What does the world eat?

Here's a fascinating photo essay by time magazine...http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373675,00.html

Slow Food UK

Slow Food UK has an AGM this autumn members may already know about this. But for those that don't please follow this link. It talks about what we do as an organisation and has some fine writing on the different aspects that Slow Food covers.

http://www.slowfood.org.uk/what-we-do

We are limited to what we can do locally but fully support the ideals of an organisation that focuses on localy produced food, grown or harvested in an ethical manner and paid a fair price for.

Kinfolk

I think we have informed you that August is a break for all of us but we are coming back in September with more ideas and visits.

In the interim I came across a magazine called Kinfolk it has a companion website that in many respects espouses the ideas behind Slowfood. It encourages small gatherings between artistic souls around a table of shared food.

Shared food is a crucial part of what we should be doing in a civilised society. Not just sharing but interacting, discussing and enjoy the fruits of our labours. Then there is the food. The last pot luck night we had was a great example of what happens when like minded people gather together and eat together.

Enjoy the site http://www.kinfolkmag.com/magazine/

Hope to see you soon.

Rod.

Vienna Bakery Artisan Bread

I recently bumped into David Dodge outside his Vienna Bakery stall in the market. He described to me a new method of proving he is adopting for one of his loaves the newly named "Pave du Connetable." So named as the loaves mirror the shape of the cobbles in French Lane.

They are beautiful loaves with a fine crumb and a great depth of flavour. All of this is David's adoption of a slowproving technique, 48 hours, at a low temperature.

Trawling through the web to find any articles supporting the notion I came upon this from the New York Times describing a new technique we can all practice. It includes the idea of not kneading which has been supported by Dan Lepard for some time. His blog is a fantastic source for bakers.

Further info is supplied in the Freshloaf blog.

Below is the making of a fine rare beef and coleslaw sandwich with produce bought from Jersey Market.

If you can't be bothered cooking just try Davids loaves at the Vienna Bakery in the market. You won't be disappointed.

Some New Food Blogs

There has been a recent surge in food blogs here are a couple that have caught my eye.

http://www.101cookbooks.com// By Heidi Swanson. A lovely feel to this site. Informative and well illustrated.

http://aapplemint.com// Here's one beautifully laid out and easy to navigate.


http://smittenkitchen.com/ Great recipes with excellent step by step photography.


http://whatkatieate.blogspot.com/ This one is a favourite of mine with a Scandinavian feel to its layout.

http://www.lottieanddoof.com/ Apart from the title, which I love, this has a good home made feel to it.

http://www.beyondtheplate.net/recipes/bomboloni-meyer-lemon-curd/ The little lemon curd doughnuts described here look delicious. Once I get back to my fighting weight...

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/about/ An American living and cooking in paris. Great baking recipes.

Sadie Rennard cooks at Hamptonne during the Cider Festival

Check them out...mmmmmm...

Fungi Delecti Visit

It was a cold night and the weather previously had not been kind so the crops weren't at their best. That said Jamie gave us a solid introduction to what Fungi Delecti has to offer.

 

Jamie explained the Shitake growing process. Logs had been plugged with spore and the conditions down on the farm were ideal for the growing process. To protect the mushrooms from wind chill over 2,000 trees had been planted. That shows the care and vision exercised on the farm.

 

 All of this grew out his dad's hobby. Challenged to grow mushrooms by a professor Mick accepted the challenge and now we can delight in some of the best produce on the Island.

 

The poly tunnels housed rocket and several crops that were picked early in the morning or late evening when the crops are freshest illuminated with pickers wearing torches.

Rocket

Chives

Beautifully fresh chives and other produce resting in the huge cold store. You can just see the quality. You can feel the passion and pride exhibited by the excellent produce.

Truffle heaven. The value of this small quantity is amazing.

Truffles

 

Fungi Delecti also now operate as wholesalers supplying local chefs with high quality produce.

The cold store was heavily scented with spices carefully sourced from around the world.

The farm also supplies free range ducks, geese and poultry.

The snail marks the spot.

Cyrus gives us Spice World.

A great night with Cyrus and his wife Parvin educating our minds and engaging our senses with Indian food. Cyrus showed how to portion and de-bone a chicken, cook perfect rice and provide twelve delicious dishes. All with locally sourced seasonal ingredients. Rich heady pork and beef dishes quickly cooked but heady with flavour.

Simple Kerala stews suffused with tumeric and garnished with fresh coriander. Apparently the only herb to travel from the west to the east.

Cyrus is deeply knowledgeable about all of his ingredients taking us across continents and providing intimate tips and historic details about all of his recipes.
He was clearly in command of the kitchen gently tucking the sharp blades of his knives under the chopping board. His attention to detail whilst making us understand each step showed an experienced hand.

We were swept away by the breadth and style of his cooking and how everything was given due consideration to the strength of flavours, the level of heat, aromatics that reduce the inevitable flatulence, medicinal properties of spices and ultimately the richness of his dishes.

Juggling hot pans to temper spices whilst maintaining just the right temperature to avoid scorching was all over seen by Parvin's eagle eye. Timing was crucial.

We were engaged, entertained and duly sated by a wonderful progression of various plates of food. For me easily the best treat was the rice. I can't remember being so delighted with what seems the simplest of dishes but cooked to perfection.

As it ended I watched Cyrus carefully place his knives and spices back in his case. A professional through and through.

I feel an Indian pot luck night coming on...

Chamber of Commerce Lunch

Below is information relating to Chambers next lunch. This is a real opportunity to hear from a Festival Director about the core values espoused by SlowFood.

Can truly sustainable and ethical businesses cut the mustard when it comes to profit and growth?
A reminder that we will welcome Philip Lowery, Director of the Real Food Festival, as guest speaker for the 22nd June Luncheon.
Sustainable and ethical; how do these values fit with commercial profit? In the world of SME’s does real authenticity pay off versus the (sometimes) cynical “brand authenticity” values of large corporations?

As the founder of the Real Food Festival, Philip Lowery is on a mission to re-connect us back to where our food comes from. A passionate supporter of small and artisan over big and industrial, he nevertheless believes that good real food can be produced sustainably and economically and that the future of food should not be left in the hands of intensive farming systems and a handful of global industrial giants.

The Real Food Festival and Markets address food related issues head-on, by suggesting an alternative to the current, industrialised systems of agriculture, food manufacture and distribution which has evolved to be a generator of profits rather than a system to feed people. Real Food promotes a different approach that aims to feed people good, seasonal, nutritionally dense food and drink that has been produced in a sustainable and ethical way. It is their aim to communicate the major issues of food security namely; climate change, population growth, water scarcity and peak oil and ensure that they remain on the agenda at the highest governmental levels. Real Food organise their annual Festival in Earls Court every May, have issued a book featuring the chefs who support Real Food and now hold weekly markets with over 40 traders and street food traders at London's South bank Centre. For more information please go to www.realfoodfestival.co.uk
The venue for this luncheon is the Pomme d’Or Hotel and guests should arrive no later than 12.30pm with lunch served at 12.45pm. Philip is scheduled to speak at 1.30pm followed by a question and answer session. We will seek to close the event by 2.15pm.

The price is £25 per person, which includes a one-course lunch menu and coffee with mints. Wine is also included and is kindly sponsored by Dunells.

For reservations contact Linda details below.
Linda McGuirk, Office Manager, Chamber of Commerce

Direct Telephone: 01534 721426   Website: http://www.jerseychamber.com/

Fax: 01534 734942

Jersey Food Festival

Here's todays events. There are loads to do, see and taste. Hope to see you there.
http://jersey.com/english/eatingout/jerseyfoodfestival/pages/monday.aspx

Food Festival and more...

Dear Slow Fooders

This is an update on the planned events for May and June.

As many of you may be aware Donna Le Marrec and John Garton have organized the Jersey Food Festival from 14 to 22 May.  This looks like a fantastic week with many events that embrace so much of what we believe in.

Lots of trips to visit various sites and some delicious food to be sampled. Taste the passion.

Please visit the website for full details:

www.jersey.com/foodfestival

In June we have 2 events planned:

A visit to Fungi Delecti for a tour by Jamie Racjan (visit www.fungidelecti.com ). 

Fungi Delecti has become known as the best wholesaler of quality produce on the island.  They supply all the top restaurants and hotels, sourcing produce from all over the world.  They also grow Shii-Take mushrooms and many fresh salads and herbs, as well as producing the tastiest eggs on the island.

To avoid having too many people to enjoy this visit Jamie is happy for us to split into 2 visits – Thursday 9^th and Thursday 16^th June at 6.30pm. 

If you would like to come then please let us know which date you would prefer and then we can try to ensure even numbers over the 2 evenings.  Fungi Delecti is at Les Platons in Trinity.  By visiting in mid-June the fresh produce should be at its peak.

There is no charge for this event but please inform us if you are coming.

An evening with Cyrus Todiwala  - Indian Chef extraordinaire

Monday 20^th June – Highlands College – 7.30pm to 9.30pm

This is planned as the highlight/show piece of our Slow Food year.  Cyrus is a renowned Indian chef and he is coming specially to Jersey for this Slow Food event.  Cyrus is passionate about local food and so he will be sourcing local produce for his demonstration, and will be taking us on a tour of Indian spices.  (This is purely a demonstration and so no food will be served, but there will be small tastings).

This is for Slow Food members only. There will be a charge for this event to contribute to costs – more details to follow (we haven’t done our sums yet!).  Numbers will be limited. 

We would be grateful if you could email us to let us know if you are interested in either of these events as soon as you can. 

Please do try to attend some of the Food Festival events.

See you all soon.

The Slow Food Committee