What the experts recommend
Class and food: a nourishing history
If, like me, you’ve often wondered why we Brits “are so snobbish, so uptight and so weirdly confused about food, then Pen Vogler’s new book, Scoff (Atlantic, £20), is your perfect feast”, says Rachel Cooke in The Observer. It’s an erudite yet readable survey of food and class in Britain expertly traced through a series of “vexed histories of everything from napkins to fish knives, gravy to tripe”. There are nuggets galore in this enthralling book, said Janice Turner in The Times. Ever wondered why we speak of “school dinners”, even in the south where the midday meal is known as “lunch”? It’s because it was northern philanthropists who were the first to provide “dinners” for hungry children. And it turns out that food faddism isn’t as new as we thought: in the 15th century, a Suffolk noblewoman made her own “pure” almond “mylk” during Lent. Vogler is also excellent on the fluctuating class connotations of certain foods: for centuries, brown bread was for servants, while the “upper classes nibbled on white rolls”. As someone who can’t stand in a supermarket queue without peering into other people’s trolleys, in an attempt to deduce their “life history from whether they’re buying Golden Shred marmalade or Bonne Maman jam”, I found Scoff an irresistible read.
Let’s embrace the “McPlant”
Over the past couple of years, most fastfood chains have introduced meat substitutes onto their menus: Greggs, famously, launched its vegan sausage roll; Burger King has a “Rebel Whopper” (which, despite being 100% plant-based, isn’t billed as vegetarian, as it is cooked on the same grill as the chain’s meat burgers); and having resisted the trend, even McDonald’s is now launching its first meatless burger – which it claims has the “kind of craveable McDonald’s flavour our customers love”, and which will become available next year. Given that McDonald’s sells a “dizzying” 75 burgers a second, this could be a major step towards a greener planet, says Adrienne Matei in The Guardian. The easier you make it for people to choose plant-based food, the more they will do it. It is just a shame, then, that the company hasn’t come up with a better name for its new creation. As one commentator tweeted: “Imagine being a multibillion-dollar company and the best veg product name you can come up with is McPlant.”
The best pre-mixed cocktails
Bottled cocktails are nothing new, says Joe Rogers in The Spectator: recipes for alcoholic drinks to “enjoy on the go date as far back as the 1860s”. In this lockeddown year, however, the concept has taken on new significance – and the good news is that many delicious pre-made cocktails can now be delivered to your home. One of the best is No.3 Vesper Martini – the preferred drink of 007. A mix of London gin, vodka, and English vermouth, it’s a “silky combination” that “doesn’t need to be shaken or stirred”. (It’s available at Selfridges.com in a 50cl bottle costing £35.99.) Another “worldclass” offering comes from “London’s finest whisky bar”, The Proofing Room: its Whisky01 cocktail – a mix of single malt, pistachio and soda – comes in a £14 bottle that yields two servings (theproofingroom.co.uk). For those craving a “taste of the great outdoors during lockdown”, Scottish food specialist Buck & Birch offers a series of superb ginbased concoctions infused with ingredients foraged around East Lothian, including sea buckthorn, tansy and yarrow. Its collection of three bottles – each with two servings – is available from aelderelixir.com for £29.