Eat with your environmentally friendly head

If you read most of the coverage of Lord Stern’s interview in The Times a couple of days ago you’d think he was advocating an immediate and universal switch to veganism.

Really, he’s making the important point that the meat industry has negative effects on our environment and that if we’re to tackle climate change one important area to look at is meat production and consumption.

For we all eat far too much of it. Bacon for breakfast, beef sandwiches for lunch, pepperami at petrol stations and steak for supper. The western and European mantra of meat and two veg is ingrained in most of us from an early age but you only need to look the cuisine of say Kerala, to realise how full and varied a low meat diet can be.

And that’s the key. Stern isn’t advocating a ban on meat as some coverage has interpreted, he’s just suggesting we tweak our protein laden tables. Turn the leftovers from a Sunday roast into soup, try out a mushroom risotto, pasta primavera, asparagus frittata or go crazy and buy a bag of lentils occasionally.

Adopting a regimen based on nut roasts, tofu and soy milk is not what this debate is about. It’s about being abstemious with what we have, making sacrifices for our future and eating with a conscience. Forego a weekly portion of meat and try something from the pages of imaginative fodder in Nigel Slater’s new book Tender or Simon Hopkinson’s vegetable creations.

It wasn’t that hard to start recycling, turning off light switches and getting on a bike once in a while and this is just a step along the same path.

Should we try and make fish and chips healthy?

The Food Standards Agency is soon to release guidelines for our local caffs and chip shops to produce healthy versions of our favourite unhealthy takeaways.

The prospect of the nannyish traffic light system, which is now fixed to every supermarket packet, adorning the wall alongside a donor kebab fills me with horrror.

Yes, the saturated fat levels of golden battered cod may be enough to induce a mild panic attack if not heart pain, but deep down we already know that we’re not exactly nibbling on a carrot stick. 

Going into the nearest greasy spoon to find calorie content and salt levels on the menu is surely a step too far?  Should possible government imposed restrictions extend to the cream laden dishes in Michelin kitchens? 

Take it a step further:  can you think of anything more ridiculous than your late night chippie offering steamed sweet potato sticks, alfalfa sprouts and quinoa salad to go with your cheeseburger?

This strikes me as yet another step on the FSA’s march towards a world in which we will be no longer be able to choose between healthy or unhealthy and will be spoonfed nutritional guidelines with our undressed salads.

The Spice Shop

This tiny box of a shop just off the main drag of Portobello Road is an Aladdin’s cave for any food lover, stocking countless herbs, spices and unusual flavours from across the globe.

The concept

Originating as a stall on the North End Road in the nineties to satisfy the German owner Birgit’s cravings for paprika, the next step was to open a shop on Blenheim Crescent. A staggering variety of pepper, paprika, sumac, chillies, cardamom, saffron and vanilla are just a few of the gems lining the walls alongside Birgit’s own blends, such as Ras al Hanout which contains an incredible 48 spices. The emphasis is on high quality pure spices, responsibly sourced from reputable producers. Sushi mats and wasabi appear next to nutmeg graters, mushroom essence and sunflower seeds.

Who goes

Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have all visited seeking inspiration for new projects. Tourists and locals alike wander through the door to re-stock their cupboards or to browse and experiment with a new ingredient. As the shop’s assistant Brendan mentioned he ‘learns from the customers’ how to use the encyclopaedic range.

Favourites

Their distinctive bright orange and red tins are fun, instantly recognisable and make a great gift. You’ll be hunting for Middle Eastern recipes after experiencing the intense citrusy flavour of the sumac and the chai tea mix transports you to the subcontinent. Spice blends are the best sellers but old fashioned whole spices are making a come back.

Any downsides

The shop is minute so by the time a few tourists have piled in it’s hard to manoeuvre and fully appreciate everything on the shelves. That said, the assistants couldn’t be more helpful and there’s usually buzzy music being played. Avoid visiting on a Saturday when the market will be in full swing.

What you’ll spend

Bagged spices and blends are usually under £3 for 50g. The same weight in a tin is about £5. Persian saffron can set you back as much as £8 for 1g and vanilla pods too can be quite pricey. The quality of the produce means that a little goes a lot further than equivalent supermarket varieties.

Anything else

The website has the full range available for sale online and has customers across the world. Interestingly many well-heeled Indians make large purchases via the site because the quality is superior to the often dirty, sun-dried spices for sale on their doorstep. Birgit gives cookery demonstrations over the road at Books for Cooks making use of the wealth of food knowledge she’s picked up travelling to source produce.

The Spice Shop
1 Blenheim Crescent
London W11 2EE
ww.thespiceshop.co.uk
020 7221 4448

The Regency Cafe

When you walk into the noisy bustle of this old fashioned canteen, right in the middle of Westminster, you can almost feel the history pouring from the old fashioned white tiled walls. The diversity of the clientele is mesmerising and it would be easy to lose a couple of hours aimlessly watching the continually growing and then shrinking queue and the countless characters that feature in it.

In the short hour that we occupied our plastic chairs and formica topped table we saw civil servants, scaffolders, builders, school children and even a shadow cabinet minister pass by to order combinations from the chalk inscribed kitchen blackboard. At the Regency, high-vis vests sit comfortably next to pin stripe suits and create a compelling snapshot of the personalities that form London life.

You wonder which famous faces have tucked into stodgy pies and pasties in a vain attempt to ease the ill effects of a night of booze fuelled networking. Or how many government ministers have pulled up to refuel with a cup of sweet tea and a buttery bacon sandwich. The banter and stories which you know are etched in the fabric of this unassuming square canteen are what make it feel as much of an institution as the landmarks that surround it.

It’s loud. We wondered if they held auditions for what seemed to be the pivotal roll in the kitchen: bellowing loudly across the canteen to announce to customers that their heavily laden plates are ready for collection. Or perhaps these powerful vocal chords are developed over time as the staff work their way upwards in the frantic kitchen.

As I heard ‘egg, bacon, tomato, hash brown’ boom out across the room I jumped, nearly fell over in my haste to reach the collection counter and arrived just in time to hear the authoritative announcer quietly mutter the question ‘why does it have to be so hard?’ presumably in frustration at his customers’ inability to register his broad calls and pick up their food on time.

My egg was fried in exactly the way you’d expect in a canteen, with just a little too much grease, the tomatoes were tinned, the hash browns deep fried, the bacon re-heated, and the milky tea from an enormous stainless steel pot. And it was delicious, every mouthful of it.

Chips feature high on the agenda and seemingly arrive with everything in vast piles. There are daily specials too: curry on Wednesday or battered fish on Friday and large Cornish pasties which arrive on a sea of baked beans. The meat pies were the only unappetising fodder we saw, the pastry shrinking soggily from its foil container.

The addition of eggs Benedict to the menu seems completely incongruous with everything else about the Regency and was thankfully made less fussy by the neon label on the wall mentioning the grilled eggs. This is not a place to poach.

There are no frills, nor would you want there to be. I have only been once but don’t doubt that this will soon turn into once a week.

The Regency Cafe, 17-19 Regency Street, London SW1P 4BY

Whole Foods

Whole Foods on Kensington High Street has, since it’s opening in 2008, become something of a Mecca for anyone in the city with even vaguely gastronomic pretentions. Frequented in equal measure by greedy gluttons, svelte vegans and camera touting tourists, the recycled brown and green bags have become emblematic of our post-millennium drive towards ever-healthier sources of nourishment.

Three floors tall, the former site of Barkers Department Store is vast and houses everything an epicurean could dream of, from the familiar to the completely obscure. The frustratingly long checkout queue left me with time to notice the vastly disparate items in my basket. Japanese pickled ginger lay next to Middle Eastern Harissa, a cheddar cheese sandwich and South African biltong.

Decadent piles of colourful, organic produce fill the halls, laid out upon eye-pleasing timber stands, while knowledgeable staff offer tasters of purple tortilla chips, protein energy bars, tomato salsa or wine. Diversity is certainly not lacking.

In one display a tumbling heap of black skinned avocados sat alongside tubs of freshly made guacamole and it struck me that placing attractive component ingredients alongside their corresponding creation is an extremely effective marketing idea. By doing so, Whole Foods appeal to both the creative cook, glad of a recipe idea, or those happy to take home the shop made version.

There is an elegant temperature controlled cheese room, a handmade chocolate counter, a book store, a fishmonger and butcher, eggs of any bird known to lay, homemade soup, a create-your-own salad bar and my personal favourite, a machine where you can make your own peanut butter. I think Roald Dahl must have had a hand in the creation of the shop or at the least I would bet the designers are fans of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Upstairs the choice in the restaurant and café is equally overwhelming with a big focus on customer involvement. Many staff line up behind the counters to help you create personalised pizzas, wraps, sandwiches or burritos which arrive in enormous portions with matching price tags.

Breakfast is the best time of day to drop in, when the restaurant is wonderfully free of queues or customers towing their screaming pushchairs. You can calmly build your own yoghurt pot, indulge in crepes, or detox with a super-food smoothie while sinking into an arm chair and gazing through the tall windows at the bustle of Kensington commuters.

I’ve been to Whole Foods many times and tend to leave feeling hurried, as though I’ve just emerged from the northern line (which, by the way, doesn’t touch the just escaped from a war zone sense of relief on leaving Tescos). There are usually too many people milling the spacious aisles, it does take a long time to find anything specific and the sheer range of choice is in itself an assault on the senses. Stopping yourself piling yet more fodder into your trolley is a challenge and I suppose this is what the management bet on, that we as shoppers are both greedy and bereft of will power.

For me, the ostentation of the mammoth displays sparks a bit of guilt at our gluttonous approach to food in the Western world and is enough to stop me splurging or returning too often. Not quite guilty enough though to be able to resist the chocolate brownies on the way out.

This could easily turn into a thesis so suffice it to say you should probably visit to form your own opinion. Their latest launch is a two course evening meal for £10 which sounds like it is well worth trying and was well received by Jasper Gerrard in a recent Telegraph review.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/5568169/Restaurant-review-Whole-Foods-Market-Kensington.html

Whole Foods Market, 63-97 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SE
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/