September 4th, 2010 by Moli
The fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna – beloved by sushi gourmets and on the brink of extinction – could be decided within days.
The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) opened yesterday in Qatar to debate proposals banning the international trade in the fish. Delegates will also discuss moves to restrict the sale of sharks' fins.
Cites has been successful in restricting trade in big cats; great apes and elephants but this is the first time a marine species has taken centre stage.
Willem Wijnstekers, the secretary general of Cites, said there was much more support than two years ago for restricting or banning trade in many marine species, including the bluefin. "I don't think anyone has an argument against the listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna. There is no scientific argument against that."
He added that countries were turning to his organisation because tools to manage stocks were not working and that many of the oceans' commercially fished species were under threat. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says more than half of all marine fish stocks are under threat.
Plans to ban fishing and the international trade of bluefin and sharks has prompted a bitter international tussle, with Europeans and Americans pitted against the fishing nations in North Africa and Asia, especially Japan, which has already vowed to ignore any bluefin ban. The Japanese consume 80 per cent of bluefin eaten worldwide, and the ban proposal has provoked public protests in Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
Opponents claim Japanese culture is under siege and that concerns about bluefin extinction are overblown. Sushi is a popular dish in Japan, where fatty bluefin – called o-toro – sells for as much as 2,000 yen (£13) apiece in high-end Tokyo restaurants.
Canada, which has a sizeable tuna fleet, is known to oppose export bans.
Monaco, the sponsor of the proposed ban, said bluefin numbers have declined by nearly 75 per cent since 1957. Despite quotas, high-tech fisheries have drained tuna stocks in the Mediterranean and western Atlantic. Such is the demand that one fish sold recently for £111,000 at market, according to the Marine Conservation Society.
Opponents of the trade are more hopeful after the US recently backed a ban. Supporters of the proposal are now watching closely to see whether other fishing countries will join Japan's rebuff – which would allow them to sell tuna to the Japanese.
Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN's Environment Program, which administers Cites, said limiting the trade on a range of threatened species could go a long way to ensuring biodiversity. "By ensuring that the international trade in wildlife is properly regulated, Cites can assist in conserving the planet's wild fauna and flora from overexploitation and contribute to the sustainable development."
Sam Wilding, the fisheries officer for the British Marine Conservation Society, said: "These opportunities do not come around that often, and it is time for the majority to stand up to the minority that gain so much economic benefit from driving species towards the brink of extinction. We urge consumers to help by avoiding all fish on our red list and to ask where your tuna comes from, to ensure it's sustainable."
drive from www.independent.co.uk
September 3rd, 2010 by Moli
A bald penguin has been kitted out today in a new "comfier and snazzier" wetsuit to help prevent it from getting sunburnt this summer.
Ralph, a 10-year-old Humboldt penguin at Marwell Wildlife in Hampshire, was last year given a wetsuit for the first time to protect its exposed pale pink skin.
Penguins moult every year, which usually takes between four to six weeks to complete.
But Ralph loses all his feathers in the space of a few days, so new ones do not grow through in time, exposing his skin to the sun.
The wetsuit protects Ralph's sensitive skin until his new feathers have grown through, which his keepers think will take about a month.
This year keepers at the zoo near Winchester have redesigned Ralph's outfit with sticky fabric strips to enable them to adjust it to make it more comfortable as the new feathers grow.
The made-to-measure suit, which was created from neoprene, a rubber used to make wetsuits for humans, also has the penguin's name emblazoned on it.
Dave White, head keeper for the penguins, said: "The stretchy material lets Ralph move around normally.
"The added benefit of the Velcro means that as his new feathers grow through we will be able to adjust its size, so it's always comfy for him.
"At the moment he is sitting on two eggs with his partner Coral and she seems happy enough with his new look for this year."
Humboldt penguins live along the coasts of Peru and Chile within the reaches of the Humboldt Current, a cold current of water running from the Antarctic to the equator, from which they take their name.
Humboldt penguins are thought to be declining in number, possibly due to El Nino increasing water temperatures and reducing food supply.
drive from www.independent.co.uk
September 2nd, 2010 by Moli
It is one of the most galling experiences known to the modern diner. Having finally succeeded in securing a table at a top restaurant at the hour of your choosing, no sooner have you been seated when you become aware of a panicky feeling that your allotted time in this gastronomic promised land is rapidly ticking away.
Restaurants forced to contend with the economic downturn, or simply to cope with the overwhelming appetite of patrons for sampling their wares, are increasingly resorting to the practice of "table-turning" – asking customers with reservations to leave their table by an appointed time so other diners can be seated.
Research shows that in at least five restaurants across Britain, diners pay more than £1 a minute for the pleasure of eating. The Plate of the Nation study of more than 100 restaurants, carried out by the lastminute.com website, found that 15 per cent imposed a maximum dining time at busy periods. More than half of the 2,000 diners questioned said they found being asked to "sup up and ship out" annoying.
The most expensive restaurant per minute was the Michelin-starred Hakkasan, a celebrated hangout of Premiership footballers and passing Hollywood A-listers in search of a top-end Chinese meal in London's Soho. With an average meal for two at £148 and a two-hour time limit, sitting down to eat there is likely to cost £1.23 every 60 seconds.
A spokesman for the restaurant, which also has branches in Miami and Abu Dhabi, said: "Since our launch, Hakkasan has consistently been one of the most popular restaurants in London and, to satisfy this demand, we operate a time limit on our tables, a policy all of our valued and loyal customers are aware of."
Second on the list was Midsummer House in Cambridge, with two Michelin stars, which charged £1.16 per minute. Its head chef, Daniel Clifford, said that of its 12 tables only two were rotated on Friday and Saturday nights when demand was at its peak. He said guests were allotted three hours and had the option of taking coffee in the lounge or in the garden overlooking the River Cam.
The other three restaurants which charged more than £1 per minute were Zuma in Knightsbridge, South-west London, Hibiscus in Mayfair, central London, and Simpsons, of Edgbaston, Birmingham. Mark Bower, the lifestyle director at lastminute.com, said diners understood that restaurants had to make money
But he added: "When they are being asked to spend more than £1 per minute for their meal, foodies will question the value of their chosen eatery. We are urging diners to check table-turning policies when booking and to negotiate just how much time they have for their meal to avoid feeling rushed."
drive from www.independent.co.uk
September 1st, 2010 by Moli
Plump, sweet scallops are one of the most delicious things found in the seas around England. The scallops we cook in the restaurant come from Dorset – "hand-dived" and very fresh, they are a treat to eat.
Look for scallops that are hand-dived, as this is important – being dredged in large quantities by nets from the bottom of the ocean disturbs their equilibrium, and is bad for the environment.
Also, use fresh rather than frozen, because they taste so much better – when frozen, they become waterlogged, do not brown easily during cooking and tend to taste a little like cotton wool.
Cook in the hottest pan possible – preferably non-stick – no more than a minute on each side, so that their centre is just cooked through; overcooking causes them to become rubbery and unpalatable. Allow three per person as a starter or five as a main course. Serve while piping hot.
Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, Church Lane, Richmond, Surrey, tel: 020 8605 3627, petershamnurseries.com
Scallops with corn purée and chilli oil
Scallops and corn work well together. Corn is at its best right now, sweet and firm. Look for corn with the husks left on; the kernels should be plump and tight. This purée also works well with chicken, girolles and seafood – crab, prawns and clams.
Serves 4
For the corn purée
3 fresh corn cobs, husks removed
120ml/4fl oz water
11/2 tsp sugar
One dried chilli, crumbled
40g/1oz butter
50ml/2fl oz crème fraîche
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
drive from www.independent.co.uk
August 31st, 2010 by Moli
Devourer of asteroids, swallower of comets: Jupiter is a world to be reckoned with. It's the giant of our Solar System: a planet that could contain 1,300 Earths.
And there's no mistaking it in the sky at the moment, because it lies at "opposition" on 21 September – opposite the Sun in the sky, and closest to the Earth. At almost 600m kilometres away, "close" is relative. But Jupiter is vast (more than 140,000km across), and made almost entirely of hydrogen gas, so it reflects sunlight well. This month, it lords it over all the stars in the sky, and is on show all night.
You need a small telescope to get the best out of our mighty neighbour. But a good pair of binoculars, well-supported, will reveal its four brightest moons, and most mysterious of the four is Europa. Its brilliant-white, icy surface may cover a deep, moon-encompassing ocean, which – due to pummelling by Jupiter's gravity – could be warm enough to support aquatic life. And these large moons are just the tip of the iceberg: at the time of writing, the giant planet has 63 moons in orbit. Through a telescope, the king of the planets looks like a cross between a tangerine and a humbug. Despite its enormous girth, Jupiter's spin is the fastest in the Solar System – its "day" lasts only 9 hours 55 minutes – which flattens the poles and causes the equator to bulge. The same dizzy rotation draws Jupiter's clouds out into streaks of ammonia and methane. Driven by the planet's vast reserves of internal energy, these cloud systems are stormy and continually changing. Jupiter is not a planet you would want to get up close and personal with: even space probes need special shielding from its powerful magnetic field and lethal radiation belts.
What's Up
King of the night is most definitely Jupiter, blazing in the south. If you're feeling adventurous use Jupiter as a guide to the more distant Uranus. During the week of 15 to 22 September, find Jupiter in your binoculars or telescope, then move them slightly upwards. The first reasonably bright "star" you'll come across is Uranus – it's about the same brightness as Jupiter's main moons.
Above Jupiter lies the large faint square of stars that depicts Pegasus, the flying horse. To the right, the Summer Triangle is marked by three much brighter stars, Vega, Deneb and Altair.
Brilliant Venus shines low down in the evening twilight, in the south-west, at the start of September, but it's now slipping down towards the Sun. The thin crescent Moon pairs up with the Evening Star on 11 September. The second half of the month sees Mercury appearing in the morning sky. You'll spot the innermost planet low in the east around 5.30am. The fainter star above it is Regulus, marking the heart of Leo (the lion).
Diary
1: 6.22 pm Moon at Last Quarter
8: 11.30 am New Moon
15: 6.50 am Moon at First Quarter
19: Mercury at greatest elongation west
21: Jupiter at opposition
23: 4.09 am Autumn Equinox; 10.17 am Full Moon
drive from www.independent.co.uk
August 30th, 2010 by Moli
A Chinese worker makes his way along a construction site in Suining, Sichuan province. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world's second-largest economy behind the US, according to government figures released on Monday.
The milestone, though anticipated, is the most striking evidence yet of China's ascendance and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.
The recognition came early on Monday, when Tokyo said that Japan's economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China's $1.33 trillion. Experts say unseating Japan — and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain — underscores China's growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the US as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030. America's gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.
"This has enormous significance," said Nicholas Lardy, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "It reconfirms what's been happening for the better part of a decade: China has been eclipsing Japan economically. For everyone in China's region, they're now the biggest trading partner rather than the US or Japan."
But while Japan's economy is mature and its population ageing, China is in the throes of urbanisation and is far from developed, analysts say, meaning it has a much lower standard of living, as well as a lot more room to grow. Just five years ago, China's GDP was about half of Japan's.
China's per capita income is more on a par with those of impoverished nations like Algeria, El Salvador and Albania – close to $3,600 – than that of the US, where it is about $46,000.
Yet there is little disputing that under the Communist party, China has begun to reshape the way the global economy functions by virtue of its growing dominance of trade, its huge hoard of foreign exchange reserves and US government debt and its voracious appetite for natural resources.
China is already a major driver of global growth. The country's leaders have grown more confident on the international stage and have begun to assert greater influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with things like special trade agreements and multibillion-dollar resource deals.
"They're exerting a lot of influence on the global economy and becoming dominant in Asia," said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell and former head of the International Monetary Fund's China division. "A lot of other economies in the region are essentially riding on China's coattails, and this is remarkable for an economy with a low per capita income."
Beijing is also beginning to shape global dialogues on a range of issues, analysts said. Last year it asserted that the dollar must be phased out as the world's primary reserve currency.
drive from www.guardian.co.uk
August 28th, 2010 by Moli
The vaults rose up as high as the city walls, bearing reeds richly bedded in bitumen and gypsum. The layered galleries peered each beyond its neighbour to reach the sunlight, and water drawn from the river was pumped through conduits up to the highest level. The topsoil was thick enough to root even the largest trees...
These were the renowned Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as described by the Greek historians Diodorus and Callisthenes, and the earliest example of vertical farming – at least according to Dan Caiger-Smith. His company, Valcent, is taking the concept into the 21st century, recently launching the first farm of its kind at Paignton Zoo in Devon.
It's a beguilingly simple idea: make maximum use of a small amount of space by filling glass houses with plant beds stacked high one above the other.
Financial and environmental pressures on modern agriculture have sparked new interest in vertical farming. With global population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, competition for land to grow both food and energy crops will become increasingly fierce. Four-fifths of us will live in dense urban areas, and increasing awareness of the carbon and water footprints of well-travelled food will have pushed locally grown produce even further up the list of desirables.
So it's easy to see the appeal of a system which, its proponents insist, can surpass the productivity of existing agricultural spaces by up to 20 times, while using less water, cutting mileage and energy costs, and delivering food security.
"It answers so many of the big questions of the future", says Caiger-Smith.
Valcent's system requires about the same amount of energy as having a home computer on for ten hours a day. That's enough to produce half a million lettuces a year – and, the company claims, seven times less than is required to grow the same crop on a traditional farm.
The 100 square metre farm at Paignton Zoo grows leaf vegetables for animal feed. It applies a technique called hydroponics, where plants are grown in nutrient rich solutions instead of soil. Stacked in trays eight layers high, the crops are continually rotated to ensure that all have adequate access to air and sunlight. The system also allows nutrients that have not been directly taken up by the plants to be collected and recirculated, along with the water, reducing usage and minimising waste.
This is just the beginning, says Caiger-Smith. His company now has more than 150 clients around the world queuing up to see how hydroponics could meet the needs of human food production, too.
How indeed. Inspiring concepts and artists' impressions abound, but with none actually up and running yet, how can vertical farms meet the impressive efficiency and production claims being made for them?
By cutting lots of corners. For a start, they remove the need for tractors and other fuel-dependent equipment. Distances to ship the produce from grower to retailer to consumer are also slashed. As Jeanette Longfield, Co-ordinator of the food and farming non-profit group, Sustain, puts it: "Intensive agriculture is currently entirely dependent on fossil fuels, from its use of nitrogen-based fertilisers to mechanical equipment, transport and refrigeration – and so urban agriculture really makes a lot of sense". In particular, Longfield sees "great potential for perishables that don't travel well".
drive from www.guardian.co.uk
August 26th, 2010 by Moli
The British Asparagus Festival
From now until 21 June
Vale of Evesham
Having begun on St George's Day, the highlight of this quintessentially English event is the festival day on 31 May. Throughout the month Asparabus Tours give you the chance to explore the area and discover the secrets of this vegetable.
Britishasparagusfestival.org
Loch Fyne Food Fair
15-16 May 2010
Inveraray Castle grounds, Argyll
Perfect for a romantic weekend away, this year's fair moves to the beautiful grounds of Inveraray Castle. Taste some of the finest West Coast food, from Loch Fyne's own oysters to Orkney herrings and Inverloch cheese, then dance it all off at the ceilidh on Saturday night.
Free admission to the fair, tickets £10 for the ceilidh
Lochfyne.com
Watercress Festival
16 May
Alresford, Hampshire
A celebration of watercress and its versatility. Award-winning chefs will give demonstrations at the food market while a cavalcade of jazz musicians, Morris dancers and kids herald the arrival of the Watercress King and Queen. This year the public can vote for the winner of the Eateries Award.
Watercressfestival.org
Taste Festival
28-31 May, 17-20 June, 16-18 July
Edinburgh, London, Birmingham
Some of the finest restaurants in three UK cities will decamp to city-centre parks to take part in Taste 2010. Although this is typically more expensive than other festivals, last year's events were a sell-out success with this year's expected to follow suit. Chefs Gary Rhodes, Michel Roux Jr, and Anna Hansen will appear in London.
Tastefestivals.com
Bristol Eco Veggie Fayre
29-30 May
The Amphitheatre and Waterfront Square, Bristol
Whether you're a seasoned vegetarian, or just want to find out more about living in a veggie and eco-friendly way, you'll find what you're looking for here. Featuring 140 stalls packed with information and cooking tips, juice bars, Fair Trade advice and nutritional guidance. A kids' area and live music complete a well-rounded schedule.
Tickets: adults £6.50; concessions £3.50.
Bristol.ecoveggiefayre.co.uk
Hampton Court Palace Foodie Festival
29-31 May
Hampton Court Palace
Michelin-Starred chefs will be on hand at this one demonstrating some of their most flavoursome recipes. Lessons will also be available for youngsters aiming to outdo their parents. A Veuve Clicquot champagne bar and tasting sessions delivered by drinks experts provide a much-varied schedule to suit everyone.
Tickets: adults £15; concessions £8.
Foodiesfestival.com
Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival
18-20 June 2010
Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham
Featuring champagne and cider gardens and a real ale marquee, this festival is the perfect way to while away a summer's afternoon. Guest of honour Antonio Carluccio will lead a programme of demonstrations, and there will be plenty of opportunity to sample and buy food from more than 150 local producers.
Tickets: £3 for Friday and £4 Saturday and Sunday (pre-booked)
Garden-events.com
Hampshire Festival
1-31 July 2010
Throughout Hampshire
A huge range of foodie events will be held across the county as Hampshire celebrates its 10th annual food festival. You can learn how to write a cook book with Rose Elliot, try a gourmet dinner with James Martin, take one of the many farm tours, or just sit back and let the kids do the work with special children's bakery classes.
drive from www.independent.co.uk
August 25th, 2010 by Moli
Galaxy or Yorkie? Walkers Sensations or McCoy's? The choices we make at the supermarket checkout are less down to personal taste or preference than we might like to think. Forget sexual stereotyping, gender targeting is the latest mantra as food marketers exploit the hidden cues in the packaged foods and drinks we buy. It's what makes Food Doctor Easy Goodness Roasted Basil Chicken with Puy Lentils & Spelt more appealing to many women than the prospect of a bowl of Mr Brain's Pork Faggots.
Take Eve, a light alcoholic drink being launched nationally by brewing giant Carlsberg next month. It's not just in the name. The drink is flavoured with exotic fruits like lychee and passion fruit, the logo is looped and curling. Eve is, the company boldly declares, "a synonym for women and femininity". Or Koko by Cadbury, the confectioner's recently-launched chocolate gift selection which aside from the passing nod to Coco Chanel in its name underlines its fashionista credentials with luxurious pink and brown, ribboned packaging, and was sold alongside exclusive Koko-inspired silver necklaces designed by fashion label PPQ in Selfridges at launch.
Then consider Pot Noodle Doner Kebab with its meaty promise of Turkish lamb in a black plastic tub and neon logo described by Graham Walker, flavour development manager at Unilever, the food company behind it, as "the ultimate man-food snack". Or Wrigley's 5, the eponymous gum manufacturer's new sugar-free gum. With assorted flavours boasting names like Cobalt and Pulse, and its predominantly black, ribbed packaging, some have likened the packaging design to a box of condoms.
"Food companies have many cues to play around with when it comes to making sure they attract the particular consumers they want to appeal to. Actual content, flavour, and consistency are just the beginning," says consumer psychologist Cathrine Jansson-Boyd of Anglia Ruskin University. "We tend to purchase things that are an extension of who we are and who we want to be seen to be – that's why much marketing is still channelled along gender lines, albeit increasingly subtly, and food is just another extension of this."
In the drinks market, for example, lager is predominantly, if not exclusively, marketed at young men and – surprise surprise – in the UK it is 18 to 34-year-old men who predominantly drink it. Trouble is, sales are falling – down 10 per cent between 2004 and 2009 – due to people cutting back on their drinking, plus the recession and beer companies' failure to broaden their appeal beyond this core audience.
"British beer marketing has a long tradition of targeting men through male humour and sport. The bitter flavouring of many domestic beers, meanwhile, means far fewer women drink beer here than in other countries like Ireland, the US and parts of Asia," says Harriet Easton, a Shrewsbury-based student entrepreneur who in her gap year developed a pale ale for women called Harry's Beer, which she now hopes to roll out nationally. Attempts by established brewers to woo women drinkers are a "logical next step", she says, and long overdue. Molson Coors, for one, recently trialled a women's lager flavoured with dragon fruit and green tea, and has since launched a campaign to encourage women's appreciation of beer.
drive from www.independent.co.uk
August 24th, 2010 by Moli
As we discussed a couple of months ago, most of us, even the most ardent food lover, have at least one food that they just can't bear. Offal is a common culprit (though I suspect a lot of that is about the idea of it, rather than the taste), as well as fish that's too fishy and the much-maligned sprout.
The flavour and fragrance of coriander is disliked to such an extent by some that it is capable of turning otherwise gastronomically adventurous types into overgrown toddlers, clamping their mouths shut and making scrunched up faces at the very thought of a sprinkling on their chilli con carne.
Neuroscientist Jay Gottfried, interviewed recently by the esteemed Harold McGee, put forward his theory that the specific disgust coriander can inspire is linked to its smell, which many people find soapy. He believes that our brains fit food smells into patterns of already known foodstuffs, and if something is perceived as belonging to a different group – cleaning products, in this case - the brain will reject it as being something we should not eat. Evolutionary biology at work on a basic level.
He also believes you can train yourself out of such preferences, by repeating your exposure to the disliked taste and so changing the group in which your brain places the flavour. My experience with coriander seems to bear this out – I used to hate it, now it's an essential ingredient in many of my favourite dishes. But I can't remember exactly how or when the change took place.
Though I am now firmly in the pro-coriander camp, there are plenty of things I dislike just as strongly as ever. Horseradish, in particular. Though I love chilli and spiciness I've always struggled with this family of flavours. It took me a long time to love wasabi, following an unfortunate first experience of sushi when I mistook it for avocado. I am also a mustard wimp, enjoying the mild Dijon varieties but shying away from anything nostril-flaringly strong. So in an attempt to see if I can change my reaction to this common condiment I thought I'd try a not very scientific experiment.
The jar of horseradish I buy isn't overly strong, but when I open it for an initial sniff test, it definitely has the nose-wrinkling combination of sweet and musty that I so dislike. Still, I soldier on and get stuck in. Time for the first tasting.
The first flavour I notice is sweetness, unpleasantly so, then a burning heat, then a back of the throat translation of the musty smell into taste. Ugh. Not a good start. Obviously horseradish isn't designed to be eaten alone, so I try it with its classic partner, a slice of beef. It's OK; the predominant flavour is of vinegar, but then I have wrapped the meat around the horseradish in an attempt to smother its flavour with steak.
Taste scientist John Prescott believes that pairing a disliked food with a liked flavour such as saltiness is one way to help change your reaction to the food, so I take my pot of horseradish to a barbecue, and put a dollop on a bit of chicken drumstick, all crisp skin and salty marinade. It's significantly better. More mustardy heat, with less of the earthy note that I can't get on with. A bit on a potato, inspired by the serving suggestion on the side of the pot that urges me to try horseradish mash, is less successful. According to Prescott's theories, this could be because of the fat contained in the chicken skin – pairing a flavour with an energy rich food, full of fat or sugar, means your body is more likely to respond well to it.
I decide to test the theory that much of what governs our taste preferences is smell, and try the sauce while holding my nose. Aside from making me feel like a bit of an idiot, it's a revelation – the weird combination of sweetness and heat is still there, and I don't like the texture (although this could well be due to the somewhat downmarket brand of horseradish I bought) but the lack of rooty, attic-dusty smell makes it far more palatable.
drive from www.independent.co.uk
Previous page