Wales on the Menu

Recently, I interviewed Simon Wright for a profile that was published in the Buzz Food & Drink Guide 2012 (link below).

In a wide-ranging career, Simon has been a food critic, author, restaurateur, consultant and broadcaster.  In May this year, Simon opened Wright’s Independent Food Emporium, with his wife Maryann. This shop in Nantgaredig sells a range of Welsh products, including meat, cheeses, and fresh fruit and vegetables, and has a café at the heart of the operation. Last year, Simon was involved in the planning stages of Sospan, a new restaurant in Llanelli.

Simon is currently presenting the fourth series of Wales on the Menu, which started on BBC Radio Wales last Saturday lunchtime (1pm). In the programme, he challenges home cooks to put their speciality dish on the menu of a top restaurant.

In the first show, amateur chef and food blogger Bill King tried to get his salmon quiche up to standard for the menu of Y Polyn, a restaurant near Carmarthen that the Wrights at one time co-owned. Among the judges was food blogger Ed Gilbert (a.k.a. Gourmet Gorro). The quiche sounded good, but was judged not quite good enough to meet Y Polyn’s high standards.

The Wales on the Menu team are looking for keen cooks from across Wales who would like to participate in future challenges. If you are interested you can email them on walesonthemenu@presentable.co.uk

There is also a Wales on the Menu Facebook page, where you can find recipes, behind the scenes photographs, and further details of how to apply to take part in the series either as a novice cook or a judge: https://www.facebook.com/WalesOnTheMenuBBCRadioWales?ref=hl

If you miss the programmes themselves, you can find them on the BBC iplayer.

Buzz Food & Drink Guide 2012. The Wright Taste (pp. 28-29):

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1y455/FoodandDringGuide201/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffree.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F577403%2FFood-and-Dring-Guide-2012

 

Y Polyn:

http://www.ypolynrestaurant.co.uk/

 

Fellow Bloggers on Twitter:

Bill King @billking

Ed Gilbert @gourmetgorro

Vale Foodbank in Dinas Powys

One of the big under-reported stories of the summer has been the impact of government austerity measures on individuals, families and communities. The recent figures have been shocking. For instance, 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK; while here in Wales over one in ten people of working age are now out of work, a level of unemployment not seen for almost twenty years.

Communities can act to combat local poverty and hidden hunger by supporting schemes such as foodbanks. The Trussell Trust acts as an umbrella organization for foodbanks across the UK. The Vale Foodbank was established under this umbrella in October 2011. It is based at Coastlands Family Church in Barry, and aims to open food distribution centres around the Vale of Glamorgan to help people who are struggling to make ends meet.

A Vale Foodbank distribution centre opened today in Dinas Powys, in the Bethesda Chapel. It will open for an hour every Wednesday. Free emergency food supplies will be exchanged for vouchers given to people particularly identified as being in need by social workers, doctors, police and other community groups (in total 40 partners across the Vale). One voucher can be exchanged for enough food for three days.

Mike Grove from Bethesda Chapel welcomed people to the official opening this afternoon. Susan Lloyd-Selby, the Vale Foodbank co-ordinator, then talked about the success of their first year, in which they have managed to feed everyone who has been referred to them. When they started they expected to feed 800, but in fact have fed 1,643 people since October 2011.

Of those referred, 30% have been plunged into crisis due to delays in benefit payments. Others are referred due to low income, while there has been a dramatic rise in the number in debt. 68% of the food distributed has gone to feed children under the age of 16.

Sue related some stories of the real people behind the statistics: a man who hadn't eaten for two days, a woman homeless after leaving home due to domestic violence, a couple suddenly plunged into debt after an accident. She stressed that it was not just about giving food, but providing wider support and advice through contact with the regular volunteers. Sue thanked these “lifechangers” (with reference to Olympic “gamesmakers”), and also thanked all the people who donated over 115 kg of food during the past year. Future Vale Foodbank plans include free money management courses.

Photo: Councillor Val Hartrey (Chair of Dinas Powys Community Council), Jane Hutt AM, Mike Grove and Susan Lloyd-Selby (the cakes spell "Vale Food Bank").

Jane Hutt AM opened the Dinas Powys distribution centre today, just as she opened the first Vale Foodbank in Barry last year. An active supporter, she noted that action needs to be taken to stop so many people falling into poverty, especially through reasons such as delays in benefit payments and loss of tax credits. Jane also stressed that Foodbanks provide a framework for offering wider help and support, to give people back some dignity and restore hope.

The food given out at the Vale Foodbank is donated by businesses and individuals. You can donate to the Bethesda Chapel during Foodbank opening hours. Individuals are asked to give dried and tinned foods (see contact details below).

In addition to making donations of tins and packaged food, Jan and Tony Mapstone of Valley View Fruit Stores in Dinas Powys also donate fresh fruit and vegetables (they wear dark blue in the photo below).

To those who have questioned why a relatively prosperous community in the Vale of Glamorgan needs a foodbank: wake up, this is the reality of life today.

The Vale Foodbank

Coastlands Family Church, Tennyson Road, Colcot, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan CF62 9TN

admin@valefoodbank.org.uk

The Trussell Trust:

http://www.trusselltrust.org/

Reference for Welsh Unemployment:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/09/04/welsh-unemployment-much-worse-than-official-stats-claims-new-report-91466-31758526/

 

We noted the Olympics earlier. Therefore, just room to note that ATOS, partners for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, are the firm charged with assessing disability benefit payments in a government money-saving operation. Removal of benefits is fuelling the need for foodbanks. Currently, at least one new foodback opens every week in the UK.

An Olympic Diet: Final Part

One of the ironies evident on visiting the Olympic Park during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was that sponsorship restrictions helped create an environment largely devoid of branding. It was very refreshing to see such a brandless environment at a major sporting event, both inside the venues and around the food areas (e.g., World Square, Britannia Row, Orbit Circus).

The Locog catering operation, headed by Jan Matthews, was said to have been the largest attempted in the UK during peacetime. They succeeded in offering a dizzying range of dishes to competitors and visitors.

 

Outside the obvious sponsor outlets, all the food stores were labelled generically (and usually offered three simple menu choices). This “calling-a-spade-a-spade” catering had a certain charm.

 

Among the outlets were: Fish and Chips, Pies, Pasties, Cornish Pasties, Deli, Traditional Roast, British Bakery, Gourmet Sausage, Hog Roast, Jacket Potatoes, Fresh Salad Bar, Speciality Coffee, Bar, Ice Cream, and the Champagne and Seafood Pavilion.

 

World cuisine was represented, for example, by Asian, a French-style Brasserie, Indian, Italian, Mexican and much more besides.

The three Asian options, for example, were Thai curries, Singapore noodles and Vegetarian stir fry. Our Thai Curry was pretty good. Other things we sampled (e.g., bacon roll) were basic. Most of the food we ate was from the Deli outlets, where reasonably-priced sandwiches could be obtained with minimal queuing.

 

Some feared that it would be branded burgers and fizzy drinks, and little else, for sale on site. In reality, there was plenty of no-nonsense food and drink choices; even some healthy salads if you sought them out!

Finally, what a great atmosphere there was on the Olympic Park and I am sure everyone who visited will remember the experience for a long time to come.

See also:
An Olympic Diet: Part Two
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/an-olympic-diet-part-two.html

An Olympic Diet: Part One
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/olympic-diet-part-one.html