Tired of media trained spokesmen ?

I am sick to death of media trained PR spokesmen for trade bodies giving pre-prepared evasive answers to questions in defence of the indefensible.

A classic example was today on BBC breakfast news when a spokesman for the trade body representing supermarkets ignored every question he was asked in relation to the Dispatches Channel 4 documentary about "value" own brand products.

The constant repetition of the line "Our customers like out products" and "sales of our value range products is rising", ignored questions asking why own brand products contained so little nutritional value.

Media training by companies has proved to be the death of actual answers to real questions. Sadly, like our politicians, they tell us nothing.

But these aren't chips ?

A child at our lunchtime school Christmas meal pointed to his plate and asked a nearby adult "What is this ? I never have these at home".

And it was ... a carrot. Shocking.

The truth about the EU and bent cucumbers

The EU is to allow bent cucumbers, so news reports say, and this is seen as the EU cutting through red tape. This is a good proposal (especially in these times of growing food prices), but let's not forget the EU is not to blame for the bent bananas stories all these years.

Euro sceptics like to use the regulation on bent cucumbers as a means of bashing the EU. the truth is though that the EU (or EEC as it was) had no policy on cucumber shapes and sizes and instead adopted the British system that we already had in place before we joined the EEC.

So in may ways this is a victory for common sense over UK red tape.

I am not the world biggest fan of the EU, indeed there are many Lib Dems who will not be including me in Iain Dale's list of top bloggers because I dare to criticise the EU and the Lib Dems policy towards it, but I have always been annoyed that Euro sceptics base a lot of their anti EU rhetoric on untruths and the cucumber argument has been one of these for many years.

The Showground Pub and Restaurant in Costessey Norwich - Call yourself a family pub ?

My wife went out with a group of other young mums, five adults, five children, to a pub on the outskirts of Norwich in Costessey to a place that advertises itself as a "Family Pub". Perhaps trading standards should be advised ?

Upon arrival, she says the staff were not exactly happy to see five people with toddlers turn up. The staff let it be known through their body language that they were less than impressed, the restaurant had only two baby seats (so they claimed), and let a number of the group leave to go outside and get their push-chairs to put the children without telling any of the group that they have booster seats (another diner told the group as they were leaving the place), their drinks did not arrive until the end of their first course, and on top of that they were asked to sit at an empty end of the restaurant (and according to my wife, the whole place was absolutely dead anyway), and whilst they were served the waiting staff kept making a fuss about "not being able to walk around the table because of the children in the buggies and in chairs".

Now I know that there are many people who would be happy to eat in a place that puts off families and children, but The Showground is no gastro-pub. It is one of these pubs that is on the same grounds as a Travel Lodge. Its serves bog standard stuff at a fairly reasonable price, but it is hardly the sort of place you would travel to for a romantic meal or a special treat or occasion. That is why the place appears to market itself as a "family pub".

Yes indeed, if my wife could heartily recommend an eating establishment as the least "child friendly" pub, then "The Showground", which can be ground next to a Travel Lodge and also next to the Royal Norfolk Showground, is likely to win.

This week I will mostly not be eating ...

at the following restaurant chains after revelations that they either fail to pay the minimum wage and use customer's tips to "top up" staff wages or that in some cases the companies keep the staff's tips.

So incase you missed the story HERE, the companies named and shamed are listed below.




Personally I'd prefer to go to over to the Australian system which involves no tips at all, after all, don't we deserve good service when we pay our bills at the end of a meal and don't the staff deserve a proper wage in the first place ?

Is there any value in a £1.99 Tesco Chicken ?

Apart from grabbing headlines and squeezing margins on their suppliers, what is the value in a £1.99 chicken from Tesco ?

Tesco and free market nuts will say it is a good deal for customers, but good value for the customer should also relate to good quality and good proce for the supplier, thus making the whole process sustainable.

It appears in this case that the National Farmers Union are not keen, suggesting already that Tesco are expecting their supplier to cut the prices they charge rather than Tesco taking their own price cuts on the chin. How can Tesco get away with doing this to their suppliers ? It's called "market dominance", with no supplier being able to really stand up to Tesco.

And what of the food quality itself ? How much growth hormone, how much added water do you have to get in to a bird that much more quicjly in order to unsure that it can be sold for £1.99 ? You might be eating something labelled as a chicken, but I wouldn't be keen to describe it really as being chicken.

It reminded me of a frozen chicken I picked up in a rival to Tescos once. As I put it in my trolley a friend of mine in the Lib Dems walked past me in the store's overalls, tutted and said quietly "put it back on the shelf, I wouldn't eat that myself it it was offered for free". He then went on to tell me what the store's supplier did to fatten the birds up and how he had once been to one of the farms as part of his training. "I get my meat from the butchers in town", he added.

So to be fair, it is not jsut Tesco, but I cannot see how a £1.99 chicken can be good for anyone at all.

Why does agreeing with Andrew Rossindell make me feel dirty ?

Far be it for me to agree with one of the most unpleasent right wingers in the Tory party, but Andrew Rossindell MP's question to Jack Straw in the House of Commons, which I plucked form Conservative Home is a good one which deserves a proper reply.

Andrew Rosindell MP: "Can the Secretary of State for Justice explain why a patient in an NHS hospital has only £3 a day spent on their food, yet a criminal locked up in a police cell has £12 a day spent on food? Will the Secretary of State enlighten us as to why the figure is four times more for a criminal in a cell?"

Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Justice: "As ever, the hon. Gentleman, who comes from the same great county as I do, asks an important question. The issue is an interesting one, and I shall revert to him and the House on the matter."

When my wife was in hospital for a few days after giving birth, I used to have to take her downstairs to the canteen each night and keep bringing in snacks for her, not because the food was not nice, but simply because the portions were tiny. It makes you wonder how some people eat their way to good health when you are constantly hungry.

Cooking With Ramsay - A real Kitchen Nighmare

I like Gordon Ramsay's TV shows. I set Sky + to record his excellent Kitchen Nightmare's program whenever it is on. Not only do I like him for his cooking, but also because is keen to tell people exactly what he thinks about their food, their effort and their attitude. So in fairness to Gordon, I'll be blunt about his program from last Friday night called "Cooking With Ramsay". it was truly shite.

I understand that he wanted to have people able to cook along with him so his menu had to be fairly uncomplicated. However, his choice of menu was shocking. Steak and chips is, I believe, not the most axing thing to do and as for chocolate mousse, they teach that in home economics (sorry, Food Technology) at High School.

The fact that Gordon Ramsay chose a first course that could not be prepared in advance also meant that as a meal that you can cook for guests, it is a complete waste of time because the host of the dinner would never be out of the kitchen.

Okay, so the menu choice was not good, but what about the show itself ? It has to be said Chirs Moyles was a poor choice of guest chef. Moyles believed himself to be the funniest "oaf" in the kitchen, and acted like a prat for most of the show. Speaking to my parents today about the show, my father said he wanted to turn over just because of Moyles pathetic behaviour. nice choice Gordon.

What made the studio worse was that there appeared to be people standing around the kitchen, for no reasons at all, and the director kept feeling obliged to zoom in on them for no apparent reason every 21 second. I am specific about the timing because the person in charge of choosing which camera angles to use appeared to have some sort of fit as the camera angle changed approximately every three seconds. A close up of Gordon, cut to the dinner guests, cut to a Moyles doing something, close up of Gordon, close up of Gordon preparing the food, close up of this from another angle, close up of people standing around, and then repeat the whole process again. If Ramsay's target audience was 13 year old, then the 3 second cuts might have made sense. but as it was, they just made the show look disjointed.

Then to make matters worse, they had web cams showing people from around the country doing the cooking too along with him. Web cams are never the best medium to use on TV at the best of times. The lip sync never works and they just look a mess. But the deliberate choice of a naturist, fully in the nude showed just what a mess of an idea the show was. Gordon Ramsay's prepared lines about breasts "chortle chortle" and warnings not to singe your minge "hilarious", seemed to lower the value of the show even further.

All these factors coupled with the fact that anyone recording the show on a hard drive recorder (like my parents did) would have lost the end of the show because even Gordon Ramsay failed to cook his three course in less than an hour, meaning the show over ran, would have left anyone in no doubt that Gordon Ramsay could have cone much, much better than this.

To be honest, the concept was a good one, but its delivery was awful.

The end of an era

Anyone wanting to copy Andy Warhol's famous Campbell's soup painting will be out of luck as the Kings Lynn factory where the unique condensed soup was made is to close and the famous Campbell's brand is to disappear and be renamed part of the Batchelors brand.

You can read more about it HERE.

Tell the French where to stick their jokes about British food

There is a fascinating article in The Telegraph today about how British restaurant groups are having massive success around the world, with French cuisine in something of a decline.

The article features Gordon Ramsay, but also mentions restaurant groups who serve a mix of modern British dishes along with much more oriental offerings.

It's worth a read and certainly is one in the eye for the French.