Aldi/Lidl specials - recommendations

[herbidacious]

This reminds me, I bought a bag of chunks of snacking Parmesan in the Lidl in Flers - part of their Italian week I think i’ve not seen that in the UK.

[KeenCook]

Veggie/vegan promos at Lidl https://view.news.lidl.co.uk/?vawpToken ... 74M.500011

[Stokey Sue]

All that so called Greek stuff bot no Olive Oil

Most Lidl olive oil seems to be Italian, some of it is very good. Greek olive oil is currently very expensive and not that widely available. I sometimes see Kalamata but I wasn’t impressed by the brand I tried. Currently Kalamata is £12 for 500ml and Cretan Gold is £10 at Waitrose and around so I doubt if Lidl can offer it at a “special” price.

I ought to go to Lidl for a few things, I’ll look at the veggie stuff, £1.99 for tempeh is good.

[scullion]

as spain is the major producer of olive oil in the world and italy is being hit hard by xylella it would surprise me if lidl's olive oil isn't either a blend or mainly spanish.
many/most of the olive oil amphorae in the 'sherd mountain' - monte testaccio, in rome, is made from spanish, dressel type, amphorae so even in roman times the bulk of olive oil in (what now is) italy was most likely imported from spain.

[Stokey Sue]

Yes I think I am maybe a little mislead by the Lidl basic "cooking" blend being called Primadonna - it has been for years and I think may have been all or part Italian in the past, but it is currently packed in Cordoba, Spain

However their premium brands are mainly Italian still, I have the Puglian EVOO which has been recommended by several food writers, it's good if you like a grassy one, and still about half the price I'd need to pay for Greek

[Pepper Pig]

Might be of interest. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/sho ... 8931&ei=17

[KeenCook]

Next Lidl flavour of the week is Asia https://www.lidl.co.uk/c/flavour-of-the ... /a10053201

[Stokey Sue]

Since someone else said it, I now always wonder “Asian flavours - any one of the 42 Asian nations in particular?”
Might be some good stuff but it does look a bit pot noodle - but then I can get to Asian (Korean, Chines,Indian, Thai) stores, maybe not aimed at me

[herbidacious]

Hmm nothing very exciting to me either.

Sainsbury's seem to have price matched quite a few of the big brand things (if you have and use a Nectar card). e.g. The Sensations poppadoms - which are very nice - and the blue Dragon Pad Thai kit. The Amoy noodles are good value.

Yes it does seem a bit insultingly broad as a category.

[Earthmaiden]

I think 'Asian' has been difficult since it is no longer PC to use the term 'Far Eastern' but nothing seems to have replaced it. Asia starts in Turkey and encompasses India and surrounding countries but seems to be taken to mean eastern Asia. I appreciate that each country would like to be known by its proper name but general cuisines do tend to exist in groups due to historic availability of ingredients.

There are a couple of things on the Lidl page which look 'interesting'.

[Stokey Sue]

The Americans get very worked up about the term “oriental” as apparently it is an attempt to make things, and particularly people, sound exotic. Which in turn annoys some British East Asians I know who happily described themselves as oriental until quite recently.

If you are talking about food or art, surely a touch of the exoticism is often positive? It does still seem to be used when talking about antiques

[Earthmaiden]

I'd forgotten that term. I'm of an age where I could easily use a derogatory term without knowing so try not to if a get a hint it may be. I must look into it all.

[herbidacious]

I find it weird and unhelpful in many contexts that people whose ethnicity is Indian, Malaysian, Chinese etc. are all referred to as Asian now. I think there might be some kickback, inserting 'south east', 'south' etc. My geography is appalling so I need to sit down and learn what is what.
It's like trying to get bubbles out of sticky backed plastic. You push one down and another pops up elsewhere. (Avoiding one term leads to using another which is not entirely suitable either.)

[Stokey Sue]

Exactly Herbi - apparently you can say most of the words if you tag on “heritage” as in “Rishi is of Indian heritage”

But any personal description seems dodgy - someone on Twitter told a good story in which the smart person was described as a stewardess, they got absolutely shredded for not calling her a Flight Attendant

Lady behind me on this @delta flight is complaining to the stewardess because they made her check her bag and there’s a ton of room.

Her husband to the stewardess: “you know she went to college with the CEO of Delta”

Stewardess: “You should have kept in touch.”

Similarly, I have seen someone “correct” the phrase “obese person’ to “person living with obesity” - in a medical context.

[scullion]

I think 'Asian' has been difficult since it is no longer PC to use the term 'Far Eastern' but nothing seems to have replaced it. Asia starts in Turkey and encompasses India and surrounding countries but seems to be taken to mean eastern Asia.

not to mention all of the countries to the north, too, like most of russia - nobody ever mentions those russians as being asian!

[Sloe-Gin]

Heads up.
Italian week is back on the 29th

[KeenCook]

FAB!!!!!!

[herbidacious]

Ooh it will be shopping bags and elbows at dawn (or opening time) then!

[Earthmaiden]

I looked for the Asian things yesterday but see it doesn't start until today.

I wonder if they'll ever have that walnut sauce again.

[scullion]

i would imagine it's easy enough to copy - and be cheaper.

the ingredients, from the side of the jar, are -
40% walnuts,
sunflower oil,
10% cashew nuts,
cheese powder,
grana padano,
whey powder,
1% evoo,
salt,
citric acid.
(619 kcal/100g)

the sunflower oil is somewhere between 10% and 40% so if i was attempting to copy the recipe i would measure out the nuts into a blender add in maybe 5% by weight (- taste and add more if you prefer)) of the grana padano then blend, adding a little of the sunflower oil at a time, until the required consistency is reached then add salt to taste.
i wouldn't bother with the other ingredients - one is a preservative - unneeded if you're going to use it straight away, or freeze the excess, and the the others are ways of putting in cheap cheese flavour/bulk.
not sure the 1% evoo is going to make much of a difference with the strong flavour of the walnuts and cheese. it's probably there to say that it has olive oil in it!