Gastropod, w/e 23 July, 1999
Russell Cronin
week ending next Friday, which is really designed to be read on a web browser
at http://www.gastropod.co.uk.
This version summarises the stories and includes written web links. I do hope
you enjoy it; let me know what you think and please allow me to remind you to
take the time to vote in The Gastropod's on-line poll to find a new name for
The Independent's lame food and drink gossip column, since the name they've
been using - Gastropod!- is taken!
WHERE'S THE BEEF: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#news
Die hard carnivores will have raised a hearty cheer, and those cattle farmers
who are still in business might have at least managed a sigh of relief, with
the announcement that the worldwide ban on British beef, imposed more than
three years ago in response to Mad Moo, will end on August 1.
The government says its response to the beef crisis means British beef is now
safer than that from anywhere else in the EU. Britain still has more reported
cases of BSE than any other EU country, but Portuguese beef remains banned,
possibly until August 2000, and Belgian beef is the latest product from that
country to be blacklisted in the UK as a result of the on-going dioxin scandal
(see below). So, while the British BSE battle has ended in truce, the
world-wide 'what's in the beef?' crisis continues on several fronts and
threatens to precipitate a full-on trade war with the USA.
http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/food/
- The Guardian had the best on-line coverage, for those who are registered to read
http://www.bse.org.uk/
- BSE Inquiry Home Page
http://hill.beef.org/eu
- certified prime by the USDA
http://www.britishmeat.org.uk
- certified sad by Gastropod
http://www.redmeat.com/
- Max Cannon's BSE antidote
THOSE BARMY BELGIANS: full story at
http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#real
As proud Belgians prepare to celebrate the ascension of King Leopold to the
throne in 1831 with massive ingestion of waffles, frites, pate, charcuterie,
carbonnade flamande, speculoos, and beer, beer, beer on Wednesday, July 21 -
their National Day - the official Belgian response to the food contamination
crisis that has seen a vast range of its products banned in the United States,
Asia, and across the EU has amounted to a massive shrug of indifference
This scandal precedes and should not be confused with the mysterious Coca-Cola
contamination crisis in which nearly 50 Belgians were hospitalized, suffering
from nausea after drinking Coke, and which caused a massively expensive
product recall, followed by a marketing effort that should win awards for its
exceptionally naff use of Flash at http://www.cocacola.be
- Belgian Coke is back!
No, this scare started in January, when 80 tons of animal feed was
contaminated with carcinogenic 'dioxins'. Abnormalities started showing up in
poultry a month later when eggs failed to hatch and chicks showed signs of
nerve defects. Cows and pigs from up to a thousand farms supplied with the
suspect feed were ordered to be destroyed and all products containing more
than 2% of any kind of dairy product or 25% of animal fat were stripped from
supermarket shelves.
However, Belgium did little to alert neighbouring countries to the crisis and
the Belgian government now faces prosecution under EC law for its complacency.
It wasn't until 4 June that Nick Brown took Emergency Action to enforce EC
Commission Decision 1999/363/EC and to safeguard UK consumers from potentially
hazardous products including pasta, mayonnaise and chocolates, which now
require certification before being exported from Belgium.
Now, The Grocer reports that the source of the scare has been traced to a fat
rendering plant in Belgium and was the result of fraudulent incorporation of
mineral oil in the animal feed fats. Ominously, the firm responsibly - Fogra -
also exported around 100 tonnes of fat to Spain in April and May this year.
RESTAURANTS: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#rest
Following Gastropod's recommendation, Chef Sylvain Ho Wing Cheong's 'Offshore'
in Holland Park Avenue was favourably reviewed by SimplyFood: "Comfortable
fish restaurant, specialising in varieties from The Indian Ocean", summarised
Mario Wyn-Jones, the former Egon Ronay inspector who leads a hand-picked team
of 14 regionally-based inspectors who are compiling what promises to be the
kind of on-line restaurant directory Gastropod was talking about a few weeks back.
Despite the ominous footnote - 'Data supplied under licence from Yellow Pages.
All rights including copyright reserved by British Telecommunications plc' -
and the conspicuous lack, so far, of user comments about the restaurants,
SimplyFood does seem to have the right idea. Plus, in an effort to build its
community, the site offers the chance to win lunch at London restaurants, R K
Stanleys or Tamarind:
http://www.simplyfood.co.uk/eatingout/
http://www.london-food.com is another contender in the on-line guide stakes
that Gastropod has hitherto overlooked, London Restaurant Review describes
itself as 'award winning'. Actually, it looks a little half-hearted, but there
is interesting content there for those who can be bothered to search,
including a reader's comment that 1 Lombard St - http://www.1lombardstreet.com
- is "overpriced and slightly disappointing." Of course, that's more-or-less
what L.O.M.B.A.R.D. stands for.
* * *
Corks popped chez Gastropod at the news that Independent supremo, Simon
Kellner, also now review restaurants for GQ magazine. This explains why he's
been busy to reply to Gastropod's letter: too busy troughing. No idea what
he's like as a restaurant reviewer, since it doesn't do to be seen reading
what the 'Pods local newsagent, rather prudishly, calls 'pornography'. But
Kellner couldn't possibly be as crap as James "Smelly" Delingpole of The
Independent on Sunday, who complained that he ordered duck confit and "ended
up with something cold, dull and tasting of minced duck". He's a caution,
ain't he? It's enough to make IoS loyalists noshtalgic for Daisy Waugh!
</P>
MARKETING: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#mark
The Belgian dioxide scandal prompted frenzied but inclonclusive discussion on
uk.food+drink.restaurants on the topic, Is Belgian Beer Safe? Gastropod
advises readers that Belgian beer can be very dangerous and is best treated
with respect, especially during (this) Belgian Beer Week, which is being
vigorously promoted by the Interbrew crew</A> with support from Belgo in the
form of print ads, featuring founder, Denis Blais and his increasingly uncanny
impersonation of Peter Sellers in What's New Pussycat. Compare the ad to this
pic: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Location/9273/whats.jpg
Belgo has been advertising for a PR director recently and his or here first
task must be to do something about the company's non-presence on the web,
where www.belgo.com is registered to an antiques business, although
belgo.co.uk was still up for grabs when Gastropod checked. The successful
candidate could pick up a few pointers from these URLs:
http://www.belgianshop.com/en/
- meta tags read like the writing on the wall at Belgo Noord
http://www.interbrew.com/index2.shtml
- yo ho ho and a case of cheap Stella
http://belgianstyle.com/mmguide/"
- handy on-line Guide to Belgian Beer
http://www.belgianexperts.com/culture.htm
- Best of all. Potentially.
* * *
Under-whelmed by the new Star Wars movie?
Spoiled your appetite by gorging on pre-release hype, or were you unable to
resist snacking on the notorious bootleg that's been floating around for the
past month?
One antidote to the flaccid Phantom Menace that promises an hour or so of
innocent pleasure is The Star Wars Cookbook</A>: Wookiee Cookies and 34 other
recipes for inter-galactic snacks, from C-3PO Pancakes to Jedi Juice Bars, not
to mention Boba Fett-ucini, Dark Side Salsa, and Greedo Burritos. In full
colour, with wipe-clean laminated pages, the book includes shiny foil stickers
featuring Star Wars characters and safe and easy tips for cooking with kids of
all ages.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811821846/gastropod
- cheaper than taking the family to the movies
EVENTS: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#out
http://www.truefood.org/news/picnic.html
- The Greenpeace Organic Picnic cum Anti-GM Protest that was scheduled for
Primrose Hill earlier this year and had to be cancelled when unprecedented
media interest caused Camden council to worry that it couldn't cope, has been
rescheduled for next Saturday, July 25, in the grounds of the National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The True Food campaign also has a rolling
programme of
events nationwide, all Summer long, including the imminent launch of The Gene
Free Jamboree a series of local events intended to Stop The Crop.
* * *
The results of last week's inaugural Clerkenwell Festival Bloody Mary
Competition, held at The Peasant as announced by the judges' foreman, Graham
Norton (who used to be a waiter, you know, before ascending to the status of
camp superstar and presenter of a net-savvy talk show), in reverse order, are:
3= Sly from Match (complex and horseradishy)
3= Michael Belben of The Eagle (limey...made 4, drank 3 himself)
2 Angelica from St John (incorporating ham stock; liquid pig)
1 Jackie from Dust (farkin'ot but beautifully presented)
Despite the judges' initial fury at feisty Jackie's insistence that she was
bound to win, they were ultimately won over by a beautifully presented and
utterly wicked mix, the secrets of which are chilies and garlic steeped in the
(Absolut) vodka and the substitution of Japanese wasabi for conventional
horseradish. Victorious Jackie (neo Gothic; pierced) carried of an inscribed
cocktail shaker and welcomes all comers to try her award-winning bloody mary
at Dust, 27 Clerkenwell Road, EC1. Those too timid, or remote, to get Dust-ed
can e-mail their congratulations to du...@dial.pipex.com
MEDIA: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#media
It's hard not to be jealous of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's apparent ability
to persuade TV companies to finance a succession of wizard wheezes, usually
involving an eccentric vehicle. First he was A Cook on the Wild Side in a
customised Land Rover; recently he's been living the Good Life, commuting to
and from River Cottage in an old red Cortina. Bastard!
Currently, Hugh is half way through another series of TV Dinners, the
voyeuristic cookery series that features real people entertaining and has won
a devoted fan club for the spaniel-haired presenter who achieved notoriety in
the last series with Rosie's Placenta Pate. "This dish must be the single most
controversial item ever prepared on a cookery programme", writes Hugh - who
evidently has never seen the legendary Keith Floyd: Too Hot For TV tape - in
his TV Dinners book, which contains the recipe that won Hugh the accolade of a
censorious letter from the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
This Wednesday, Hugh meets Sam Thi Nguyen, a violinist from Vietnam who
arrived in this country via the Hong Kong camps and has made a new home in
London, where Hugh helps to prepare a Vietnamese feast for guests including
the former Superintendent of the refugee camp where she was detained.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752213547/gastropod
- Best of TV Dinners
* * *
At 3:30pm every afternoon this week on Radio 4, Simon Parkes looks at the
development of civilisation by tracing the history of bread in a five part
series called Crumbs:
Monday: The early grains and first flat breads, born in Mesopotamia and
recreated in Gloucestershire.
Tuesday: The early history of ovens and the early leavened breads of the
Middle East.
Wednesday: The influence of rye and sourdough.
Thursday: Religious and celebratory loaves, including challah, Harvest
festival corn breads, and panettone.
Friday: The impact of the Chorleywood bread process, which paved the way for
the factory loaf.
WEBSITES: full story at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#web
http://www.maff.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde/default.htm
- MAFF last week launched an International Trade Home Page, an information
resource on the conditions for trade in live animals, semen, embryos, ova and
animal products to, from or through Great Britain. Invaluable for those
familiar with the term 'germplasm' and potentially useful for those who are
ideologically opposed to such shenanigans.
BOOK SELECTION: full review at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#books
Gastropod is now an Amazon associate, enabling you all to buy books and earn
commission for impecunious Gastropod either by following links to recommended
titles, searching for other titles from Gastropod, or visiitng Amazon's Food &
Drink section thru' the link provided.
While I am aware that Amazon sort of sucks so far as small specialist
booksellers are concerned, they offer an easy way to earn a little bit of
money. Gastropod would far rather collaborate with a UK-based independent book
seller, so if you are one, or you know one, who might be interested in selling
cookery books over the web, do get in touch.
CREDITS: full credits at http://www.gastropod.co.uk/index.html#cred