Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef: Grocery Store Wars

Sunday, 6 July 2008

Grocery Store Wars - May The Farm Be With You

I've been busy writing up my reports on Mugaritz and the Restaurante Guggenheim Bilbao over the past few days, but it's not the easiest of tasks and it's something that makes me appreciate the skills of great blogging restaurant critics such as Robin & Simon of Dos Hermanos, Krista of Londonelicious and Ben & Howard of Food And Drink In London. Bear with me and I'll publish my critiques shortly.

Meantime, I'm sure a lot of my readers will have already seen this video clip. It caught my attention because Tschoerda of Dinner For One highlighted it as a favourite on YouTube and a little research revealed that it has been featured by several other food bloggers including Valereee of Cincinnati Locavore, James of Slashfood, Josh of Chicago Foodies, Andrea of Rookie Cookery, Jeanne of World On A Plate, Francesco of The Food Traveller and Fahara of Souperior.

This is one of a number of socially aware short films produced by Free Range Studios, who describe themselves as providers of "graphic design and creative services for progressive non-profits, political campaigns and socially responsible businesses." With offices in the politics city of Washington, DC and the university city of Berkeley, CA, Free Range Studios have produced a range of campaign products in support of human rights, environmental protection, food sustainability, workers' rights, Tibetan freedom and other progressive issues.

Grocery Store Wars was produced for The Organic Trade Association, a North American association whose mission is to promote and protect the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public and the economy. I won't say anything else about this video, because its power resides precisely in the medium and its visual presentation. Evidence on YouTube shows that it's been downloaded over a million times. Refer it to some friends and help boost that number. Oh... and enjoy!

2 comments:

Richard Hall said...: Lol! Great video clip.; 7/08/2008 05:38:00 pm
Никола said...: Grocery Store Wars was produced for The Organic Trade Association, a North American association whose mission is to promote and protect the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public and the economy; 7/22/2008 01:56:00 am

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Welcome

I'm Aidan "Trig" Brooks, a 22-yr-old from Hackney in London's East End. I left Westminster Kingsway College with a Professional Chef Diploma in summer

2007 and moved to Spain, where I trained in Barcelona at Carles Abellan's Comerç 24 (which won its first Michelin star) and Martín Beresategui's Lasarte (which won its second Michelin star) and was chef de partie and later Pastry Chef to Paco Morales at the amazing hotel restaurant Ferrero in the Valèncian mountains. This Spring I returned to London as part of the team of celebrated Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, opening East End restaurant Viajante. I'm still working with food, but taking a break from fine dining. Passionately pursuing my life-long ambition to become a top-class chef and, one day, a world-famous restaurateur.

Independence and code of ethics

What's in season in the UK?

Here is this week's UK seasonal food item, courtesy of eat the seasons. This week's seasonal food item is monkfish. This resident of the deep is often described as the ugliest fish in the oceans, though from looking at the beautiful picture below it's hard to see why. Actually, monkfish isn't a fish, but a generic name given to fish from several different genus. The most common is the anglerfish, but the generic term can also refer to angel sharks and sea monks. Whichever variety we are talking about, they should be considered a special treat as all are listed as being unsustainably fished at present. Monkfish has a firm but succulent texture and a slightly sweet flavour and is often compared with seafoods such as lobster and scallops, with which it pairs well to make some luxurious dishes. Monkfish has long featured in Iberian regional dishes, but was almost unknown in the UK until recent years. It now appears on many restaurant menus and is highly sought after by fishing vessels in the waters around SW. England, W. Ireland and W. Scotland. Monkfish is low in calories and a good source of protein. It contains useful amounts of vitamin B3 (aids proper functioning of the metabolic system), potassium (controls the balance of fluids) and selenium (an antioxidant that also helps the immune system). The flesh is sufficiently strong to stand its own against otherwise dominant flavours such as the chorizo, saffron and pimentón typically used with it in Spanish dishes.