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Foodies In The News

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:02 am

To be honest, mostly gimmicky

Olive oil ice cream and vanilla with fish are hardly new, they’ve been around for years, I had them way back when and didn’t really like either though I suppose I’d try them if cooked by a chef for me

I didn’t really look at the meat dishes as I’m not eating them but I’ve seen the coffee grounds thing before

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby scullion » Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:07 pm

i thought the scathing comments about scrambled eggs and jam were strange, too. it's not a great leap from a sweet omelet, is it?

i wonder how many of the comments are by men whose culinary experience comes from the chippy on the corner or whose mother could just do meat and two veg.
Last edited by scullion on Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:13 pm

To be fair, sweet omelettes are vile - at least I don’t like them, I’m not even keen on sweet hot soufflés, I find the egginess overwhelming when sweetened

Obviously some people do like them!

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:32 pm

I think that your culinary experiences are somewhat wider than average nationally, Sue. The comments do seem to come from the unadventurous all the same!

I am in something of a time warp where strawberries are concerned and still think of them as a huge summer treat to be eaten, mostly with minimum additions for a couple of months over the summer - cooking with them for anything but treat cakes or ice cream seems terribly frivolous (the lovely ones we picked yesterday at a PYO cost 7 quid so maybe it would be frivolous to use them liberally!).

I forget about limes and their zest (I always choose lemon if either will do) so this is a timely reminder.

I have never smoked fruit and it sounds good (never been hugely in BBQing or I might have).

The vanilla sauce sounds delicious and will be tried very soon. I mean to try Lapsang in cooking too so another good reminder. Not sure about the fat bombs but can see they would be popular with many.

Are the coffee grounds detectable in the finished product?

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:14 am


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:59 am

I have just read this and feel terribly sad. https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... n-browning

That we can't set up a satisfactory factory in the first place is bad enough but it is upsetting to see how innocent businesses have been affected by the Brexit fiasco (look in the article for the % drop in British meat sales!). Some may say it is a good introduction to producing/eating less meat but it's hardly fair to hit farmers with such a blow all at once.

Helen Browning is local to us and I think, still CEO of the Soil Association. She ran a successful Chop House here until Covid and her restaurant and farm shop are very popular in a local village. I remember her in our wholefood restaurant days when she was very young, already passionate about British organic farming. I wonder if she'll still really want her name on the products (hmmm! What a dilemma!).

https://helenbrowningsorganic.co.uk/about-helen/

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:42 pm


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Badger's Mate » Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:27 am

I notice that the Helen Browning bacon is 'produced in the UK using British & EU pork'. The article said that sausage factory has been in Germany for two decades.

I must admit that my take home message is that however the company started, the brand is now and has been for a while, selling meat raised overseas as British. :(

By their own admission they have been operating across Europe for years, well before we left the EU. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Brexit, that is not the reason they have done what they have done in the past and might well be an excuse for doing more of it now. Having seen forty-odd years of businesses excusing their unpopular decisions by blaming the Common Market, we're now seeing them blaming Brexit. Some of this stuff might contain some truth, but there's clearly the equivalent of straight bananas as well.

I've used their products before, won't touch them with a bargepole now.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:11 am

I don't think they have falsified the source of all their meat but have certainly given the impression it is a British concern, particularly by using Helen's name which is associated with British organic farming.

I knew a while back that the sausages were produced on the Continent and of course, that the concern must be too big to just use meat from a local farm.

She still raises beautiful pigs locally and I would buy that meat to support local employment. I also found the % drop in British meat sales worrying for employment whatever the reasons. Even if it were purely down to the growing popularity of plant based foods, farmers can't turn round that quickly.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Badger's Mate » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:41 am

I don't doubt that the small print on the packs has always accurately reflected the source of the product, but that isn't how they market the stuff. I don't believe there really is a Mr Kipling nor yet an Aunt Bessie, but we are told there is a Helen Browning.

What is it with sausages and the EU? For years, people who went to supermarkets full of sausages week after week would believe propaganda that the EU were going to ban British sausages. Now we're getting propaganda the other way, that Brexit is doing for them. :roll:

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:53 am

Shows how close to British hearts the British banger is! :lol:. When we emigrated to Australia (in the days when sausages always came from a local butcher's shop) a decent banger was one of the things we really missed. Very sad really that we just can't produce both meat and finished product here.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Badger's Mate » Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:28 pm

OK, having had a look at the website, there is a bit about the pork for the bacon not being all British due to Covid interrupting their supply chain. There a request to 'bear with them as they rebuild their UK supply lines please'. Perhaps I've been a bit harsh, but I'll watch that space.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Thu Aug 05, 2021 4:12 pm


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:49 am

Well, I thought I’d seen it all. Rice babies.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... f-newborns


Did anyone else have children when the Flour Babies thing was an educational tool to deter 11/12 year olds from unwanted pregnancies, or was that just progressive Harrow??

https://www.theguardian.com/society/200 ... en.schools
Last edited by Pepper Pig on Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:08 am

Not come across flour babies but did read about the rice ones earlier. I thought at first that the rice doubled up as a useful gift (children at the Gambian school supported by people I know each received a whole sack of rice as a welcome food gift for their families on graduating recently) but I think not.

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Wed Aug 11, 2021 6:23 pm


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Meganthemog » Wed Aug 11, 2021 7:11 pm

scullion wrote:as for the aussie masterchef quiz -

You got...
6/10
Good one! You’re a pretty committed member of the MasterChef army; you’ve even tried your hand at some of the recipes when they get posted on the homepage. Even though you’d never admit it, you secretly lust over the MasterChef branded saucepans at the supermarket.


i've never watched it - not one episode - never made any of the recipes (wherever they are) and have no idea what their pans are like.
i rarely watch the uk versions - the sight of greg wallace scraping a fork through his teeth makes my skin crawl.


Me too, never seen a single episode and got 6/10

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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:23 am


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun Aug 15, 2021 5:21 am


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Re: Foodies In The News

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:04 am

Hilarious, PP. We've probably all been to places where there is an egg slicer but no knives but is it still like that? My last few experiences have been good. Well equipped kitchens, lovely owners and surprise gifts (such as a plate of Fat Rascals in York). I have never gone for a 'welcome pack' though.

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