A Good Time of Year for Eating in Season

June 23, 2011 in Local Food with 4 Comments

It doesn’t exactly feel like it here in London, but officially we are now very much into the Summer. This time last year I didn’t really care about where my food came from and I was completely oblivious to my carbon footprint, it meant very little to me.

How much things can change in a year! Now I am obsessed by the source of my food, it’s extremely important to me.

In the last few months as I have been going about doing my weekly supermarket shopping it has not been very often that I have seen fruit and veg produced in the UK, they are all shipped in from all over the place. Whilst shopping the last couple of days though, I have found that suddenly a lot of the produce is from the UK! Fantastic! A lot of our favourites are now in season.
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Pick Your Own, Eat Locally & Support Local Farms

June 20, 2011 in Culture, Local Food with 3 Comments

Here at Food Culture Revival I not only want to bring some quality information and tips when it comes to eating more sustainably, I also want to bring something of myself to the table. This is not only because I want to make this blog personal, but more because I want to “practice what I preach”, so to speak.

I recognize that a lot of the advice and recommendations that I bring will come under criticism, not because they are necessarily wrong, but because some people will feel that they haven’t got the time or money to go through with them.

Well to those people who feel that they are helpless in doing things to become more sustainable with their food, there are things that you can do, even if you don’t live in the countryside.

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Food Waste: A Serious Global Issue

June 15, 2011 in Culture with 6 Comments

Food waste is something that is appearing in the media more and more and for good reason. In the world that we are living in, especially with the rise of industrial agriculture, more and more food is being wasted. It’s not only bad for our pockets, but more importantly it’s becoming a real problem for the environment.

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Recipe: One Pot Chicken Biryani

May 17, 2011 in Main Meals, Recipes with 2 Comments

Today I have been thinking a lot about food waste, and how I can reduce food waste in my own house.

I had a few things knocking around, chicken, onion, chillies, chickpeas, loads of rice. I thought to myself, rather than go out and buy something, I would use up this bits and pieces that I had laying around. This probably avoided quite a number of the items that I’ve just mentioned going to waste!

I adapted an old Biryani recipe and it turned out to be delicious!

This recipe is perfect for using up leftovers, and it’s something great that you can have in the fridge to warm up for a quick meal later on in the week.

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Sustainable, Ethical & Environmentally Friendly Foie Gras?

May 10, 2011 in Culture with 0 Comments

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Foie Gras.

Certainly not something that you would associate with being sustainable, ethical, or environmentally friendly.

However, it seems that somewhere in the heart of Spain, one man is managing to pull it off.

Chef Dan Barber heard about farmer Eduardo Sousa and his natural process for producing Foie Gras (that’s right, no force feeding). Dan Barber went to investigate and then gave a TED talk about his experience. Check out the video of the talk below:

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What is a Locavore?

May 10, 2011 in Culture with 4 Comments

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In a time where there is beginning to be increased awareness surrounding the sustainability and environmental issues that we face in our current food culture, many different labels and boxes are cropping up to describe people’s food lifestyle.

Locavore (or sometimes Localvore) is one such label that has cropped up. Here I am hoping to give you a good and balanced definition of Locavore.

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Recipe: Homemade Vegetable Stock

May 8, 2011 in Misc, Recipes with 0 Comments

Vegetable Broth, The Perfect Accompaniment to My Lunch

Recently I have been thinking about the Japanese diet, which is something that I would like to go into more detail about in future posts. Essentially though the Japanese diet is one of the most healthy diets in the world.

One of the elements that I have noticed that seems to accompany many Japanese meals is some kind of broth. What that broth is varies, although Miso soup seems to be very popular.

Today I decided to do a little experimentation and try to make a Vegetable Broth myself. I have never made any kind of soup or broth before, so this was certainly a new experience.

Making a stock like this can have many different uses. You can use it as is as a simple broth, use it to make some amazingly tasty gravy, or use it as a base for a more posh and adventurous soup! Today, I simply used some of the stock as a broth, however I have got ideas for how I can make some tasty treats with it later on this week!

Check out my recipe below:

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