It’s not something I’ll say often, but I completely agreed with Alex Renton in today’s Times – cupcakes just aren’t big enough.
At a recent birthday party, the centre-piece of the table was a giant (and when I say giant I mean huuuge) cup cake, which attracted almost as much attention as the birthday girl herself. It was shop bought, an American style red velvet cup cake big enough to feed 20 champagne-drinking revelers. Now, for those that want to re-create something just as spectacular at home Alex has introduced us to a giant cupcake pan which will make a cup cake large enough even to satisfy the biggest appetites. Brilliant!
Whilst the industry awaits the results of a consultation lead by the FSA regarding calorie labeling out of home, big consumer groups yesterday voted against colour-coded warnings on pack.
Efforts to introduce the colour-coded system on food labels were defeated at the European Parliament, as consumer groups argued that it would hurt their competitiveness and unfairly demonise certain foods like cheese and pate… Surely it’s down to the consumer to make an educated decision?
Having recently read an article in The Publican promoting that a pub has increased it’s food sales by asking customers to pay what they like – the question lies in whether or not we, as customers, are strong enough to haggle the price, or even to actually know how much a meal actually costs to create! This could be a winning combination for any pub following suit – if more customers are like me pubs would do well, as I’d rather pay over the odds than feel like I’ve done an injustice to the team in the kitchen!
Is it a Mars Bar? Is it a Twix? Nope, it’s a cheese bar.
Thanks to Bedfordshire based Casa Verde Foods, consumers will soon be able to enjoy a new cheese snack that, according to The Grocer, is ‘similar to a Dairy Milk bar where you have little chunks of cheese in a bar and people can tear it off and offer it to a friend.’
The cheese-bars will initially be launched in 50g snack bars and are aimed at consumers looking for a healthy, regional snack.
Research published in today’s Sun may come as good news to dieters – food could have 20 per cent fewer calories than shown on product labels.
The research claims that calorie counts on labels do not factor in the energy needed to chew food, and also don’t take into account the effects of the cooking process. Nutritionist Dr Livesy believes calorie counts on proteins should be cut by 20% and those in fats should be cut by 3%.
Maybe we shouldn’t feel quite as guilty about those pastries we ate for breakfast…
New research data from the Food Standards Agency has revealed that a total of 86% of pubs, restaurants and take-away outlets would have been awarded three stars or more under the Scores on the Doors Scheme, which is due to be introduced on a voluntary basis later this year. The FSA also revealed that 40% of the premises would have achieved the top five-star rating. Makes you feel good about the willingness of the industry to embrace new initiatives that will ultimately increase consumer confidence. But …. the question I’m left with is … shouldn’t all establishments have five-star ratings? Is three stars really good enough?
John Lewis and Waitrose staff have good reason to celebrate this week after being informed that they are to be rewarded bonuses worth nearly eight weeks’ wages. The department store and supermarket giant posted a 9.7 per cent rise in profits, putting it on course to overtake M&S as the store of choice for middle England.
I remember when I first started drinking coffee that the only option available on a daily basis was a jar of Nescafe. Now the choice is staggering. It started with the arrival of the cappuccino and then the latte, and now the UK is simply bursting with speciality coffee choices from all manner of outlets - from the chains to the small independents.
I was interested to see the article on the popularity of the flavoured coffee – whilst I’ve never taken sugar I will happily ingest lashings of syrup – is there really anything better than a caramel or gingerbread flavoured start to the day? I still get excited by the choice of coffees on offer – and the mention of sugar free syrups – the next trend – was good to note too.
The great British fry-up is a welcome weekend treat for most, but according to today’s Daily Express it could slowly be killing us as one in four adults admits to eating it twice at weekends.
A study of 10,000 people revealed the perfect breakfast consists of a fried egg, two slices of fried bread, two pork sausages, two rashers of smoked bacon, fried mushrooms, one hash brown potato, baked beans and tomato ketchup, adding up to 1,190 calories and 95.7 grams (about 3½oz) of fat.
Harley Street nutritionist and behavioural therapist Mary Strugar said: “The traditional fried breakfast was conceived in the industrial revolution when working class men would burn up to 6,000 calories a day. Now we lead much more sedentary lifestyles we cannot expect to consume such high fat meals regularly without suffering the consequences.”
Despite being an increasingly health-conscious nation, the good intentions that we start the week with usually slip by the weekend….
Forget your fad diets and exotic vegetables – the humble egg is the new superfood according to the scientists who reviewed 71 research and reference papers to examine the nutritional composition of eggs and their role in diet. I think it’s great that such a relatively inexpensive and filling food is now claimed to be so good for us but let’s be good to the hens too and make sure we only buy free range 
