Pigments – which work by absorbing certain wavelength of light and, unlike dyes, don’t dissolve in water – traditionally come from biological sources. Here, two London chefs use bright turmeric and slick squid ink to create two pigment-packed dishes. by Rohit Ghai, Jamavar Turmeric powder, packed with the lurid orange pigment ‘curcumin’, is often considered to be more about the …
10 reasons Menu Next Door didn’t work
It was a promising, if ambitious, idea: offering the chance to buy a home-cooked dinner from a local amateur cook who lives around the corner. Why couldn’t Menu Next Door make it work? Menu Next Door launched its Brussels-based food sharing platform in 2015, with more than 600 Belgian cooks joining the platform. It expanded to London and Paris in …
Making a meal out of bugs
Eat Grub was the first of a small swarm of UK startups selling edible insects. It faces a daunting marketing challenge: getting people to see a pest as something tasty. Shami Radia wants more people to eat insects. Specifically, his insect powder energy bars and packets of freeze-dried bugs. The problem is, most people won’t go near them. Radia is unfazed. ‘It’s …
Granola for Gangsters: a new variation on an old product
Granola for Gangsters has put an unconventional twist to the wholesome and healthy breakfast cereal. For many, granola conjures up images of nice Waitrose shoppers choosing between one brown cardboard package of Dorset Cereals and another. ‘We wanted to rebel against the boring breakfast,’ Sarah Napier, founder of Granola for Gangsters says. From packaging with fun ‘G’ illustrations to the …
A wine startup is using health to challenge the category
Sparkling wines sales have been growing over the last few years. Thomson and Scott is a startup which is adding a health angle to target 20-somethings. A new company is trying to apply a health twist to wine. Thomson and Scott has created a range of ‘skinny’ wines which are vegan, organic and – most importantly – low in sugar. Despite …
Motu’s Kashmiri lamb shank rogan josh
The team behind Trishna, Gymkhana and Hoppers share a lamb curry recipe from their new food delivery venture, Motu. The Sethi siblings, who have been the orchestrators of hit restaurants Trishna, Gymkhana and Hoppers, have turned to the Roobox kitchen for their next venture. Motu (translated as ‘fat man’), serves up high-end curry, brought to your front door by Deliveroo’s riders. Here, …
Put leftover turkey to tasty use in a Vietnamese salad
Brother and sister duo Yung and An Nguyen from Peckham’s Banh Banh give leftover turkey a Vietnamese twist. All our recipes are the food we’d eat at home. To keep them as authentic and fresh as possible, we have a very small menu and rotate dishes seasonally. In keeping with this, our ‘goi’ salads are made with young, unripened papaya; …
Berber and Q’s fesenjan roast duck
A Middle East-inspired roast duck recipe from Josh Katz, co-founder of Haggerston restaurant Berber and Q. I got into cooking north African and Middle Eastern-influenced food during my two years at Ottolenghi. I’ve always been surrounded by it; I lived on Edgware Road for seven years, and grew up in Golders Green. Berber and Q came about because I’ve also …
Festive fried quail with cinnamon, curry leaves and dosa
Gunpowder head chef Harneet Baweja shares his spicy and warming recipe for fried quail. This dish is reminiscent of the kind of quail you get at festivals and food markets in Bombay and Calcutta. It’s soul food, and because it’s hunted, quail is a lot cheaper than chicken. It also captures the avours on the market stalls and is perfect for a …
City foraging: edible herbs and plants near urban spaces
On a crisp winter morning, Courier ventured into the parks and woods north of London with Jason Irving from Forage Wild Food. It’s a fact that there are more plant varieties in urban areas than in rural parks of the same size. With less wildlife roaming our city parks there’s more food waiting for those who are willing to go in search …