FOODIE

STARTED: 25th January 2023

FINISHED: 30th April 2023

Complete at least eight of the following clauses -

❌ Eat a meal in the dark and see how it heightens your other senses. If possible arrange for the food to be a surprise so you can guess what you're eating.

✅ Pick a food you enjoy and try at least five new varieties. Make a record of what you think and any difference that you detect.

BREAD

🍞 Sourdough Roll - nice texture, smelled a bit weird, would eat again

🍞 Cheese Roll - lovely cheesy flavour, would definitely eat again

🍞 Honey & Sunflower Roll - couldn't taste the honey, didn't like the sunflower seeds on the top, too much to get stuck in your teeth

🍞Multiseed Roll - too many seeds on the top, flavour of roll was nice but I don't like all the bits

🍞Kaiser Wholemeal Roll - the shape was interesting but just tasted like a boring brown roll

🍞 Wheat Plait - again, the shape was the most interesting thing about this, just tasted like boring white bread

🍞Olive Roll - I don't like olives so I shouldn't have been surprised when I didn't like this roll, the olive flavour was overpowering

🍞 Pretzel - I was hoping for more from this, it had a nice flavour but nothing exciting

🍞 Ciabatta - this was very nice, with a good texture, would eat again

🍞 Vienna Roll - straightforward white bread, nothing exciting

🍞 Crusty White Roll - it indeed was crusty, and a nice white bread, but still nothing exciting

🍞 Petit Pain - so non-descript I can't even remember eating it

✅ Over a period of a month, cook with at least three new ingredients which you've never used before.

Egg noodles & teriyaki sauce

Red lentils & fresh thyme

✅ Eat out on at least three separate occasions, and rate and review your meals online.

Rios, Ipswich

The Salutation, Ipswich

The Lamb Inn, Norwich

✅ Over a period of three months try at least five different types of cuisine. Which was your favourite meal?

I do love Mexican food, and the Mexican meal was delicious. It wasn't too spicy, which can always be a risk - I don't mind a bit of spice but too much and my mouth feels like it's on fire! However, my favourite meal from the following was the North African chicken shawarma. It was full of flavour, had loads of different textures and components, and was completely new to me. I would definitely eat this again.

MEXICAN

CHINESE

INDIAN

AMERICAN

NORTH AFRICAN

✅ Try variations of food designed for other dietary requirements - for example, vegan cheese, 'fake' meat, and gluten-free bread.

Vegan/Dairy free yoghurt

Gluten free roll

Vegan meat free ham

Vegan meat free chicken

Dairy-free cheese

Gluten free Jaffa Cakes

✅ Visit a Farmers' Market. Try at least 3 foods produced locally.

Beccles Farmers Market

The Norfolk Truffle Company

Fresh Bread Bakery

Chaat Man

❌ Ask friends for their favourite family recipe. Try to make at least one.

✅ Try making three different variations on the same dish, using different recipes. Which was your favourite? Why?

COTTAGE PIE

BBC Good Food - Cottage Pie

(Recipe followed, except for the celery - I absolutely hate it - and the red wine - we don't drink wine. Also, I was going to cook it on the hob as I usually do with Cottage Pie, but saw in step 10 that it could be made in the slow cooker, so I did that for a change.)

It was very liquidy and looked like soup. And because of the amount of gravy, the potato sank.

ASDA - Turkey mince cottage pie with sweet potato

BBC Good Food - Italian Cottage Pie

❌ Create a cookbook of your family's favourite recipes. Give a copy as a gift to someone.

✅ Cook a meal out of things you already have in your cupboards. Be as creative as possible.

Cupboard ingredients (including fridge and freezer) - pasta, minced beef, gherkins, cheese, tomato purée, tinned tomatoes, onions, lazy garlic, mustard, pepper, onion powder.

❌ Take a food-related class - for example cheese-making, foraging, cooking with shellfish, etc.

❌ Attend a Supper Club, or take part in a progressive 'Safari Supper' where each course is served by a different person in a different location!

❌ Create your own five course tasting menu. Explore different flavour profiles and textures with your chosen menu.