The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola is an astonishing book. The food descriptions are truly wonderful if not always flattering. Here are three quotes from the section now colloquially known as 'the orchestra of cheeses. At the end of this I promise you will be either hungry, in search of some excellent orchestral music or both:
Welcome to Tuesday CheeseDay, a new cheese blog! I've finally decided to indulge my love for cheese in the form of even more prose. The purpose of this blog is to explore cheese through facts, folklore, recipes, art and literature. I will also be sharing cheese news and events that I find appealing.
Can you imagine a Sunday roast without the potatoes? You might even be one of those wonderful people who thinks there should be more than one type. Whether you like to get in as much potato variety in as possible in one meal or prefer to focus on the perfection of a crispy, craggy roast potato with its meltingly soft middle; I think you’d agree that the roastie is a key item in an iconic roast dinner.
Alcohol has been with us for a while. Ever since primates started enjoying the overripe, fermenting ground fruit which was easier to sniff out than the underripe fruit still on the branches of the tree. The theory goes that the more fermented food we ate, the more our genetics evolved to enable us to eat more fermented food with fewer side effects. The more fermented food and drink we consumed the more demand increased.
Kebabs, so delicious yet so much controversy. Do you think of elephant leg, the late night scourge of the high street, sadly grey yet so appealing after a few too many drinks? Or perhaps a shish kebab with its crispy nearly burnt edges and indigestible undercooked pepper slices? Is shawarma more your thing? Moist and juicy with garlic sauce and chilies?
I love Georgette Heyer, I even love her more than Jane Austen, mostly because her books are one of the places I know I will always find comfort. No matter how much I admire her, I’ve never yet taken an Austen to bed.
As the opening post for a blog, a dish made of lentils makes for a photographic challenge. Not for me the acid bright sharpness of citrus or the mouth- watering pinks of watermelon. Lentils only look good raw, once cooked to comforting softness they lose any claim to beauty.
