We are fast approaching Christmas and for those regulars who like this weekly round-up of links to interesting articles I come across on food and wine, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a great week ahead whether you are on holiday or busy working.
The Italian culinary world was shocked with a news which saw Massimo Bottura reveal that he may be moving his exceptional Osteria Francescana to London. The news was revealed by Bloomberg in an interview with the Modenese chef and took even the journalist by surprise.
Gambero Rosso, the Italian food and wine publication called this a ‘shock’. Bottura said that it is something he has been discussing with his wine for the past six months. “The most important ingredient I have is my brain and my brain is going to be very easy to take with me to London, or New York, or Tokyo, or Hong Kong, wherever,” he says. On that count he is right.
There is no question that French cuisine is feeling the pressure at least in the media. The British newspaper The Telegraph has revealed that France is launching a diplomatic offensive to foil what it claims is an “Anglo-Saxon” plot to “dethrone the country as the world’ top culinary destination. France’s foreign minister has ordered a ‘gastro-diplomacy drive which also includes “radically easing” immigration rules for cooks wanting to work with the finest French chefs, and a project to promote French cuisine in hundreds of embassies around the world.
Still in France, (and in French) there is a report about wine caves in Saumur will soon be used as data centres.
Here is a brilliant story about the Real Junk Food Project , an initiative taken by a 29-year-old trained chef, Adam Smith who feeds his punters on goods that would otherwise be thrown away by supermarkets, independent grocers and food banks. He has a ‘pay as you feel’ policy – allowing customers to pay what they feel the can, and if that is nothing, they can help with the washing up. Well done for this initiative.
It is an old article from the Guardian but I came across it this week and reveals a study which has cast doubts on the ability of professional wine tasters to judge wines consistently. We have written earlier this month about our humbling experience during a wine tasting and this seems to confirm the how subjective and difficult tasting can be.
On the subject of wine and descriptions, David White has written a brilliant article about descriptions on a tasting note. To be perfectly honest, we are not big fans of tasting notes which give ridiculous descriptions to wine such as “smells of tar, wet leaves, black pepper and blueberries.” It may indeed be time to rethink how we describe wine.
And to conclude, although not directly related to food and wine, we found the following opinion piece by Brittany Bronson on a university professor working as a waiter to make ends meet thought-provoking.
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