Anna Louise Batchelor: I first met Jane at a cooking show where my passionate demonstration of cooking with oats was paralleled by Jane and her mission for teaching Real Bread baking. I had instant admiration for Jane and a respect of her ‘Virtuous Bread’ work since, so I jumped at the chance to interview her.
07 May 2013 |
2 Comments | Recommended by 1
Anna Louise Batchelor: In the hot seat for April's 'Five Questions with…' is Suzi Wintle Head Chef at Sheepdrove Organic Farm. With responsibility for the catering of conferences, weddings and the ever famous 'Shhh Secret Supper Club' I want to know more about the challenges of sustainable catering and the benefits of cooking on an organic farm.
19 April 2013 |
3 Comments | Recommended by 2
Anna Louise Batchelor: I’m really lucky in my day job to meet fantastic people working in the world of healthy and organic food. Chefs, growers and producers all dedicated to producing wholesome food. I’ve been inspired by the people I have met and motivated to talk with them for my blog in a series of interviews I’m calling ‘Five Q’s with’. In the hot seat for the first in the series is chef, nutritionist and ‘world’s leading expert on Indian superfood’ Gurpareet Bains.
03 April 2013 |
3 Comments | Recommended by 2
Anna Louise Batchelor: Last week I blogged about a meeting being held by the True Food Co-op to vote on opening a real bread bakery. A big thank you to everyone who sent me messages of support and curiosity; “did we vote yes”? We certainly did! It’s great news and “exciting times ahead” seems to be the saying of the moment. However the story doesn’t stop there as we search for an artisan baker, get baking and actually sell enough bread to make the venture financially viable. The story doesn’t stop there on another count, as it’s a tale of co-op-eration.
11 March 2013 |
5 Comments | Recommended by 3
Anna Louise Batchelor: I’m just back from a trip to Norfolk where I enjoyed travelling and eating my way round the beautiful county. I walked along stunning coastlines, visited pretty market towns and was bowled over by bread. Yes bread! ‘Real Bread’ made with only four ingredients; flour, water, yeast (or sourdough) and salt. This is bread with crusts on, with flavour but without artificial improvers, E numbers or a whole long list of words that you can’t even pronounce.
01 March 2013 |
5 Comments | Recommended by 2
Anna Louise Batchelor: The writer William Somerset Maugham famously said of British cuisine “To eat well in England, you should have breakfast three times a day”. We’re famed for our ‘full English’, revered for Scottish kippers and ‘glow’ with porridge, yet a recent study found that 47% of British people regularly don’t eat breakfast. In my ‘day job’ I’m know as Porridge Lady; cooking with, writing about and developing recipes and products that contain the humble oat. I’m quite obsessional about oats as I think that they are good not only for our health but also the soil too.
18 January 2013 |
6 Comments | Recommended by 3
Anna Louise Batchelor: I recently read in the Guardian Newspaper that we are increasingly forgoing British traditions for the festive season and replacing them with a more Scandinavian approach to Christmas. Now I’m a big fan of the culture that the Scandinavian countries have exported, from Nordic Noir to my ever increasing traditional woolie jumper collection. I also appreciate the very ‘clean’ approach to eating hallowed in Scandinavian culture; lots of fresh fish, great portions of vegetables and complex carbohydrates like rye bread. However when it comes to Christmas I’m not budging on my tried and tested since childhood traditional Christmas.
14 December 2012 |
10 Comments | Recommended by 4
Anna Louise Batchelor: The first time I visited an ‘Underground Restaurant’ was in Cuba’s capital city Havana. These eateries or ‘Paladares’ are run in people’s homes as an informal and cheap way to get a good hot meal. Eating in a Paladares not only allowed me to sample the local cuisine but it also fuelled the travels of two hungry and cash strapped 'pasty' female backpackers. Back in Britain I was pleased to see Underground Restaurants becoming fashionable and gaining notoriety. I did the rounds of London’s top spots from the poshest, held in the grand former hunting lodge home of Jo Woods, to London's most renowned - the 'Underground Restaurant' in Kilburn.
27 November 2012 |
10 Comments | Recommended by 3
Anna Louise Batchelor: I recently had an MOT at the doctors and received a gold star for my good health. Not smoking, rarely drinking, eating all the right foods and exercising plenty make me healthy but also a bit of a 'goody two shoes'. On my walk home from the surgery I decided to work out just what my vice is. As I looked down at my new frock I realised that my deadly sin is gluttony of gorgeous dresses. Yes if you prise open my wardrobe you will be amazed at its Tardis like ability to hoard clothes, specifically dresses. From winter wonders to sun ready summer numbers, I have a far too extensive range of dresses. My only saving grace to this vice is People Tree the ‘Fair Trade fashion pioneers’.
19 October 2012 |
10 Comments | Recommended by 3
Anna Louise Batchelor: Are you still sitting on the sofa watching the Olympics? If you have been inspired by the Olympians and Paralympians isn’t it time you got up and got on your bike? Over the last few months I have been glued to the TV watching cycling. From Le Tour de France to the Olympic gold medal winners it has been a great year for British cycling. Perhaps the Soil Association certified wood for the Olympic velodrome helped. Now whilst I find these athletic feats inspiring I’m always interested in how they can trickle down. What do I mean? I mean it’s time for us all to keep fit!
10 September 2012 |
6 Comments | Recommended by 11
Anna Louise Batchelor: My first ever organic purchases weren’t food, they were skincare products. Why? At the time I was a student involved with the Women’s Environment Network (WEN). They exposed me to the ugly truth behind mainstream beauty products. Through WEN’s research and campaigning I was quickly educated on the nasties of beauty. I learnt that many mainstream products contain chemicals that can cumulatively lead to an increased incidence of hormone disruption, birth defects, bladder and breast cancer. I decided that something natural, something organic was what I wanted.So off I went on my bike to shop for organic skin care products, returning with a clinking collection of little blue glass bottles.
03 August 2012 |
9 Comments | Recommended by 4
Anna Louise Batchelor: A famous politician once said that we are 'all in this together' and he is right. Whilst he was talking about the banking crisis and the resulting recession, I'm talking about community. For me there is such a thing as society. It's easy to be pessimistic about the economy and worry about Britain's future. Over a million young people are unemployed and being failed by an economy that struggles to provide skilled, stable work. In the International Year of Co-operatives let's fix the broken economy ourselves. I advocate looking at the model of co-ops for the way forward.
04 July 2012 |
3 Comments | Recommended by 11
Anna Louise Batchelor: We all want to eat more local organic food; it's fresher, healthier and reduces food miles but just like money, high quality local organic food doesn't always grow on trees. Over the last couple of years myself and colleagues from the True Food Community Co-operative have been travelling the country talking to would-be and newbie set-up co-ops about how to get started. We've also talked about how to scale up from getting more members to how to provide a viable alternative to the supermarkets. We've been creating a demand for local organic food but with that comes the need for dependable, quality supply.
12 June 2012 |
6 Comments | Recommended by 9
Anna Louise Batchelor: I’m a crazy cat lady. There I’ve admitted it and got that one out of the way. All of my life I have shared my home with pets; from three-legged dogs to ‘stray’ ducks, but it’s having a cat around the house that I enjoy the most. It was second nature for me to have all kinds of waifs and strays around the place because my gran had been a volunteer for the RSPCA and often bought her work home with her. Growing up with a menagerie of pets and a gran who railed against animal cruelty gave me an utmost respect for animals. However whilst my care for these pets was foremost in my mind, it wasn’t until recently that I thought about the cruelty behind the meat that goes into the pet food I fed them.
02 May 2012 |
4 Comments | Recommended by 19