“Earl Grey, hot!”

It was on Star Trek that Captain Picard would speak to the replicator and say “Earl Grey, hot!” and get a cup of tea.

"Earl Grey, hot"

Science Fiction, yes, but according to The Verge, NASA are building a 3D food printer. Sounds like a replicator to me.

3D food printer

They’ve started with printing chocolate, but are going to move onto pizza. I suspect that tea is much easier!

Taking photographs of food

I really found this blog article on taking photographs of food and the importance of lighting interesting and useful.

Lighting is the most important element of photography. After all, photography means writing with light. Yes you can buy a super expensive professional camera and lots of expensive lenses, but if you do not know how to control the light, then these are useless. Hopefully these three tips will help you understand how to control the light and make great pictures.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I take a lot of photographs of my cooking, and I know that these could be better. Taking on board these tips I sure hope so.

Kitchen Myths

Well written and amusing article on Kitchen Myths.

We’ve all heard of urban legends, those plausible sounding but false stories that circulate so widely on email and news groups, such as the old lady who microwaved her cat or the Nieman-Marcus $250 cookie recipe. There are several web sites devoted to researching and exposing these fake stories. The same sort of thing happens in the world of food and cooking, although on a much smaller scale.

Bitter and twisted

Interesting article from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on chicory.

Chicory may be a bit of an acquired taste, says Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, but once you’re hooked, there’ll be no turning back 

Make your own margarine…

BBC News has an interesting article on the wartime diet.

Get a pint of milk and half a teaspoon of salt, put them in a pan and bring to the boil. Add three tablespoons of corn flour, mix to a paste and boil again until stiff.

Nella Last’s recipe for home-made margarine might not get people’s taste buds salivating these days but in 1943 it was considered “amazingly good”, according to her diary.

Would you believe Nella?

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on Magic Dust

According to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writing in today’s Guardian, he loves Magic Dust.

However before you get all worried and start writing the Daily Mail, Hugh is writing about cinnamon.

Something has to be done about February. This measly month creeps round every year without any sign of remorse for the misery it causes. The only known cure is an exotic holiday in a far-off, sun-kissed land…

But since we’re not allowed those any more, let’s try the next best thing: an exotic holiday in your own kitchen. In search of paradise, or at least a little domestic warmth, I’ll be spending the rest of the month cosying up to a few of our favourite spices. This week, it’s cinnamon.

Read more.

Amazing Food Pictures

Wow these pictures are amazing and all made from food!

Amazing food pictures

Incredibly, everything you see in this image can be found in the kitchen. Photographer Carl Warner has painstakingly captured all kinds of food in a series of still lifes.

Check out all the pictures on the BBC News website.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall calls them “little beauties”

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall calls them “little beauties”, what is he talking about?

Oats

Oats!

If ever there were a humble grain, it would be the oat. Derided by the ancient Greeks as a diseased type of wheat, it was dismissed in many cultures as food for the poor, or for animals, and to this day is often undervalued. It still retains an association with dusty health food shops and sloppy institutional breakfasts. Porridge will never be glamorous. Oatcakes are unlikely to become the new blini.

Read more with some great recipes.

Photo source.

Explains a lot…

BBC reports that one in three of us is always on a diet…

One in three adults in the UK is now on a permanent diet, a survey suggests. 

We need to stop as a society focusing on body image and focus much more on changing lifestyles so that we have a healthy balanced diet and there is no need to “diet” as such.