Japan: Some Initial Food Thoughts

Sushi Tokyo Fish Market Some of you who noted the absence of Tom’s Food! these past few weeks may have been labouring under the impression that I was on holiday. As if! Those who follow me on social media will have known that L and I have been in Japan, researching frantically to keep these columns…

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French Food is the World’s Finest? Discuss

The only food magazine to which I subscribe is delicious. While the adjective is one I do my best to avoid in Tom Eats! columns, I very much enjoy the periodical, with a good range of columnists and recipes. It is enthusiastic and entertaining without being condescending or patronising. The September issue was dedicated to France, and contained…

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Coffee Overtakes Tea in the UK

 According to a report in The Times  this week, coffee has overtaken tea as Britain’s favourite drink. I wasn’t entirely blown away by the statistical evidence which was quoted. To say, as the article does, that shoppers bought more than 533 million packs of coffee compared to 287 million packs of tea, is meaningless. From a…

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Can’t Cook? Can’t Even Boil An Egg

Can’t even boil an egg. The ultimate culinary put down. But why, one wonders? Can’t even make toast, or can’t even open a tin might surely be more damning. The topic came up the other day in The Knowledge, a daily newsletter which has interesting features on politics, society, arts and miscellaneous trivia. Twenty years…

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The Pepperpot Diaries; Rice Table; Upgrade

Confused by the title? Well, come and have a look at my (overflowing) book shelves. For a good number of years I tried to operate a one in, one out policy when it came to cookery books. Now, however, I can’t think of a single one in my collection I could bear to part with.…

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How Well Do You Treat Your Suppliers? A Fine Tale for August

Tina and Ross Coventry While I’m thinking about the food and drink industry in particular, it’s quite a wide ranging question to anyone who is in business. The butchers, bakers and wholesale merchants who supply the food that you cook or sell on; the fishermen and farmers who labour, often in arduous and dangerous conditions,…

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Restaurants: When Will There Be Good News?

Boarded up restaurant

It seems to be a gloomy day. I’m not just referring to wildfires and strikes and global warming. On one of this column’s favourite subjects, restaurants, the news seems to be worse than usual. Now I’m not shedding any tears over the impending closure of Noma. Rene Redzepi has declared that the model for his…

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The Air Fryer Chronicles Part 1

Air Fryers. Didn’t have one; didn’t have a view for or against, though a few friends are keen devotees. Life changed last week in the shape of a large box as a  birthday present. Indian giving, possibly. Anyway, have beast, will fry. For experiment 1 below, I had no clue what to do and nothing…

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What’s In A Name? I’ll Drink To That

Dionysus NOT Dionysios Dionysios, I said to myself. Are you sure? Is it not Dionysus? Sad, I suppose, that the idea for a column can materialise when you’re taking your best girl out for a hot date. Early evening at the flickers followed by some leftover chicken stew. Don’t tell me that I can’t show…

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Strange Culinary Things At Galungan

A question I’m commonly asked relates to unusual foods which I’ve consumed over the years. People are usually expecting tales from far flung places, involving Johnny Foreigner and his more disgusting habits. Well, it’s not just charity which begins at home. Try, as I have done, describing haggis to a busload of 50 non Scottish…

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P is for … Potato

My wife laughs at me. I really don’t understand why. When I’m asked what is my favourite vegetable, there can be only one answer – today’s hero, the potato. Not only do I fail to comprehend why that’s remotely amusing, I genuinely find it difficult to see why anyone would make another choice. My grandson…

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O is for… OXO

Well some Food Alphabeticals are easier than others, and time was short for today. Even the mighty Larousse Gastronomique has only 10 pages for the letter O. Despite the illustration on the left, today’s choice is not based on a favourite ingredient of mine. What I prefer to feature is something which has a bit of history,…

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Tom Eats! To Be Replaced

Impending redundancy is a nasty, invidious thing. It seeps into you and shakes your sense of self worth. Fear, generally, impacts on your well being and your capacity for logical analysis. This has never happened to me before. Shall I rage against the machine, like Ned Ludd and his fellow 19th century weavers, smashing up…

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All Rise

Making hot cross buns at the weekend, my thoughts turned to yeast. Why, I pondered apart from breads and enriched breads, (traditional buns, croissants and the like) is yeast used so little these days? I then researched it a little. I found hundreds of recipes using the stuff. Back to the drawing board. So instead…

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Easter Food: Why and Why Not?

On Sunday I attended an excellent performance of Bach’s St John Passion at St Giles Cathedral, the choir in extra fine form. It was sung in the original German. Fortunately the programme included a translation. With Easter approaching, I got to thinking about its traditional food and the symbolism. If you were brought up in…

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The Rice, The Table and The Asparagus

It’s Indonesian, but you won’t find it in Indonesia. You’ll find it in the Netherlands, but it’s not Dutch. If you’ve been to Amsterdam, you’ll know I’m referring to the traditional feast known as the rijsttafel, a very large number of tiny plates of Indonesian food served with rice. I ate this on my first…

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Why Sourdough Won’t Be The Climax of Bread Month

Yes, one of mine I know, you were expecting Tom Cooks! Bread Month to come to a dramatic conclusion with a sourdough fanfare. I do appreciate that many of you get fairly excited about the stuff. And if we’re looking at the economic benefits of home made, making your own really scores here. Assuming you already…

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Deposit Return Scheme or Diabolical Ruddy Shambles?

In a previous existence I spent much of my time advising the licensed trade. When it came to law reforms affecting licensees, many hours were spent trying to persuade governments of the unworkability of many a scheme, and hundreds more ranting after those protestations were ignored. Lorna Slater MSP These days I live an untrammelled…

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Found A Buffalo?

Sounds like part of a bad joke, doesn’t it? Readers of a certain vintage will remember this one. – How do you know if you have an elephant in the fridge? – You can see its footprints in the butter. Sarah and Steve Mitchell Substitute buffalo for elephant and it works just as well/badly. In life, how…

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