‘Bakery scent’ added via microcapsules to postage stamp celebrating ‘jewel of French culture’
The French Post Office has released a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp to celebrate the baguette, once described by President Emmanuel Macron as “250 grams of magic and perfection”.
The stamp, which costs €1.96, depicts a baguette decorated with a red, white and blue ribbon. It has a print run of 594,000 copies.
Continue reading...Parisian bakers have claimed victory over rivals in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019
For the past five years, bragging rights over the world’s longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.
On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, spending hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory.
Continue reading...US enthusiasts who follow the tradition of sharing dough are now receiving about 1,000 requests a week, up from 30 to 60
“There’s an old pioneer tradition” dating from the earliest days of the colonisation of the US west, says Mary Buckingham, “that you shared your bread starter with anyone who asked.”
Which was all very well until TikTok came along.
Continue reading...Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest
The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.
Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Continue reading...The traditional staple is losing the battle with more convenient and cheaper alternative foods
The Dojima branch of Yoshinoya in Osaka is doing a roaring lunchtime trade. As soon as one diner vacates their counter seat, another takes their place, while staff take just seconds to assemble the next order of the restaurant’s trademark dish: gyūdon.
The Observer has joined the rush, ordering a set lunch of seasoned beef and onion on rice, and side dishes of pickled cabbage and miso soup – all for a extremely affordable ¥632 (£3.46).
Continue reading...Aid agencies warn of ‘ripple effect’ as soaring wheat prices hit countries already facing inflation, food insecurity and conflict
Concerns are growing across the Middle East and north Africa that the war in Ukraine will send prices of staple foods soaring as wheat supplies are hit, potentially fuelling unrest. Russia and Ukraine supply a quarter of the world’s wheat exports, while Egypt is the world’s biggest importer of wheat.
In Tunisia, like many people queueing for bread in Tunis’s sprawling medina, or old town, Khmaes Ammani, a day labourer, said the rising cost of living was leaving him squeezed. “There’s never any money at the end of the month,” he said. “I even have to borrow some. Everything is getting more expensive.”
Continue reading...Recipes for Superbowl 56 next weekend from the kitchen of Joe Allen in Covent Garden: slow-braised smoked baby back ribs and vegetarian hot dogs with quinoa chilli. Touchdown!
I’m a huge sports fan, so revel in everything around a big sporting event: getting friends over, the TV set up and, of course, prepping the ultimate game-day spread. The Super Bowl next weekend is the perfect excuse to get some American-style dishes on the go, and it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make a couple of Joe Allen classics. Today’s recipes have been a closely guarded secret – or at least until now – and, regardless of whether or not you’re a meat eater, together they make the perfect finger food for everyone who can’t take their eyes off the screen.
UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado
UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado
Continue reading...Leclerc destroying ‘dignity’ of profession for selling a baguette for 29 cents (24p)
French bakers have taken aim at a major supermarket chain that is offering inflation-busting low prices for baguettes, saying the move will undermine competition in one of the country’s prized industries.
The Leclerc group said in newspaper ads on Tuesday that “because of inflation, the average price of baguettes could increase significantly. That’s unthinkable”, vowing to cut into its profit margins to cap the cost of the signature French loaf at 29 euro cents (24p).
Continue reading...Cheese and chocolate are your friends, but keep them bite-sized. Top chefs share their favourite nibbles …
• Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com
What makes the best party snacks?
Rachel, Hove
“Anything that can be eaten cleanly in a mouthful is ideal,” says Guardian food columnist Ravinder Bhogal. “Anything too big, messy or that requires lots of chewing should be avoided – there’s nothing worse than those awkward, mouth-full moments when someone suddenly strikes up a conversation.”
Continue reading...This store-cupboard staple is fantastic in curries and works brilliantly in sweet dishes too, whether you fancy panna cotta, grapefruit cheesecake or a super-rich hot chocolate
Coconut milk has a reliable transformative power, turning humble ingredients into something exotic, enticing and a little festive. In a short amount of time, a couple of aubergines become aubergine curry, for example. Discovering a tin of coconut milk in the cupboard opens up possibilities.
But if you are not a regular user of the stuff, you may be alarmed to find that it’s one of a bewildering array of related by-products, including coconut water, coconut oil, coconut cream, creamed coconut (which comes in a block) and cream of coconut. Are any of these ingredients similar or interchangeable? Sort of. Coconut milk and coconut cream are both made from squeezing the grated flesh of the fruit, with coconut cream being the richer version from the first pressing. If you have a fresh coconut, it is possible to do this yourself.
Continue reading...Slow-cooked courgettes with a toasty breadcrumb topping, a summery tomato and feta salad with lemon dressing and, to finish, a classic pick-me-up of soft amaretti with coffee sauce
Italian summer, anyone? I know! Me, too! This might not be a summer when we get to drink espresso with a little amaretti biscuit on the side in situ, but I fully intend to pretend for a good few meals. Amaretti biscuits, Italian extra-virgin olive oil, hard ricotta from Puglia, the sweetest tomatoes and most basil-y of basil leaves you can get your hands on: invest in the power of food to transport. Cin-cin!
Continue reading...Food has felt more important than ever this past year – particularly meals that offer solace. From rösti to Coco Pops, here are the dishes that got us through
For me, lockdown has meant an absolutely manic schedule, working from home with back-to-back Zoom calls and long hours. Crumpets have been my saviour. Yes, factory made, perfectly consistent and versatile: top with yoghurt and frozen berries at 8am, blue cheese and leeks at 1pm, followed by eggs and spinach at 7pm, and you have a full day’s menu. For a bit more lockdown spirit, I tried the sourdough version (delicious if squishy) and making my own (I promise you, it’s not worth it). Sophie, data analyst, St Albans
Continue reading...Two 15-minute meals that are perfect for WFH lunches: a quick-cook pasta with a zippy fusion sauce, and an all-day brunch of buttery asparagus and eggs on toast
The days are getting longer and our freedom to roam outside is getting greater. As a result, the amount of time we want to spend indoors cooking is perhaps getting smaller. But lunch hour continues, every day, for those still working from home. Eat we must, happily, so cook we must, too – we might just want to spend a bit less time doing it. So here are two 15-minute meals to help you cook, eat and then get outside.
Continue reading...Reliable rhubarb spans the ‘hungry gap’ with a tangy rhubarb and lime jam squashed into a cheese toastie, and a refreshing cold dessert soup topped with mint sugar and cream
Whatever else is happening in the weather or the world, forced rhubarb is reliably, happily hot pink. Grown in warm barns, rather than facing the elements as field rhubarb does, forced rhubarb is tricked into an early harvest, which is why we get its pink fluorescence in the first three months of the year. The season ends around the end of March, when it hands over to its outdoor-grown cousin, so make the most of its sweetness and slender, bright pink stalks while you can.
Continue reading...It is the simplest of comfort foods, but does the strawberry topping deserve its popularity? Which bread is best? And how should we punish those who get butter in the jar?
Politically, it is said, Britain tolerates endless promises of jam tomorrow, never demanding jam today. But now the country has seized its own destiny – at least in the literal matter of jam.
Rewind to 2019 and jam was over. Dying. In terminal decline. Jam was as cool as a tweeting a laugh-cry emoji about the state of Kings of Leon’s skinny jeans. But, during the pandemic, jam has enjoyed a dramatic revival. “Breakfast has been reborn,” trilled the Grocer magazine as it reported jam sales had increased in value by almost 23% last year.
Continue reading...Soft yet chewy, sweet yet bitter, this delicious Germanic bread is best enjoyed straight out of the oven
Pretzel, bretzel, brezel or brezn: this Germanic bread has almost as many names as its homeland has sausages, but who cares what it’s called when it’s this delicious. Soft, yet satisfyingly chewy, with a sweet, burnished crust and a faint but delicious, bitter edge, frankly it’s a mystery why pretzels aren’t easier to find in this country. No matter – they’re best warm from the oven, anyway.
Prep 10 min
Knead 15 min+
Rest 2 hr 30 min-24 hr
Shape 20 min
Cook 12-15 min
Makes 10
Let’s travel again (at least in our kitchens): to south America, for arepas stuffed with feta, chilli and avocado, and then to west Africa for deep-fried plantain fritters
One of the many joys of street food is that you can move on from one country to another as soon as your tummy allows. Last week, we were in Mauritius and Brazil, snacking on jackfruit kati rolls and prawn pasties, and, having had seven days to digest those, I hope you’re all up for round two today. This time, we’re off to Ghana and Venezuela. As with so much street food, these dishes are best eaten by hand, standing up outside next to people you’ve just met. I may not be able to conjure up new friends, especially in these times, but I can supply recipes that will transport you to far-flung places.
Continue reading...From a treadmill and a puppy to 19th-century curtains, here are the purchases that have helped cheer people up in the past year
Not only has my new treadmill seen me through lockdown, it’s also keeping me on an even keel, as I live in a crowded area and don’t really enjoy running outside any more. I use it almost every day, along with an app called Zombies, run! or while listening to podcasts. It has become a comfort. The only downside is that I need to put it back under my bed after each use. Mar, journalist, Barcelona, Spain
Continue reading...Five years ago, Swedish designer and stylist Linda Ring experienced total burnout. After a few months doing nothing, she tried to adopt a slower lifestyle. “I started baking sourdough, but as it’s my nature to try to make everything beautiful, I began experimenting.”
Ring’s loaves became canvases for portraits and landscapes, scored into the raw dough. “You never know how the bread or the pattern will turn out, it’s enormously satisfying when I take it out of the oven and see.”
Continue reading...Anyone can make pizza from scratch, but these expert tips will make an everyday dish outstanding
A lot has changed in the past year. What has not is Britain’s love of pizza. From the spike in sales of wood-fired ovens to Pizza Express’s new home pizza kits, the nation’s appetite for hot crust continues to develop like 48-hour fermented sourdough.
According to cookware retailer Lakeland, 33% of people in the UK have made their own pizza from scratch. More than one-fifth of those who had done so own a pizza oven. There exists a coterie of foodies who, armed with portable Ooni or small clay pizza oven (both renowned for hitting the 500C required for Neapolitan-style pizza), are geekily absorbed in Italian flour grades and kiln-dried fuel options: fast-burning, hot birch wood for pizza; ash for lower, slower roasting.
Continue reading...