January can be such a dull, long, dreary month when darkness falls in the late afternoon and we are more inclined to be mooching about indoors, indulging in stodgy foods. It is, however, the ideal opportunity to make a fresh start by committing to a...

There is an increasing trend towards home cooking despite the fact that we appear to "have much to do and less time to do it in." We are entertaining more at home, making more mid-week meals and cooking more Sunday lunches. More men are...

Lazy Sunday , no timetable and the perfect opportunity to enjoy our most indulgent and leisurely meal of the week. These are our favourite kind of Sundays. It is an occasion not only to share food but also our time, humour and the odd heated...

You may have holidayed abroad or in some of the many beautiful parts of the British Isles this year. Perhaps you have stayed at home, relaxed and enjoyed The Olympics. Suffice to say, we all need a break. For most of us life can be more than a...

Magnificent, glorious, outstanding and quite brilliant! Anyone who witnessed the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics, on live television or was fortunate enough to be in the stadium itself could not fail to be impressed by what is being...

It is time for a Jubilee Summer BBQ, with your friends and family by your side, the warm summer sun beating down on your back and a ice cold beer or summer cocktail in your hand and the gorgeous aroma of a BBQ bounty sizzling away. A BBQ creates a...

It's official. Burgers have become fashionable, sophisticated and sought after in Paris! Le Camion Qui Fume (The Smoking Lorry) is a burger van with a real difference, "parked in an affluent Paris suburb, where it is being hailed as...

It's that time of year when the desire to eat 'alfresco' is almost upon us! Food somehow tastes better when eaten in the great outdoors. Maybe it's because we have worked up a healthy appetite in the fresh air or we associate it with rest and...

The black pudding is thought to be the most ancient of sausages and puddings. References have been found going back to 1000BC of animal stomachs filled with blood and fat and then roasted over a fire. In Medieval times it would be quite common for...

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." - Luciano Pavarotti, 'My Story' Having a lovely meal isn't...

Even the keenest and most creative of home cooks will fall into a rut of cooking the same old dishes on a regular basis. We have our favourites, whether it is our own recipe for a good bolognese, vegetable bake or rice pudding. It's exciting...

Cook your own food from scratch Supermarkets tell us that we are 'time-poor/cash-rich', and encourage us to buy their ready-made convenience foods. These foods are generally joyless to eat, and particularly poor value for...

When supermarkets began taking control of Britain's shopping basket in the late Eighties and Nineties, many of our traditional food treasures seemed doomed for extinction. Supermarkets weren't interested in small amounts of regional, local...

The signature of a good weekend is a good British breakfast and although I never really need an excuse to regale in more meat than anybody could handle, I did manage to find a suitable justification this week with National Breakfast Week. It's...

When the nights draw in, leaves fall and temperatures drop, it's the perfect time for putting lamb on the menu. What with all the annual brouhaha that surrounds the arrival of new season's lamb in April and May, you'd be forgiven for getting the...

Normally, I'm the opposite of an internet shopper. To be frank, I can't remember ever buying food online, except as a present to send to a friend. For all I've surfed food home delivery sites and drooled over the product descriptions and pictures,...