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| Letters From London |
| Humorous Views on London Culture, Royals, Gossip and Politics |
IF IT’S TUESDAY, IT’S SPAGHETTI BOLONESE - 21 March 2007
Even the expat “escargot pour moi” French have acknowledged London as a culinary capital. No
more soggy chips, tasteless take-a-ways, sugary baked beans. These French, who have made
South Kensington a ‘Little Paris’, prefer baguettes bought locally. Mon Dieu! However, after the
report today, they might have a change of mind.
A dismal 4.1 dishes make up the gastronomic repertoire of the average Brit. Further statistics
reveal only 3.5 for men and 4.5 for women. Those 25-34 can cook up almost 5 dishes while
those 45-54 can whip up only 3.2 dishes. 7 days a week, 4.5 weeks a month and repast relish
could get a bit repetitious. If it’s Tuesday, it’s spaghetti Bolognese.
Spaghetti Bolognese, stir fries, bangers and mash, fish and chips - the preferred winners.
Obviously this does not take into consideration the most popular British dish – chicken tikka
masala – takeaway of course. Very international.
6.1 million scarf up spaghetti Bolognese at least twice a week. Every Tuesday, every Thursday?
That adds up to 670 million times a year; 20 million plates piled high with pasta. Mama mia.
Peckish? Finishing off a few twiglets…crunching salt ‘n vinegar crisps…a Kit Kat for puds
ingested in front of the telly. Let the entertainment begin. Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson,
Jaimie Oliver, Gary Rhodes, Antony Worrall Thompson, Marco Pierre White… whose individual
egos could block out the sun at noon offer us their handiness in their restaurants, books,
magazines, Sunday supplements, on television. Britain is inundated with cookery keenness.
Big Cook Little Cook, The F Word, Soapstar Superchef, Saturday Kitchen, The Hairy Bikers Ride
Again, A Taste of My Life, Coastal Kitchen, Daily Cooks, Ready Steady Cook, Rick Stein’s Food
Heroes, Working Lunch. Wait. That last one is a daily business news programme. Is there going
to be an exam? Match the chef with the show.
Mind you, one-third of food bought in British shops ends up in rubbish bins. 6.7m tonnes of
unwanted, neglected, forgotten food a year.
Binned foodstuff accounts for almost one-fifth (19%) of domestic waste. Researchers listed tea
bags (with life still in them), peelings (all the vitamins contained in the veggie), bones – (assuming
meat, fish or fowl) – bread and cakes. Cakes. Now there is a mystery.
Duplication, fridge temperatures, indulged children, inability to read –not quite – simply unused by
‘best by date’, have been blamed for all the tossed out victuals.
The government Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) found that a typical household
bought 15kg of food a week, putting around 5kg in household waste. Surely it’s all those 3 for 2
ready-meals.
“Our research has found that about half of the food we throw away could have been eaten,” said
Jennie Price, the Wrap chief executive. “The striking point which emerges from the research is
that only 10% of those asked realised they were throwing much food away.” Noctambulation the
excuse then?
Landfills filled to capacity. Not to worry. The ever forward-thinking government is always ready
with a creative, imaginative solution. They are now planning to replace once a week rubbish pick
up with a two week programme. Good plan. Put in your diary.
This well thought out idea clearly takes into account urban foxes which have become very nearly
household pets. Bin rummaging for all that edible food every night. They probably have personal
preferences by now. Bangers and mash vs spaghetti Bolognese. Where are those statisticians?
There have been reports of some foxes casually entering ground floor flats to pop in for a bit of
evening telly. Pass the crisps. Kate Moss visibly wants to befriend them. She has been out and
about in an enormous fox fur puff of a jacket adorning her skinny little body. And then there are
the rats….
Julian Baggini’s new book, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind presents a
rather unique perspective. He’s quite sure that the English are very bad at long lazy lunches.
Baggini has decided that “the puritan in them can’t see the point of hanging around any longer
than it takes to get the food down you…[he argues] the English have a comparative lack of
interest in food…a food-as-fuel mentality.” Surely that explains the frenetic increase of organic
foods, organic superstores and shops, organic farmer’s markets, organic delivery services - the
profusion of speciality shops from chocolate to coffee and restaurants of every ethnic
persuasion, and then there are those 43 Michelin-starred. I beg to differ Mr Baggini; I’d say they
were obsessed.
Even the expat “escargot pour moi” French have acknowledged London as a culinary capital. No
more soggy chips, tasteless take-a-ways, sugary baked beans. These French, who have made
South Kensington a ‘Little Paris’, prefer baguettes bought locally. Mon Dieu! However, after the
report today, they might have a change of mind.
A dismal 4.1 dishes make up the gastronomic repertoire of the average Brit. Further statistics
reveal only 3.5 for men and 4.5 for women. Those 25-34 can cook up almost 5 dishes while
those 45-54 can whip up only 3.2 dishes. 7 days a week, 4.5 weeks a month and repast relish
could get a bit repetitious. If it’s Tuesday, it’s spaghetti Bolognese.
Spaghetti Bolognese, stir fries, bangers and mash, fish and chips - the preferred winners.
Obviously this does not take into consideration the most popular British dish – chicken tikka
masala – takeaway of course. Very international.
6.1 million scarf up spaghetti Bolognese at least twice a week. Every Tuesday, every Thursday?
That adds up to 670 million times a year; 20 million plates piled high with pasta. Mama mia.
Peckish? Finishing off a few twiglets…crunching salt ‘n vinegar crisps…a Kit Kat for puds
ingested in front of the telly. Let the entertainment begin. Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson,
Jaimie Oliver, Gary Rhodes, Antony Worrall Thompson, Marco Pierre White… whose individual
egos could block out the sun at noon offer us their handiness in their restaurants, books,
magazines, Sunday supplements, on television. Britain is inundated with cookery keenness.
Big Cook Little Cook, The F Word, Soapstar Superchef, Saturday Kitchen, The Hairy Bikers Ride
Again, A Taste of My Life, Coastal Kitchen, Daily Cooks, Ready Steady Cook, Rick Stein’s Food
Heroes, Working Lunch. Wait. That last one is a daily business news programme. Is there going
to be an exam? Match the chef with the show.
Mind you, one-third of food bought in British shops ends up in rubbish bins. 6.7m tonnes of
unwanted, neglected, forgotten food a year.
Binned foodstuff accounts for almost one-fifth (19%) of domestic waste. Researchers listed tea
bags (with life still in them), peelings (all the vitamins contained in the veggie), bones – (assuming
meat, fish or fowl) – bread and cakes. Cakes. Now there is a mystery.
Duplication, fridge temperatures, indulged children, inability to read –not quite – simply unused by
‘best by date’, have been blamed for all the tossed out victuals.
The government Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) found that a typical household
bought 15kg of food a week, putting around 5kg in household waste. Surely it’s all those 3 for 2
ready-meals.
“Our research has found that about half of the food we throw away could have been eaten,” said
Jennie Price, the Wrap chief executive. “The striking point which emerges from the research is
that only 10% of those asked realised they were throwing much food away.” Noctambulation the
excuse then?
Landfills filled to capacity. Not to worry. The ever forward-thinking government is always ready
with a creative, imaginative solution. They are now planning to replace once a week rubbish pick
up with a two week programme. Good plan. Put in your diary.
This well thought out idea clearly takes into account urban foxes which have become very nearly
household pets. Bin rummaging for all that edible food every night. They probably have personal
preferences by now. Bangers and mash vs spaghetti Bolognese. Where are those statisticians?
There have been reports of some foxes casually entering ground floor flats to pop in for a bit of
evening telly. Pass the crisps. Kate Moss visibly wants to befriend them. She has been out and
about in an enormous fox fur puff of a jacket adorning her skinny little body. And then there are
the rats….
Julian Baggini’s new book, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind presents a
rather unique perspective. He’s quite sure that the English are very bad at long lazy lunches.
Baggini has decided that “the puritan in them can’t see the point of hanging around any longer
than it takes to get the food down you…[he argues] the English have a comparative lack of
interest in food…a food-as-fuel mentality.” Surely that explains the frenetic increase of organic
foods, organic superstores and shops, organic farmer’s markets, organic delivery services - the
profusion of speciality shops from chocolate to coffee and restaurants of every ethnic
persuasion, and then there are those 43 Michelin-starred. I beg to differ Mr Baggini; I’d say they
were obsessed.
