wholefood kitchen

Francoise Auvray and myself on stage and in action at Sunday’s Parks for Life event in Springfield Park, Clapton put together by Hackney Council in partnership with Growing Communities. Francoise composed two delicious recipes, variations using common ingredients to make a Summer Vegetable Barley Soup, and a Warm Barley Salad. Along the way there was plenty of room for discussion with MC Andi Oliver about principles of Macrobiotic Cooking – the dreaded ‘M’ word – which we ended up replacing with ‘Big Life,’ the original meaning of the word. Much more palatable. I later teamed up with David Rosberg who put together some delicious sugar-free desserts, making some important observations about the use of refined sugar, and creating a stampede of children when samples were handed out at the end of the demonstration. We were joined on the Theatre Kitchen stage by representatives from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant, the Fifteen Foundation, and supported throughout the day by Sarah and her wonderful team from the Shoreditch Spa. An inspiring day, providing contact with a collection of people and organisations committed to bringing healthy food and knowledge of cooking into the wider community. Also, a load of wonderful cooking tips from enthusiasts and professional chefs. Watch this space for more Wholefood Kitchen forays!

Join me, in conversation with Francoise Auvray, at the upcoming Springfield Summer festival at Springfield Park, Hackney, on Sunday 22 August. We will be doing a live cooking demonstration of simple, healthy dishes using Barley, Vegetables and Herbs, and talking about a few principles of wholefood cooking. Francoise and I did a practice run in her kitchen, and shown here is a taste of what will be on offer. More details to follow!

Jamie Oliver speaking very passionately about the reality of society’s relationship with food, and communicates his wish to teach every child about food, and the place it has in our lives. Amen. If this item is not viewable, please visit this link.

A report from my last day of my week long Taupiri Bay holiday, and the perfect way to end it.

We’d been pretty successful fishing all week, rising at 6am and rowing out into Taupiri bay to catch the early morning sun, and our fair share of fish. On this morning, I had caught a reasonable snapper, straight away. then an hour or so of nothing. No bites, or small fry being brought up, which had usually been th case. We were close to calling it a day.

But then, something hit – a big one. It took my line, and ran. I could not wind against it – the reel was set on a loose drag, but even as I tightened it, I could not hold it. The fish fought for 20 minutes, I slowly made some headway, and got it close to the boat… We saw its form as it circled under the dinghy, gradually getting bigger in size… until we got it close to the boat, and were both able to lug it on board, catching its head in a net then scooping the rest of it over. A beautiful, 18lb Kingfish.

I had a small taste of what Maui experienced, when he (allegedly) fished up the North Island of New Zealand. The Maori name for the North Island is ‘Te Ika a Maui’ ‘The fish of Maui,’ it even looks like a fish, when you turn it on its side.

A wonderful insight into what the folk at Growing Communities are up to. The Stoke Newington Farmers Market takes place at william Patten School on Stoke Newington Church St, London N16. It is open every Saturday from 10am till 2.30pm, except Christmas and New Year.