Food

The Guernsey Food Festival returns for a third year in 2017 running from 16 – 24 September with the aim of showcasing the best of the island's local produce and varied cuisine.

During the festival, there will be a range of special promotions in bars and restaurants on the island, as well as gastronomic tours, chef masterclasses, street markets with local goods and live interactive events for budding cooks and families to enjoy.

The festival is organised by Taste Guernsey, a non-profit organisation based on the island with the purpose of supporting local food and drink producers and restaurants through a number of events, benefiting both the local community and improving the experience for people visiting Guernsey.

In the lead up to the festival, Taste Guernsey will be running a series of mini-festivals during the summer celebrating the local food industry under the titles of 'Locally Caught' (13/14 May), 'Locally Grown' (10/11 June), 'Locally Produced' (5/6 August) and 'Locally Reared' (19/20 August). The events will combine with the island's 'Seafront Sundays', where St Peter Port's seafront is closed to traffic for a series of markets, tasting events and cooking demonstrations.

It's already one of the UK's most popular cuisines but now shoppers across the UK will be able to complete the Oriental dining experience with a bottle of Chinese wine.

Tesco has started selling an impressive Chinese produced Cabernet Sauvignon that it believes could finally open the doors in Britain to this fast emerging wine-making nation.

The new wine, Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, is a cross between a classic Bordeaux and a rich fruity Australian wine, and is available for less than £10.

While China may not immediately conjure up images of classic vineyard country, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) has placed China- after Spain- as the country with the second biggest vineyard area in the world.

In fact, the Chateau Changyu Moser XV estate claims to have become one of the world's biggest wine producers- with 100 winemakers who make 150 million bottles a year.

The wine is produced in the region of Ningxia, in northern China, which has a warm and dry climate and boasts an average of 3000 sunshine hours a year – 800 hours more than Bordeaux - earning it a reputation of being the country's Napa Valley.

Tesco's Master of Wine James Davis believes China will soon be a powerful player in the wine world and this launch could help give it its first major push in the UK.

He said:

“China is one of the world's biggest consumers of wine, drinking almost two billion bottles of red wine each year.

“And now they are one of the largest wine producing countries in the world, ahead of the more traditional regions of Chile and New Zealand.

“Produced in a warm and dry climate, the Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, is a dark ruby red.

“The smooth, full bodied wine is a combination of a classic Bordeaux style with the riper, richer fruit flavours which are characteristic of Australian wines.

“At a great introductory offer of £7, this wine offers customers an opportunity to discover a unique, but quality wine at an affordable price.

“This Chinese wine is very food friendly and works well with a variety of dishes – they are also a great talking point at the dinner table!”

James recommends trying the wine with Crispy Aromatic Duck or a slow roasted lamb shoulder as it compliments and balances the rich meat flavours.

The addition of the Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 means that Tesco now sells wine from 20 countries around the world- including Hungary, Israel and Greece.

Proud to be one of the 'Spice Islands', the rich culinary heritage of Zanzibar, with its Swahili, Persian, Portuguese, Arab and Indian influences, is celebrated in the hands of Executive Chef and Zanzibar resident of 21 years, Jussi Husa, and his team at Essque Zalu Zanzibar. The island's only premier resort, this deluxe destination hotel promises a true culinary adventure to delight, surprise and inspire the most seasoned foodies.

A half-day Spice Tour to a local shamba, or plantation, offers the chance to discover the spices and herbs synonymous with Zanzibar's rich history, reflecting the island's status and importance on the ancient trading route.  Guests will be introduced to a heady mix of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, green and black pepper and vanilla as well as exotic tropical fruits. Back at the resort, guests' new found knowledge on local ingredients can be employed in a Swahili Cooking Class, led by native Tanzanian chefs Rose Mosha and James Zole.  Mosha and Zole share their passion and local insights, demonstrating key techniques and recipes to recreate at home, from Mishkaki, a spiced meat skewer perfect for barbeques, or Pweza a nazi, an octopus curry prepared with coconut.

Chef Jussi believes ingredients should be fresh and local, and the best way to understand a destination and its culture is through its cuisine.  He and his passionate team are always eager to recommend tailored ways in which to discover the island's eating.

Middleton Foods exhibited at Anuga in Cologne for the first time in 2015 thanks to the support from the team at the Department for International Trade in the Black Country, which included an exhibitor grant from the trade show access programme. This was Middleton's first overseas exhibition and was research to gauge the size of the market for their products outside of the UK.

Throughout the show, Middleton Foods cooked British Fish and Chips for all the visitors and served thousands of portions over the five days of the show. The exhibition was a success, producing huge interest in their range of products from overseas and UK buyers.

This year, the Middleton team are going back with a new wider range of products, reacting to customer’s comments and the interest generated at the last exhibition. In particular, they will be showing their new range of Gluten Free catering products alongside their Chicken Breading and Marinades which they are hoping will prove very popular with the international community.

Heather Crocker, International Trade Adviser with the Department for International Trade, commented: “Middleton Foods are a great example of how enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to continually build their knowledge of international markets and diversify their product range to meet the demands of the international customers, can deliver tangible results for a business. I will be working with the company over the coming months to prepare for this year’s show, including research into new market opportunities through my colleagues based in British Embassies in Europe.”

Paul Stanley, Foodservice Manager at Middleton Foods, added: “We are delighted to be working with the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and the International Trade Team by exploring new opportunities within European markets. At Anuga this year we will be showcasing our new gluten free range of products made in our dedicated stand-alone, gluten free factory here in Willenhall. This new dedicated factory creates an environment where all wheat products are removed, giving us full control over manufacturing and eliminating the risk of cross-contamination completely. We believe there will be a strong export demand for these products."

Anuga 2015 not only had a record number of exhibitors, but the delegate attendance figures also increased. Around 160,000 trade visitors from 192 countries attended Anuga in Cologne from 10 to 14 October 2015. Anuga is a specialist exhibition for the food industry and is attended by a vast number of international visitors and exhibitors.

Waitrose has launched the latest instalment in its award-winning brand campaign, giving customers the chance to see where their food comes from.

The latest advert transports viewers to the Indian Ocean where fresh Waitrose tuna is responsibly sourced in the Maldives using the handline-caught method of fishing.

Highlighting the quality of its food is not new for Waitrose, but the use of innovative technology means the supermarket can now demonstrate its sourcing credentials in a new and contemporary way.

Viewers are able to explore the ad online with 360° 'access all areas', giving customers a chance to see behind the camera lens into Waitrose's fishing and sourcing practices.

The campaign is in response to the demand Waitrose is seeing for quality food and shoppers wanting to be reassured about the provenance of what they're buying.

Waitrose guarantees that all its own label fish are responsibly sourced, including its fresh, handline-caught tuna. The retailer is also on track to meeting its commitment that all the branded canned tuna it sells will also be MSC certified or pole and line caught by the end of this year.

Rupert Ellwood, Head of Marketing, Waitrose, says: “We've always been proud of the care and commitment our farmers, fishermen and suppliers put into producing our food.  All Waitrose own label fish are responsibly sourced and this shows customers where it comes from in an open and honest way.”

The first advert in the campaign was filmed on a dairy farm near Newbury that supplies milk to Waitrose. Waitrose is the only supermarket able to guarantee that all the dairy cows that supply its milk and cream have access to grazing for a minimum of 120 days.

Tesco has increased its craft beer range to over 70 beers in stores throughout the country.

Following last year's success to expand the craft beer range to more than 400 high street stores, Tesco has increased the offer by nearly a third to over 70 beers in shops throughout the country. Drawn from our partnerships with nearly 30 breweries from the UK and around the globe, customers will be able to sample beers from Cornwall, Whitstable Bay and Scotland, and from as far afield as Sweden, Japan and the USA.

Reflecting the growing trend for craft beer in pubs and bars across the country, Tesco will become the first major retailer to stock the craft drinkers favourite tipple - sour beer. Sour beers are intentionally acidic and tart, and are most commonly seen in Belgium. Despite the name, sours are refreshing and a perfect accompaniment to food.

Tesco craft beer buyer Chloe Harrison explains:

“Britain's thirst for craft beer shows no sign of slowing down. It's a drink that is popular with both millennial and older drinkers looking for a more artisan experience and exciting flavours.

"We've scoured the globe to bring a range together which we hope will satisfy all tastes, and are thrilled to be able to introduce customers to some fantastic new beers from both little-known and highly recognisable breweries.

“And our new sour beer is the jewel in our crown. With summer just around the corner, its wonderful thirst-quenching quality and is perfect for drinkers looking for palate-tingling flavours.

“We think that sour brews are destined to become the next frontier for beer lovers, in the same way that golden ale helped convert die hard lager lovers over to light and refreshing ales.”

Tart sour beer is priced at £1.90 and is available in store and online. Brewed by Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire, it has a golden colour, white head with a combination of citrusy hops and hints of grapefruit and lemon, and has an ABV of 6%.

Tesco has seen its annual growth for craft beers increase by more than 40 per cent – the arrival of sour beer on supermarket shelves is likely to raise interest even further. The retailer is allocating an extra 350 per cent of shelf space in its beer aisles.

If you're a food business, food blogger, or Instagrammer, then you know that beautiful food photography is an essential for standing out from the crowd. Demuths Cookery School is now taking bookings for a one day course on the 14th May, led by food photographer Rob Wicks of Eat Pictures. Rob will teach you how to create beautiful food images that will get attention. He will cover a breadth of skills, tips and tricks to make your food photos look as delicious as the food itself.

Rob Wicks has been taking photographs of food for 25 years. He'll bring his unparalleled expertise and knowledge to the kitchen to make this day both creative and very rewarding. The day will include different approaches to composition and framing, simple food styling, best use of available light, and how to make the most of your camera settings, and easy post-production tips.

Students will take their own photographs throughout the day – beginning with simple ingredients and working our way to shooting finished dishes and cookery in action. This course promises to be practical, enjoyable and delicious.

Demuths Cookery School is based in a light and airy former Georgian townhouse providing a truly inspirational space to further your knowledge. Demuths Cookery School has a huge range of vegetarian and vegan courses which are fun and hugely informative. All courses are well paced, informative and fun and their extremely knowledgeable tutors ooze professionalism with an excellent mixture of demonstrations and hands on practice.

Meat is on the menu four times a week for over a third of Brits, a new survey has found. A study of 1,000 people saw 34% of Brits tucking into meat four times every week with a further fifth (20%) getting stuck in to up to six times per week. 7 per cent eat meat up to 10 times every week. 65% said that meat made up the main part of their regular diet.

The research, by independent convenience retailer Nisa, commissioned for National Butchers Week, also highlighted the people of Bristol as top of the meat eating foodchain, with 53% eating meat up to four times a week. Hot on their heels with forks at the ready is Edinburgh (52%), Belfast (50%), Dublin (43%) and Newcastle/Manchester (36%).

When it comes to knowing our meat, the majority of Brits are more interested in eating it than knowing where it is cut from with only half in the know when it comes to asking for different cuts of meat. 27% of Brits found themselves bottom of the class after admitting they don’t know where a rump steak comes from. 62% are in the dark as to where a ribeye steak is from, 54% are clueless when it comes to sirloin and 73% unaware of where brisket belongs.

Despite loving meat, two thirds (66%) reported that they don’t eat as much meat as they did five years ago with over a quarter (27%) scoffing more meat as part of their diet compared with five years ago.

The survey also found that chicken is top of the chops, getting the thumbs up as the favourite type of meat from 40% followed by beef (35%), pork (10%), turkey (4%) and duck (3%).

76% like to know where their meat comes from as it goes into their shopping bag with a further 47% refusing to eat it if they don’t know its origin. 72% of Brits said they completely trust their local high street butcher.

Almost three quarters (74%) think a meat based diet is healthy with almost two-thirds (62%) trying to go meat free at least once a week. 7 out of 10 meat lovers thinks quality meat is too expensive.

A quarter of Brits (27%) don’t eat meat as regularly since the horse meat scandal in 2013 although 40% eat more than their parents. 60% of parents said that their children eat the same or more meat than them every week.

And although 71% of meat eaters said they enjoy tucking into a vegetarian dish, over two thirds would find it hard to give up meat for a longer period.

Commenting on the research Kim Brown, head of fresh, frozen and DTS at Nisa Retail Limited, said: “Our research highlights that Brits love their meat but changes in diet, scares over quality and scandals in recent years have affected meat eating habits.

“Our research proves that provenance and trust is important when buying meat and this is something Nisa is very keen on – providing high quality, British sourced meat at affordable prices with everything from Heritage Gourmet Cumberland sausages and skinless chicken fillets to Wiltshire cure smoked bacon and whole fresh chickens.”

Waitrose dairy farmers have exceeded their own target for outdoor grazing, achieving an average of 167 days last season. As a result, Waitrose has increased the number of days it guarantees all its dairy cows spend outside, from 100 to 120 days.

As the first supermarket to make a guarantee of this kind, the pledge highlights Waitrose commitment to animal welfare and ensures a consistent approach for all of its dairy farmers. The realistic target factors in the occasionally challenging weather conditions across the UK, as cows don't like being outside in bad weather.

The milder temperatures this month will provide the perfect conditions for outdoor grazing to start on Waitrose farms.The grazing season lasts from early spring to the end of autumn, when the conditions are best and the pasture is at its most lush and nutritious.

During the winter, the cows live in well-ventilated barns with clean, dry and comfortable bedding and are fed on a forage-based diet of grass or maize silage.

To tie in with the start of the grazing season,  Waitrose will air its dairy advert on TV from this week. The advert was filmed on a dairy farm near Newbury that supplies milk to Waitrose and gives customers the opportunity to see the benefits of grazing and the environment  for themselves. The campaign is in response to the demand Waitrose is seeing for quality food and shoppers wanting to be reassured about its provenance.

Heather Jenkins, Waitrose Director of Agriculture and Meat, Fish and Dairy Buying said: “We're proud of our dairy farmers for exceeding the targets that we set out in our original grazing pledge and it's fantastic that we're now able to extend it to 120 days. Grazing ensures our dairy cows are producing great quality milk and contributes to our high animal welfare standards, which has always been fundamental to our business."

Brian Barnett, Chair of the Waitrose Dairy Farmers Group, added:  “Waitrose dairy farmers have always allowed our cows to graze outdoors but this is the first year that we've recorded the precise number of days that they spend outside - and it is fantastic that we averaged 167 days. We have worked closely with Waitrose for many years and this joint commitment to ensure the welfare of our animals is industry leading.”

Waitrose has an exclusive pool of 60 dairy farms across the UK in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon. Milk is produced from cows bred specifically for milk production, including British Friesian and Holstein Friesian. The supermarket always pays its farmers a fair and leading price for their milk.

Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) has endorsed animal welfare standards at Waitrose with the Good Dairy Award and CiWF Retailer of the Year Award. In addition, Waitrose has maintained its top tier status for the third year running in the annual Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) report, which assesses standards in the world's leading food companies.

Tesco has today announced it is extending its Same Day Click and Collect service, allowing customers to pick up their online groceries more quickly and easily than ever before. Customers can now order an unlimited number of items before 9am and book a two hour window to collect their groceries from midday onwards. This new slot is in addition to the existing offer, where customers can order by 1pm to pick up from 4pm. The service will now be available from more than 300 locations across the UK.

More than 100,000 people will flock to Trujillo in Extremadura in south west Spain during the annual National Cheese Festival, which takes place from 28 April to 1 May this year. The historic main square of Trujillo will fill with stallholders displaying over 300 different Spanish cheeses from Manchego to Ibores, La Serena and the local speciality, Torta del Casar. The six restaurants in the square will all offer traditional recipes incorporating cheeses from the local region as well as other local delicacies including Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, one of Spain's finest hams and dishes using the famous Pimentón de la Vera (paprika).

They're currently some of the trendiest but also trickiest foods to prepare without fuss – pomegranate, beetroot, watermelon and coconut. But now help has arrived from Tesco which has launched the first ever frozen prepared versions that will save shoppers time, hassle and help reduce food waste. The new products will also help shoppers cut down on food waste in the home by allowing them to use only what they need and keep the rest in the freezer.

Waitrose has made a commitment to growing British salad leaves all year round, as part of their ongoing support for UK farming. The new and innovative growing system is a UK first and has been in development since 2014. The leaves are grown in a 1.5 hectare glasshouse which uses state-of-the-art energy production systems that run efficient LED lighting, heating and watering, reducing the environmental impact.

Lancashire growers have pulled off a coup by getting the first UK grown strawberries of the year on supermarket shelves in February. It's believed to be one of the earliest ever arrivals for Britain's favourite home-grown fruit, having been helped by a mild winter and the recent warmer temperatures. The first English strawberries were be on sale at selected Tesco stores yesterday.

On your marks, get set, get chocola-tea! Big Chocolate Tea is back and The Sick Children’s Trust is asking you to join in the fun this April to raise money for families with seriously ill children. Big Chocolate Tea is The Sick Children’s Trust’s biggest annual fundraising event for chocolate, tea and baking lovers, running from Friday 21 April to Monday 1 May. Take part by hosting a tea party, cake sale or bake-off and donate the proceeds to The Sick Children’s Trust to support families with seriously ill children in hospital across the UK.