History tells us that in the early 1800’s, French Missionaries, Brothers from the Order of Saint Mary, at the direction of France’s Pope Gregory XV1 in Lyon set sail for Nouvelle Zealandia, or Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud) armed with their bibles, sacramental robes, rituals and seedling grape vines. Their destination, a collection of sparsely inhabited islands, (except for its indigenous race who named them) in the South Pacific. Here, these pioneering Marist Brothers chose Hawkes Bay, a Province in the North Island of their adopted country consisting of 1.4 million hectares on 350km of Pacific Ocean coastline, to settle. An eastern sea board and famous for being the first country in the world to see the sun rise on every new day, it climbs from sea level to several hundred metres inland to the Southern Hemisphere. Warm north-facing hillsides, its natural river valleys and terraces, offered them then and winemakers now a diversity of low vigour vineyard sites … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2016
‘Foam is for shaving and not to go on top of food’ – Gordon Ramsay during AMA on Reddit
"Foam should be used for shaving and not to go on top of food. When foam hits a plate, unless you eat it within three or four seconds, at the end it looks like sort of toxic scum on a stagnant pool," said Gordon Ramsay during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit today. The British chef said that he had started to use foam in the 90s and is amazed that it is still around. "We need to get rid of the foam and keep the foam for shaving," said the chef to a Reddit user. Ramsay launched his first ever mobile game #GordonRamsayDASH where gamers get to build their own restaurant empire with Ramsay as their guide. The game is available on iTunes Store and Google Play and has already received some great reviews. The award-winning chef and restaurateur has 30 restaurants world wide and has presented television programmes like Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, MasterChef Junion and Hotel Hell. Asked what was the easiest dish to get wrong and how to avoid it, Ramsay said that the easiest dish that … [Read more...]
Third edition of Chefs Revolution, the Dutch Avant Garde Cuisine Festival to be held in September
The third edition of Chefs Revolution, the Dutch Avant Garde cuisine festival will take place in Zwolle, the Netherlands on 18 and 19 September. The event is organised by Jonnie and Thérèse Boer of three Michelin star De Librije in cooperation with the team Port Culinaire Thomas and Carola Ruhl. The first chefs that will participate in this third edition have already been announced. These are two Michelin star chef Magnus Ek from Oaxen Krug in Stockholm, Sweden, two Michelin star chef Tanja Grandits from Stucki, Switzerland who was also Gault Millau chef of the year for 2014. Virgilio Martinez, chef of Central in Lima, Peru will be travelling to the Netherlands to present his cuisine. Having a Michelin star, he is no 4 in the World's 50 Best and also no 1 in the Latin America list. The other chefs are Eneko Atxa, three Michelin star chef of Azurmendi (16th in the World's 50 Best list), Joachim Wissler, three Michelin star chef of Vendome (35th in the World's 50 Best), … [Read more...]
First edition of ‘Enjoy the Pleasure’ held in Namur province
Eight chefs left their restaurants last Saturday and Sunday to cook at the first 'Enjoy the Pleasure' event that took place at the Ferme d’Achêne, a farm built in 1641 in the area of Ciney, province of Namur and which is listed as part of Belgium’s national heritage. This was the first such event organised by Roland Swinnen. The chefs that took part in the event were Régis Alexandre (Le Comptoir du Goût, Ciney), Olivier Bruckner (L’Olivier, Dave), Gregorio Clavello (Au Gré des Saisons, Achet), Simon Denis/Gregory Gillain (Le Gare d'Hamois) , Ludovic Vanackere (L’Atelier de Bossimé, Loyers) and Carl Gillain (L’Agathopède, Namur) and Frederic Rolland (Rolland-Warnon, Hamois). Despite the weather which forced the event organisers to move everything to indoors, the event turned out to be a very enjoyable evening. Together, the chefs created a series of dishes which balanced each other out and which created a perfect showcase of the produce that the region … [Read more...]
‘Social media can ruin a restaurant experience, it is like pollution’ – David Kinch (Manresa)
David Kinch, US chef of three Michelin star restaurant Manresa in Los Gatos, California is an avid book reader and therefore it does not come as a surprise when he says that the image on social media is like pollution. It is not that he is against social media. He tells Food and Wine Gazette in an interview that the restaurant is going to be over 15 years old and over 15 years we have seen the rise of social media. "I understand the power and potential of social media and I also understand that it is not going to go away. It is something we have to live with. Part of my job as a chef with my team is to harness the positive aspects of social media, spreading the notion of Manresa, our message and our story so people perhaps feel compelled to come and visit our restaurnant." "I have no problems with that. On the flipside, there is a lot of conversation that goes on in social media and in blogs that are public but do not necessarily have to happen in public. They would be much more … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #81
The Italian Riviera: Italy's vegetarian heartland: The beautiful, rocky coastline of Liguria – also known as the Italian Riviera – stretches from the French border in the east to Tuscany in the west, taking in fishing villages, famous resort towns and the historic city of Genoa. The maritime Alps separate Liguria from the northern Italian provinces of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna, creating a narrow strip of land between mountains and sea. Olive trees stretch as far as the eye can see, and tiny ancient villages perch precariously on mountainsides. Food as poetry: Massimo Bottura, the cultured chef at the top of the culinary world: When the World’s 50 Best Restaurants announced earlier this week that Massimo Bottura’s Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana had made it to the top of the list for the first time few in the culinary world were surprised. His rise to the top of the culinary world has been progressive and constant. What may have been surprising was the time it took for him to … [Read more...]
Food as poetry: Massimo Bottura, the cultured chef at the top of the culinary world
When the World's 50 Best Restaurants announced earlier this week that Massimo Bottura's Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana had made it to the top of the list for the first time few in the culinary world were surprised. His rise to the top of the culinary world has been progressive and constant. What may have been surprising was the time it took for him to achieve the pinnacle of success. This was as much a victory for Bottura, his wife Lara Gilmore and his team as much as it was a victory for culture and creativity. The Italian chef could have easily been a poet or an artist. He says creating a recipe is an intellectual gesture that involves ingredients, technique, memory and the compression of everything in bites of edible culture. He uses food as his medium for creativity and the palate to transmit emotions. "In a world of obligation, you can lose your point of reference. The secret is to keep a small space open for poetry, to be able to jump into that space and … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana is No 1 in the World
On the night when Italy was celebrating an unexpected victory against Belgium at the Euro 2016, in New York, Massimo Bottura, chef of Modena based restaurant Osteria Francescana had just been named as the World's Best restaurant by the 50 World's Best Restaurants. This was the crowning of a wonderful year for Bottura who has not only pushed the boundaries of fine dining but has now created the Food for Soul foundation with the aim of raising awareness on food waste and feeding the world's poor. In his first word's after winning the award in New York, after thanking his wife and team, he encouraged all chefs present to go to Rio and help him with the soup kitchen there during the Olympics. That is also Massimo Bottura. The award crowns a slow but steady ride to the world's top position and crowns his perseverance for taking tradition and twisting it with his creativity and culture. That was no easy task in a country where no one can mess with football, religion and … [Read more...]
‘Travel is a great source of inspiration’ – David Kinch (Manresa)
Travel is a great source of inspiration for David Kinch who is back in the United States after his trip to France where he was the first of 10 guest chefs to cook at Mirazur in celebration of Mauro Colagreco's restaurants' 10 year anniversary. "In recent years, I had the opportunity to travel a lot. This has meant not only having the opportunity to eat in the restaurants of my peers but also to get a grasp of the culinary culture of the places I visited. When you travel somewhere for a long way, you suffer from jet lag, you wake up very early in the morning because you cannot sleep. What better opportunity then to go and check out the early morning markets? For me the markets tell you almost everything you need to know about a town or city you are visiting, the ingredients, the people who are shopping for them, the seasonality. It tells you many different things. If you have to create a menu, most of the work will be done with a visit to the market," Kinch … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #80
96 of the world's best chefs share their favorite food experiences: Shopping local markets, the perfume of durian, Andean mountain cooking, oyster omelets with Sriracha sauce and warm milk straight from the cow -- these are some of the world's best chefs' favorite food experiences. On the eve of the 2016 World's Best Restaurant awards, we asked chefs from the world's current top 100 eateries to nominate an all-time favorite culinary experience that they'd recommend to traveling foodies. Why did I fall in love with fermentation: Growing up in a house void of inspiration, I always looked outward for my involvement, expression and stimulation through food and creativity. I grew up in the mountains of New Mexico and then in my teens moved to a larger city where I quickly embraced the best of both cultures. Take it with a pinch of salt – the food marketing myths we’ve swallowed whole: What came first, the chicken-is-healthy study or the eggs-are-unhealthy study? Nutritional advice is … [Read more...]