Weekly Reading Round Up #4

Welcome to this week’s (long overdue) reading, shopping and general time-wasting round up!

1. So, what does your freezer look like? If it looks like any of these on The Kitchn, you probably need to get out more. But their freezer organising guide is worth a read though if yours in any resembles the bomb site in our house.

2. An interesting and balanced read from Everyday Health on whether there is actually an upside to processed food, what we really mean by that term and whether we should really just be striving for a ‘minimally processed’ diet rather than an outright ban on anything that isn’t a ‘whole food’.

3. Unless you live under a rock, you will be aware that Plenty More (Ottolenghi’s much awaited follow up to probably the most talked about vegetarian book ever, Plenty) is released this week. Last month, Bon Appetit magazine ran 7 never seen before recipes and, for those of us who like get all voyeuristic about other peoples’ kitchens, an article on him cooking at home. Article is online here (without all the kitchen pictures alas but LOOK AT THAT DINING ROOM!) and recipes are here. I’ve made two so far (the green beans with freekeh and the pomegranate eton mess) and strongly recommend them both. Particularly the eton mess.

4. For reasons I can’t even begin to explain I am absolutely thrilled with my recent purchase of these stainless steel colanders from Muji. Cheap, sturdy, useful variety of sizes and strangely appealing to look at. Their Hajuki porcelain range is excellent too – these ramen bowls with a very faint white rib detail inside are particularly lovely.

5. Nicholas Day’s Dinner vs Child column is my new internet time waster of choice. Published on Food 52 every fortnight it is both hilarious and informative with tons of great recipe ideas (which you really don’t need to have a child to want to make).

6. And while you’ve settled in to read about food, have a look at this from the Telegraph on ‘food fraud’. Following the recent findings that only 1 in 7 jars of eye-wateringly expensive Manuka honey in fact contained the right amount of the active ingredient, the article highlights other premium food products that are commonly mislabelled and doctored.

7. And if we’re talking about honey let’s talk about bees! Buy a t-shirt and help save the bees! Thankfully, the plight of bees is finally getting the attention it deserves. Bees face a very real threat of extinction and we have less than 10 years to stop them disappearing altogether. You can read more about how you can help prevent this here (and help save our food supply at the same time) but if gardening, corresponding with your MP or part time bee-keeping aren’t for you, you can just go to J-Crew instead and buy some of these ace t-shirts designed by London illustrator Emma Smith for J-Crew’s partnership with the Bug Project.

{Image Credits: 1: TheKitchn.com 2:Shutterstock 3:Bon Appetit 4:Muji EU 5:Food 52/James Ransom 6: Foodcollection 7: JCrew}