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Ikea under fire for selling reindeer meat
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<p>Ikea has been accused of condoning cruelty to animals by selling salami made from Santa's four-legged sleigh-pullers, reindeer.</p>
Chinese chef is first to win Michelin three stars
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<p>
Once upon a time, every Chinese carried a Little Red Book, which provided a
recipe for uniformity, dullness and oppression. Another red book, a Big Red
Book – the Michelin Guide – exploded its own reputation for culinary
parochialism today and promoted a Chinese chef and a Chinese restaurant into
the pantheon of international cuisine for the first time.
</p>
Bites: The key to seduction: a good soufflé
<p>While Gordon Ramsay ponders the fall-out from his latest brush with the red-tops, TV world ushers in a new chef du jour. Eric Lanlard, the expletive-free protégé of Albert Roux, who's baked for the Beckhams and Madonna, has just bagged his first series, Glamour Puds (on Discovery), where he lures the ladies with gingerbread soufflés. </p>
All shook up: Cocktail expert Simon Difford reveals his yuletide recipes
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Marcus Wareing's festive surprise: Britain's hottest chef serves up his simple recipe for a Michelin-starred feast
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<p> On Christmas morning, I'll no doubt be woken while it's still dark by my two super-excited boys, Jake, seven, and Archie, four, who will gallop downstairs to see what's inside the parcels under the tree. Soon, they will be followed by their little sister, Jessie, who's only one, but after they've all opened their presents, I'll be heading out into the blissfully deserted streets of London on my way to The Berkeley, where I'll be cooking a tasting menu, including the dishes on these pages.</p>
Spice-dusted halibut with fennel, cauliflower and a caper and raisin purée
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<p>Halibut is not traditional at Christmas, but I wanted to include an alternative flavour and break the mould a little. You don't just want the same old thing year in, year out.</p>
Roasted turkey breasts with sage and pine nut-stuffed legs
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<p>By taking off the legs and breasts and cooking them on top of the bones, which will be used to make your gravy, you've almost got a one-pot meal. So simple. The pine nuts in the stuffing add a little bite; I don't like hazelnuts or walnuts in dishes such as this – they're too hard– but these add just the right amount of crunch and a lovely flavour.</p>
Blackberry and lemon trifles
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<p>You can make one large trifle with this recipe or, as we shall in the restaurant, individual ones, served in shot glasses as a pre-dessert before Christmas pudding. Simple but elegant, they will impress family and guests. Also, in the shot glasses, they're just a small mouthful that will leave people wanting more. Prepare at least three hours before serving.</p>
Cured salmon with crème fraîche pastry crisps
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<p>We're serving this at the restaurant with caviar for even more luxury – but you can omit it if you like. The salmon needs to be cured for 24 hours and it's really worth it – but the same garnish works well with smoked salmon or gravadlax from your fishmonger if you don't have the time. </p>
No one cooks pheasant, grouse and pigeon like Richard Corrigan. And now he's got a place of his own to prove it
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<p>Why did they do it? Sob. Why did they kill Bambi's mum, thereby traumatising generations of children? Some have never gotten over it and still run screaming from the room whenever they are confronted with a plate of venison, pheasant or rabbit. The rest of us have never gotten over it either, but now run screaming into any room that offers roe venison in pastry with pickled cabbage, butter-poached pheasant with chestnut, bacon and cabbage, grouse pie with ceps, and mallard à l'orange. </p>
Creamed Jerusalem artichokes with duck livers and chanterelles
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<p>Jerusalem artichokes are another ugly-looking root with a subtle, earthy flavour which suits meat, fish and offal – and they tastes great on their own, too. I've used them here to create a base for the duck livers and mushrooms – and if you felt so inclined, you could also thrown in a few duck's hearts, too. Wild mushrooms were in short supply this year; you could also use cultivated oyster mushrooms.</p>
A casserole of winter vegetables with rosemary
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<p>A great vegetarian dish on its own, or simply serve as a wintry pot of vegetables in the middle of the table with a roast. </p>
Celeriac soup with scallops and bacon
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<p>Celeriac has such a great flavour but often just gets left on the greengrocer's shelves.</p>
Back to your roots: Mark Hix makes the most of our seasonal vegetables
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<p>Cooking with roots can be just as interesting as cooking with any other seasonal vegetables – just because most of them look a bit on the ugly side doesn't mean that what lies beneath the skin isn't appealing! In fact, it's quite the opposite; most root vegetables have their own totally unique flavour and can easily be matched to the job in hand. Look at parsnips, for example: they are in a league of their own and when roasted alongside a joint of beef they are very hard to better, in fact I would go as far to say that in winter, a roast beef lunch just wouldn't be complete without an accompanying dish of roast parsnips. </p>
Wine: Something for the weekend?
Anthony Rose: 'It's impressive the way the wine trade has turned internet shopping into such a painless process
<p>In the face of falling champagne sales, the online wine merchant From Vineyards Direct displayed a mischievously British sense of humour, delivering a sample with a copy of Charles Dickens' Hard Times. Still, according to something called the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, £24m worth of alcohol is forecast to be bought online in the UK during the first week of December. </p>
Corrigan's Mayfair, 28 Upper Grosvenor Street, London W1
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<p>It's the stuff of a publicist's nightmares. Your client opens a plush new restaurant, serving poshed-up rustic food, in one of Mayfair's grandest streets. Then, weeks before the launch, a group of teenage anarchists moves into the mansion over the road, rigs up a giant black flag and tells the press they're feeding themselves by rummaging in local bins. </p>
Grilled herring with soused root vegetables
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<p>Herring is a good choice of fish – alongside fish such as sardines, mackerel and salmon – to eat in the winter as they contain plenty of healthy essential oils. </p>
Blumenthal sprinkles a little good taste on roadside cuisine
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<p>His sense of humour once extended to telling a newspaper interviewer that his parents had named him after enjoying trips to Heston Services on the M4. Now Heston Blumenthal is once again trying to associate pleasure with roadside meals, but this time the chef credited with inventing "molecular gastronomy" is serious. </p>
Comfort cuisine: Seek solace in some stodgy childhood favourites
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<p>Hot sausage and mustard; cold jelly and custard: Oliver!'s vision of "Food, Glorious Food" seems horribly dated by today's standards – today, Lionel Bart might be expected to rhyme "fresh tuna sashimi" with "smoked salmon blini" – but as tightening purse strings force shoppers to think twice before splashing out on high-end nosh, nostalgia has set in. From cottage pie to apple crumble, our cupboards are filling up with the kind of comfort food that would have Oliver Twist drooling into his cap.</p>
The Life Kitchen: Jungle curry of country chicken with fresh fenugreek
What makes the perfect kitchen?
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<p>Anyone who has ever thought about redoing or designing their own kitchen will know that it's probably easier, less expensive and less traumatic just to move to a house that already has a kitchen you like. The number of different components – sink, oven, seating, surfaces, drawers, kettles, storage – and the mind-boggling range of choice within all those separate components would reduce even a decisive person to a twitching, nervous wreck. </p>
All Starbucks' coffee to be Fairtrade
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<p>Starbucks is to make every cappuccino, mocha and latte it sells in Britain Fairtrade in an attempt to reverse a sales slump that has hit its global expansion.</p>
<a href="http://sanjidaoconnel.livejournal.com/605.html">Sanjida O'Connell: Live to Chop - How to make raw food taste good</a>
<p>
Saf restaurant has branded itself as ‘botanical cuisine’, which is an
up-market way of saying it sells raw vegan food. Last week I went on a raw
food course for the Independent run by executive chef, Chad Sarno.
</p>
<a href="http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2008/11/spending-power-time-to-save-7500-pubs.html">Spending Power: 7,500 pubs at risk</a>
<p>
How seriously should we take CAMRA's warning that 7,500 pubs will shut by
2012?
</p>
Bites: Now for some comforting news...
<p>Head chefs at London's top hotel restaurants are fleeing in droves – well, in pairs at least. Last week, Nick Bell left Aspley's SW1 at the Lanesborough after just six months in the job (because of several not-too-complimentary reviews?). Meanwhile, the Dorchester's Aiden Byrne is rediscovering his roots with a gastropub in Liverpool. If only they'd known about the opening of the capital's new David Collins-designed brasserie, Bob Bob Ricard. Just the ticket for chefs with anti-social hours, BBR will serve posh "English comfort food" from James Walker, former head chef at Pont de la Tour, from 7am-3am. </p>
Spanish crisp cauliflower
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<p>I was staying with [Moro co-founder] Jake Hodges at his mum's house in Spain and going through her old cookery books. In one was the idea of blanching then frying cauliflower. If you can't find gram (chickpea) flour, use plain white – though it won't have quite the same nutty flavour.</p>
Kale and hearty: Warming winter vegetable recipes
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<p> You can get quite bored with cauliflower and leeks all the time – and that's what makes us experiment," says Jane Baxter, head chef at the Field Café in south Devon, aka the restaurant of organic vegetable box delivery pioneers Riverford Farm.</p>
Spiced celeriac with lemon
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<p>Celeriac is often drenched in cream and butter, but here the delicate spices give it a Middle Eastern flavour. This goes well with chicken, lamb-leg steaks or fish – especially if using North African spices.</p>
Leek and Roquefort pizza bread
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<p>I can't take credit for this one as I first had it in a fantastic restaurant in Queensland, Australia, called Harvest. It's important to roll the dough as thinly as possible for a good, crisp base.</p>
Winter salad with spiced pecans, pears and Devon Blue
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<p>The secret to winter salads is having a good selection of leaves. We're using all sorts here at moment – from pak choi and raddiccio to mustard leaf and dandelion – but because a lot of these leaves are bitter you need a reasonably sweet dressing; here the pears do the trick. The spiced pecans are so delicious you could serve them on their own, with drinks.</p>
We are what we eat
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<p>The typical Briton is giving up fish and chips in favour of Thai takeaways and choosing locally grown food over expensive organic produce, but still failing to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, The Independent on Sunday reveals today.</p>
Flash puts the 'temporary' into contemporary dining. But will anyone miss it when it disappears next year?
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<p>The Flash restaurant may have only opened at the beginning of November but I guarantee it will be dead, gone and dust by January. It's not that I'm the Kiss of Death, it's just that it is a short-term, flash-in-the-pan, pop-up restaurant at the Royal Academy of Arts and it really will be gone by January. That leaves only one question: is it a shame it has so short a life or is it just as well? Or is that two questions?</p>
The crunch brunch: Galleries with cool cafes
Cod bits with butter beans and bacon
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<p>Those bits and bobs of cod that normally get thrown away can be turned into something special. You should have left the tongue, cheeks and collar. </p>
Never mind the pollacks: Mark Hix cooks cod
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<p>I must say that I'm slightly bored of scratching around for sustainable species of fish that I know are going to be so over-promoted that they're probably going to become unsustainable themselves – just as hoki did a few years back. Menus and food columns are all "pollack this" and "pollack that" these days and I realise that I'm probably one of the guilty parties because I was one of the people writing about the species years ago.</p>
Salt cod fritters
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<p>Depending how much fillet you have left will obviously decide how many fritters you can make. Either way, this is a great way to use up tail ends, etc, for tasty little snacks. You can even mould these with a teaspoon and make little canapé-sized nibbles to have with drinks.</p>
The Mansion, 255 Gipsy Road, Dulwich, London
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<p>
The Mansion is a fantastic sight on the road from Dulwich to Crystal Palace.
It's a great bulky lump of Victorian architecture, as solid as a fortress,
and dominates the landscape. Once it was merely a boozer called The Paxton
but, since it was bought by Ben Sowton (the guy responsible for the
terrifically groovy White House in Clapham), it's been transformed. The
ground floor's painted black outside, the first floor's all brickwork with
black trim.
</p>
Wine: Something for the weekend?
Cod, potato and leek soup
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<p>This is a delicious, fishy winter warmer and it costs virtually nothing. You will be amazed how much meat you can get from the head once it's been cooked and the gelatinous stock gives the soup a lovely velvety texture.</p>
Wine: Scents and sensibility
<p>Proof that New Zealand is not just all about sauvignon blanc comes in the form of pinot noir. Its rise in popularity has been so rapid over barely more than a decade that it's not fanciful to imagine that within a generation, we'll be talking about Kiwi pinot in the same breath as we now speak of Burgundy's fabled red wine villages of Nuits Saint Georges, Gevrey Chambertin and Clos Vougeot. Without the protective ring-fence of a tried and tested appellation contrôlée system, the Kiwi outline may still be a little hazy compared to its centuries-old burgundian counterpart. But as the vines and their human masters mature, a critical mass of pinot noir plantings has started to shape an identity and with it an expectation of premier cru quality today, grand cru tomorrow. </p>
Roast cod with cockles, cider and parsley
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<p>A nice chunk of cod cooked on the bone is a comforting thing, and we seem to have moved away from good old-fashioned cod steaks or cutlets to nicely trimmed cod </p>
Burger chains agree to health-drive revolution
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<p>Some of Britain's biggest fast-food outlets including McDonald's and KFC have agreed to a historic deal with the Government to make their food more healthy as part of a campaign to cut heart disease and obesity.</p>
Gender and genes affect food choices
<p>Scientists used to say "you are what you eat". Then they said, "you are what your mother ate". Now, they have concluded that "you eat what you are"; genes play a key role in shaping our dietary preferences. </p>
Help - my husband thinks he's a superchef!
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<p>That men are chefs and women merely cooks has long been the received wisdom of grandest reaches of haute cuisine. In 1950, Fernand Point, the inventor of nouvelle cuisine, was asked why he had never agreed to accept a woman as a student. Point responded that, "only men have the technique, discipline and passion that makes cooking consistently an art". A modern chef such as Gordon Ramsay performs on the world's television screens and to his salivating, wealthy customers, but he is happy to leave the everyday feeding of his family and friends to his wife, Tana, because "home cooking" is obviously so far removed from the male-dominated and army-like world of professional cooking. Tana may have turned the tables a little by writing her own cookbook (which Gordon says he has never read) and having a TV show in the US, but she appears to have chosen to ignore her other half's famous remark that "women can't cook to save their lives" and has just got on with feeding the family. </p>
Slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with flageolet beans
Cool beans: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has her finger on the pulse with her low-cost feast
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<p>As the clouds of recession blow our way, it is time to turn to those basic, ancient foods that kept (and still keep) folk alive through real hard times. These staples have been eaten by humans for more than 4,000 years and are described in Sanskrit and ancient Egyptian texts. I speak of pulses – dependable, nourishing, still amazingly cheap, resistant, long lasting and not boring, not if you know them as well as many of us do. </p>
Scotland's 'aggressive' Punk beer faces ban
<p>An "aggressive" beer sold under the name Punk IPA faces being banned after a ruling that it would promote irresponsible drinking.</p>
It's all about taste: Redesigning the River Café
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<p>Stuart Forbes was Richard Rogers's project architect for the Millennium Dome, and he was a senior designer on Heathrow's Interminable Five building. That means he's operated at the very top of his profession. What, then, is he doing eating slivers of prosciutti di Parma and talking about the hots? The only dome in view here is the white clay bulge of a Valoriani wood-burning oven.</p>
Poles savour British flavours
<p>Polish nationals working in Britain in the past few years have picked up more than their wages – with many developing a taste for British brands of food and drink.</p>
The crunch bunch: Super southern Italians
The future may be uncertain for his City clientele, but for the head chef at L'Anima, it's looking very rosy indeed
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<p>Out there, it's the City – bleak, cold and windy. Men hurry home with news of cancelled bonuses and stock options, the biting wind a stark reminder of how cold the immediate future could be. Inside, all is warm and light. Jackets are off, yellow ties loosened, blue shirtsleeves rolled up, red braces tweaked, Château Latour poured. It's Thursday night in the City, and the bonhomie volume is turned up in defiance.</p>
Parmesan biscuits
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<p>These savoury little treats take only minutes to make and are perfect to have with drinks before dinner. </p>
Bites: The joy of cupcakes on ice
<p>
There's more than skating on offer at the annual Somerset House Ice Rink which
opens on Wednesday: Tate Catering's rinkside café has a locally sourced,
comfort food menu including Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses, while the chic
Tiffany Tuck Shop will sell gingerbread men and cupcakes.
</p>
Puntarelle with aged Parmesan
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<p>Puntarelle is a member of the chicory family that's a favourite in Italy. If you cannot find it, the white heart of celery finely sliced is a lovely substitute.</p>
Roast tomato sauce with black olives, Parmesan and polenta
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<p>Polenta is one of the most comforting foodstuffs I know – I often yearn for it when the weather turns cooler. It works beautifully with the sweet flavour of roasted tomatoes.</p>
Grate expectations: Skye Gyngell serves up her favourite Parmesan recipes
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<p> The one thing I always have in the fridge (and if I'm honest, sometimes I have very little), is good-quality Parmesan cheese, because I know that, even if there is nothing in the larder other than olive oil, some dried pasta and chilli flakes, I can make myself a meal fit for a queen. </p>
Pounded walnuts and Parmesan paste
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<p>Walnuts are beautiful at this time of year; creamy and sweet. I use them as often as I can, in tarts, cakes, salads and in this creamy delicious paste. I like it best on toast – it's a favourite snack of mine. All nuts spoil easily, so it is best to buy them in small quantities, in their shells, and then shell them as and when you need them.</p>
Fine art of cooking: Leading artists cook up a storm
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<p>Art and food go hand in hand and have always done so. In European cities many well-known restaurants and shops have a history of building up great collections of art by allowing artists free food and drink in exchange for a piece of their work. I remember going to see the late Lionel Poilâne at his famous bakery in Paris, and the room behind the shop was packed full of drawings and paintings from great Parisian artists, including a fantastic chandelier sculpture made from bread. When the artists couldn't afford to pay their weekly bread bill, they would offer a piece of their work instead. It's amazing how even a humble loaf of bread can be bartered for a piece of art. (Mind you, Poilâne makes probably the most expensive sourdough loaf in the world, so perhaps it's not so humble after all.) </p>
Bake that and party: The season's most festive cupcakes
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Local heroes: Mark Hix reveals his Britain's finest independent producers
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Case studies: The perfect wines to get you through the party season
Trade secrets: Top chefs reveal their guilty pleasures
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New sensations: Our critics nominate their favourite restaurants of the year
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The Ten Best New World Red Wines
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<p>
You'll be the toast of the town with one of these scrumptious wines.
</p>
Chicken tagine with olives and pickled lemon
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Revenge of the waitresses: The women serving customers up as satire
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<p>Next time you want to complain in a restaurant, stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and do it with a little grace. You might think you have carte blanche to behave as you wish if you're dropping a considerable wedge of cash in an upmarket restaurant, but the waiting staff will be watching your every move. </p>
More bang to your bangers: A masterclass in stuffing and sizzling
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<p>Sausages are one of this country's delicacies. Many are the meals that have been spiced up with great British bangers. But while most people tend to buy their sausages off the shelf, rather than make their own, one food expert strongly believes we should reverse that trend.</p>
Ugly fruit and veg make a comeback
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<p>Wonky cucumbers and comedy carrots are staging a comeback thanks to a European Union decision to scrap stringent rules which stipulate that only the most perfect-looking produce adorns supermarket shelves.</p>
Mis-shapen fruit and veg laws set to be scrapped
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<p>
Curvy cucumbers and nobbly carrots will be back on sale in the shops from next
July if, as expected, more than two dozen laws banning imperfect-looking
fruit and veg are scrapped today.
</p>
Happy hours to be banned in alcohol 'problem areas'
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<p>Happy hours and supermarket deals would be banned in areas plagued by binge drinking and alcohol-related crime under a plan being considered by ministers. Three government departments are in talks over the proposed scheme to tackle binge drinking "hot spots", The Independent has learnt. </p>
Bites: The truffles or the testicles, sir?
<p>
Credit crunch? What credit crunch? Bury your head in the sand for a night at
Zafferano, the Michelin-starred Italian in Knightsbridge, for its annual "truffle
menu", which features gloriously extravagant comfort-food dishes,
including cheese fondue, risotto and sweet zabaglione, all made with white
truffle.
</p>
What's a chef gotta do to get a show around here?
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<p> Have you noticed that they're not making cooking programmes any more? I haven't taken leave of my senses. I realise that the schedules are groaning with shows vaguely food-related; I'm talking about straightforward, instructive programmes made by enthusiastic experts for people who already know a little about cooking.</p>
Big chef, little chef: What does it take to become a kitchen star?
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Culture: How to impress your dinner guests
<p>As Christmas approaches, various publishers are hoping that their stocking-fillers will become the Eats, Shoots & Leaves of 2008. This is a prize that only one book can claim – the winner will outsell its nearest rival by hundreds of thousands of copies – and the next few weeks will see dozens of competitors enter the fray.</p>
A tonic for the troops: the spirit of the G&T endures
<p>There's not all that much that George Washington, Denis Thatcher and Mrs Slocombe of Are You Being Served? have in common, but one thing binds them together as closely as if they were blood relations: the love of a good gin and tonic. And so, were they still with us, they would this weekend be marking, no doubt with due solemnity and reverence, the drink's 150th anniversary. </p>
It's time for The Terrys!
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<p>Are restaurants the butterflies of the business world, or the cockroaches? The first to go, or the last to survive? The year isn't quite over yet, but at this point, they are doing a good job of both disappearing and thriving. Look at the empire-building Tom Aikens, who earlier this year expanded his Chelsea portfolio with a shiny new eco-chippy, Tom's Place, only to see it close six months later. His other two restaurants went into administration last month. They have since been bought by a new investor, but it has made everybody jittery. </p>
Jonathan Meades: 'I have saucisson issues'
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<p>Jonathan Meades' view has changed. Two years ago the writer, gastronome and TV auteur lived on London's Bermondsey Street, between Zandra Rhodes' textile museum and the deep grey Thames. Now he looks out over his own tranche of south-western France, as the oaks turn perceptibly to orange ("It's not every day the colours change, so much as every hour"), the mists condense over the lake and the giant guinea pigs shuffle down the banks to drink... Giant what? "Coypu or ragondin. They were introduced here in the 1920s when there was a rather recondite craze for them as pets. They're sweet creatures" – Meades reaches for the pair of binoculars he keeps by his armchair – "and served locally as rillettes, although that is a dish we have yet to try."</p>
Weighty matters: The best of this season's cookbooks
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Hurrah for the credit munch
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<p>Such had been the extent of its decline that the term "lunch box" had come to be associated more with a certain 100m sprinter than with carrying midday meals. But as food prices remain sky high and disposable income shrinks fast, the packed lunch is enjoying an unlikely renaissance.</p>
Spiced squash chutney
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<p>Sometimes those big squashes and pumpkins that we see so much of around this time of year don't get used up and a chutney is a perfect way to preserve a good harvest of unwanted squashes through the winter months. You can adapt the spices according to your taste. If you want, you can dry the squash seeds out in a low oven overnight and chop them into the chutney for a bit of texture.</p>
Blackberry jam
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<p>There seem to be still plenty of blackberries on the bushes despite the rather erratic weather we've been having. There isn't too much rocket science involved in jam-making, except that you need to make sure that you use enough sugar to preserve the fruit. I quite like to add the fruit in two stages so you are left with some good chunks to spread on your toast or dollop on your rice pudding. </p>
The Hambrough, Hambrough Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight
<p>Success for chefs, as for movie stars, is all about making the right choices. There's a prescribed path to the top, and picking the right projects can separate the greats, such as Robert de Niro, from the should-have-beens, like Mickey Rourke.</p>
Pickled shallots in cider vinegar
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<p>Pickled onions or shallots are always a handy thing to have in the larder, especially at Christmas time. You can normally crack these open after about 6-8 weeks or keep them up to a year. I've got some that are a couple of years old now and they are still pretty good, though not quite as crunchy as before. </p>
A bit of a pickle: Mark Hix's preservation orders
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<p>Tucking into Simon Kelner's homemade chutney made with his Blenheim orange apples at The Independent Woodstock Literary Festival reminded me that now is a great time to preserve vegetables and fruits for Christmas and the winter months.</p>
Pickled winter vegetables
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<p>Root vegetables are perfect for pickling as a little winter nibble or accompaniment to cold meats or cheese. You can use a selection of root vegetables or single ones and add some shallots or button onions or even halved Brussels sprouts.</p>
Wine: Odds-on favourite
<p>At the dawn of the swinging Sixties, Ahmed Pochee, an anti-establishment maverick who delighted in getting up the nose of the stuffy wine trade, set up a new kind of off-licence. It was called Oddbins and it suffered from neither the dead hand of the breweries nor the pin-striped pomposity of the St James's wine merchants of the era. With his extensive contacts, Pochee was able to sell top Bordeaux châteaux, like Beychevelle and Cos d'Estournel, for 19 shillings and 11 pence (99p) a bottle. The new spirit of irreverence that changed the high street for good lasted till Oddbins was put into receivership in 1973. In stepped a young man called Nick Baile who maintained the tradition until Oddbins was taken over, first by Seagram, who surprisingly gave its buyers carte blanche, and then by Castel Frères, parent of the Nicolas chain, who just didn't get Oddbins.</p>
Wine: Something for the weekend?
<a href="http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2008/11/eat-the-new-bur.html">Eat: The new burger king?</a>
<p>
There is life beyond the Big Mac and the Whopper.
</p>
The Ten Best Toasters
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<p>
Stay cool with one of these delightful toasters.
</p>
Potato crêpes with a trio of smoked fish
Matt Skinner reveals how to sniff out the best cellars
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<p>Instead of heading straight for the surf when he turned 18, Australian Matt Skinner got a job in a wine shop. His stock rocketed when he became the sommelier at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, and he has been leading an evangelising mission to bring wine to the masses ever since. We meet for a crash course at The East Room in London's Shoreditch, a members' club where Skinner holds the grand title of director of wine. The club is supposed to be an affront to stuffy old-school societies. Inside, I find something of a New World wine bazaar – the walls are lines with contraptions from which members help themselves to wine using a pre-paid card, which means they can sample from the extensive list without having to splurge on a whole bottle.</p>
Oliver warns of obesity 'horror show'
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<p>
Britain will face an obesity "horror show" unless action is taken to
tackle it over the next 10 years, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver warned today.
</p>
World's most popular chef says, 'I fancy a McDonald's'
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<p>His 35-course menu is so dazzling that two million people try to book his restaurant each year, 400 for every table, and even some food critics claim it has changed their lives forever. But Ferran Adria, the Spanish chef behind El Bulli, has revealed that he actually wants to eat at McDonald's.</p>
Waitrose opens Dubai store
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<p>
Waitrose today opened its first store outside the UK, in Dubai, the retailer
announced.
</p>
Election nibbles: Just like Mom makes
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