Good Eats - Goodtrippers

Best places to eat and drink in Copenhagen

From street food to smørrebrød, here are some great places for eating and drinking in Copenhagen…

Kødbyens Mad & Marked – Located in the Meatpacking District of the trendy Vesterbro neighbourhood, this street food market buzzes at the weekends throughout the summer (there are occasional winter markets too such as Christmas – check the website for details). Here you can pick up culinary treats such as Korean bourittos, meatball wraps, Scandi snacks, mac ‘n’ cheese, truffle fries, gourmet burgers, Brazilian barbecue, Spanish tapas and so much more! Inventive cocktails and craft beers are also on sale, alongside gift stalls – DJs provide the tunes.

Kødbyens Fiskebar – In the same area is this specialist fish restaurant and bistro serving some of Copenhagen’s best seafood (it’s been awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Nordic version of the Michelin Guide 2015). The industrial interior harks back to its old meat hall days. Pull up a stool at the bar, take a seat outside in the summer, or go the whole hog with a slap-up dinner.

To be honest, head to Kødbyens and you’ll encounter enough inviting bars, cafes and restaurants to keep you going for a whole week or more. Regular new openings and old favourites keep this trendy ‘K’ zone one of Copenhagen’s most vibrant areas.

Mikkeller Bar – Located on the cosy Jægergårdsgade in Vesterbro is the bar of the famous Mikkeller brewery. All exposed bricks and filliment lightbulbs, this cool bar is small (very busy in the evenings) but with plenty of outdoor seating in the warmer months. As expected, the beer list is extensive with 20 rotating taps of Mikkeller’s best beers and brews from some of the world’s most interesting craft breweries. Snacks from Warpigs Brewpub and artisanal cheeses from Arla Unika are also available to soak up the booze.

The district of Norrebro, another hip neighbourhood, is also a food and drink hotspot. Turn into the boutique-heavy street of Jaegersborggade and you’ll find yourself in a foodie oasis. At no.41 is Relae, a restaurant opened by a former soux chef of Demark’s famous Noma, which itself has a Michelin star and is no.75 on the ‘World’s Best’ list. But for a quick drink and bite to eat, we tried…

Crate – This teeny tiny record store is also a craft beer bottle shop. Browse the vinyl then buy a beer (bottles or a few guest beers on tap) to drink on the rickety bench outside (oh how Copenhagen-ish…).

Grød – This is (wait for it) the world’s first porridge cafe! Yes, you can eat porridge for breakfast, lunch and dinner here, but don’t assume that just means the classic breakfast staple. This place serves all manor of imaginative porridge-type dishes from around the world – we tried a delicious and fragrant Vietnamese congee, washed down with a local beer. A quick, tasty and (rare in Denmark) very cheap dinner.

Cafe Wilder – A trip to Copenhagen wouldn’t be complete without eating smørrebrød, Danish open sandwiches. We tried some traditional smørrebrød at Cafe Wilder in the old town of Christianshavn. Typical Nordic combos of creamy cod with cucumber and red onion, or beef brisket with pickled vegetables were presented beautifully (small but filling), and salads (a sizeable toasted goat’s cheese and walnut salad was good) make up the lunchtime menu.

The 17th century waterfront of Nyhavn is a pretty location for dinner. The fairylight-strewn cobbled street is lined with restaurants all with outdoor seating (and heating!). Grab a table and watch the old ships bob up and down in the water. It’s a much more traditional tourist hotspot than Vesterbro and Norrebro so the restaurants and bars aren’t as different or exciting as other potential choices. However, it’s a romantic spot with plenty of decent food choices.

The ultimate guide to vegan tapas in Spain

If you ever needed an excuse to indulge in tasty Spanish tapas, then summer is it (and did you know, 16th June is World Tapas Day?)

Eating tapas is more than just the delicious morsels on your plate – it’s also about the atmosphere and company, a Spanish way of life. But if you are vegetarian, vegan or suffer from any food intolerances, choosing the right tapas dishes (particularly if Spanish is not your forte), can be a bit of a minefield.

Now rental specialist Spain-Holiday.com has created handy cut-out-and-carry food allergy transalation cards in Spanish for vegetarians and vegans, as well as those suffering from allergies to nuts, gluten, shellfish, dairy and egg.

Jannich Peterson, COO of Spain-Holiday.com, said, “Even though restaurants and bars in Spain are becoming more accommodating to dietary requirements such as offering gluten-free options for celiac sufferers, and Barcelona recently being named the first Veg-Friendly City, eating out with special dietary requirements can be stressful. [We have] created this Tasty Tapas Guide to help people suffering from food allergies enjoy the delights of tapas in Spain.”

Take a look at the guide – and enjoy your tapas!

World Tapas Day – Vegan

An infographic by the team at Spain-Holiday.com

‘Elly Pear’s Fast Days & Feast Days’ reviewed

New cookbook Fast Days & Feast Days by Elly Curshen (or ‘Elly Pear’ of Bristol’s Pear Cafe) is out now. We took a look…

If you’re not a resident of Bristol, you may not have heard of Elly Pear and her hugely popular Pear Cafe. But now everyone can benefit from her creative foodie mind with the new book Fast Days & Feast Days (published by Harper Collins).

Don’t be put off by the title’s reference to the 5:2 diet – yes, it is designed to help you stick to this fasting/feasting eating plan (Elly herself tried it with success when she found herself ‘eating’ her way through all the exercise she was doing!), but you hardly notice when all of the recipes sound so wholesome and delicious. Most recipes are vegetarian, some vegan, and some with fish. This is health food for 2016 – a book full of vibrant colour and Elly’s passion for food which almost leaps off the page.

Getting started guide to kitchen essentials

The book starts off with a few pages dedicated to storecupboard and kitchen equipment essentials (some obvious pulses, herbs and condiments, but also healthfood staples you may need to stock up on such as buckwheat, raw cacao powder and smoked tofu).

Elly also offers our kind of handy tips including using leftovers, shopping local (and in small, independents including corner shops and online suppliers), using organic, and organising your weekly shopping, cooking and eating to help minimise waste.

From breakfasts and brunches to weekend entertaining

Now to the food…I couldn’t help lingering on every page as I (initially) flicked through the book to get an overview. Stopping at each page, there’s something new and interesting to devour in each recipe. I couldn’t even tell on first look which recipes were for fast or feast days.

My first attempts at a recipe will most certainly be the brunches – ‘Avocado and miso butter on toast’ and ‘Italian-style baked egg’. Or perhaps one of the salads (‘Smoked trout and cauliflower rice salad’ sounding particularly good) – drizzled with some of the ‘Golden Amazing Sauce’ which sounds so simple, yet totally new.

Weeknight dinners include a fab sounding ‘Sweet potato, lentil, kale and coconut curry’ and ‘Cornershop stew’, for those very “too tired to cook” evenings.

Weekend entertaining offers the opportunity to really impress with ‘Tofu and kale gyoza’, ‘Sea bream in crazy water’ (yes, really), and ‘Blue cheese polenta with mushrooms and hazelnuts’.

After sauces and dips, the book ends on puddings and other sweet treats with ‘Rosemary and lemon posset’ sounding fresh but indulgent, although not as indulgent as ‘Fatty’s salted caramel sauce’ (surely for a feast day!). For little ones, the ‘Banana and oat bars’ sound like a good, homemade alternative to a certain organic supermarket brand…

Beautiful photography and styling

Like any great cook book worth its (Himalayan) salt, Fast Days & Feast Days is full of beautiful photography and fabulous food styling. Has it been designed with the Instagram generation in mind? Whether that’s so or not, this is a great book packed with natural, sustainable food advice, and, most importantly of all, delicious and super healthy recipes!

Elly Pear’s Fast Days & Feast Days by Elly Curshen is available now, priced £20.

All rise for Real Bread Week (14-22 May)

Are you ‘doughing it’ for the kids? Sourdough, rye or wholemeal, learn to bake a real loaf and get the kids involved in a celebration of our daily crust…

Take a slice of Real Bread Week, returning for an eight year from 14-22 May 2016. Part of the Real Bread Campaign, this is a week celebrating additive-free loaves and the people who make them. The theme this year is sharing the delicious delights of real bread with children and encouraging baking skills and real food knowledge.

Campaign ambassador, and Fabulous Baker Brother, Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery said: “Real Bread has the power to thrill taste buds and transform lives. Real Bread Week is the number one time of the year when bread lovers go all out, showing off delicious loaves, and winning people over.”

Campaign supporters are organising events including:

Cucina Restaurants: after-school family bread making sessions at many of the 40 schools it caters for around England
Bridging the Gap (an organisation that trains 15- and 16-year olds to mentor younger students): Real Bread making and storytelling class at St. Francis Primary School in Gorbals, Glasgow
The Hearth: afternoon of drop-in pizza making sessions for children in Lewes
Fordhall Community Land Initiative: Learn to build and use a cob (mud or clay) bread oven in Market Drayton

To help people dress for the part and raise some dough, Balcony Shirts has created limited edition On The Rise aprons and organic cotton t-shirts, making a donation to the campaign for each one sold.

Follow the action on Twitter using hashtag #RealBreadWeek. For full details of Real Bread Week including many more public events, local Real Bread bakeries and classes, and how to join the campaign to enjoy a range of special offers, visit realbreadcampaign.org.

The Real Bread Campaign is part of the food and farming charity Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, with supporters around the UK and in more than 20 other countries.

Starting from a basic definition of real bread as made without any artificial additives, the campaign’s mission is to find and share ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet.

Other highlights of the week include:

Saturday 14th May – Jo Bottrill will be serving up and talking about her Real Bread at Michelin-starred chef Bruno Loubet’s pop-up restaurant at the Parkside Farm Shop in Bedfordshire.

Sunday 15th – To mark both Real Bread Week and Dying Matters Week, this workshop in Pembrokeshire will explore good bread baking and good funerals that celebrate life and the role of the community.

Sunday 15th – To celebrate National Mills Weekend, the wheels of Cogglesford Mill will be turning to produce stoneground flour and Greenfield Bakers will be selling Real Bread.

Tuesday 17th – Love Bread Bakery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, is running a free family learning breadmaking class for parents and pre-school children. It will teach families the Real Bread basics, with recipes they can try together at home.

All week (14-22 May) – Emma’s Bakery is running workshops at the Real Food Store in Exeter through the week, with a view to setting up a scheme to get more Devonshire kids into bread.

All month – On Monday 16^th, Hobbs House Bakery launches its annual #KingOfTheSourdough competition runs, with a weekly winner being announced every Monday. It culminates in a final bake off at Hobbs House Cookery School during Sourdough September.

Cook up a superfood curry with Hemsley + Hemsley

Superfood sisters Hemsley + Hemsley will be cooking up a treat at the BBC Good Food Summer Show this month.

Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley will be at the BBC Good Food Eat Well Show featured at BBC Good Food Show Summer in the City on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May. They will be cooking live in the Supertheatre, appearing on the BBC Good Food Stage and signing their new book Good + Simple. For tickets visit www.bbcgoodfoodshowsummerlondon.com.

As a taster, we share one of their delicious new recipes – a curry that works just as well in the summer heat as the cold winter months!

Courgette and Aubergine Curry

(serves 4 as a main, or 6 as a side dish)

Red split lentils provide a quick-and-easy creamy base without the need to soak them. Thecoconut and ginger have incredible immune-boosting properties and, as usual, we like to sneak nourishing homemade broth into all our cooking. With this fragrant curry, the bone broth is purely for the nutritional value, so you can afford to skip it if you don’t have any to hand (but please don’t be tempted to use stock cubes).

Serve with a pile of watercress on top or add in lots of finely shredded cabbage towards the end of the cooking time.

Ingredients

200 g bar of creamed
coconut (use the oil for frying) or 2 tins of full-fat coconut milk plus 2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee for frying
2 large onions, diced
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh root ginger (about 80 g) – unpeeled, if organic – grated
6 large garlic cloves, diced
200 g red split lentils, rinsed (no need to soak these)
½−1 litre bone broth or water (use a little less if you are using coconut milk and depending on how thick or saucy you want your curry to be)
1 large aubergine, chopped into 1.5 cm pieces
4 large tomatoes, quartered
2 large courgettes, diced
grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime or lemon (avoid the bitter white pith)
2½–3 tsp tamari or 2 large pinches of sea salt
1 tsp maple syrup
a handful of roughly chopped fresh herbs, such as coriander, mint or basil (Thai basil if you can get it)

Method

In a large wide pan, dry fry the peanuts or cashews for a few minutes to toast them, roughly chop and thenset aside.
In the same pan, heat the coconut oil over a medium heat and fry the onion, ginger and garlic for 10 minutes until soft (don’t let the onion and garlic go brown).
Add the lentils, the roughly chopped coconut solids or coconut milk, and then most of the bone broth or water (a bit less if you’re using the coconut milk) and stir well.This should be enough liquid for the coconut solids to dissolve, but keep an eye on the liquid levels so that the lentils don’t stick and burn at the bottom.
After 6 minutes of cooking over a medium-high heat, add the aubergine and stir.
After a further 10 minutes, add the tomato, courgette, lime or lemon zest and the tamari or salt. Add more bone broth or water if you think your curry needs it.
After 6 minutes, turn off the heat and add the lime or lemon juice, the maple syrup and fresh herbs, then stir and taste.You might need a little more tamari or salt or lime or lemon juice to add sourness.
Top with the nuts and serve with watercress or your chosen side dish. If we’re having guests round,we like to serve our curry with some little bowls of extras (nuts, herbs, lemon or lime wedges and a bowl of tamari or sea salt) so everyone can help themselves to extra toppings – a handful of peanuts or cashew nuts (preferably ‘crispy’)

Wild food foraging with Primrose Matheson

Wild food has never been so popular. Want to forage for your own? Primrose Matheson, founder of Primrose’s Kitchen, shares her expert tips…

When she’s not producing her gluten-free, organic museli in her home county of Dorset, Primrose Matheson loves to browse the hedgerows and beaches for all that nature’s larder can provide. Now she shares her own tips for foraging for those who those who want their food a little bit wilder.

What got you into foraging?

“Having grown up on the island of Guernsey I spent my childhood scrabbling over rocks to go shrimping and ormering at low tides or scouring the beaches for polished glass and little yellow periwinkles, it seems to me that the world of foraging has always been close to my heart!

“Although the word foraging (‘to wander or go in search of provisions’) covers all manner of foods, we are more familiar with its association with plants and as a vegetarian now this is also where my attention is spent. I love the connection it gives you to your environment, it allows you to really notice the changing of the seasons. This in turn helps you feel more connected to your body, using the seasonality of plants, you become aware of good times to cleanse or build up your system.

“Foraging is a meditational process which connects you to the moment and living in Dorset where everything seems so plentiful it does also instil a sense of gratitude for nature and its beauty and abundance. I love the magic of the doctrine of signatures which states that herbs resemble, through shape or colour, various parts of the body and can be used to treat ailments related to those parts of the body.

“This reminds us that everything in our life, the things, the people, the animals, the children, the herbs – are all our teachers and we have something to learn from them all if only we learn to listen. A clear example of this are the elder berries of the elder tree whose purple alveoli like berries drop in bronchial like branches. Purple is associated with respiration and circulation whereas yellow plants tend to be kidney and liver related.

Where have you foraged?

“I have foraged on the beaches in Guernsey for things like sea lettuce (Ulva), a green algae that can be added to broths or dried as a snack as well as sea beet often called wild spinach. I’ve spent time in beautiful Holkham, Norfolk and also on the Sussex coast picking samphire which is one of my favourite sea vegetables, delicious steamed with a simple dressing as a starter like asparagus.

“In Dorset I’ve stayed inland picking my favourite horse mushrooms (Agaricus Arvensis) as well as looking for more easily recognizable plants like Elderberry, Nettles, Cleavers, wood sorrel and blackberries.

Tempted? Look for these…

Elderberry trees are wonderful as not only can you make delicious cordials in the summer months when they are flowering you can also make wonderful chest tonics from their berries in the winter months.

Nettles, often described as weeds, are a powerful anti-inflammatory and cleanser for the liver and the young leaves can be made into soups, pesto’s and infused for teas.

Cleavers otherwise known as “sticky willy” or “goose grass” are a fantastic blood cleanser and is great for thickening stews. You will notice it by the way it sticks to your clothing as you walk past it!

Wood sorrel, distinguished by its clover like, three heart-shaped leaves, is found in shady locations and makes a decorative addition to salads with its distinctive lemony taste.

Blackberries growing in the autumn are a rich source of Vitamin C. Nature in its wisdom provides them for us at this time to stock up our reserves before the cold winter days set in.

Top tips for foraging beginners

When foraging stay away from busy roads or areas where dogs can get to so that your foraged plants are free as far as possible from pollution or contamination.
Do not eat anything you cannot positively identify and deem safe.
Forage after a rainfall means the plants are more lush and clean and if you are removing roots easier to remove.
Take a small sharp flick knife with you so as not to tear the stems of the plants.
Always forage sustainably by leaving some behind in order for it to continue to be there each year.

Get your ‘5 a day’ at vegan festival VegFest, Glasgow

Glasgow gets ready to host VegFest Scotland, Europe’s largest eco veggie festival this December…

The inaugural VegFest Scotland, taking place 5-6 December at Glasgow’s SEC, is all about going vegan. This family-friendly event will include lots of ideas and inspiration to get healthy eating and vegan activism high on the agenda, including dozens of talks on nutrition, health, lifestyle and campaigns.

As food is top of the agenda (obviously!), you can grab lunch at the in-house Levy’s Restaurant and their all-vegan menu, or choose from 12 other specialist caterers and around 140 stalls.

Visitors can enjoy vegan cookery demos, kids cookery classes, family entertainment, live music, comedy, a Hemp Expo on the medicinal benefits of hemp, and more.

Vegan gourmet matured cheeses from Tyne Cheese

Vegfest Scotland organisers added, ”Vegfest Scotland is all about going vegan. It’s not about eating less meat, or choosing eggs over fish, or anything like that. It’s about going vegan, pure and simple. It’s a single issue campaign. Go Vegan. For the planet, for the animals, for your health, and for sustainable global food production. And it’s so easy. Vegfest Scotland will demonstrate just how easy it is to go vegan and stay vegan.”

Glasgow initiative The Only Way is Ethics is behind a number of events around Glasgow City Centre in the week preceding Vegfest.

Tickets and booking: Admission to Vegfest Scotland is by advance tickets as well as payment on the gate. Advance tickets are £5 a day or £8 for the whole weekend. Tickets on the gate are £8 for adults and £4 for claimants. Kids under 16 can enter for free.

For more information visit www.vegfestscotland.com

UK’s best sustainable fish and chip shops reach highest number

The number of MSC-certified fish and chip shops in the UK has doubled this year, and diners can now choose from 50 that are dotted all across the UK.

Next time you’re choosing a chippie, look for the MSC’s ‘blue tick’ ecolabel that appears on sustainable menus to give diners an independent assurance that their fish was sourced sustainably, and is traceable from ocean to plate.

MSC certification provides traceability from ocean to plate

Globally, 1 billion people rely on fish for their main source of protein and around 10% of the world’s population rely on it for their livelihood, so it’s vital to ensure that the life in our oceans is safeguarded for the future. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was set up 15 years ago to do just that, and is now the world’s leading ecolabel for sustainable wild-caught seafood. It certifies 45% of the UK’s wild-caught fish as sustainable.

World’s most sustainable fish and chip shop

Earlier this year, Plymouth’s Kingfisher Fish and Chips became the world’s most sustainable fish and chip shop, when it put 12 different species of MSC certified fish and seafood on its menu, more than any other fish and chip shop or restaurant in the world. The impressive array of sustainable choices includes cod and haddock from the Arctic Sea, Jersey lobster, prawns, pollock, salmon and even kippers.

Kingfisher’s owner, Craig Maw, says sustainable sourcing is central to the chippy’s focus on quality. “The ecolabel is in the forefront for sustainable fish certification and consumer confidence. This is why we openly endorse MSC certification and the ecolabel. Moving forward, I hope to encourage other businesses to become certified, ensuring future generations have the same choices as today,” says Maw.

Newest sustainable chippie on the list

The latest fish and chip shop to become MSC-certified is Cromars in St Andrews, Scotland. This traditional seaside chippy has also been shortlisted for the Independent Takeaway category at the 2016 National Fish & Chip Awards, which will take place in January.

Cromars in St Andrews is 50th chippy to become MSC certified

Colin Cromar, the takeaway’s owner, says: “All of our food is locally sourced and we’re proud to say that we only use homemade, fresh products so we know exactly what we’re selling to our customers. We recently became the 50th shop in the UK to gain accreditation from the Marine Stewardship Council. Add this to now becoming one of the ten best fish and chip takeaways in the UK, and I’d say we’re looking to end the year with a bang.”

Seven of the 10 finalists in the 2015 National Fish & Chip Awards were MSC certified, including Frankie’s Fish and Chips in the village of Brae, in the Shetlands, which was named the best independent takeaway and also scooped the ‘Good Catch – Sustainable Seafood Award’. It sells MSC certified haddock, crab, king scallops and mussels, and it also runs an educational programme to teach local primary school children about the importance of sustainable fishing. “The provenance of our seafood is of great importance to us,” says John Gould, Manager of Frankie’s. “You can buy a fish supper at Frankie’s without worrying that it causes harm to the haddock stock in the seas off Shetland or the environment.”

Other recently certified fish and chip shops include two branches of Scotts Fish & Chips, in York and Helmsley, and four branches of Rockfish, the takeaway restaurant chain that is owned by chef and restaurateur Mitch Tonks, in Dartmouth, Brixham, Plymouth and Torquay.

For more about the MSC and sustainable seafood visit www.msc.org

SLOWmotion: Explore slow food and living at Rosewood London

It’s time to go slow this autumn and winter… From cooking ‘slow’ brunches to making your own leather tea tray, the new SLOWmotion workshops are here to teach us all the joys of slow living.

Organised by food magazine and event company TOAST, this new series of foodie and lifestyle workshops and events is all about celebrating the ‘slow life’. Mass production and instant gratification, step aside!

Taking place at the beautiful Rosewood hotel in London’s Bloomsbury, expect tasty brunches full of plenty of sharing plates featuring slow food ingredients from the regular Sunday Slow Food & Living Market in the hotel’s courtyard.

As well as eating brunch with foodies including Rosie Birkett and Jackson & Levine, you could even make your own tray, table runner and spoon! Join one of several workshops which each focus on a different craft, and explore mindfulness and slow living by traditional techniques. Each workshop host will teach guests how to make an item to take home (ideal for Christmas gifts) as well as discussing their story and lifestyle.

See the full schedule of events and workshops below.

Tickets: Booking is essential – tickets can be reserved via the TOAST website www.eatdrinktoast.com/events and are priced from £40.00.

Location: The Living Room, Rosewood London, 252 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7EN

SLOWmotion Autumn/Winter 2015 Schedule

12-2:30pm, September 27th – Slow Food Brunch with Signe Johansen

A Slow Food brunch with Signe Johansen, Norwegian-American cook, writer and food anthropologist, and author of best-selling cookbooks Scandilicious and Scandilicious Baking; expect such delights as the Scandi Bloody Mary with tomato juice from the market, 58 Gin, Halen Mon smoked water, dill, horseradish and cucumber and Crispy Cod Cheeks with Nordic Dill Salsa, plus, to take home, Skoleboller or “school buns” – Norwegian vanilla custard filled buns with coconut
www.twitter.com/SigneSJohansen

11am-1pm, October 11th – Slow Living Workshop with Grain & Knot

A Slow Living workshop with woodworker Sophie Sellu of Grain & Knot. Learn the art of crafting a spoon from reclaimed timber. During the workshop guests will learn the safest way to use wood carving knives and leave with their very own spoon. A kit of sandpaper and a homemade wood balm will be given to each attendee to continue to care for their spoons at home
www.grainandknot.com

11am-1pm, October 18th – Slow Living Workshop with Waffle Design and Curate & Display

A Slow Living and interior design workshop with Waffle Design in collaboration with Curate & Display, a lifestyle and design blog. WAFFLE is a fresh range of home interior accessories made using organic cotton and a tactile waffle weave. The creative lead and founder Ciara McGarrity will share Waffle Design craft secrets, and teach guests how to create bespoke table runners. Tiffany Grant-Riley, the founder or Curate & Display, will talk about her thought process with creative, modern, clean interiors.
www.waffledesign.co.uk // www.curateanddisplay.co.uk

12-2:30pm, November 1st – Slow Food Brunch with Rosie Birkett

A Slow Food brunch with Rosie Birkett, food writer, stylist, presenter and author of the bestselling cookbook A Lot on Her Plate, a collection of imaginative, delicious and approachable recipes that draw on the culinary vibrancy of seasonal, fresh produce and simple, store-cupboard ingredients
www.rosiebirkett.com

12-2:30pm, November 8th – Slow Food Brunch with Jackson & Levine aka Laura Jackson & Alice Levine
A Slow Food brunch from London’s coolest supperclub hosts Jackson & Levine. With Laura Jackson and Alice Levine both working in TV and radio, they set up their supperclub as a passion project to create an interesting and fun environment for like-minded food folk to sit round a table and enjoy a home cooked meal and a glass (or three) of wine
www.jacksonandlevine.co.uk

12-2:30pm, November 15th – Slow Food Brunch with Claire Ptak of Violet Bakery

A Slow Food brunch with Claire Ptak, food stylist, food writer and owner of Violet Bakery in East London. Hailing from California, Claire trained in the pastry department at Chez Panisse with Alice Waters, who subsequently wrote a moving foreword to her recent book The Violet Bakery Cookbook. Claire focuses on seasonal ingredients, natural flavourings, wholegrains and unrefined sugars when baking. Bringing a Californian sensibility to everything she does, she has also worked with Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi.
www.violetcakes.com

11am-1pm, November 22nd – Slow Living Workshop with Doe Leather

A Slow Living and leather workshop with Doe Leather, one of the last remaining Black Country leather goods workshops. Using natural vegetable-tanned leather, Deborah Thomas will teach guests how to create a beautiful leather tray. Attendees will learn the basics of leather sewing with different coloured harness threads, burnishing (on the edges of the leather with special gum and linen cloths) and then hand-stamp their initials into the final piece
www.doeleather.co.uk

12-2:30pm, November 29th – Slow Food Brunch with Meera Sodha

A Slow Food brunch with Meera Sodha, cook, food writer and author of the bestselling cookbook Made in India: Cooked in Britain, a collection or recipes focusing on Gujarati cuisine written as she hovered over her mother’s shoulder at the stove
www.meerasodha.com

More events, including Christmas specials, to be announced!

Coffee with a heart at Old Spike Roastery, Peckham

There’s nothing bitter about the coffee at this new social enterprise cafe…

Opened just over six months ago in Peckham, south London, the Old Spike Roastery is a little different to all the other indie coffee shops opening in gentrified corners of London. This cafe employs homeless and former homeless people. Its mission is to get them get back on their feet by providing them with training, paid employment, and other support such as housing and language lessons.

Old Spike Roastery, Peckham (photo: Nathan Small)

Excellent coffee roasted on the premises

The coffee is excellent – single origin, speciality beans, hand-roasted on the premises. Also on sale is bread from Breaking Bread in Nunhead (a social enterprise that employs ex-offenders), plus Crosstown doughnuts and brownies.

You don’t have to go to Peckham to drink their coffee. Their hand-roast is available to buy online – if you subscribe you get a fresh bag sent out every Thursday tailored to how you make your coffee at home. Every bag sold goes some way to helping a homeless person get back on their feet.

a friendly smile at the Old Spike Roastery cafe (photo: Nathan Small)

Founded by childhood friends Cemal Ezel and Richard Robinson, both local to the Peckham area, the inspiration for the social aspect of the enterprise came from Cemal visiting the Reaching Out teahouse in Hoi An which employs waitresses with hearing loss. Richard was inspired to roast coffee in-house after spending three years in the caffeine-fueled city of New York.

So next time you’re in Peckham, drop in for a coffee and say hello. You may meet Lucy, their first trainee barista who is now working at Old Spike after the founders saw her selling the Big Issue outside London Bridge station.

Old Spike Roastery is open Mon-Fri 7.30am to 3pm, and Sat-Sun 9.30am to 5pm. Find them at 54 Peckham Rye, London SE15 4JR.

For more details, including how to buy their coffee online, visit www.oldspikeroastery.com