Having paid a visit to the Real Food Festival at Earls Court, I’m not sure anyone’s told London’s foodies about the credit crunch. Or perhaps it’s another sign of more people cooking up a storm at home with fantastic quality ingredients than ever before. It was utterly packed on the Saturday (top tip for next year: wear shin pads to protect yourself from the thousands of buggies…).
I LOVE the dried chillis from Chilli Pepper Pete, so stocked up on plenty of those. It was also great to see all the Jersey producers – Jersey Royals of course, but also the beautiful Jersey Oysters.
But my real favourite was the monthly cheese subscription service from the Norbiton Fine Cheese Company. They offer a range of options – sign up for a one-off delivery, or one per month for three or six months, or even a full cheese-fest year. Decide whether you want a 700g-selection or the full-blown 1.5kg hamper, and you’ll be sent an array of beautiful cheeses on the first Friday of the month. My birthday isn’t too far away so I have helpfully left the flier lying around on the kitchen table at home… Fingers crossed!