Know the source and treat it well
Brits care about where their meat and fish comes from, and
how it was treated before it arrives on the plate. At least, more of us do now
than we did a couple of years ago, thanks to TV programmes such as Hugh’s
FishFight (primarily concerned with sustainable fishing) and Chicken Out!, another
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall show, which highlighted how commercial breeds of
broiler chicken are reared for their meat in just 39 days, compared to
slow-growing breeds that live for at least 75 days.
My website,
lovefood.com, has covered the subject many
times, with Editor Andrew Webb (author of Food Britannia) arguing that ‘the
future for meat eating is responsible, ethical and traceable’. He writes that
as a nation we should buy British free-range meat, use our local butcher
instead of the supermarket, eat less beef and try pork or lamb instead, and not
eat meat every day. Campaigns such as
Meat Free Monday (which is fronted by
Paul McCartney and family, and encourages people not to eat meat at least once
a week) support his arguments.
Plus the recent horsemeat scandal has made us worry even
more about the content of our meat products. Butchers across the country have
seen their trade rise by 15-20% ever since the story broke, and there’s also
been an increase in the sales of ‘ethical’ meat products such as ‘rosé
veal’ – that is, meat from calves raised to RSPCA standards, allowing them to
roam outside, live for longer, and eat a healthier diet.
It’s not that people aren’t eating meat anymore… it’s just
that there’s more respect for the ‘real thing’, and London restaurants such as
Hawksmoor will always be busy. They’re proud to use only Yorkshire beef, and
have a video on their website introducing customers to the breed of cow that
they use. The more obvious a restaurant is about where its meat comes from, the
better it will do.
‘Flexitarianism’
Perhaps linked to the concerns around meat is a rise in the
number of British ‘flexitarians’. The phrase was first coined in the mid-90s, although
the media have only started to use it regularly in the last six months or so. A
flexitarian is a ‘flexible vegetarian’ – that is, someone who eats mostly
vegetarian meals, but makes time for a bit of decent meat or fish when they
feel the urge. They’re also referred to as ‘veggie-vores’, or ‘vegetarians with
benefits’.
Food trend analysts are predicting a "50% increase" in vegetarianism in 2013, and a similarly
startling rise in the number of flexitarians. The rise in meat prices and an
increasingly compelling moral and environmental argument is partly to blame for
the increase.
Charles Banks, director of
food trends agency The Food People, said earlier this year: “There has
been a seismic shift in attitudes towards celebrating vegetables and opting to
eat less meat. We expect meat-free eating and flexitarianism to soon be a mega
trend.” Support from celeb flexitarians, such as chef and author
SimonHopkinson, will no doubt encourage it, and restaurants in London are beginning
to expand their vegetarian options. Even
The Smithfield Tavern, which is
opposite the most famous meat market in London, made the decision to go veggie earlier
this year, following the success of a meat-free menu at its sister pub in
Soho.
Just a note: I don’t wish to exaggerate the extent of
vegetarianism in Britain; after all, estimates suggest that only 2-5% of the
population consider themselves to be totally vegetarian. But it is a noticeable
trend, and I expect that figure to rise over the next couple of years.
International ‘tapas’
Not tapas as in Spanish food; but tapas meaning ‘bitty’
food; food for sharing; ‘order two or three small plates’ food. It’s a trend
which challenges the starter>main>dessert set-up, and it is not specific
to any cuisine.
Polpo, a hugely popular restaurant in London’s Soho, is a Venetian
‘bàcaro’ – a humble restaurant serving simple food and good, young wines. Instead
of ordering a big bowl of pasta and maybe a salad to start, you pick and choose
from a wide variety of cicchetti (Venetian snack food), pizzete, meatballs,
fish, and vegetables. Each diner should order between two and four small
plates, and the idea is to share them all as a table. Italian chain Zizzi has
copies the idea, and now offers diners the option to choose three of five
‘cichetti’ dishes instead of a big main.
Dishoom is another great example. It’s an Indian restaurant
(but calls itself an ‘original Bombay café’) in London’s Covent Garden, and instead
of the usual curry + rice + naan combo, you choose two, three of four things
from a menu of ‘small plates’, ‘grills’, ‘vegetable business’, ‘salad plates’,
‘roomali rolls’ and more. As with Polpo, the idea is to dine on a variety of
tastes, colours, aromas and textures, rather than eating a larger quantity of
the same thing.
You don’t even have to eat a full meal at such
establishments. Dishoom encourages patrons to ‘pop in for a chai tea’ if they
want, and it’s no longer frowned upon to spend less than £10 at a restaurant,
especially in London. Indeed, a recent study of 2,000 British adults found that
40% of people don’t eat three meals a day, preferring to ‘graze’ all day
instead. Plus BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme recently investigated
‘The Death of
Three Square Meals’, reporting that hectic lifestyles and working
shifts both play big parts in the decline of meal times, which compliments the
kind of food offered at places like Polpo.
Another strain to this ‘snacking’ trend is the rise of
street food. Food retailers have highlighted quality ‘food
on the go’ as the main area of growth in their sector, and there
are now international food markets within walking distance of almost every office
block in London (eg Whitecross Street Market in London’s Old Street). Falafel
wraps, burritos, Mediterranean salads and French ‘raclette’ stalls almost
always feature.
Nostalgic baking
Cupcakes are officially out of fashion – we’ve had enough
outrageously sweet frosting to last a life time. But Brits still need something
sweet to lift us out of the misery of economic decline and bad weather, and this
year it comes in the form of comfort puddings… we’re turning the clock back and
baking ‘what granny used to make’, in order to feel safe and warm. Think jam
roly polys, Victoria sponges, treacle tarts, apple pies and suet puddings.
The hugely popular TV series
The Great British Bake Off (set
for a fourth series) is key to the trend, giving BBC viewers the impression
that nothing is more fun, or more cool, than baking British cakes. Young celeb
chefs such as
Edd Kimber (who won the first series of Bake Off) and
LorrainePascale (a former model who first hit our screens with her Baking Made Easy
series) have given baking a ‘cool’ image, and it’s no longer considered a female-only
pastime.
The BBC show Food and Drink, which was recently re-launched,
devoted a whole half-hour episode to ‘nostalgic classics’, and in a recent
Radio Times interview, celeb chef Heston Blumenthal called on the British
people to use more memories in food… ‘Food rituals and experiences can bring a
community back together through nostalgia and excitement,’ he said. And he even
includes a ‘Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop’ dish (a striped paper bag full of
superior confectionery) on the tasting menu at his three-Michelin-starred
restaurant The Fat Duck.
Scandinavian
Britain is in love with everything Scandinavian. Nordic Noir
crime dramas such as The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge proved massively popular,
and many Brits envy the politics, values and fashions of Scandinavia too. An
interest in all things Scandi has helped fuel the Scandinavian food market,
especially in London, and the cuisine has a very ‘cool’ reputation over here…
especially when it’s championed by young, funky writers such as
Signe Johansen,
Norwegian author of the Scandilicious blog and baking book.
It’s near impossible to get a table at
Scandi Kitchen, a
café near Great Portland Street which sells things like fresh cinnamon buns,
smorgasbords and meatballs. There’s also a little ‘supermarket’ at the back of
the café, selling imported Scandi groceries.
North Road Restaurant near Farringdon is also proving
popular – The Telegraph restaurant critic recently gave it 4.5/5, and I had one
of the best meals of my life there. I think it’s how fresh, innovative and
healthy Scandi cuisine is that appeals to us Brits… especially Londoners, who
are always on the lookout for a new type of food to try.
Food takes up almost half of the annual
Scandinavia Show at
Earl’s Court now (I’ve been twice in a row), and the only thing we Brits are
yet to take to is that really strong liquorice. We’ll get there one day though!
Every February Fortnum & Mason invites olive oil producers from all over the world to submit their new season’s oil to a blind tasting, where a panel of foodies – including Fortnum & Mason buyers, shopfloor staff, importers, journalists and customers – spend a week scrutinising them for bitterness, fruitiness and pepperiness: the holy trinity, when it comes to olive oil.
There were six of us trying just under 20 olive oils that morning (in total, around 150 will be judged over the week) and it involved drinking (and swallowing) oil, noting down the taste, and giving a mark out of six. I had to warm every sample pot in my hands first, to bring it up to body temperature and thus release the aromas, and you’re supposed to sluuuuurp the oil like you would when wine tasting. But I choked the last time I tried that, so a delicate inhalation and a roll about the tongue had to suffice.
By the close of play my trachea felt like a well-greased piston, and I had to chow down a Chelsea bun to soak it all up – goodness knows how the Fortnum & Mason buyers manage two olive oil tasting sessions a day (which amounts to drinking 1½ litres of olive oil in one week!). Although I’m sure they’ll have wonderful skin, elastic arteries, better memory, lower blood pressure and 97 other benefits because of it.
