Grills & Boys

Originally published in U Magazine, June 2008 Can you get the stench of burning flesh in the air? It’s that time of year again. Any day now, invitations to friends’ barbecues will come flooding in. No one invites you to dinner during this period, no one says they’re having a few nibbles and cocktails in their […]

Good News For Four Star Pizza

Rubber Ring: A Sad Fact Widely Known

Tea drinking visitors to my house have always, over the years, made polite fun of my collection of Bialetti Moka pots. I have five, graded by how many espressos they make: one, three (I have two of these), six and nine. Being of Italian stock, these ingenious, classic stove-top coffee makers have been a huge […]

Make It Easy On Yourself and Stomach

I do love Easy Food magazine. The recession certainly needs its ethic, and it’s one publication that’s been patiently honing its act and biding its time until we’re all poor enough to require it. Now, I’m not saying it’s the home of remedial food, but it certainly takes the responsibility of its title very seriously […]

Masterchef – It’s Final Week

“Pointing out the obvious in clichéd soundbites DOESN’T get hammier than this..!” An army marches on its stomach (and apparently plays hide-and-seek behind the heather too), especially a Scots one, but that’s no excuse for putting the three finalists in charge of their dinner in the open air of the Scottish Highlands, on Masterchef (BBC2) last night. As […]

New Year, New Chow

I’m a huge fan of Lidl supermarkets. Sure, the great Paolo Tullio shops in my local one, and that’s quite good enough for me. Their selection of fruit and vegetables is, at worst, entirely adequate and a good deal of their pre-packed or frozen products are excellent value. I would sooner do the majority of my shopping between there and […]

“I’ll Have A Fiorentina Please, Boss…”

As if we needed any further proof of the gulf in professionalism between Continental football sides and their British counterparts, here’s a heart-warming, heart-saving tale of a dietary reward system that simply wouldn’t work if offered to the Mars Bar and Coke-consuming likes of Keane, Rooney and Terry. The greatest football coach of them all, […]

Peppa’s Revenge

The full horror only began to dawn on hungover shoppers on Sunday morning. Men dragged out of their beds by their wives for Christmas shopping, lured by the promise of “a fry” when they got to Dundrum, saw the annihilation of breakfast taking place in front of their eyes, splashed across their Sunday Worlds. Pig was off […]

Pootsie Pizza, Pootsie Pasta

There’s a vicious rumour going around (or maybe I simply dreamt it) that one of the mainstays of globalised, Muppet-centric, gastronomic mimicry is changing its name. A chain world-famous for selling so-called pizza is to temporarily rebrand to make a big deal out of its so-called pasta. I know, it sounds like the punchline of […]

Credit Crunching

Baked bean manufacturers could end up being the real winners of this lovely economic downturn we’re all enjoying. It seems that so-called ‘recession cuisine’ is booming in the UK and, as soon as former Celtic Tiger cubs get used to the idea of not being able to shell out €10 for a flavourless ‘deli’ sandwich at their local […]