Let's Go Out Again is the name of a book published last month by Gestalten. It's a stunning book about architecture and restaurants, bars and unusual food places. The cover caught our attention because it features the restaurant The Jane by Sergio Herman and Nick Bril in Antwerp (Read our interview with Sergio Herman here). The book is edited by Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann and Michelle Galindo. It looks at how interior designers and architects worldwide are working together with chefs and restaurateurs to create new concepts to make going to a restaurant a multisensory experience. In the interview with Food and Wine Gazette, Sergio Herman spoke about the detail they had gone into to make The Jane an eclectic experience for diners, making it simpler than his former restaurant Oud Sluis, but without compromising on quality or presentation. The location is all the more stunning and Sergio Herman defined it as a 'once in a lifetime project'. The dining experience has been changing … [Read more...]
Top 10 books on food and wine for Christmas
As the Christmas season approaches it's always great to receive tips on what to buy, particularly if you are at a loss. For a food and wine lover there is nothing like receiving a good book for Christmas. Here is a list of some of our favourite books on food and wine. We are sure you will not be disappointed. We have reviewed some of the books in more detail so if you are interested you can take a look in the Book Review section on Food and Wine Gazette. Here are our top 10 books on food and wine: 1. Massimo Bottura: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef: The top book of the year must be Massimo Bottura's Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef. This is a fantastic book about food, cooking and creativity. It is not your run of the mill recipe book and unless you are a really dedicated cook, you are unlikely to replicate most of these creations. But what the book does is bring you the stories behind the dishes of one of the world's most famous restaurants. It's also a wake up call to follow … [Read more...]
The importance of cooking and how it can change your life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7kwfE3cJQ Home cooking is extremely important for health and it can change your life. This is the message Michael Pollan gives in the above lecture as he is presents the book Cooked: A natural history of transformation launched earlier this year. We have linked to this video in our weekly reads but felt that the message was so important that it would be good to summarise it for people who might not have 20 minutes to watch it. He speaks about fast food companies and notes that when you let fast food companies cook your food, you end up with vast monocultures of soya, corn and animals. The reason for this is that fast food companies and food processors push to drive the costs down relentlessly by forcing economies of scale and efficiency. Pollan gives the experience of Mcdonalds and their french fries. He says that they use a potato which is unusually long and difficult to grow. If it has blemishes they will not buy it. This forces farmers … [Read more...]
A review of Massimo Bottura’s great book Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef
It is no secret that I have been waiting for the publication of Massimo Bottura: Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef for the past months. Published on 6 October by Phaidon, I have to say that this book went way beyond my expectations, despite the fact that the anticipation was high. For those who are not familiar with Massimo Bottura, this Italian chef is considered to be the most avant garde Italian chef in the world. His restaurant, Osteria Francescana has three Michelin stars and is at the moment considered to be the third restaurant in the world in the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards. In 2011, he was also given the Chef's Choice as the best chef in the world by his colleagues. The book, Never Trust a Skinny Chef, which I read from start to finish in two days, is an exceptional read. Having had the pleasure to meet Massimo and listen to him explain his philosophy of cooking, reading his book was actually like listening to him explain the creative process that has gone into … [Read more...]