With all my recent baking escapades, I needed some temple food to get back on track, and kick start the regime again.Â*Â*This is just a really healthy way to cook a piece of fish without compromising on flavour.Â* I used hake, but a firmer fish like kingklip would probably work even better. Its fuss free [...]

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Food plays a massive part in Sheffield life, with an estimated £1 billion spent every year on food, and 402 restaurants and cafes in the city. Food also has an enormous impact on health, approximately 580 lives a year could be saved in Sheffield if we reduced the impact of bad diet on obesity, blood pressure and cholesterol.

The Council is taking a fresh approach to making sure we are maximising the health, economic and environmental benefits of good food in the city. The Sheffield Food Plan is currently under development, with the Food Festival providing many opportunities for residents to tell the Council what is important to them.

Councillor Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “Whether you're into traditional fare like pie and peas or you like to try new flavours from around the globe, we want to hear what you've got to say about food! Do you go to the supermarket, shop at a local grocers or one of the city's many markets or do you grow your own? Come along to the Food Festival and get stuck in: there will be loads of great opportunities for people of all ages to share their views about the food they eat.”

Chris Shaw, Director of Health Improvement at Sheffield City Council, says: “Whether it’s supporting food businesses, ensuring we eat local food as much as possible, or increasing the information available about healthy cooking – we want to know what is important to both adults and children in Sheffield about the food they eat and where it comes from.”
The Sheffield Food Plan is being funded by Sheffield - Let’s Change4Life, which is a £10 million, city wide programme focussed on tackling unhealthy weight in children and families.

Carol Weir, Sheffield - Let’s Change 4 Life Programme Director, says: "Food has a massive impact on many parts of our lives, especially our health. The Food Plan will give people in Sheffield the opportunity to eat a healthy and varied diet, learn how to cook healthy food on a budget, where to get food from locally, and most importantly to enjoy our food."

There will be a stand in the Winter Garden from Thursday 3 June to Saturday 5 June, from 12 to 3pm, where people can find out about the Food Plan and more importantly, give their views. There is a particular emphasis on consulting with children, with innovative activities such as a ‘Master Sheff’ cooking show and ‘Feely Boxes’ of mystery foods!

Freepost postcards will be given out in the city centre throughout the festival asking people what they the priorities of the Plan should be. Sheffield residents are also invited to a discussion event at Heeley City Farm on Friday 4 June at 10am to give their views.

Star chefs, crazy cookery competitions and Yorkshire’s finest fare are on the menu of Halifax’s biggest ever culinary celebration.

With only days to go before the launch of the Halifax Food & Drink Festival 2010, the full line-up has been finalised – and it promises to be a feast of fun.

“It’s our strongest line up ever. With so many brilliant chefs and producers taking part, every minute will be packed with fantastic live demonstrations, delicious flavours and wonderful Yorkshire food and drink,” said Emma Housman of Marketing Halifax.

TV favourite Kevin Woodford will be entertaining the audience throughout the festival weekend of Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6.

On the Saturday morning Kevin will host a Ready Steady Cook style battle involving The Pulse Breakfast Show presenters Alex Duffy and Becky Holmes and two of their listeners.

Later that day it will be the turn of competition winners from the Halifax Courier to come under Kevin’s expert scrutiny as they take part in Can’t Cook Won’t Cook. And he’ll judge a contest among local chefs to cook the best dish.

On the Sunday fellow TV chef Lesley Waters will join Kevin at the Piece Hall cookery theatre. Regularly seen on This Morning and Ready Steady Cook, Lesley will deploy all her gastronomic gifts when challenging the winner of the local chefs competition to a high-speed cook-off.

Then Kevin and Lesley will join together for an unmissable demonstration of fabulously creative cookery.

Yorkshire Life Food and Wine consultant Annie Stirk will be introducing a host of local star chefs during the festival, ready to whip up some tasty surprises on stage.

They will include Anita Cormac OBE and Matthew Benson-Smith from The Cooking School at Dean Clough, Halifax, proving that fabulous food can be good for you.

David Johnston, owner of the Temujin Restaurants in Halifax and Huddersfield, Lee Marshall from The Design House Restaurant, Dean Clough, and Ben Varley, head chef of The Rock at Holywell Green, will also serve up some taste sensations.

Mouthwatering Yorkshire produce will be showcased on the many festival stalls. Deliciouslyorkshire is hosting a Fine Food Marquee promoting some of the county’s most delectable produce, and more great food and drink is available at the Local Producers Market.

Youngsters will have a marvellously messy time taking part in the Planet Cook children’s cookery workshops. And there are treats for the adults too – like the award-winning local ales on offer in Britain’s best beer tent.

Presented by Marketing Halifax together with Deliciouslyorkshire, the Piece Hall and the Halifax Courier, the Halifax Food and Drink Festival 2010 is set to draw thousands of foodies from miles around.

Organisers are hopeful that this year’s festival will attract even more than the 17,000 people who attended in 2009, making it the biggest yet.

I have been stuck on one favourite rusk recipe forever (which I will do a post about because they are amazing and I have toÂ*share),Â*but last weekÂ* I came across this recipe in ‘Home Bakes’ which seems to be my book ‘de jour’.Â* I had all the ingredients so thought it was high time to [...]

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I hauled this book out of my much lovedÂ* ‘library’ yesterday and find that revisitingÂ*the booksÂ* sort of helps withÂ*my cook book addiction issues.Â*I need to beÂ*remindedÂ*thatÂ* these ones (and there are a lot) should be used a bit more before I go and buy all those others I’m desperate to acquire.When asked whatÂ*I want [...]

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Celebrity chef and dragon slayer Levi Roots will be making a headline appearance at the Sheffield Food Festival.

Levi has successfully raised the profile of Caribbean food in the UK through his legendary appearance on Dragon’s Den, the development of his Reggae Reggae sauce products, and most recently a BBC series and book ‘Caribbean Food Made Easy’.

Levi Roots said: “I am very excited to be bringing the fun and flavours of the Caribbean to the Sheffield Food Festival. This is a city that knows how to throw a good party, so come along and enjoy great food, chill out tunes and good times!”.

Councillor Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “It’s great to be welcoming Levi Roots to Sheffield. He cooks with such passion and energy, which is what the Food Festival is all about. One of the great things about this event is the chance to learn about exciting new ways to cook good food, and I can’t wait to learn some of Levi’s mouth-watering Caribbean recipes!”

Levi will be appearing at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2 June in the Peace Gardens, as Wednesday Night Live teams up with the Deliciouslyorkshire chef demonstrations to bring Levi’s unique combination of good food and music to Food Festival goers.

The Sheffield Food Festival is shaping up to be an unmissable occasion, with fantastic events for adults and children happening all over the city, in communities as well as the city centre. Go to sheffieldfoodfestival.com to find out what’s on the menu in your area.

The Sheffield Food Festival is supported by Deliciouslyorkshire, Hallam FM and Magic FM.

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There are some restaurants that offer 'half and half' pizza’s, which I really like as I can never decide what to pick and 'I also like to have multiple flavour experiences in one meal.' Then there are others that simply can’t do this, or won’t do this,' which I have always found confusing since they have' all the toppings for all [...]

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Sheffield Food Festival celebrates the South Yorkshire launch of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign on Saturday 5 June, where Celebrity Chef Nigel Brown will be on hand to show just how easy it is to eat well, save money and help the environment. Nigel will feature in the deliciouslyorkshire ‘Demonstration Theatre’ located in the Peace Gardens at 11.00am, 1.00pm and 14.30pm.

Nigel will be showcasing mouth-watering recipes from everyday ingredients; proving to the audience how easy it really can be to use up your leftovers and make your food go further.

At 1.00pm Nigel will host the ‘Love Food Hate Waste Cook Off’, where DJ’s from Hallam FM and Magic AM will go up against a special guest in a ‘Ready, Steady Cook’ style challenge – with leftover ingredients suggested by the radio stations’ listeners.

Staff from the waste and recycling team at Sheffield City Council will be present in Millennium Square on Saturday 5 June between 10am and 3pm with information, recipes, alongside a bicycle powered smoothie maker!

Chef Nigel Brown is committed to reducing the amount of food that gets thrown away, he said: “A great deal of effort goes into producing and delivering our food and it's sad to think so much of it ends up in the bin. If I can help people really use everything they buy, they can reduce their weekly spend on groceries and eat healthy imaginative meals. It's what our mum's and grannies have been telling us for years, "waste not, want not", it's time we started listening and acting on their excellent advice.”

Love Food Hate Waste is the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ of the modern day, providing handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food. An astonishing 8.3 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households in the UK every year; 5.3 million tonnes of this is perfectly good food that has just not been eaten in time, or too much was cooked and the remainder thrown away. This is the same in weight as 5, 300,000 small cars. Wasting food costs the average family with children £680 a year. It also has serious environmental implications. If every household stopped wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.

But while the effects of this wasted food are shocking, Love Food Hate Waste focuses on simple, positive, common sense steps to help you eat well, save money and make your food go further - planning meals, checking stocks, building confidence in the kitchen, taking a list when you go shopping, understanding best-before and use-by dates, good storage and portion control.

Cllr Andrew Sangar, cabinet member for Climate Change, Waste Management and Environmental Regulatory Services said: “We are very supportive of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign and thrilled that they have a presence at the Food Festival. I am sure that people will find their hints and tips extremely useful to reduce waste, save money and enjoy good food.”

Sheffield City Council Leader Cllr Paul Scriven said: “What an excellent addition to Sheffield’s first Food Festival! I’m really excited about the variety we have to offer and I’m looking forward to getting fit whilst making my own smoothie.”

London, 27th May – The 2010 London Restaurant Festival in partnership with American Express (4-18 October) looks set to tantalise taste buds even more than last year’s inaugural event. Today organisers unveiled details of some of the top chefs and star attractions that food-lovers can look forward to in October. Tickets to the range of Festival Events will go on general sale from June 8th, with American Express Cardmembers exclusively able to buy from this morning. (tickets available from: visitlondon.com/londonrestaurantfestival/festival-events/lrf-american-express-booking)

A ‘Gourmet Odyssey’ - Offering diners the chance to eat in some of London’s greatest restaurants in the space of one memorable meal, tickets for the London Restaurant Festival Gourmet Odyssey are set to sell out fast. Following a champagne reception, guests board a liveried Routemaster bus and head off to the first restaurant on their itinerary for their starter. Then it’s off to a second for the main course and a third for pudding. This year itineraries include such stellar names as Hibiscus, Corrigan’s, Umu, The Square, Nahm, Scott’s, Benares, Theo Randall and Sake no Hana.

The London Restaurant Festival Big Debate – A new event for this year, The London Restaurant Festival Big Debate will be held at King’s Place and will tackle the controversial topic “Is French Food a Spent Force?” Proposing the motion will be London’s Chair of Food Rosie Boycott alongside broadcaster Janet Street-Porter. They will be up against Francophile food writer Jonathan Meades and the Sunday Times’ restaurant critic AA Gill. The evening starts with an equal representaion of French and British cocktails and canapés. It promises to be a highly entertaining food fight.

The London Restaurant Festival Big Quiz - New for 2010, The London Restaurant Festival Big Quiz will be one of the Festival’s more intellectual contributions to the capital’s culinary scene. Hosted by Le Café Anglais, The London Restaurant Festival Big Quiz will be an evening of fun and food with one of the country’s best-known question masters leading proceedings. Tickets will include the three-course ‘Festival Menu’ being created by chef-patron Rowley Leigh. Festival Menus are fixed-price menus created by participating restaurants to celebrate the Festival.

A dining revolution – After its sell-out debut last year, the 2010 London Restaurant Festival will see the return of gourmet dining on the Merlin Entertainments London Eye. An exclusive announcement of the 11 chefs cooking at this year’s event will take place on the 8th June.

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This weekend the corks will start popping as Welsh Wine Week 2010 gets underway (May 29 – June 6).

For anyone with a thirst for wine, Welsh Wine Week is not to be missed!

The event aims to spark interest in Wales’ wine producers and vineyards will be offering tastings, tours, and special promotions to show the quality of Welsh wine.

Tourism is becoming a big part of the Welsh viticultural scene with vineyards opening their doors to visitors, encouraging them to see how vines are grown and wine is made, and to buy direct, with a number of vineyards holding special events and tastings.

Many vineyards now have shops and cafes making a trip to a vineyard a popular outing for all the family.

Producers are also taking steps to connect with the increasingly environmentally and provenance conscious consumer.

A number of vineyards in South East Wales have come together to form the Sustainable Welsh Wine Group (sustainablewelshwine.co.uk) which will be promoted during Welsh Wine Week.

With support from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Sustainable Supply Chains initiative (sustainablesupplychains.org.uk) which helps Welsh food and drink micro-enterprises access new markets through adopting sustainable ways of doing business, the vineyards are working together for a brighter future for the industry.

The aim is to take steps towards sustainable consumption and production by safeguarding the environment and communities they serve while building resilient and viable businesses.

“It is an exciting initiative for all those involved,” said Iain Cox, Sustainable Supply Chains Co-Director.
“It is though the first step and there is much work still to be done, but we hope the end result will show how the Welsh Wine industry can lead the way in sustainable practices.”

This is work in development and each vineyard has committed to four generic principles: conserving and improving the natural environment, minimising resource use and reducing carbon emissions, building a Welsh identity, and working together. A logo will identify participating vineyards and it is hoped the scheme will eventually be rolled out across Wales.

Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones said, “The Welsh wine industry is a growing sector and through the Sustainable Supply Chains initiative, producers will be able to tap into new markets and take a practical approach to sustainability.

“I also hope Welsh wine producers will enter this year’s True Taste Awards, further enhancing their growing reputation.”

Parva Farm Vineyard, near Tintern in Monmouthshire parvafarm.co.uk is a Sustainable Welsh Wine Group member.

Said owner, Judith Dudley, “Vineyards by their very nature are sustainable and often in beautiful countryside. As a group of Welsh vineyard owners, we are working towards further improving the sustainability of our vineyards and providing better wildlife habitat and enjoyment for visitors as well as great wines to drink!”

There are more than 20 vineyards spread throughout Wales, several offer public tours throughout the year such as Cwm Deri Vineyard at Martletwy in Pembrokeshire which features a pets corner, vineyard walks and a restaurant. Earlier this month Cwm Deri launched its new spirit range cwm-deri.co.uk

Wernddu Vineyard at Pen-y-Clawdd in Monmouth will be opening to the public on June 5&6 between 11am and 7pm to celebrate the launch of its first sparkling wine wernddu-wine.co.uk

Welsh wines are making a splash on the international scene, with many giving their more established continental counterparts a run for their money.

Among them is Ancre Hill Estates ancrehillestates.co.uk which recently added a bronze medal from the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) to its impressive trophy tally.