Saturday, April 28, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Ethical eating: underground restaurants and food cycle
Following a growing trend to eat ethically sourced food, I have been plagued by the excess and ease of food in our society. This has been made even worse by my love of good food! However, I have been getting involved with a charity, food cycle, which receives donations of food from organisations and companies that would otherwise dispose of it. In Manchester this is used to provide food to those who need it most, making a vegetarian, healthy version of a soup kitchen, aiming to provide tasty nutritious meals.
On a recent trip to London, however, I went with my mother to food cycle's community cafe, which has a similar ethos of using food that would otherwise go to waste to make a tasty meal; this time bringing the local community together. Donations are 'what you think it's worth'. We started the meal with spring vegetable bruschetta, then a hearty lentil and vegetable spag bol, and finally banana chocolate brownie. Eating this ethically sourced food in a sunny garden in residential London, made this a memorable and enjoyable experience.
Slightly more in keeping with my food obsessed travels, I have also been very enthusiastic about underground restaurants recently. Although these may also seem very extravagant, they actually cut out some of the consumerism that restaurants, especially the chains that fill our high streets, bring us daily. There seem to be a variety of terms used: supper clubs seem to invite people into their homes; pop up's are in more commercial settings but with an air of uncertainty and change; underground restaurants are more regular, but still have that homely affect.
So, in London, I went with some friends to an underground restaurant on Upper street - Pip's Barn. It really was in a barn, just behind the main street, and was so different from the hoards of restaurants on Upper street that I completely understood what the comment on their website meant: 'there's nowhere to eat on Upper Street'. At first this seems incredulous, but when there I see their point. There's nowhere to eat like Pip's Barn in Upper street!
We had a 3 course Sunday lunch, with fresh seasonal ingredients, sitting on bales of hay, with a huge brie decorating the disused warehouse, smiling at us from the makeshift kitchen. There were jars of preserved lemons, which immediately made me happy (I do love preserved lemons). A fresh salad was followed by preserved lemon and artichoke roast chicken, smashed potatoes (NOT smash) and greens. Dessert was rhubarb fool. The whole experience lasted 3 hours, and was a delight. I thoroughly recommend to everyone.
Now I think it's time to start fine tuning my supper club menu!
Following a growing trend to eat ethically sourced food, I have been plagued by the excess and ease of food in our society. This has been made even worse by my love of good food! However, I have been getting involved with a charity, food cycle, which receives donations of food from organisations and companies that would otherwise dispose of it. In Manchester this is used to provide food to those who need it most, making a vegetarian, healthy version of a soup kitchen, aiming to provide tasty nutritious meals.
On a recent trip to London, however, I went with my mother to food cycle's community cafe, which has a similar ethos of using food that would otherwise go to waste to make a tasty meal; this time bringing the local community together. Donations are 'what you think it's worth'. We started the meal with spring vegetable bruschetta, then a hearty lentil and vegetable spag bol, and finally banana chocolate brownie. Eating this ethically sourced food in a sunny garden in residential London, made this a memorable and enjoyable experience.
Slightly more in keeping with my food obsessed travels, I have also been very enthusiastic about underground restaurants recently. Although these may also seem very extravagant, they actually cut out some of the consumerism that restaurants, especially the chains that fill our high streets, bring us daily. There seem to be a variety of terms used: supper clubs seem to invite people into their homes; pop up's are in more commercial settings but with an air of uncertainty and change; underground restaurants are more regular, but still have that homely affect.
So, in London, I went with some friends to an underground restaurant on Upper street - Pip's Barn. It really was in a barn, just behind the main street, and was so different from the hoards of restaurants on Upper street that I completely understood what the comment on their website meant: 'there's nowhere to eat on Upper Street'. At first this seems incredulous, but when there I see their point. There's nowhere to eat like Pip's Barn in Upper street!
We had a 3 course Sunday lunch, with fresh seasonal ingredients, sitting on bales of hay, with a huge brie decorating the disused warehouse, smiling at us from the makeshift kitchen. There were jars of preserved lemons, which immediately made me happy (I do love preserved lemons). A fresh salad was followed by preserved lemon and artichoke roast chicken, smashed potatoes (NOT smash) and greens. Dessert was rhubarb fool. The whole experience lasted 3 hours, and was a delight. I thoroughly recommend to everyone.
Now I think it's time to start fine tuning my supper club menu!
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