Podcast – Food waste

Christchurch City Libraries blog hosts a series of regular podcasts from specialist human rights radio show Speak up – Kōrerotia. This show is created by Sally Carlton.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States. Added to this immense environmental impact is the social impact: How much food is thrown away that could be eaten?

Join our guests as they share statistics and information about the various ways in which they work to repurpose food waste and save it from landfill.

Guests:

• Jenny Marshall, Love Food Hate Waste
• Amanda Chapman, Amanda in Waste-Free Land
• Torie Madison, Revival Food Company
• John Milligan, City Harvest Food Rescue organisation
• Trudy Burrows, New Brighton community fridge and pantry

Transcript – Food waste

Find out more in our collection

• Find titles on food conservation
• Find titles on cooking leftovers
• Find titles on food waste prevention
• Find articles about reducing food waste (access with your library card & password / PIN)

More about Speak up – Kōrerotia

• Speak up – Kōrerotia on Facebook
• Contact the host of the show via speakupkorerotia@gmail.com.

The show is also available on the following platforms:

• Plains FM website
• SoundCloud
• iTunes

Review: Recipes From My Mother

When I moved into a flat of my own, one of the first things I did was call Mum to ask how to make carrot coins (aka honey glazed carrots) and call Dad to ask him how to make yellow rice (aka turmeric rice). Those were two of my absolute favourite things to eat when I was a kid, and I love making them to this day. There is nothing quite like the comfort and nostalgia of cooking things “just like Mum used to make.” So when I saw Rachel Allen‘s Recipes From My Mother: Delicious recipes filled with memories I was sure it would be just my kind of cookbook.

And I was right!

It is a beautiful book, full of family photographs, memories of mouth-watering  meals cooked by loving mums and grandmas, and, of course, a multitude of delicious-sounding recipes that I just couldn’t wait to try.

There are simple ones, like “Scrambled eggs back in the shell,” and “Sweet eggy bread” (which is a souped-up version of french toast). Classic ones, like “Kedgeree” and “Apricot and cardamom bread and butter pudding.” Fancy ones, like “Amma’s icelandic kleiner” a sort of knotted doughnut, and “Lemon meringue pie.”

I find it fascinating that although Rachel Allen grew up in Ireland with her Icelandic mother and Irish father, many of the dishes she remembers loving as a child sound so familiar to me though I grew up here in New Zealand, with my Scottish mother and English father.  The first thing I learned to cook was semolina, back when I was small enough to need a chair to stand at the stove. Mum created a recipe for me that included beautiful pictures for instructions, because I struggled to read till long after I was a dab hand at making semolina. And what do you know, Semolina is the dish Rachel remembers most from when she was very young.

Still now I find a bowlful of this rib-sticking pudding the most comforting food of all.

You and me, both, Rachel! Her recipe includes a instructions for making raspberry jam to dollop on the top. I wasn’t making jam with mine as a little girl, but it does sound lovely!

The “Beetroot and hazelnut slaw” reminds me of the delicious beetroot salad my foster mum used to make; while “Baked creamy vanilla rice pudding” reminds me of the tasty meals I enjoyed while boarding in my first year of University.  Although I’ve never liked cauliflower cheese, Rachel’s description of the memories it invokes makes me wish I did!

For me, cauliflower cheese is serious comfort food. It comes with a shed-load of nostalgia, too, as I think of the round terracotta dish it was always cooked in at home. It would come out the Aga golden and bubbling.

Doesn’t that sound delish?

There are so many recipes in this book, I’m sure that you too will find something that takes you back! Not to mention something delicious!

Recipes from my Mother 
by Rachel Allen
Published by HarperCollins New Zealand
ISBN: 9780008208172

Cookie serendipity

I just love it when the library gods smile at me by sending me the right book just at the right time! I have been lamenting to myself for a while about the arduousness of baking for midweek work meetings. I love to bake—and more importantly, I love to eat good home baking—but sadly, I am not Wonder Woman, and often the thought of whipping up a batch of cookies or a cake in the evening after work is just too much.

I was pondering this as I wandered through the cooking section the other day, looking for something to put on our Staff Picks shelf, when Slice and Bake Cookies: Fast recipes from your refrigerator or freezer leapt right off the shelf and into my hands.

Here it was, the answer to all my baking dilemmas! What could be easier than making several batches of cookies at once in the weekend, and then pulling them out of the freezer to bake when needed? Sounds as easy as falling off a log, and a whole lot more delicious! I couldn’t wait to try the recipes! The first one I tried was Sugar and Spice Snickerdoodles, and they went down so well at work that everyone is clamouring for the recipe!

Next up, I tried the Ginger, Ginger Cookies. The photo looked just like the yummy Gingersnaps that my family loves, but I hardly ever make, because rolling all those little balls of cookie dough takes soooo darned long!  As I mixed, I was sure I had a complete failure on my hands. Could this sticky, squishy mess possibly be rolled into a sausage and sliced up?? But amazingly, they worked!  The cookie sausages where certainly floppier than I expected, but because they were sliced up when still partially frozen, they worked just fine. The Beecrafty family were very disappointed when I said they were for work—but then I left the cake-tin on the bench when I left, and they got to eat them after all! (My team mates were not as happy as my family were!)

Last weekend, I decided to try the Double-Spiral Cinnamon Crisps that Miss Missy had been begging me to make for our Movie Night treat. I don’t have a cake mixer, which all the recipes claim to need, but so far my hand mixer and a wooden spoon had worked pretty well.  Of course, a hand mixer is not a good tool for cutting butter into flour. If you try this, you are likely to send clouds of flour all over the place. A food processor is a much better option. I already knew that, of course, but it didn’t stop me giving it a go with the beater anyway. Yeah. It doesn’t work. But luckily I do have a food processor, and that worked a treat on these delicious treats! Next time I make them, I think I’ll do a double batch, they were so good!

I think I’ll try the Squared-Off Lemon Shortbread next. Or maybe the Chocolate-Dipped Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Or Vanilla Cookies with Fudge Filling. Or…

They all look so good, I can’t choose!  Whatever I make next, one thing’s for sure: I’m adding this book to my Favourite Cook Books list!

Find out more

• More cookbook posts
• Find more Make ahead cooking titles

 

My kind of food by Valli Little

I was super excited to get the chance to review Valli Little’s latest cookbook My Kind of Food.

As an avid eater (but a rather basic cook who loves to experiment) it sounded right up my alley. My hopeful assumption was that the title would mean there would be no En vessie or Tiger lily buds involved?

Thank goodness I was right.

One of the first thing’s that grabbed me when I read the introduction was Valli’s ‘flick test’,

Basically, I flick from the back of the cookbook to the front and if there aren’t at least ten recipes I immediately want to go home and cook, then the book does back on the shelf.

What a great idea.

So I employed Valle’s ‘flick test’ and nearly all of the recipes passed and I wanted to immediately run home to my kitchen.  It certainly helps have unbelievably drool-worthy photographs of every single recipe.

I seriously could have eaten some of those photos – pg. 51/53 Cheat’s lemon cheesecake (this is divine, and is now one of my go-to recipes), pg. 54/55 Salted caramel mousse with toffee popcorn, pg. 66/67 Spring pea risotto, and so many more.

What I love about this cookbook is that the recipes are all Valli’s family favourites, so they have been cooked again and again with all the tweaks made along the way. Each recipe is accompanied by a headnote, explaining where the recipe came from, and how it has become a family favourite.

All of the recipes are easy to follow with good descriptions; there is nothing too outrageous in the ingredient or technique department, but you still feel like you are producing something special.

It is organised by occasion like “Sunday Best”.  The index also offers the option of looking up an ingredient, then listing all of the appropriate recipes.

The recipes are all mostly classics with a modern twist added; like Scandi mac & cheese, a basic recipe of macaroni with cream, grated cheese, salmon and a few other easy ingredients; or Lamb shank cottage pie, yummy lamb shanks with winter vegetables and an easy assortment of sauces/pastes to add flavour that you can even make it two days ahead; and Store-cupboard trifle, perfect for when you just want to use easy ingredients, it uses tinned peaches and store bought sponge, right on.

I would definitely recommend adding trying My Kind of Food if you enjoy classic food with a modern twist that the family will love.

Tania Cook,
Outreach & Learning team

My Kind of Food
by Valli Little
Published by HarperCollins New Zealand
ISBN: 9780733335273

Find more titles by Valli Little in our collection

Basics To Brilliance by Donna Hay

Donna Hay’s latest cookbook is a wonderful reminder of why we continue to collect more and more celebrity cookbooks each year. The photography is stunning (I mean seriously- when did poached eggs start to look like airbrushed Hollywood starlets?), the food makes you want to nibble hopefully at the illustrations, and the writing is almost therapeutic.

Basics to Brilliance reminds me of another wondrous food bible, Nigella Lawson’s How To Eat, only with a better title (I mean, ‘How To Eat?’ – really?- you shove food in your gob and swallow it). Like Nigella Lawson, Donna Hay understands what it is like to be a home cook who doesn’t necessarily have the budget to sprinkle caviar over a salad (and yes, a certain celebrity chef did instruct me to do this), or find out where to track down ingredients so unique that I would have to do my grocery shopping on another continent. The ingredients are basic but the dishes are restaurant quality.

There is also a huge variety of recipes to choose from, from the perfect roast chicken to sticky pork ribs, to heavenly brownies. Donna Hay delivers on the ‘basics’ side by including recipes for food such as poached and soft boiled eggs. You may think this is cheating but for a cook starting out on their intimidating culinary journey, recipes like these are a godsend.

Donna Hay guides you patiently through the toughest times of your cooking life. In one instance she assures you that the ganache you are making will set so don’t be tempted to overwhip it (too late for me though sadly as I had already turned up the beater to its full potential amid much raging and cursing).

Donna Hay is often hailed as being Australia’s most popular home cook and her latest book cements this reputation. This doorstopper of a cookbook will certainly keep you in new recipes for all of next year- though of course you can actually never have enough celebrity cookbooks.

Basics to Brilliance
by Donna Hay
Published by HarperCollins New Zealand
ISBN: 9781460751428

• Find more books by Donna Hay in our collection
• Visit Donna Hay’s official website

Helen
Central Library Peterborough

A glut of literary cookbooks

As so often happens with me, I recently spotted a single title that lead me down a library collection rabbit hole that I’ve only just scrambled out of.

The book in question was Dinner With Mr Darcy: Recipes Inspired by the Novels and Letters of Jane Austen. My interest was piqued. I had a sudden appetite to know – what other literature could I consume, literally?

I seemed to recall my sister attending a Game of Thrones themed party in recent years that featured some Westerosi cuisine along the lines of Sansa Stark’s beloved lemon cakes. And sure enough, I found the very book, A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Companion Cookbook.

And well, from there it was cookbooks all the way down. And being that it’s winter and nobody really wants to go out much, I wonder if putting on a bit of a shindig with themed eating might not be the way to go? If that tickles your gastronomic fancy, then have I got the reading list for you!

First off, Dinner with Mr Darcy is not the only option for Austen fans as Cooking With Jane Austen covers similar Regency fare. Complete with food-related quotes from Austen’s work and with over 200 recipes there’s sure to be something to tempt even the most proud and prejudicial of guests.

For kids (or the ravenous child within) there are a number of titles to choose including those inspired by childhood classics such as The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook and Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook. Not to mention two volumes of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes.

Or if you know a child who’d like fairytale-inspired food then you could try Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literacy Cookbook, Cook Me A Story: A Treasury of Stories and Recipes Inspired by Classic Fairy Tales or Chinese Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook. Fans of Brian Jacques long-running children’s series will no doubt be interested in The Redwall Cookbook.

Those looking for something a little more adult might like Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in A Cookbook. I only hope is that none of the shades is “pink”. I also suspect the name of the author “F L Fowler” is a nomme de (poultry) plume.

Also for the grownups are the thirst-quenching literary themed cocktail recipes of Tequila Mockingbird, and True Blood Drinks & Bites.

More pop culture than literary? Geeks of several flavours can explore their fandom through food with The Official DC Super Hero Cookbook, The Geeky Chef Cookbook (covers Harry Potter, Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Dr Who and more), and The Unofficial Harry Potter cookbook.

For those with more refined palates, Mrs Patmore’s kitchen secrets are revealed in The Unofficial Downton Abbey cookbook.

It’s comforting to know I’m not the only person to ever ask the “what books could I eat?” question either, in fact a book by a former pastry chef turned butcher asks just this…and what’s more provides some recipes in answer which can be found in Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books.

There’s also a photographic twist on the same idea in Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals which includes culinary creations from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, and To Kill a Mockingbird among others.

Meanwhile, there are certain dishes or kinds of food that are, in my mind, inseparable from the fictional characters for whom they were favourites. I often think of the Famous Five when I enjoy a ginger beer, and should I ever find myself in possession of a rock cake I’m sure I’ll make the same association.

What food item from literature would you like to try the recipe for? Bags not Anne of Green Gables’ liniment* cake!

*Apparently very easily mistaken for vanilla extract when you’ve got a cold.

Stop talking about pies and make me one

It is lunchtime and I am a little hungry and this situation has in no way been helped by all the chat this morning about the results of the annual Bakels New Zealand Pie Awards which have just been announced.

Certain “factions” in my workplace are very pleased to see a potato top pie take out the Supreme Award. Is this a sign that potato top is in the ascendancy once more? Is the time of gourmet fruit pies in the top spot done?

Either way it’s making me hungry so I hope the pie fairy visits our house at dinnertime. But just in case the pie fairy is something my brain made up in a fit of pastry-starvation, the following titles might be of help.

We have The Hairy Bikers’ Perfect Pies book at home and the recipes have so far been delicious so you can take that as a personal recommendation, or try your luck with a search for pie cookbooks in our catalogue.

What’s your favourite pie? I like a steak and cheese but also have a fondness for ones with curry in them.

Foodie heaven – farmers’ markets

I am a farmers’ market convert. It’s hard to know what turned me. Was it the crumbly goats’ cheese? Or the oyster pie? Or the locally-sourced smoked eel? Or maybe it was the delicious apple, chocolate cake/tart thing that was very lucky to make it to the shared morning tea I was going to as it could easily have been scoffed there and then.

Farmers’ markets offer the chance to buy fresh produce, meats, and baked goods direct from the local people who grow and make them, cutting out the middle man and they’ve grown in popularity it recent years. Christchurch people can now choose from weekly markets in Riccarton, Lyttelton, and Akaroa, though if you’re willing to venture further afield there are even more farmers’ markets throughout the Canterbury region.

But what about those of us who live a bit more centrally? The new Downtown Farmers’ Market, which has its inaugural outing this Sunday at The Commons, might be just your cup of artisan hot chocolate. With dozens of stalls, food trucks, and other entertainments, this farmers’ market has the benefit of being right in town (on the Kilmore/Durham St corner) and not to mention just down the road from Central Library Peterborough. The market will run 9.30am-2.30pm every Sunday.

Once you’ve picked up some fresh ingredients, create some delicious meals and dishes using these farmers’ market titles as inspiration.

• Fresh & local recipes inspired by the Timaru Farmers’ Market
• Guide to farmers’ markets: Australia and New Zealand
• The farmers’ market family cookbook
• Get fresh with Al Brown

What’s your favourite farmers’ market buy?

Confused and befuddled with Grain Brain: Welcome to the world of dietary advice

I think we can be forgiven for feeling that all the dietary advice that dominates our headlines and magazines (even The Listener for heaven’s sake) is confusing and often contradictory. Always at the forefront of trends,  the library too has its fair share of titles to confuse and befuddle! At this point I hasten to add that this is part of our business, i.e. to purchase items that give information,  different viewpoints and ideas etc. As a society we are concerned about obesity, fast foods and lack of exercise, and of course publishers are well aware of these trends as well.

Fat was the harbinger of all evil until about 8 to 10 years ago, now it’s carbohydrates and its evil twin Sugar. However baking is still hugely popular with sugar always being a star component, although some Paleo books are doing their best to steal its thunder.

Low fat diets were considered essential for a healthy heart, but this book tells us that butter and fat actually make us slim!

We embraced whole grains to now being told we have Grain Brains…

The Paleo diet has been holding its own for a while now still topping the charts, although Pete Evans of My Kitchen Rules fame and the kingpin of Paleo did have his last book pulled from publication as it contained what was considered to be unsafe information.  However paleo – and its cavemen and women – are covering all bases from smoothies, sweets, chocolate and fast foods, and of course Cavewomen Don’t Get Fat.

 

Interestingly, recent title Proteinaholic : How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do about  has come along to question paleo and its meaty companions …

An acclaimed surgeon specializing in weight loss delivers a paradigm-shifting examination of the diet and health industry’s focus on protein, explaining why it is detrimental to our health, and can prevent us from losing weight.

If all else fails we can always rely on insects –  low fat, low sugar, full of protein and tasty. Yum.

Food Fad Fury

Bring a cookbook to morning tea and suddenly everybody at the table has an opinion.

• Matte paper looks nice for about five minutes, but don’t put the book anywhere near where you actually cook. Drops and splashes look very nasty very quickly.
• Dr. Libby sucks all the joy out of life.
• Reading a cookbook without intending to cook from it is fine. In fact it is officially A Big Thing.
• Close-ups of the food in its raw state do not count as an illustration. We know what dirty potatoes look like – we want to know what the finished dish should look like once we’ve cooked it.
• Beige is big but it’s not appetising.
• One man’s meat is another woman’s poison. Paleo Pete‘s bone marrow broth may be the basis of the Paleo diet, but the very idea induces deep shudders in non-followers. Bone broth in a baby bottle is even worse.
• Cookbook writers should just take drugs to help them recover from their rare diseases. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. Why bring food into it?
• If you write a cookbook all your friends have to be good looking. Those who aren’t can have their arm appear at the edge of the picture – but only their arm.
• All your dogs also have to be attractive. Cats can’t be in cookbooks due to their habit of sitting on the table or lounging in the dishdrainer.
• All your table cloths have to be retro. Also your china. Nothing should match. Useful if you live in Christchurch.
• Your garden can be overgrown, but in a good way – grass long enough to attract a council fire hazard notice telling you you’re in for a fine in the real word is picturesque in cookbook world.
• Assemblage is O.K. – wrapping a bread stick in a bit of ham with some rocket sticking out the top counts as cooking if it’s in a cookbook.
• Nut butter is vile.

Are you infuriated by any food fads? Please share.