City
Issue 31 / Autumn-Winter 2014
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In this issue • The world’s best diet • Free school meals for your child • How to grow sweet potatoes uk www.bhfood.org.
• Migrant English Project • Okonomiyaki pancakes • 10 years of Fair trade
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News
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Food poverty is on the increase
Fishy success 11
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The word’s best diet
Warming Dhal recipe
10 years o Fair Trad f e
Sustainable hospital food
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Grow your own Sweet Potatoes
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to Saucy waysovers use up left
Migrant English Project
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Favourite national cuisines 2 city food news
More recipes!
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Events listings
Welcome This issue of City Food News takes a look at food, culture and celebrations and the ways in which food connects people to culture, religion, tradition and family. The city is becoming more diverse and there are now one in five residents from a BME background and areas such as Portland and London Road have a host of shops selling spices, pulses and grains from across the world. Our diets have become increasing global and in Brighton & Hove we are fortunate to have access to food from around the world making it possible to try dishes from far flung destinations in our restaurants and cafés. Some global diets are healthier than others, and in this issue we review the much talked about TV show The World’s Best Diet. The Community Nutrition team also look to the world for cuisines that both taste good and are good for us. And if you want to try a new dish in your own kitchen on p 14 there is an easy Dhal recipe shared by Synergy Community group. The group cook cheap but quality food that tastes extra ordinary. Or go to the back page for an Okonomiyaki pancake recipe, shared by Lauren, our Dietitian. Don’t be fooled by the swanky name- the translation is cabbage pancakes. Tastes better than it sounds, she assures me. It’s an abundant time of year and a good time to freeze and preserve fruit and vegetables, so you can enjoy it over
the coming months. If however you don’t ever want to see another courgette or marrow again, how about planting the humble chick pea next year instead? Or sweet potatoes? Students from Stanmer Park tell us how. I hope to see you at fridgeSOS, our two day celebration at the Autumn Food Festival on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September, 10am-5pm, Hove Lawns. Come and explore our interactive kitchen installation, wander through a supermarket made of plastic packaging and have a spin on our surplus smoothie cycle. Enjoy the season Vic Borrill Food Partnership Director
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Sharing the Harvest
Welcome to your new Open Market The much anticipated redeveloped Brighton Open Market on London Road is now open for business. Traders, some old and some new are selling a wide-ranging selection of produce and freshly prepared foods at the market, as well as art, crafts, clothes and garden goods. The vision for the new Open Market is to have at its heart: fresh, nutritious, local and quality food to reflect the increasing interest in food, health and sustainability. Food businesses include: Real Patisserie, The Foodshed, The Flying Saucer, Mari’s Deli as well as fruit ‘n’ veg, meat and fish counters. If you are a local food producer, you can rent a shelf at Foodshed, or test the market with a temporary stall. The Open Market is open six days per week; Monday-Saturday 9am-7pm. 4 city food news
The Food Partnership has been awarded funding for an exciting new, 3 year project called ‘Sharing the Harvest’, which aims to help more vulnerable people in the city benefit from gardening. The project will support people with learning disabilities or those with experience of homelessness, mental health issues and addiction to improve their health and wellbeing at community gardens. The Food Partnership will help partners to setup and run gardens in new spaces such as hostels, refuges and day centres, as well as supporting vulnerable people to get involved with existing gardens in their communities. The project builds on the Food Partnership’s successful Harvest Brighton & Hove project (2009-14) which helped to triple the number of community gardens in the city. ‘Sharing the Harvest’ is funded by the Big Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund.
News
Food purchasing standards don’t sound very tasty but they are! Through support from the Food Partnership, Brighton & Hove City Council has become the first local authority in the country to introduce more stringent rules on food buying standards for all catering contracts over £75,000. It’s a decision that will improve thousands of meals per year, will drive local economic development, meet carbon reduction targets and put nutritious and seasonal food on the menu. The standards set are the equivalent to the Soil Association’s Bronze Food for Life Catering Mark. A set of minimum buying standards for all smaller contracts is to be introduced as well. This is an important milestone in achieving the ambition of a healthy, sustainable, fair food system set out in
the city’s food strategy Spade to Spoon: Digging Deeper. The Food Partnership is on hand if other city caterers want to do something similar. Contact Chloe@bhfood.org.uk; 01273 431706
#FridgeSOS Sat 6th and Sun 7th September, 10am-6pm Food Festival Market, Hove Lawns Get down to Hove Lawns and experience the dirty beach supermarket at our two day #FridgeSOS festival. It’s part foodwaste-amnesty, part art installation. Come and see us for: • Cookery demonstrations and tasters • Dirty Beach art installation • Interactive Love Food Hate Waste kitchen • Surplus Smoothie bike
It’s absolutely free!
Date for your diaries – Annual General Meeting Please join us on Thursday 13th November, 6-9pm, Brighthelm Auditorium, North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD. As well as sharing some of our highlights over the past year, we’ll also be seeking your opinion on
what we should ask the local candidates ahead of the May 2015 elections. Join us for an evening of discussion and networking, as well as the usual food, local juice and wine to tempt you out on a cold dark evening. RSVP: info@bhfood.org.uk bhfood.org.uk 5
Brighton & Hove bids for fishy success We have joined other cities and towns across the UK campaigning to gain recognition as a Sustainable Fish City. The Food Partnership is working with food businesses to buy and promote sustainable fish to their customers. What’s the catch? To achieve official ‘Fish City’ status, we need the following to get on board: • Schools and council catering • Hospitals • Higher education • Work settings • Iconic buildings and innovative campaigns Who’s signed up so far? Across the country, major organisations have already pledged their support. This includes the National Trust, 19 universities, John Lewis, Carluccios, Eurostar, Sodexho and Baxter-Storey. And locally, The University of 6 city food news
Brighton,Moshimo,Fishy Fishy,Roedean School,The Brighton Centre, Brighton & Hove City Council School Meal’s Service. Ask your workplace, school, hospital or restaurant to pledge to only serve sustainable fish. They’re more likely to do so if they know that their customers are calling for it. For businesses that serve fish you can sign the pledge online, or get in touch with Chloe Clarke chloe@bhfood.org.uk, 01273 431706
News
Cooking together Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery’s Chances for Change programme, we have been running a cooking and eating group for people with mild learning disabilities. People attending learn safe techniques for cooking and food preparation and the Food Partnership has produced a series of easy read recipes with diagrams. As one participant told us; “I can follow recipes alright here – as long as they’re in that format using pictures – it’s hard reading words sometimes”. Each week the group discuss what is healthy or unhealthy about the recipe. The sessions are a chance to socialise as well as learn to cook – this also helps people to feel more confident. “This is the first time I’ve done the soup and it was really nice – everyone else liked it” said one man. One week involves going to a supermarket to practise finding and buying healthy foods, and talking about what problems people have when they go shopping like reading labels and dealing with busy spaces. Anna the Cookery Leader said; “As the weeks went on, students worked with less support, they supported each other more to practise the skills they had learned, and people cooked alone
when they wanted to.” The sessions are all about skills that can be taken home – another participant told us; “At home I made a salad with peppers, lettuce, egg, coleslaw and jacket potato – my daughter loved it”. The Food Partnership’s Community Dietitian Lauren attended the group to help with healthy eating advice. She said; “Participants were given the opportunity to have one to one discussions about nutrition and were provided with specific healthy eating advice. Several people have now arranged to attend one of our clinics for ongoing support with their weight”. The group is run in partnership with SpeakOut and takes place at Ebenezer Church in central Brighton. If you would like to find out more including details about the next course starting in October, contact cookery@bhfood.org.uk; Tel: 01273 431700 bhfood.org.uk 7
Food poverty in the city is on the increase Brighton & Hove Food Partnership have submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Enquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty. In our submission, we argue that food poverty in our city continues to increase, with all its horrible implications for the health and, given the cost of poor diets to the NHS, the wealth of the city. 8 city food news
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly why food poverty is increasing, despite the supposed end of the recession. Rising prices, especially for ‘healthy’ foods such as fruit and vegetables, and rising energy bills play a huge part. We also hear many concerns around changes to welfare benefits, and benefit sanctions. Every time another £5 is shaved off someone’s weekly benefits it is all too likely this will come straight out of their food spend. If you are on a very tight budget, all too often food is the only flexible item.
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doing to understand food poverty, and we are increasingly being asked to share this work more widely. At a recent ‘roundtable discussion’ on food poverty in the glorious, if not incongruous Palace of the Bishop of Chichester, we helped explore the relationship between food poverty and rising debt, and the increasing role of faith groups in picking up the pieces. You can find out more about the All Party Parliament Enquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty and read R A EG R IG our submission on our website. A FID D IN
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Brighton & Hove has extraordinarily high rents and relatively low wages, with half of all households in the city earning less than £28,240 a year. We see this as an important factor in the increase in ‘long term’ food poverty, which is the grinding on-going experience of difficult choices between food and fuel, or food and rent or food and new school uniform. More than a quarter of households in the city now rent from a private landlord – we have the 9th largest private rented sector in England & Wales. Our rents are among the highest in the country. For people who receive housing benefit, whether because they are unemployed or (as is more often the case) to ‘top up’ their low wages, the maximum housing benefit levels do not cover the majority of rents in the city. In short, three quarters of the households in Brighton & Hove (88,000) cannot afford to pay the market rate for housing. The Food Partnership was asked to give evidence to the current Parliamentary Enquiry because of the highly regarded work we have been
If you are experiencing food poverty in the city, or know someone who is, we have a very comprehensive guide to local services on our website.
What about food banks?
Most food banks operate by referral only and should be seen only as a crisis option. They are not meant for long term use. Look our website for a full list and referral details. If you would like to donate food, it’s best to go through Fareshare, who accept donated food and distribute it around the city. www.bhfood.org.uk/food-poverty-advice www.faresharebrightonandhove.org.uk bhfood.org.uk 9
The World’s Best Diet Review by Charlotte Stirling Reed, Dietitian
In June, Jimmy Doherty and Kate Quilton presented a Channel 4 show exploring how different diets affect our health. Behind the scenes Nutritionists and Dietitians assessed the eating patterns of 50 of the world’s countries, and listed them from best to worst. Some of the worst offenders were in the western world and included, probably not surprisingly, the USA. This seemed to be mainly down to their high intakes of ‘high fructose corn syrup’, especially in the form of sodas and sugary drinks. Rather more shocking was that Mexico was also one of the least healthy with one of the highest rates of obesity in the world. This was, yet again, primarily linked to their especially high intake of sugary drinks. The presenters discussed something they referred to as ‘New World Syndrome’ – where junk food, processed foods and our sedentary lifestyle has led to obesity and a number of other health concerns largely in the more developed countries around the world. Sadly, England came out at number 34 (closely followed by Scotland, 35, Wales, 36 and Ireland, 37). Apparently we consume more ready meals than any other country in Europe and eat surprisingly little in the way of variety. So, what were the countries rating highest and what is their secret to a 10 city food news
healthy diet? High up on the list was France, Japan, Italy and Greece. The countries who had the best diets had one thing in common; very low intakes of processed foods. Instead, their diets focused on real, fresh foods, cooking from scratch and appreciating their meals. Iceland was however number one on the list which was mainly put down to their high intakes of fresh fish and an active lifestyle. We can’t easily mimic Iceland’s diet or lifestyle, but we can reduce our intake of processed foods which really seems to be the key to improving the health of our nation. Some other dietary benefits highlighted by the programme were: • Reducing sugar intakes (especially drinks) • Increasing fibre through eating more fresh fruit and vegetables • Eating 1-2 portions of fish each week • Cooking from scratch • Taking time to sit and eat and enjoy your food
Reviews
Street food tip
Street food is here to stay Review by Alan Lugton It used to be the case that if you said you were popping out for some street food then you were going to get a bag of chips and a Mr Whippy. Today, street food has grown in its diversity to become a rising trend of dynamic and passionate micro businesses that pop up in the heart of the city. Brighton has its very own Street Diner every Friday and Saturday at The Brighthelm Centre Garden and on Wednesdays at Hove Town Hall. Walking amongst the many food stalls and squeezing your way through the crowds of people is all part of the experience. Once you get to a stall you can observe cookery magic happening, whilst taking in the sumptuous aromas of freshly cooked food. There is something about food and the experience of street food that makes you want to engage with the traders in a way that you wouldn’t normally. Finding out about the new ingredients you haven’t tried before, their traditional cooking processes and
Chat Masala is a spice mix that is used in most Indian snacks. It’s a ground seasoning made from a distinctive black salt. Sprinkle on raw onions, salad or cooked potatoes. It’s available in Taj on Western Road.
its origins. Today I chose Venezuelan Arepas (a type of Maize flatbread) filled with slow cooked pulled pork, black beans and plantain from the lovely TostonTolon. However I could have easily chosen Spanish Paella, Portuguese tapas or a Middle Eastern mezze to name but a few, but they will have to wait until next time. While sitting in the sun enjoying every morsel of my feast, you can appreciate the many different countries and cultures that are represented in such a small space, and reflect on how lucky we are in the UK to be offered such choice. It is also fantastic to see that each stall is so passionate about what they are selling. Their food is prepared lovingly and passed out in eager anticipation of your feedback. Expect to pay £5 or £6, but portions are generous and it’s well worth it. bhfood.org.uk 11
Free School Meals for all By Vic Borrill
In September 2013 the Deputy PrimeMinister announced that all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 would be entitled to a Free School Meal (FSM). This bit of national policy is based on pilot studies that suggested that a free meal for all helped to narrow the divide in the achievement gap between rich and poor pupils and that children with a regular healthy meal were more likely to be able to concentrate, get better academic results and were less likely to be obese. It’s a public health approach, covering everyone for a universal longterm benefit and for families in the city this represents a saving per child per school year of £399 (or £2.10 per day). Susie Haworth, Brighton & Hove City Council School Meals Manager, was suddenly faced with the challenge of feeding a school lunch to 3000 five to seven year olds come September 2014. In the face of such a test, I might well have given up, but Susie is made of stern stuff, and with the support from staff from Eden Foodservices, they are about to make this announcement a reality. So are we ready? And what sort of meal will the children be getting? Here are some answers to the questions that I commonly get asked: I’ve read in the newspapers that head teachers are saying this won’t work – are schools ready or will it be chaos. 12 city food news
Nationally there is a lot of anxiety about this programme but locally Eden already deliver 7,200 meals a day across 64 primary & special schools which is 1,368,000 meals a year so this initiative is building on good local foundations. The School Meals Manager has produced an action plan with every one of the 42 schools impacted based on individual circumstances – for example where will the children sit and on what, do lunch breaks need to be longer, what additional equipment and storage is needed? Hundreds of plates and bowls have been bought and 20 kitchens will be having upgrades over the summer holidays. The additional demand also means that 20 new jobs have been created (none of which are on zero hours contracts) and for other cooks hours have been increased. Isn’t it all cooked in a production unit somewhere and shipped out to schools? In all but a couple of small or satellite schools there are on site kitchens (something that isn’t true in many
Feature other places in the country). Food is prepared on site and the independently audited Food for Life Catering mark ensures that at least 75% of dishes are freshly prepared from unprocessed ingredients – there is even bread baked on site each day. Why do they serve food on those horrible prison style / flight trays? We don’t – In the city these have been phased out with only two schools left using them. So children will be eating from (robust crockery) plates and bowls helping to encourage good habits such as sitting at a table and taking time to finish one part of the meal before moving to the next. I remember being made to finish the food on my plate – surely with childhood obesity an issue we shouldn’t be forcing children to eat? The school meals service is run along the principle of ‘me sized portions’ – children of different ages need different amounts of food and the professional teams of cooks in the kitchens take this into account when serving children. I’m worried that there won’t be anything they like and they will be hungry
With at least two choices a day (three in some schools) and a menu that rotates over three weeks there are lots of different options. And a quick glance at the menu www.brightonhove.gov.uk/content/children-andeducation/schools/school-meals shows it’s not the liver in gravy from my day but child friendly pizza, pasta, cottage pie or fish fingers. As our Dietitians will tell you children may need to be offered a food 15 times before they try it and tastes change as you grow up. The choices mean that children can avoid things they really don’t like but sitting down and eating with friends and adults helps to normalise a wide range of foods and parents are often surprised by what their kids eat at school. I know that there are nutritional standards for food but what about sustainability? The school meals service in the city was the first to get Marine Stewardship Council Accreditation for their fish, waste oil is used to power the Big Lemon Bus and they have just announced that they have achieved the Silver Standard Food for Life Catering Mark demonstrating that even more of the food is from sustainable sources – a marvellous achievement at the same time as preparing for the implementation of FSM. www.sacert.org/catering/standards bhfood.org.uk 13
Synergy lunch club Synergy Creative Community is an arts and mental health community-led project which alongside activities like music, art and poetry runs a weekly lunch club at West Hill Hall in Seven Dials. Their food is simple, cheap to
make and delicious. You can find out more and support the project by buying their recipe book from The Foodshed in the Open Market. Thanks to Synergy for sharing this recipe.
Red lentil Dhal
3 Fry the onion paste and stir in the dry red lentils, once covered add in the dried spices except the garam masala to coat the lentils 4 Add the tinned tomatoes and vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally and adding any extra liquid if necessary. Add coconut and stir in. 5 Once the lentils are cooked and soft, add the lime juice, garam masala and chopped coriander. Serve with brown basmati rice or chickpea pancakes.
Ingredients – Serves 6 • 250g red lentils • 8 small onions • 1 bulb garlic • Thumb length of ginger • 2 chilli red bird eye (with seeds) • 2 tbsp toasted mustard seeds • 2 tsp ground coriander • 2 tsp ground cumin • 1 tsp fennel seeds • 1 tbsp Garam Masala • 1 tbsp ground turmeric • Tin of tomatoes • 600ml vegetable stock • Lime juice • Fresh coriander • Pinch of ground cloves • Ground cardamom seeds • 2 handfuls desiccated coconut Method 1 Toast the mustard seeds in a dry pan for a couple of minutes, moving them around constantly to avoid burning and remove from the pan. 2 Blend the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and mustard seeds into a thick paste. Add a little water 14 city food news
Feature
10 years of Fair Trade By Siobhan Wilson
Brighton & Hove is celebrating its 10th year as a Fair Trade City. To maintain Fair Trade status there is a Steering Group that continually campaigns and works with the council and other local organisations to create awareness about the importance of Fair Trade. But why do we need Fair Trade? Not everything we need daily can be sourced locally and Fair Trade works to guarantee a minimum price for their ensure a more equal way of trading product, instead training farmers to when we buy goods internationally. negotiate prices for themselves. One of the greatest benefits Fairtrade The Fairtrade label we all know provides is to introduce stability to farmers and alleviate poverty. The UK’s applies to agricultural products such as coffee and cotton. Companies such as Fairtrade Foundation guarantees a the Co-operative and minimum price that is paid to farmers Fairtrade is about ethical fashion, as Traidcraft work with the Foundation to protecting them well as food and the Open Market increase the amount from market forces. will host this year’s Brighton of Fairtrade products As a result farmers Fashion Week SUSTAIN catwalk, available. have more ability to Friday 10th October, 6.30pm. When you see Fair plan, send their Preceded by a Panel Discussion: Trade as two words children to school UK Fashion Industry Manufacturing this applies to a and to invest in the Post Rana Plaza at 3.30pm at the wider global farms future. Also, a University of Brighton. movement that social premium is www.brightonfashionweek.com incorporates artisans paid funding health such as weavers and garment makers and education projects in the as well as farmers. community. If you would like more information Other certifications have a different about Fair Trade and the activities focus. For example the Rainforest Alliance works with farmers to become taking place across Brighton and Hove please contact us at info@bhft.org.uk. more commercially viable and to manage farms better but does not bhfood.org.uk 15
its suppliers to see for themselves the difference this makes to patients, as well as budgets. The first stop on the tour was the local butcher (K.D Catering Butcher – Polegate). The butchers talked us through the cheaper cuts of meat as they got on with carving, slicing, hacking, sawing. Kevin Delves, Director of KD Butchers told us “we’ve been supplying Sussex Partnership NHS Trust since August 2011. Since then, I have increased staffing levels and am able to negotiate better purchase prices due to bulk buying. We’ve been working together to develop a range of less used cuts of meat in menu cycles and a seasonality approach to purchasing further helps to reduce food costs, without compromising animal welfare.” The next stop was the 100-acre market gardener, JR Wholesale in Hailsham who have seen a 30% increase in annual turnover since winning the contract. William McCartney, Head of Catering at SPT told us that in 2007 his brassica supplier let him down, so he walked straight onto the nearby farm to see if they could help. He was pleased to find that not only were they selling wholesale, but they also grew various varieties of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce.
Hospital food: the good, the bad and the… sustainable Good food doesn’t often spring to mind when you think of hospital food. But Sussex Partnership NHS Trust (SPT) have broken the mould and proved that it is possible to serve good food that doesn’t cost the earth. The Trust which operates mental health services across the County has devised and implemented a radical new sourcing policy which means that 85% of the fresh produce eaten by its patients is now locally sourced. What’s more is that they’ve cut their spending and improved the quality of their meals. Local suppliers Back in June, experts from DEFRA, Department of Health and large scale catering services visited the Trust and 16 city food news
Feature Reducing waste With more than 30 million hospital meals left uneaten in England each year, many patients rely on their families to bring them food. Not so at SPT hospitals. The proof really is in the eating – plate waste is minimal; 91% of patients surveyed agreed the food was good to excellent. Their kitchens also use ‘wonky’ seasonal fruits that do not meet supermarket standards- helping address a national problem that leads to 40% of all fruit and veg being wasted before even reaching the shops. Small, but good quality fruit, supplied by Graham Love of Greenway Fruit, is given to younger patients and patients with eating disorders who are often put off eating a ‘normal’ sized piece of fruit. Influencing policy The progressive journey that SPT has been on has not gone unnoticed in central government. William has been involved in the advisory panel for the Department of Health’s project to develop standards to improve hospital food. He’s also been involved in the consultation to review the Government Buying Standards. We were thrilled that Peter Bonfield OBE, appointed by the Government to launch the British Food Plan was able to join us on the tour. Future plans SPT have proposed plans to build
a new catering production unit on their estate. We understand that this would have the potential to cater for not only SPT hospitals but other Public Sector catering contracts in the Sussex area. Both our Community Meals (Meals On Wheels) and our local NHS hospitals in Brighton, currently rely on food which is prepared and delivered from Wales. We would like to see more collaboration in the future between these major public sector organisations.
Key achievements: • 85% fresh produce is local in meals served to 800,000 patients every year • 20% reduction of their fruit & veg bill • 10% reduction to their meat bill by using less used cuts of meat, cooked longer – enabling higher welfare at competitive price • They’re investing in local economy – market garden hub seen their profits increase by 30% • Patient surveys consistently rate food as good or excellent (91% in latest survey) bhfood.org.uk 17
The Sub tropics of Stanmer Brighton’s answer to the Eden Project By Anne Thorneloe
Plumpton College student Anne Thorneloe, who’s studying for City and Guilds Level 3, has proved that Brighton’s seaside climate is the perfect place to grow exotic foods. The palm house at Stanmer Park houses: figs, kiwis, olives, orange and pomegranate trees, as well as the world’s smallest paddy field. Grown from grains of rice bought in Infinity Foods, Jim Miller and his students are cultivating Camargue rice. Rice is a marsh plant so likes moist soil, but Jim tells me the reason paddy fields are flooded is to suppress weeds. Rice is one of the world’s staple food crops and as with most foods, its mass production raises controversial questions about workers conditions, environmental impact and food security. Jim tells me: ‘Most of our rice is planted, transplanted and often 18 city food news
harvested by hand. It’s a beautiful plant but hard to grow’. Buying organic and fair-trade rice helps to assure against these problems, and buying wholesale may be the cheapest way to do this. Many of the plants grown in the palm house have been gathered on Jim’s travels and are there to demonstrate what can be grown in Brighton & Hove. The temperature in the palm house dips to minus eleven in winter, proving that these plants can withstand our cold climate. Jim is keen for students to experiment and has plans for other themed growing areas. Where next in the world, I wonder? Plumpton College (at Stanmer Park) offers a range of part time and full time horticulture courses. www.plumpton.ac.uk
Grow
Anne’s guide to growing sweet potato “Sweet potato is really easy to grow. One shop bought potato will give you hundreds of babies they are best grown from these cuttings (called slips) and started indoors in January” • Buy an organic sweet potato from the shops and soak it over night. (Sweet potatoes are often coated with an anti-sprouting agent). • Sit the potato in a bed of soil in a greenhouse or on a windowsill and keep moist. • Cut the shoots with a knife when they are 10cm high and plant into separate pots. • When the risk of frost has passed, plant your slips out into well composted soil. • Plant them 30cm apart with 30cm between rows and cover with either fleece, clear plastic or a cloche. • They’ll be ready to harvest in Autumn before the first frost.
Grow your own houmous We’re all used to seeing rows of traditional crops like runner beans and potatoes in local gardens and allotments. But as our diets have become more international, gardeners are growing more unusual varieties of fruit and veg. Celebrity gardener James Wong has written a popular book on his ‘Homegrown Revolution’ to encourage more people to try growing goji berries, Chilean guava and ‘cucamelons’ for example. A few of our team have had success with blight-resistant South American potatoes called ‘oca’ (these have a nutty or lemony flavour). The local campus of Plumpton College have been testing the best ways to grow sweet potatoes outside here in the UK, comparing fleece to greenhouses to open air. But the plant we were most surprised about recently was the humble chickpea. We’d never have guessed it could be grown here, but growers told us they had used it as a green manure or even eaten the pods while still green, as they may not fully ripen in our climate. Garden Organic have produced a factsheet on how to grow this Mediterranean crop in the UK and we found some seeds for sale online at ‘Seeds of Italy’. Why not give it a ‘grow’? www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk/information.html www.homegrown-revolution.co.uk bhfood.org.uk 19
Migrant English Project By Anna Schwarz One of the cookery projects funded through this years Good Food Grants is an international cookery group at the Migrant English Project (MEP). MEP is a volunteer run project which has been offering weekly free English lessons, lunch, advice and a safe space to people from all over the world since 2003. The cookery group offers students a chance to share recipes from their countries with 20 city food news
everyone else from MEP. Each month a different group of students take over the tiny kitchen to cook lunch for the roughly 70 students and volunteers. I went to see a group of 6 Egyptian students, their teacher, and a baby, cook Koshari. Sylvana told me “Koshari is Egyptian, it’s a cheap dish – everyone eats it. It is rice and pasta and tomato sauce and hummous (chickpeas). They do a similar recipe in Syria and Lebanon without the pasta and sauce”
Cookery “People go to school with Koshari” said Randa “you’d have it at school for dinner or for special occasions”. The atmosphere in the kitchen was wonderful with lots of singing of Egyptian folk songs and animated discussion of different interpretations of the recipe. Awatef and Tereza told me “We are very happy and excited – [although it is our] first time cooking for lots of people. It’s very, very nice cooking here because there is love – this is cooked with love” When the food was brought out everyone stopped what they were doing for an announcement of who had cooked and who had put their name on the rota to wash up afterwards and there was a big round of applause. The cookery group sang an Egyptian folk song – with drummed accompaniment on the table – as the food was served. “I think it’s really important – it’s valuing people and their heritage” said Jenny, English teacher at MEP “And also it’s sharing your skills with the whole group not just with your little class which is I think is actually very special – it will give people more confidence and also more validation as someone who represents your country in this country” Isabel, another English teacher who worked with the group to agree a common recipe for Koshari said “I think it’s a great project because so often it feels like the students come and
you’re the teacher and you’re teaching them and they were really pleased with the idea to be more involved and take a more active part. This group were very enthusiastic – it worked well as a conversation starter – we had conversations about what you like cooking and who does cook and who doesn’t. It’s good to teach vocabulary about food because that’s the kind of stuff you need all the time.” The project is very popular with students at MEP. “We planned to run once a month” Ros from the cookery group told me “but we’ve got more people than we need – so hopefully we’re going to do it a couple of times a month now.” So far there are plans for meals by students from Chile and Nepal to cook. Maybe I need to go back and check in with them again.
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Saucy ways to transform your
leftovers
By Vera Zakharov How can a colourful and international diet help prevent food waste? By getting creative with store cupboard staples, our same-old leftovers can be transformed. The key is the sauce. Here are some of my favourites.
Turn your leftover veg into Tapas Like many young people learning to cook from scratch, I started with simple Italian-style dishes. A basic sauce starts with onions or garlic sautéed in olive oil, with tinned tomatoes and herbs added and simmered to release all the rich flavours. Leftover veg can be added to bulk it out. The sauce can be used with pasta, in bakes, or on pizza. Add some 22 city food news
paprika and a pinch of sugar, serve over roasted cubed potatoes, and you have patatas bravas, that staple Spanish tapas dish! Too much rice? Make tasty Teriyaki I bought bottled teriyaki sauce and used it on everything, from noodles to rice dishes to barbeque marinades, until I discovered how easy it is to make at home. It starts with soy sauce, brown sugar, water, oil (sesame preferably), corn flour, garlic and ginger mixed together and simmered until just thickened. A little goes a long way, and it stores well in the fridge too. Add it to leftover rice and vegetables for a quick lunch.
Food Waste Give your roast a Ghanaian make over I didn’t like peanut butter until a friend from Ghana shared her family recipe for chicken cooked in a peanut and tomato sauce. Now I am hooked, and peanut butter goes quite quickly in our house. The basics here are onions, garlic, ginger, tinned tomatoes, peanut butter, stock cube, water and whatever spices you fancy (cumin and chillies are good). Cook up whatever veg or meat needs using in it and serve over rice. Or turn the sauce into a stew and simmer leftover roast chicken or vegetables, along with sweet potatoes for a warming winter meal. Transform your fruit gluts into Georgian Tkemali Tkemali is my most recent sauce discovery, thanks to my mum who lives in the Republic of Georgia. It’s tangy and sweet like ketchup, and just as versatile. The sauce calls for plums (unripe if you like it tangier and ripe if you like it sweeter), boiled in water to soften them and pushed through a sieve. The plum purée is simmered with finely chopped garlic, fresh herbs such as coriander and mint, fresh green chillies or chilli flakes, salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Tkemali is served cold with roast vegetables, potato or meat dishes, or as a salad dressing. This sauce freezes well too.
The Food Waste Collective Well done to the Food Waste Collective who have successfully organised four volunteer action days this year, redistributing tons of food from Brighton businesses to people in need. The Food Waste Collective is run entirely by volunteers and is fast gaining recognition as a hub in the city for people concerned about the rise of food poverty as well as increasing levels of perfectly good food that gets wasted. Get involved: www.facebook.com/ foodwastecollective
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Take your tastebuds
on tour
What can we learn from our global tastes that encompass both flavour and good nutrition? Here are the Community Nutrition team’s favourite cuisines:
Mexican The Mexican diet has a multitude of regional differences, often poorly misrepresented in the UK. The basis of Mexican food is a simple and healthy balance of – tortillas, beans, chillies, squash, avocados and tomatoes. Sophie loves to cook beans with onion, garlic and spices for a filling, nutritious dinner, accompanied by brown rice. Black, pinto, and kidney beans are high in protein, complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fibre. They’re cheap and filling – so what’s not to like? Sophie’s other great favourite is homemade salsa “I either go for tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and coriander or a simple guacamole to accompany the beans. Love your leftover beans by making frijoles refritos (refried beans) which are just as delicious a day or two later.” Sophie 24 city food news
Greek
The Mediterranean diet is typically rich in fruit and vegetables and Greece is no exception. “I love the traditional Greek way of eating; often outside with the whole family. Behaviours and routine around food are very important. There are very few processed foods and a much greater emphasis on salads, vegetables and fat in the form of olive oil, nuts and seeds. Extra virgin olive oil is high in mono and poly unsaturated fats which are both beneficial in promoting heart health, especially if replacing saturated fat in the diet. However, if you are
Eat well watching your weight try adding lemon juice, high in vitamin C, as the dressing instead. Olives are a bit of a marmite food but I absolutely love them, especially alongside feta cheese which contains protein and calcium and adds some variety and texture to the salad.” Charlotte
Japanese
Japan has one of the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease in the world, and this may be partly down to diet. It is low in saturated fat and includes a lot of oily fish and vegetarian sources of protein such as soya and tofu. Lauren loves cabbage pancakes – which taste better than they sound! “Okonomiyaki (cabbage pancakes) – are delicious and a good way to use up cabbage. It’s a Japanese dish which is traditionally served with pork belly or shrimp but I usually stick with veggie options; there’s not much that it doesn’t go well with. Cabbage is high in fibre and is also a very cheap and long lasting vegetable.” Lauren
Indian The meeting of food and culture is significant in India. For Susan, the discovery of the exotic flavours lured her into the kitchen to try and make curries herself.
“I like to use the fragrant mix of spices with the classic onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes as a base for a curry or marinade with yoghurt. Beyond that, anything goes – meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, pulses, eggs – a curry can be a warming and satisfying meal in the cooler months.” With a curry you’re well on your way to 5-a-day and many of the spices are considered full of healthful properties too. Great to cook in bulk and freeze for those days you feel like an Indian takeaway. Susan
Portuguese Seafaring nation Portugal’s cuisine is often overlooked but you can’t dismiss the wealth of fresh fish available. “I couldn’t leave Portugal without trying freshly caught sardines seared on glowing embers. These fish are a traditional Portuguese staple and have such a lovely intense flavour they are delicious all on their own. These small fish pack a heart healthy punch of omega-3 fats and and are perfect for grilling and British Sardines are a good sustainable fish to eat. Rachel bhfood.org.uk 25
Okonomiyaki pancakes (courtesy of Abeno) Ingredients – Serves 1 • 1 egg • 50g plain flour • 50g stock, cooled • 15g raw potato, grated • ½ tsp crispy onions • 1-2 tsp spring onions, chopped • ½ tsp fresh ginger, grated (or Japanese pickled ginger, diced) • 125g cabbage, thinly shredded • Oil Method 1 Mix together the egg and flour, then stir in the cooled stock, making sure that there are no lumps. 2 Add the grated potato to the batter, then stir in the crispy onions, spring onions, ginger and cabbage, plus the seafood or pork belly, if using. 3 Heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Pour the mixture into the pan, and fry for five minutes each side. 4 Garnish with mayonnaise, HP sauce (which is similar to the authentic Okonomiyaki sauce) and either seafood, thinly sliced pork belly, or leftover meat or veg. Oh, and the official recipe calls for Bonito fish flakes and powdered seaweed if you have it! 5 Serve immediately. 26 city food news
Apple Strudel Ingredients – Serves 4 • 225g filo Pastry • 60g butter • 800g cooking apples • 60g brown sugar • 60g sultanas • 30g butter • 1 tsp cinnamon Method 1 Peel, core and dice apples into tiny cubes. 2 Put into a bowl with the sugar, sultanas, breadcrumbs, butter and spice. 3 Mix well, cover the bowl and allow to stand for 30 minutes. 4 Drain off any liquid before using. 5 Grease a baking tray; heat oven to 180°C, 375°F, Gas 5. 6 Brush the sheets of filo with melted fat and arrange on the work surface in overlapping layers. 7 Drain the apple filling and place along a short edge of the pastry. Tuck in the sides and roll up like a parcel. 8 Transfer onto the prepared tray and brush all over with melted butter. 9 Bake for about 30 minutes, until well browned. Dust icing sugar on top and serve.
Recipes
Chicken Fajitas Delicious and simple – Serves 4 Ingredients • 3 boneless chicken breasts • 2 limes, grated zest • 2 tbsp dried oregano • 1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • 2 Onions, thinly sliced • 1 Red pepper thinly sliced • 1 Orange pepper, thinly sliced • 1 Green pepper thinly sliced • 3 tbsp vegetable oil To serve: • Guacamole • Tomato salsa • Soured cream Consider corn tortillas as an alternative to flour tortillas Try replacing the chicken with tofu as this absorbs the marinade flavours really well and is ideal for vegetarians.
Method 1 Add the lime zest and juice, oregano, cayenne and cinnamon to a large bowl and mix thoroughly 2 Slice the chicken breasts into strips, about 2cm wide, and place into the bowl set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes – longer if you have the time 3 Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes, until tender. Stir in the peppers and onions and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, until the chicken strips are cooked through and the vegetables are soft and tender. 4 Serve with tortillas, dips and salad
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, miss... Don t Autumn 2014 September Food Festival Sat 6th and Sun 7th Sept, 10am-5pm Hove Lawns Out and About in the Orchard Thurs 11th Sept , 10.30am-12.15pm Racehill Community Orchard Seed Saving workshop Sun 21st Sept, 11am-1pm BHOGG Allotment plot Health event for Moulsecoomb residents Thurs 25th Sept, 3-5pm St. George’s Hall Apple Day at Stanmer Park (FREE but parking £5) Sun 28th Sept, 11am-5pm Stanmer Park, Brighton Brunch Club at the Bridge Fridays from Oct 3rd-Nov 28th, 9.30-11.30am The Bridge Community Education Centre, Moulsecoomb Food Poverty Awareness session Tues 4th Nov, 9.45am12pm Whitehawk Inn, Brighton
Food Partnership AGM Thurs 13th Nov, 6-9pm, Brighthelm Centre, North Road Annual General Meeting and Member event. Please RSVP info@bhfood.org.uk
Markets
Events
George Street Farmers Market, every Saturday, 10am-3pm. Churchill Square Farmers Market, every Wednesday, 10am-4pm. Upper Gardner Food Banks and Street Market, Visit Emergency Food every Saturday, the What’s Networking 8am-5pm. On page on meeting our website for Farm Market, Wed 21st Jan, North Road, full listings 2-4pm every Saturday, Brighthelm Centre, 9.30am-3.30pm. Brighton