do we import apples and pears from South Africa? Because British apples and pears, that have been stored over winter, have now run out. There are no more British apples and pears until late summer. Out of season, the fruit is shipped, not flown, from South Africa, so it has a low carbon footprint….
Fresh pasta for springtime
We think of Italy as the land of pasta and tomato sauce. However pasta was a feast day dish, requiring time and many hands, until industrialised dried pasta was invented, which transformed it into an easy, readily available ingredient. Tomato sauce, likewise, is a recent habit- 19th century. Discovered in Central America, and exported to…
Paisley vegan
Popped up to Paisley in Scotland for the food and drink festival which now features a vegan section. Paisley is famous for the ‘paisley’ pattern, a decorative woven teardrop, known in Persian as a ‘boteh’. The local museum is closed for refurbishment until 2022, but the brief history is that 19th century soldiers, returning from…