Mexican food is famous for its inclusion of chile peppers; British food is not. This is why it is particularly fascinating to me that an old high school friend and his partner have made a wonderful business out of growing, promoting, and selling chile peppers in the UK–in Bedforshire, no less, where you are more likely to find a Clanger (rather like a cornish pasty) than Mole. Edible Ornamentals, runs workshops (including one on hydroponic chile growing), does tours (Chile tour to Texas anyone?) and has a tasting kitchen (visited by the likes of Heston Blumenthal). Their core business, however, is the growing and selling of Chile plants–nearly 150 varieties of chile plants. Recently I had the opportunity to add to this collection. Continue reading
Category Archives: UK
Learning to cook and sensory food capacities
I did something yesterday that I haven’t done in about 35 years. I took a cooking class. The last time I had formal cooking lessons was when I was in junior high school. In exchange for being allowed to use one of my class periods to work the the school office (for free and where I learned to file), I agreed that I would also take home economics (what is now understood as domestic science). In my school home economics involved learning to sew from a pattern, and some very basic cooking skills. We learned, for example, how to overcook minced beef and the proper doneness of green beans. Yesterday’s lesson was somewhat more inspiring. Continue reading
After work family eating
I was talking with a couple of my work colleagues this week about family eating. Putting aside that a number of us do research on food related topics, even those who do not do this kind of work are pretty food aware. There is a member of staff who works on ice fields, but also raises sheep for wool and food (see the post about his lamb here), another member of staff is involved in bee keeping with his local church (he also sells the honey in the department), many of us have small vegetable plots. I have raised chickens. An even larger number cook. This provides great opportunities for recipe sharing. Continue reading
We need to talk about hunger
If you look through the door of my pantry you will see a window into my world. My pantry expresses my likes and dislikes and my cultural background by the presence and absence of certain goods. You will also see that in my house, we are not hungry. I have been hungry in the past. I plan against this by stocking up for the possibility that there might come a day when I might not have money. It isn’t an entirely rational approach to domestic food provisioning as it is a practice that produces waste. But, I always know where my next meal is coming from. And I also know I am lucky to be able to be so potentially wasteful. My household budget is shaped by my past experience of hunger. I am sure I am not alone, but for some reason hunger is not a fashionable term these days. What is that all about?
GeoFoodie 
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