This is James. This time tomorrow he hopes to be 20 - 30 metres underwater. In fact, that’s true of every day next week. Because James is a scallop diver. At 0630, he meets his two colleagues in the harbour and then the three...
It’s gonna be May on Wednesday. I know. But there we are. We humans have long celebrated the arrival of May.Take Floralia, for example. Flora was a Roman goddess of flowers, vegetation and fertility. Spring, basically. The licentious festival held in her name at...
Gil Scott-Heron’s mellifluous music might well have been made for Sunday mornings. A nerdish raking over the recent AGMs of big corporations certainly wasn’t. And yet – bear with me here – there is, perhaps, a connection of sorts. Because on Thursday, Nestlé...
It's an odd name, isn't it? And, unlike many English dishes, it doesn't benefit from being translated into high-falutin' French.'Crapaud Dans Le Trou', if anything, is worse.No one really seems to know where the name came from. There's all sorts of...
There are many reasons to love Poland and the Polish. But pretty close to the top of that list must be pierogi – their fabulously satisfying dumplings. They’re delicious, can be vegetarian or meat filled, and they're really quite easy to make. I...
Rebirth. That has to be the central message of Easter, and most of the other religious - and non religious - festivals that take place around this time of year. And it’s interesting, isn’t it, that real food is having is something...
In Cork, Ireland, there’s a butter museum. It’s remarkably – and surprisingly – interesting. One of the reasons I enjoyed my visit there so much is that it demystifies butter. Because butter ain’t complicated. We could all make it ourselves. And so last weekend,...
Salsa verde sounds so much more appealing than ‘green sauce’. But that’s what it means, obvs. There are lots of different types of salsa verde. I’m big fan of the Mexican version made with fresh tomatilloes, but getting hold of those is...
Masturbation - according to religious fundamentalist John Harvey Kellogg - was the greatest of evils. Luckily, he had invented the ‘cure’. Erm....breakfast cereal. That’s right, Tony the Tiger’s grandad believed that - in a world full of sins that needed erasing - a...
Oliver English makes films. I’ve got to know him a bit recently. And he’s become something of a hero. Take a look at the trailer for his film Feeding Tomorrow below, and I think you’ll see why. So - we are not alone.We...
Until very recently, every man, woman and child in the country would have been all too aware that this time of year was challenging, food-wise. We’re now firmly in the ‘Hungry Gap’. It’s the period between the last of the produce stored...
I was very alarmed when I read (in Kimberley Wilson's brilliant book) that human brains are getting smaller and less effective.It's because lots of folk don't get enough Omega 3, apparently.Luckily, it's fixable.Eat sardines.And anchovies.And other oily fish that are...