Premiumise, premiumise, premiumise!

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Posted at 12:02PM, 28 October 2008 by Abbie Dobson - News journalist

They once said 'Grease' was the word, but now the word du jour is 'premiumising'. We might all be worried and sick in equal measure of the credit crunch (or as one member of my family has dubbed it, the 'credit crunchie'), but it's here to stay, at least for the foreseeable. So premiumising it is! Not my words, I hasten to add, but those of Ewan Venters, Food and Restaurant Director of Selfridges. To put it into context, he's talking about people making smarter food shopping choices, a subject I hit on in my last blog . With many of us going out for dinner less, we're buying better quality ingredients to cook restaurant-style food at home instead.

The so-called 'British Food Revolution' has meant that we are now more ambitious than ever when it comes to catering at home

Despite this reluctance to eat out as regularly and with many restaurants closing, restaurant critic AA Gill says, "none of us wants to encourage dinner parties". I for one relish the promise of a resurgence of 'home entertaining' and so, it seems, do many of you! The so-called 'British Food Revolution' has meant that we are now more ambitious than ever when it comes to catering at home. The dinner party resurgence is long overdue; we can gorge on the bargains that are out there, if we can find the time to seek them out.

So if we're eating out less, are we drinking out less? And by that I don't mean that quick pint or two... or three, after work. I mean the cheeky cappuccino, that lardy latte or the magnificent mochachocafrapalattacino! Apparently so, as Starbucks is testifying, with many of its stores shutting across the US. And the announcement of its first quarterly loss since becoming a public limited company 16 years ago, driven, they say, by sluggish UK sales.

But where is all this leading? Many food writers are worried that this recent crisis could spell the end of the 'British Food Revolution'. A slump for Starbucks, but a boost to Aldi and Lidl does not the end of a food revolution herald! Or at least I hope not. Now about that dinner party, anyone for Lidl's finest?

Comments

Nunnington

29 October 2008, 10:36AM
Nunnington

I was never a big home cook, always preferring to get my food fix from a restaurant... but lately I've been broadening my repertoire to take in some posher cook-at-home alternatives. The biggest change for me has been with Sunday lunches. We used to eat out regularly, but now I'm the proud owner of a huge Le Creuset casserole and a fortnightly organic veg box, and I'm far keener on whipping something up for visiting family. I haven't given up restaurants altogether, but I've discovered that at-home has bigger benefits than I realised, not least the cheaper wine and no need for a taxi home!

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chocolate strawberry

29 October 2008, 8:51PM
chocolate strawberry

I have always enjoyed dinner parties and trying new recipes, organic or otherwise, infact I even once served a whole herb crusted wild salmon from Lidl (!) to my friends - great value and they all thought it was really tasty! Living in London it's very easy to eat out regularly, but I'm enjoying home entertaining more & more, especially when the Trivial Pursuit or pictionary come out after a big Sunday Roast! Also, whilst I used to have shares in Lloyds, I now have shares in Lidl!!! Long live the dinner party trend!!

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christine

13 November 2008, 7:34PM
christine

When I first moved in with my boyfriend after living with my parents, I couldn't wait to host my first proper grown up dinner party and it was well worth the wait!! To feed a three course meal all cooked from scratch to six hungry friends was nerveracking (especially as I preparing a vegetarian menu to hardcore meat eaters) but I managed to convert all of them. Although the starter and main were fairly simple, red pepper and lime soup to start followed by a vegetable and bean chilli, the dessert made the meal. I managed to make Gordon Ramseys chocolate marquise and it was sensational! A good night was had by all but the best part? One of the meat eaters asked for the recipes!!

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