Malta's first craft brewery Lord Chambray is starting to export a newly released beer, Special Bitter, to Germany and Italy. Special Bitter, is the fifth beer in Lord Chambray's range of beers. Samuele Imperio, managing director of Lord Chambray told Food and Wine Gazette during the first ever craft beer master class organised in Malta that a new beer, the Special Bitter which is a traditional English style bitter is now available in Germany and Italy. The beer, which was tasted in Malta for the first time last week, is characterised by an optimal balance between the scents of malts and mild notes of hops. The choice of hops have been rigorously sourced from the English countryside and give the beer its character while remaining faithful to the traditional style. This bitter ale has a medium body and a moderate carbonation that guarantees that the beer is easy to drink. Hops is added during maturation to increase the bitterness of the beer. The end result is a … [Read more...]
Italian chef Massimo Bottura launches Food for Soul to open soup kitchens around the world
World renowned chef Massimo Bottura has launched the Food for Soul organisation which is aimed at fighting food waste through creative management of daily food waste. He announced this project during the MAD symposium, organised yesterday in Sydney. Through Food for Soul, he will be supporting the opening of soup kitchens based on the Refettorio Ambrosiano model and also empowering communities around the world. Bottura is a visionary chef, who has dedicated much of last year to a project to feed Milan's poor during Expo Milan. The Refettorio Ambrosiano was a soup kitchen that was built in an abandoned theatre which brought together over 60 international chefs to cook using food leftovers from the Expo. During the 6 months of Expo, 100 volunteers washed dishes, mopped the floors and served over 10,000 healthy meals cooked from 15 tons of salvaged food. Long after Expo has left the city, the Refettorio Ambrosiano continues to serve meals 5 days every week to the homeless people of … [Read more...]
Chocolate maker Benoît Nihant seeking to expand in Brussels and beyond
Benoît Nihant, the bean to bar Belgian chocolatier is looking to expand with the opening of more shops without losing the artisanal approach that makes his chocolates so special. Having successfully opened a shop in the Belgian capital city, Brussels, and exported his chocolates to Asia, Benoît wants to open additional shops in Brussels and does not exclude openings in Antwerp and Gent though his focus for the time being is Brussels. He told Food and Wine Gazette he was actively looking for places in the area of Uccle, Waterloo and Stockel to go closer to where his customers are. His current store in Brussels is in Ixelles but it took him a long time to find it. "We had been wanting to open a shop in Brussels for a long time but we could not find a suitable place. We did not want to be near the Grand Place because it is the place where only the tourists go, we did not want to go the Sablon because that is more of a showcase, the rent is very expensive and it is why there are … [Read more...]
Tomorrow’s kitchen is the theme of MAD5
Tomorrow's Kitchen is the theme of this year's MAD5, the non-profit culinary event organised in Copenhagen by René Redzepi, chef of world famous restaurant Noma. The event is returning after a one year break and will be held on August 28 and 29. The organisers have said that this year's participants will be pushed to ask themselves two questions: What do we hope our kitchens will be like in future? And what can we do today to make those dreams a reality? The organisers of the event said that they have spent the past 18 months listening to lots of opinions and considering what needs to change in order for MAD to spark real action and fuel new initiatives in the food and restaurant industry. Apart from the usual keynote speakers and presentations, this year's event promises to be more collaborative and engaging. MAD5 is inviting visitors to the event to delve into the topics, to discuss more, and even to lead talks and discussions and become active participants rather than … [Read more...]
Brussels craft brewery converts discarded bread into beer to combat food waste
Babylone is the name of a beer created by Brussels Beer Project that is brewed with bread that would otherwise be thrown away. The innovative craft brewery in Brussels, which produces around 20 beers each year, is the brain child of Sébastien Morvan and Olivier de Brauwere. They have created the first beer of its kind using unsold bread that would otherwise go to waste. The beer takes us "back to the future" as the brewery says and is the perfect example of how to move from words to action when it comes to tackling the issue of food waste. Now, after interest from Jamie Oliver who featured the beer on his programme on Channel 4, the recipe of the Brussels based micro-brewery is also being made in London. The two co-founders of the Brussels craft brewery were recently invited to London for the launch of Toast Ale, a beer that is based on Babylone's recipe. The beer in London is brewed by Hackney Brewery and Tristram Stuart. The latter, a food waste activist, is the project … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura’s soup kitchen is going viral
Massimo Bottura's soup kitchen is going viral. After the success of the soup kitchen at the Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan which landed the Italian chef the award of European chef of the year, the chef from Modena will be working together with the Antoniano in Bologna to feed the city's poor in the evening. The Italian chef, famous for his award-winning Osteria Francescana in Modena, will be working together with Chef to Chef, a non-profit organisation in Emilia Romagna, to organise the evening service. The chef has recently announced that he wanted to replicate the experience at Refettorio Ambrosiano in different parts of Italy including Torino, Modena and in the Brazilian favelas during the forthcoming Olympic Games. The Italian chef worked throughout last year to raise awareness on food waste by creating the Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan. The project was aimed at feeding the poor by using food that would otherwise have been thrown away from the pavillions of the Milan … [Read more...]
A “Dream” come true: One tonne of food saved from going to waste each day
It is a "Dream" come true for the morning food market in Brussels. Since last September, Dream (Distribution et Recuperation d'Excedents alimentaires a Mabru) which stands for the distribution of excess food at the Mabru market in Brussels, is working to distribute over one tonne of fruit and vegetables which would otherwise go to waste. The food is delivered to associations in need. It's an initiative that we at Food and Wine Gazette would like to highlight because it shows how creative solutions can be found to combat the problem of food waste. RTFB reported today that every morning at 6am, the partners of the Dream project Mabru and the CPAS, the Social Services association in the Brussels region, collect over a tonne of fresh unsold fruits and vegetables. These are sorted, repackaged and then made available to associations in need through a technological platform. The associations place their orders and the packages are distributed to these associations which help to feed … [Read more...]
Make Food not War is theme of 10th Culinary Cinema at Berlin film festival
Make Food not War is the theme of the 10th Culinary Cinema which is being held between Sunday 14 February and Friday 19 February in Berlin. The programme of the 10th Culinary Cinema will feature eleven films on the relationship between food, culture and politics. Star chefs like Andoni Luis Aduriz, Sven Elverfeld, Michael Kempt, Sonja Frühsammer as well as Alexander Dressel will take turns to serve a menu inspired by one of the films at the Gropius Mirror Restaurant. https://vimeo.com/139784150 This year's programme will be the international premiere of Pep Gatell's documentary Off-Road, Mugaritz, Feeling a Way. Andoni Luis Aduriz, two-star chef of the Mugaritz restaurant in San Sebastián have made a film about teamwork and how to turn ideas into food without using interviews or scripted commentary. This is the second time that Aduriz will create a menu for a film shown in Berlin. Mugaritz has been ranked in the top 10 of the World's 50 Best Restaurants for the past 10 … [Read more...]
A woman’s definition of success is different – Maria Canabal of Parabere Forum
Maria Canabal, president of Parabere Forum is on a mission to raise awareness about women in the food and wine business. She tells me that the definition of success for women is different to that for a man. "That was also the conclusion of last year's forum. A women's career and definition of success is not measured by whether she has three stars. Success is not the same as for a man," Ms Canabal says. The Forum will meet in Bari next month, on 6th and 7th March to discuss and showcase women in the food and wine world. The theme for this year's forum, the second edition, is entrepreneurship. "We believe that there are three ingredients to empower women: training, mentorship and role-models. This year, we are bringing influential women who are extremely successful in the field to inspire women," Ms Canabal tells Food and Wine Gazette. Unfortunately, the top of the gastronomy world still remains 'a bit of a boy's club'. She does not mince her words when it comes to Michelin and … [Read more...]
25,000 attend the Salon du Chocolat in Brussels
Nearly 25,000 visitors made it to the Salon du Chocolat which took place over the past weekend at the Brussels Expo in the Belgian capital. The event, in its third anniversary brought together nearly 110 participants to showcase and honour Belgian chocolate craftsmanship in all its forms. In addition to the exhibitors, there were also conferences, demonstrations as well as workshops providing opportunities to visitors to learn more about chocolate and also how to use it. Among the Belgian brands taking part were the iconic Neuhaus, Godiva, Galler and Leonidas as well as the artisanal chocolatiers like Laurent Gerbaud, Joost Arijs, Jean-Philippe Darcis, Benoît Nihant, Didier Smeets and Herman Van Dender, who also shared their expertise and showed off their new creations. Among the newcomers to look out for were Euphrasie Mbamba from Sigoji, Lexane Madessis from L'Arbre a Bilous and Tom Vanthemsche from The Cacao Tree. The event kicked off on Thursday evening with the traditional … [Read more...]