Slashfood

• Jamie Oliver comments on the "poverty" of British food
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Celebrities

  
  
  British food always gets knocked about, and now it's getting an added slap from Jamie Oliver. The BBC reports that Paris Match magazine has interviewed the popular celebrity chef, who is not too happy about the state of food in the UK. In fact, he even said that there was a better variety of food in South African slums.
  
  But he doesn't think it was always that way. He says that "We have lost our traditions," and that Britain's "poverty shows in the way they feed themselves." Basically, he says they do so by spending everything on technology and booze, rather than meals...
  



• A new-found love of bangers and mash
  

  Filed under: British Isles

  
  I am powerless to the allure of potatoes. I adore a good link of sausage. And heck, there's nothing I'd rather do after a long week than head to a great beer joint and have my favorite oak-aged beer, Innis & Gunn.
  
  So why haven't I ever ordered bangers and mash before? Beats me! The other night, while drowning myself in I&G, and Carolus, I had a taste of my friend's bangers and mash. It was eyes-rolling-into-the-head awesome. But it wasn't a warm mixture of flavors. Rather, they all blended perfectly together as if there's a sausage animal walking around with gravy sweat, onion hair, and potatoes inside.



• Cheese Course: Stichelton
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Cheese, Artisan Foods, Cheese Course

  
  Stichelton became a cheese celebrity this past winter when it was written up in the New York Times. It's a masterpiece of a cheese. It's a work of art! This succulent blue cheese has a unique earthiness, an intense fruitiness tasting of apples, a spiciness to play off the sweetness, and a rich creamy texture. There are only a few wheels of Stichelton that leave England for the United States. So, when I see it at a cheese shop I always purchase a piece.
  
  Stichelton is a raw milk Stilton....
  



• Pringles are not chips in England
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Business, Food News

  
  This is kind of like when the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were not fruit.
  
  The High Court in London decided that Pringles do not count as "crisps" (that's chips to us in the USA) for tax purposes. The VAT (value added tax) in England isn't applied to most foodstuffs, but potato crisps are subject to the tax. Lawyers for Prinlges, however, argued that since they are made from only 42% potato flour and their shape isn't based on anything natural, they are not really crisps...
  



• Midnight Sausage: Launceston, Cornwall
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Pork, Europe, Meat

  
  
  Launceton, Cornwall. From Flickr user biotron's Flickr.
  
  I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
  
  Previously-- Midnight Sausage: Lower East Side, Manhattan
  
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• Teen breaks fourth food-related world record
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Food News

  

  Metro.co.uk reports that eighteen year old Kathryn Ratcliffe from Newcastle, UK broke the record for eating grains of rice during the Chopsticks Championship. How does someone win this honor? She ate 96 grains in two minutes - breaking the existing record of 64 grains in three minutes.

  Kathryn broke her first world record at the age of 12 and she now holds four records! Her other records are for eating Smarties with chopsticks, eating jelly with chopsticks, and separating jelly beans by color into separate pots with a straw.

  I wonder what Kathryn has planned next....
  




• Drought affecting distilleries in Scotland
  

  Filed under: Whisky, British Isles

  
  By now, I think most of us are aware that drought is hurting many places around the world. However, one place that is going through a drought that probably won't get any attention is Scotland, the Western Isles to be precise.
  
  The world may take notice, though, when it can't get Scotch whiskey from that part of Scotland. OK, maybe only whiskey connoisseurs would really notice, but still. About half the distilleries in the Western Isles have had to shut down so far, and the other half only have...
  



• Tasty contest: Architecture in Jello
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Newspapers

  
  The London Festival of Architecture will be starting this week, and the culmination of the festival will be tasty, indeed. As part of the festival, there's a competition to re-create famous architecture out of Jello (referred to as jelly across the pond).
  
  According to the Guardian Online, the contest to re-create famous architecture is a charitable event and the proceeds go to Article 25, a disaster relief and development fund. Apparently the contest was inspired by the Millennium Bridge, which opened as a pedestrian bridge in 2000 in London but developed a dangerous wobble after...
  



• Hot dog hamburger in the UK
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Beef, Food Oddities, Comfort Food, Meat, Fast Food

  
  AOL Health Editor Katherine Steinberg submitted the photo above for inclusion in the Midnight Sausage series, but we thought it was worthy of a post all its own.
  
  "As I was wandering the streets of London foraging for food, I came across something even more foreign to me than the British slang -- the hot dog hamburger, or the 'express special'. It was so strange that I had to take a picture. I'm not sure what about this makes it faster than your average meal, but I do know that it...
  



• My top three favorite plum jams from France: Reines Claudes, mirabelles, and questches
  

  Filed under: British Isles, Fruit, Did you know?, Condiments, America, France

  
  Berry jams are probably the most popular in the U.S. When it comes to jams, we rarely consider plums. I love plum jams because they have a unique candy-like sweetness that is tempered by a little acidity and a smooth texture. Below are three types of plums that produce exceptionally one-of-a-kind jams:
  
  Mirabelles: If you have even the slightest sweet tooth, these plums are seriously addictive. Mirabelle jam has dark yellow colored chunks of juicy sweet mirabelle plums. Don't be surprised if you start...