food for thought

My agency wined and dined me yesterday, twas whisked off to the fabulous J. Sheekey for a three course lunch. A real treat.

I'd like to dispel the myth commonly circulated in Antipodean food circles here in London: that you don't get good seafood in England. You do. Go to Sheekey's if you don't believe me. Over lunch of Arbroath Smokies with poached quails eggs and endive (starter), Stone Bass with Artichoke (main) and a cheese platter I chatted with my NZ host and fellow guest who has just returned from a trip to NZ about British vs Kiwi fare. The view being that NZ does wonderful fresh locally sourced food. Seafood, fresh cuts of meat, seasonal fruit. But where Europe has the advantage is the legacy of processing and curing food.

NZ cheese is rubbery and bland. Possibly this is due to the restrictive food regulations regarding pasteurisation of dairy? Sausages: pork or beef flavour. Que? They are textureless and chock full of things that aren't meat (Sizzlers!?), you can't get a coarse, herby, rustic sausage for love nor money. Salami no Italian would recognise. Bacon? Ham? Chicken bacon!? A lot of bakery items also leave something to be desired and I get sick of milk chocolate. Processing food in Europe is an artisan craft with a long and proud heritage. In NZ it still usually means factory as such I miss European food when out there as much as I enjoy a snapper on the BBQ, a flat white, great white wines and inventive salads when here.

The stereotype of British food being grey overcooked and stale is largely out dated. Sure you can can bad food anywhere and if one buys fish and chips pre-cooked a busy road in Earls Court it may be as bad as the stuff I had last summer in the Coromandel. But in the last 15 years the sourcing and production of high quality fresh local and seasonal British produce has taken a huge step in the right direction. As demonstrated in the proliferation of farmers markets, box deliveries and British restaurants. In turn I notice more European produce arriving in NZ - problem being that it is expensive due to import controls and distance and is niche and not common outside large centres, and prohibitively expensive for most family budgets. It shouldn't be. Surely European settlers took with them their food heritage? And get past the stifling regulation there really is no reason why NZers can't be making fabulous artisan processed foods, in supermarkets at fair price for the average kiwi to enjoy. Production of products such as oils are taking off.... It should be illegal to sell Colby.

Culinary comparisons aside, we also did a spot of celeb spotting (Timothy Spall and nearby Derek Jacobi and Pete Postelthwaite) and noted that we may be in a recession but every table of the somewhat pricey J Sheekey was taken and groaning under the weight of food and drink.