Compost

Hi all, back post a successful food tour with a small group willing to investigate some of the more obscure areas of Sri Lankan foodways, like fresh coconut toddy straight out of the tappers pot or gal siambala, aka velvet tamarind, and braving the Negombo beach side fish market at squid gutting time. 

The pic this week is of saravita, a treat recalled from childhood; you put candied and coloured shreds of coconut together with all those spices and wrap them in a cone made from a betel leaf and chomp down on a burst of complex, peppery, sweet flavour. It's still sold on the street by men who carry the makings in a tray around their neck - like ushers used to with sweets and ice creams at the Saturday arvo flicks - alerting customers they are one their way by shaking a bangle of bells, You can add tobacco, but this seller wasn't into it and neither was I.

Hoping the February food and gardens tour comes off too. If you know anyone interested, they can check it out here http://www.rosstours.com/srilanka/

Meanwhile, back to scouring my inboxes for your degustation.

Five companies using waste products in surprising ways
‘Coffee shops offer used grounds as fertiliser to their customers, and coffee pulp from farms can be ground down to produce coffee flour, a new product which is high in anti-oxidants. In addition to this, a British design company has developed a way to create stunning furniture comprising 60% recycled coffee grounds, sold in many cases to the same offices and shops that they were sourced from. ‘
 
And you won’t believe what they are doing with tomatoes!
 
http://bit.ly/1KRPxRk
 
When ‘hand-crafted’ is really just crafty marketing
‘Artisan-posturing by industrial producers isn’t just a matter of regulatory transgressions. Industrial food giants who “craft-wash”, or use idioms of craft while trashing its essential values, are actively obscuring a set of political issues. Ethical consumers are often well-heeled, for sure, but their deep pockets attend to a deeper commitment to small enterprise, localism, fair trade, ethical supply chains, seasonal produce, farm animal welfare, workers’ freedoms and low environmental impact.’
 
Home-made, just like mum’s, made to a recipe not just a price, farm fresh...it was ever thus and ever will be as long as there is a buck to be made by gulling people.
 
http://bit.ly/1WeE9AY
 
Fish fingers turn 60: how Britain fell for not-very-fishy-sticks- of frozen protein
‘Why bother feeding your guilty habit by stealing fish fingers from your own kids’ plates when you can enjoy far superior examples everywhere, from Yorkshire’s award-winning Star at Harome, where they come with pea, lettuce and mint vinaigrette, to Glasgow’s Gandolfi Fish, which fries them in beef dripping before squidging them into a soft morning roll, or one of Mark Hix’s growing empire of restaurants, where they are apparently a bestseller, despite a distinctly adult-sized price tag (£17.95, mushy peas and chips thrown in).’
 
What was that I said above about (sea)gulling. Mind you, I wouldn't pass by a crisp fried fish finger with tartare sauce and an iceberg salad.
 
http://bit.ly/1FbWDhp
 
Feeding the troops: the emotional meaning of food in wartime
‘Food is central to ideas of national and cultural belonging, something that can be used to bolster wartime patriotism, but it also gives a pungent flavour to cultural difference. Food therefore also provides powerful imagery for propaganda, such as in a 1915 Australian newspaper report that equates German food with hatred and bloodlust: Blood sausage. Brain Sausage. Decaying cabbage pickled in vinegar … only a few of the cheery dishes in which the German rejoices, the delicacies upon which he feeds his hatred.”

It’s  no wonder the Barrossa Coookbook was not reprinted in the post WW1 years. And check out the triffic exhortation to saving bread to Stop the UBoats.

http://bit.ly/1KQ4fCc
 
£255 to eat in The Fat Duck? That’s indefensible
‘Football fans and music lovers have had to learn to tolerate the (emotionally contentious) corporate sponsorship of hallowed grounds and music venues, but restaurants have yet to exploit the naming rights and sponsorship deals that, for globally famous brands such as the Fat Duck, would surely be a productive revenue stream.’
 
Tina Turner pumping out Simply the Best? But of course the fat ducks of finance and industry will continue to eat there, that’s the point of this end of dining after all, to be immorally extravagant of other people’s money.
 
http://bit.ly/1ReVOWA
 
SBS will dish up its fourth free-to-air channel, dedicated to the food genre, later this year.
'The 24/7 channel will combine original SBS content with programs from around the world, sampling a wide-variety of tastes and cultures, in a bid to attract key demographics like women to the network.'
 
Because of course women will be hanging around the house 24/7 just wondering what to cook.
 
http://bit.ly/1LjeFkp