Delia Through the Decades- BBC1

BBC iPlayer is a wonderful, wonderful thing! Especially when conventional television is a bit of a trek to the other room, and you've just made yourself comfortable with a cup of peppermint tea... Tonight, my bedroom was my living room, and as the wind howled outside, I nestled under the covers to catch up on some cooking!

Often regarded as THE voice of authority when it comes to boiling an egg, or indeed, how to cook, the hardened Norwich FC fan and queen of cuisine, Delia Smith has returned to our screens. This time, rather than telling us how to bake a potato, or how to cheat, it seems Delia's turned the clock back.

As a twenty-four year old aspiring food writer, this program has acted almost as a spring-board for my seemingly unreachable goals, making them seem more real. Like me, Delia was unsure of what she wanted to do for a long time, but there was always this resounding love of food which simply wouldn't leave...


Always in a kitchen, asking questions, whether serving food, prepping vegetables, or doing the washing-up afterwards, it seems we all have humble beginnings. Delia tried her hand at many career choices before falling in with the right crowd at The Singing Chef.

I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of this show, gone are the images of Delia as a prim 60-something housewife, I'm seeing a new side to Delia, young and vibrant, not afraid to make mother angry, and I like it! She was rebellious, inquisitive and confident, and this show certainly gains favour for me as Stephen Fry voices her story and recounts her ballsy attitude to life.

A prime example of this is reflected en route to an interview with the editor of The Daily Mirror. Reality, it seems kicked in, just for a moment, and it dawned on her that she had no O-Levels, couldn't spell and couldn't type...

This is where her true genius shines though... they saw the raw talent and went with it. The next thing she knew she was baking a cake for a Rolling Stones album cover!


I only wish I had her conviction, I do have a similar gusto for all things gourmet. And like Delia, I'm focusing in on the history of cuisine, reading books about royalty, pre-historic cooking techniques and articles about fig-related bicycle tours around America- it's a good job I find this stuff fascinating!

Next week we see the move from 1960's cuisine to the 1970's, so expect pineapple and cheese on sticks and tin foil hedgehogs aplenty!

Review: An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage

For my birthday, way back in July, I received An Edible History of Humanity from my mother. She recommended it to me, and mentioned that it featured in New Scientist magazine. So was it written by an educated man, a food writer, a historian, a scientist, perhaps? I pondered...

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting a flowery book all about how Marianne Toinette may or may not have been misquoted about proclaiming; "let them eat cake". Or how something completely facile reminded the author of a certain dish that his grandma used to make him, way back when. I knew there had to be more substance to this book, just from scanning the cover.

My fascination with anthropology has been fuelled by this book, containing stark tales of people being scalped for growing certain crops and spices, about how the stubbornness of political leaders and generals led to the starvation of millions. And how we actually have food stored away within the icy realms of the Arctic, should nuclear war break out and civilisation need to start again.

This is food in relation to survival, in relation to the intrinsic shaping of societies. In coherence with the fall of one tribe, and the success of another.

Author Standage proclaims, this book is about everything but food. He speaks of its growth, production, refinement, distribution. Of how it is used as a weapon to control your enemies and strike while their defences are down, and their soldiers weak.

Standage, voices with some regret, our savage history, and how we as a nation gained position and power through the slave trade exploitation, import and export.

This book has so many facets to it, each one so wide and varied, you could easily get lost in it. This is the reason I didn't want to finish this book. This is also the reason why I want to continue reading his other works.

So raise your glasses to Mr Standage, and spare a thought for your ancestors the next time you raid the kitchen cupboard.

The Resurrection

Several years ago, I came up with a format for a website called The Pudding Pundit. Now I'm not sure if any of you visited it when it was running on The Monro website, but I've decided to give it another go. The format was simple, informative and effective, aiming to educate people as well as get them cooking. With original insight and research into the history of the pudding in question as well as fun seasonal facts and of course, a recipe.
So that's another taste of things to come for the month of September.

I'm off to the land of nod on the eve of Guy's Oyster Festival, but I'll be posting pictures and a review tomorrow on my return!
Adios amigos!

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my restaurant review blog- with a difference.

Please bear with me as I get this thing up and running and try to get my head around August's review.

In the meantime, expect the unexpected and prepare to be educated and enthralled in all things food related!

To keep you tantalised for the time being, does anyone remember this oddity of a show? Absolutely bizarre! Wonder why it didn't catch on?