Have you ever booked a restaurant and never turned up? If the answer is no, you may be surprised to read that in the UK alone, the rate of people that do not turn up for bookings in restaurants is estimated at between 5 and 20 per cent. The cost of no-shows in the UK is costing restaurants £16 billion a year. Read about it here. This recipe (video) is in Italian but you get … [Read more...]

The Gelinaz Shuffle which sees a number of international chefs swapping places for a new days takes place in a few days. We've already written about the event before but here is an in-depth interview by Agrodolce with Andrea Petrini, the creator of this unique annual event that changes every year. It is in Italian but is really worth a read. We do not normally link to … [Read more...]

This week marked the launch of Massimo Bottura's Refettorio Ambrosiano, a once-derelict theatre in Milan. It has been re-purposed to educate and feed refugees and working poor who reside across town, far from the multinational pavilions welcoming culinary tourists to this summer's Expo Milano 2015. Here, some of the world's best chefs, including Bottura, will be cooking for … [Read more...]

It is scandalous for supermarkets to throw bleach in their dustbins along with edible foods, said a former food minister in France Guillaume Garot, who proposed a law which forces big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities. The French national assembly has voted unanimously to approve this legislation which aims to tackle the huge epidemic of food waste, which highlights … [Read more...]

If there is one story you must find time to read this week, it is the story of Ben Shewry, the New Zealand-born public face of modern Australian cooking, running one of the world's top 50 restaurants. Widely regarded as the best chef in Australia, he had to battle with depression. Allan Jenkins writes an inspirational portrait of this chef, who has also been featured in David … [Read more...]