Read our top tips for dining out sustainably, including eating seasonally, considering animal welfare and looking for menus that minimise food waste.
For the sustainably minded, eating out can feel as much as a minefield as preparing food at home – more so, in fact. Food waste, animal welfare, the treatment of staff and sustainable sources of food and drink are issues chefs and guests alike need to consider. Fortunately, there are some questions you can ask to ensure a meal out doesn’t compromise your conscience as well as your wallet, from where the meat and fish comes from to the restaurant’s tipping policy, to whether or not you can take your leftovers home. Wondering how to eat sustainably ? Think about eating out as a way of incentivising those restaurants who are doing the right thing by these issues, or are at least trying to, advises Will Beckett, founder of the Hawksmoor restaurant group. After all, putting our money where our morals are is one of the best ways to change the world, one dinner at a time. 1. Look for sustainability certifications In ideal world, you would be able to take restaurants at their word when they say they are sustainable. In reality, the word is hard to define and can easily serve as a fig leaf for poor practices. “One of the issues with eating sustainably and ethically is trust. How do you tell the difference between what’s real and exaggerated greenwashing yarn?” says Beckett. “One way is to get to know the restaurant, and the people who work there – but there’s only so many restaurants you can get to know. The other is certification: Food Made Good, Green Restaurant Association and B-Corp, which for us is the pinnacle,” he continues, “because it brings so many facets of sustainability together under one certification.” Hawksmoor is one of a first British restaurants to have achieved B-Corp status; another is Big Mamma restaurant group, which operates globally. Such certifications – which are regularly audited – provides the reassurance that the restaurant really is doing what they say on its website. The Michelin Green Star is not a certification, but it is an highly respected awards scheme which highlights restaurants at the forefront of the industry when it comes to their sustainable practices. Apricity in Mayfair, Osip in Somerset, Inver in Scotland and Terroir Tapas in Bournemouth are all examples of restaurants with a Michelin Green Star. 2. Consider animal welfare Animals which have led happy, high-welfare lives with minimal stress at slaughter aren’t just a more ethical option – they taste better, too. Look for native or rare breeds which must meet high standards in order to be registered: Gloucester Old Spot, Hereford beef, Herdwick lamb and Belted Galloway beef are some of the most common and will invariably be listed on the menu. Check out the restaurant’s website before visiting; if they know and are proud of the farms they source from, they will have much of the information there. If in doubt, ask your waiter, advises Beckett. If they can’t answer, and can’t find the answer out from their manager, then that’s a red flag. 3. Go for sustainable fish Ninety per cent of the world’s fish are either fully exploited or overexploited. The Marine Stewardship Council app is a godsend for anyone who feels a bit at sea when it comes to eating fish sustainably, with the best seasons and sources for every edible type of fish. Broadly speaking you want to avoid those which are caught by trawler, and plump for those in season, in abundance and caught on a small scale. Keep an eye out for phrases such as dayboat and hand-dived. 4. Eat seasonally If a restaurant is offering you asparagus and strawberries in December, they aren’t going to be sourcing them from Britain. They’ll have been flown in from around the world or grown in hot houses, both of which are fairly poor options as far as sustainability – and taste – goes. “Menus should be changing with the seasonality of produce, not just winter, spring, summer, autumn,” says Juliane Caillouette-Noble, managing director at Sustainable Restaurant Association. This means you might see variations on a theme, as the menu evolves: “A dish that’s done with winter tomato might be done with broad beans a few months later. There might be tweaks on your favourites,” she continues. Of course, certain produce is either perennial or can be stored year round – or will have been preserved through fermentation, drying or pickling. See what's in season year-round with our seasonality calendar. 5. Look beyond the menu Look to the lights, the kitchen equipment, the heating: “There are things in the fit-out that signal an eco-mentality,” says Caillouette-Noble. LED lighting, induction hobs, reusable containers as well sophisticated technologies such as capturing excess heat from fridges and freezers to power the hot water in customer bathrooms – all are indicators that a restaurant is thinking about sustainability beyond surface level. If you’re wondering how you might access that information, contact the restaurant management directly, or look the restaurant up on the SRA’s website. Look at the physical make-up of the restaurant, too, says Apricity chef owner Chantelle Nicholson: “It’s quite obvious if things are shiny and brand new, rather than pre-loved, chances are there’s not much effort being made elsewhere either.” “It’s not a huge contributor toward carbon footprint, when compared with food and drink, but it’s important for signalling,” Beckett points out. 5. Are the staff being looked after properly If you’re a repeat customer, you can infer this from how many staff members you recognise over time. If you’re a one-off, ask about the working hours. Disappointing though it might be, it’s often a good thing if restaurants are closed on Mondays, says Caillouette-Noble. “If an independent restaurant is closed on a Monday it probably means staff have two consecutive days off, which is a marker of good practice.” Cafe St Honoré in Edinburgh – long held up as a beacon of good practice – is closed Tuesday and Wednesday each week. Early closing times are a good sign too, she adds. Nicholson closes Apricity at 11.00pm to allow her mostly female team to get home safely. Another potential indicator of wellbeing is on a restaurant’s socials: if there’s plenty of staff engagement, the chances are they are happy and supported in their roles rather than working all hours without recognition. There’s no need to worry about where your tips are going anymore though: from June 2024, 100% of all gratuities must legally go to staff. 6. Spot the plastic Plastic bottles, polystyrene boxes – these are tell-tale signs of an unhealthy plastic dependency. Look for restaurants with filtered still and sparkling water systems – the Cinnamon Collection in London has them across the board – and try to support places that insists its produce is delivered in reusable crates rather than polystyrene – “the absolute worst to dispose of" according to Katie Toogood, co-owner of sustainable fish restaurant Prawn on the Lawn in Padstow. Try our 10 ways to reduce your plastic waste and ways to reuse and recycle your packaging. 7. The last straw We’ve watched that video of a sea turtle having a plastic straw removed from its nose so you don’t have to. Now all you have to do is avoid them like the plague and ask your local restaurant and bar to do likewise. 8. Ask for your leftovers And, better still, carry a just-in-case lunch box with you, so neither you nor the restaurant need to worry about packaging. Learn how to use up your leftovers and kit yourself out with our best food storage containers. 9. Look for menus that minimise food waste This could be bread from yesterday’s potatoes, cheese from used coffee milk or carrot top pesto – but it could also be a menu that operates a ‘when it’s gone, it’s gone’ policy. “If a dish is sold out, that is a good sign” says Caillouette-Noble. “It means the restaurants is being careful and not overproducing.” If you’re looking at a menu that is “four pages long, with every possible variation on a salad” you need to more concerned. Skye Gyngell with her scratch menu at Spring at Somerset House is one of the new breeds of chefs taking the old-fashioned value that food is too good to waste. Some restaurants have taken to teaming up with local breweries, distilleries and bakeries to utilise their waste, and vice versa. In east London, Acme Fire Cult’s ‘marmite’ is made using leftover beer yeast from 40FT brewery opposite, while its ‘mole’ is made from leftovers from the neighbouring bakery, Dusty Knuckle. In Newcastle, Träkol uses spent grain from its brewery to create spent grain crisps for the restaurant menu. Discover our advice on how to reduce food waste. 10. Go veggie Or partly veggie. At least don’t discount a vegetarian dish as an option. The biggest impact we can have on our carbon footprint as individuals is reducing the amount of meat we eat, and there is no better place to explore vegetable-based meals than in places like Bubala in London or Land in Birmingham: restaurants with such resplendent plant-based menus, you’ll forget meat was ever an option. Want to learn more about a flexitarian diet? Check out the benefits of a plant-based diet and get essential advice from a dietitian. 11. But don’t feel you have to rule out meat entirely All too often the plant-based debate falls into a binary, says Nicholson – which isn’t helpful. “As a planet we need to exist as an ecosystem, and animals are integral to soil health, to our culture, to people’s livelihoods. We do need to reduce our consumption of ‘bad’ meat [industrially produced, with scant regard to animal welfare] but we also need to support the people who are doing it well.” The rule here, as with most things regarding sustainability, is to think of the big picture, says Beckett. Do you need that bog-standard supermarket mince in a spag bol on a Tuesday? Or would you rather save your carbon footprint for something more meaningful, to savour at the weekend? ‘Regenerative’ is the word to keep in mind when you’re perusing menus and websites, which means farms which support biodiversity and soil health. Another way to judge whether a restaurant cares about sourcing meat sustainably is to look for less popular cuts or for by-products of the meat industry. “Spent laying hens, retired dairy cows, ewes which are no longer lambing, male calves – these animals are all too often being culled, when we should we be eating them,” Caillouette-Noble explains. Get started with our tips on ways to eat less meat. 12. Watch your wine And not just for the sake of your hangover. Like food, producing wine can be a polluting and carbon-expensive process – so look for terms including ‘low intervention’, ‘organic’ and ‘biodynamic’: all are indications that producers are creating wine in such a way as to regenerate, rather than degrade, the land. It’s also worth paying attention to what the wine comes in. That glass bottle has a larger carbon footprint than any other part of the wine-making process, which is why many sustainably minded restaurants are looking at kegs and circular bottle schemes. “People think glass is recyclable – but recycling should be the last resort. The energy entailed in breaking down the bottle and recreating a new one is huge,” Nicholson points out. Transporting heavy glass bottles is also carbon intensive. “Borough Wines is really innovative both in starting the conversation around keg wines, and enabling restaurants to refill their bottles,” says Caillouette-Noble. Take a look at more ways to drink sustainably. 13. And the beer For the same reasons, beer from kegs or aluminium cans is far more sustainable than bottled beer, satisfying though it may be to drink from. 14. Leave the garnish When Revolution bars dropped the passion fruit from their porn star martinis in 2021, they saved more than half a million passion fruits per year and reduced the bar group’s carbon footprint by more than 100 tons of CO2. “They serve no purpose,” says Nicholson, who also dropped garnishes from her drinks a few years back. “They just go in the bin.” Ask for your margarita without a lime slice and piña colada without the pineapple – unless you’re going to eat it, of course. 15. Avoid bottled water In an age of soda streams and filtered water on tap, removing bottled water from the menu is “a no-brainer” says Nicholson. If your favourite local is still serving bottled water, ask them if they’ve considered having a soda stream installed. Check out our tips for sustainable cooking and eating... 10 tips for reducing your plastic waste A week without avocados: my life on a strictly British plate How to reduce food waste One week of low-waste family meals What are your top tips for eating sustainably? Leave a comment below...
Trying to shop sustainably? Read our guide to understand the meanings of green and ethical labels on your food and drink.
The options are baffling: from well-established certification systems like Fairtrade and Red Tractor, to lesser-known, lesser-spotted signs like the Leaf Marque. Increasingly, independent brands are opting out of these systems – for cost reasons and/or because they find their standards lacking – and choosing to set benchmarks of their own. Check out the BBC Good Food sustainability glossary for expert definitions of buzzwords and common terminology around green products. Chocolate companies like Montezuma’s and The Raw Chocolate Company, and coffee companies like Union, Pact and Monmouth implement their own standards, buying direct from growers, cutting out the middle man, visiting producers and investing in sustainable, regenerative agriculture. Nut suppliers Food and Forest source almonds from Spanish farmers who use agroforesty methods to produce nuts that they argue are significantly more sustainable than the minimal standards set by the European Union. It’s good news for the environment, and for some small-scale producers who have historically been on the sharp end of the supply chain, but makes the world of conscious consumerism more bewildering than it has ever been. ‘Customers have every right to be utterly confused,’ says Christopher Cramer, professor of the Political Economy of Development at SOAS university. ‘There has been an expansion of interest in wanting to do the right thing through the way we shop – but the emergence of voluntary standards (like Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance etc) has corresponded with states to some extent withdrawing from regulating trade and production.’ The result is a set of standards that are inextricably bound up with business objectives like profit and market share. What’s more, he continues, these standards and systems ‘are a subset of a much bigger global problem and that is the audit industry, which itself is poorly regulated. It’s meant to protect standards but it doesn’t do that properly because the relationship between independent auditors and the organisations they audit can be a bit too cosy… and they don’t always have the resources to do the job properly.’ The long answer, he says, is to do your research – and follow the quality. ‘People who are obsessed with quality know every part of the production process has to be just right. They know quality is more expensive to produce, so they work closely with producers. The hope, at least, is that this also affects the amount of work available, and even the pay and conditions, for the large numbers of workers on farms.’ For example, when coffee growers are subject to the vagaries of the global coffee market, as they are even with Fairtrade, they must pick unripe or damaged beans, as well as good ones, in order to make ends meet. Livestock farmers in the UK would on the whole rather not engage in high density stocking, cages and growth hormones; it’s a consequence of a food system which even now doesn’t attach enough value to meat. Those looking for quality above all ‘will pay way over standard or fairtrade prices to get it,’ says Cramer – whether it’s coffee or chocolate, turkeys or smoked salmon. One of the best ways to find that is to look for suppliers as close to the source as possible; who buy direct from growers, farmers and producers, and do as much as possible to shorten and scrutinise their supply chains. The short answer is, some standards are better than no standards. They have their place, says Cramer, and labels like Fairtrade have played ‘an important role in generating awareness and interest in the conditions in which things are grown and produced.’ What do food labels mean? Fairtrade Products: everything from coffee to chocolate, winter spice mix to wine. In a nutshell: Fairtrade demands companies pay their producers a Fairtrade Minimum Price to cover cost of production, as well as a Fairtrade Premium which is paid to the growers’ cooperative in order that they can invest in business or community projects of their choosing. Both the company and the producers must meet a set of social, economic and environmental standard in order for them to use the Fairtrade label – standards which are regularly inspected independently. Pros: whatever the controversies that have dogged them since, when Fairtrade launched in 1992 they were pioneering. They exposed the extent to which small scale producers were penalised and marginalised by conventional trading systems, and they put ethics and environmental standards back on the agenda. Whilst not without its flaws, their Fairtrade Premium model showed it was both possible and preferable to lift at least some primary producers out of poverty without resorting to charity. Another key thing to note about the Fairtrade mark is that it certifies that all the ingredients in the product have been produced to their specifications – not a minimum percentage. Cons: the main criticisms around the Fairtrade model centre around the minimum pricing and their reliance on a cooperative model. The minimum pricing means that whilst accredited producers are protected when the market price goes down, they don’t stand to benefit when it rises; whilst their insistence that the additional Premium payment go through the cooperative rather than going direct to farmers can often prevent it from being spent where it is most needed. ‘Most cooperatives are highly hierarchical, unequal organisations. It’s the farmer with the most land that are likely to get a place on the executive committee, and stands to benefit most from the Premium payment,’ says Cramer. The third criticism is that Fairtrade charge a fee for licensing the label, much of which will be spent on marketing and offices – but then, that is true of many accreditation systems, and a little marketing can go a long way. Rainforest Alliance Products: like Fairtrade, if it comes from a crop or livestock it can be Rainforest Alliance certified. Look out for their labels on chocolate, coffee and tea. In a nutshell: the Rainforest Alliance was established 17 years ago with the aim of halting the destruction of the rainforests. To be certified, growers must meet a list of ‘sustainable agriculture principles’ including conserving local wildlife and water resources, minimising soil erosion, treating workers fairly and reforesting where possible. Pros: in return, they look to provide growers with the tools and skills to improve their productivity and practice – so whilst there is not a guaranteed minimum price, the hope is that these farmers will therefore be able to access more lucrative markets. Cons: to carry the Rainforest Alliance label, products need only contain 30 per cent of Rainforest Alliance certified ingredients. This does give smaller companies a useful entry point, but it could be regarded as slightly misleading. Not providing a minimum price means producers remain vulnerable to the volatility of the market, and there are also signs, post their merger with UTZ in 2018, that their requirements around workers rights have been watered down, along with their definition of what a forest actually is. Leaf Products: dairy, meat and – most notably – vegetables. In a nutshell: standing for Linking Environment and Farming, the LEAF is a global system for recognising sustainable farming practices, promoting and supporting farmers’ commitments to their land, livestock, natural environment and local community. Pros: produce carrying the LEAF Marque comes from farmers bound by the principles of Integrated Farming Practice, which looks at a series of tangible and achievable measures including soil and water quality; the resilience of cropping systems; energy efficiency; management of waste and by-products; community engagement; biodiversity and the conservation of natural habitats. 43 per cent of fruit and veg in the UK is LEAF marque certified – so it shouldn’t be too hard to get some sustainable sprouts and potatoes in your trolley. Cons: the LEAF marque provides an effective and important minimum standard for sustainability, but it doesn’t guarantee that food will be organic, non-GM, produced in the UK or that animals will have not been intensively reared – all of which have pretty significant implications for ethics and sustainability. RSPCA Assured Products: the RSPCA Assured label covers 11 species of animal, including Christmas staples – turkey, pig, chicken and salmon. In a nutshell: previously Freedom Food, the RSPCA Assured label is awarded to those farms which meet the RSPCA’s standards of animal welfare. Pros: this is the animal welfare label – so if animal welfare is your key concern, this is the label to look out for. Unlike many labelling schemes, RSPCA Assured is completely independent from the food and farming industries, and checks are carried out not only by their own assessors, but by livestock officers from the RSPCA. They cover indoor and free-range farms, organic and non-organic farms – ‘which does surprise some people, because there’s a bit of a myth out there that indoor is always bad and free-range is always good, but indoor has its positives and challenges just as outdoor does,’ says Liam Kurzeja of RSPCA Assured. Only 5 per cent of farms in the UK are free-range: ‘were we to concentrate only on those, we’d be doing a disservice to all the animals not on those farms.’ Cons: the pros of RSPCA Assured are also the cons: it is targeted. The label does not take into consideration the environment, natural wildlife or workers’ rights. That said, they have recently upped their requirements so the label cannot be used on any product containing palm oil from unsustainable sources, or which comes in non-recyclable plastic packaging. Marine Stewardship Council Products: anything involving fish or seafood. Smoked salmon, the prawns for a prawn cocktail, scallops – all should carry this label. In a nutshell: the distinctive blue label is only awarded to wild fish or seafood from fisheries that have been certified to the MSC Fisheries standard: a set of requirements for sustainable fishing which include guaranteeing that the wild seafood was caught using methods that do not deplete stocks or cause serious harm to other life in the sea. Pros: the MSC was set up in the wake of Canada’s cod crisis, when the collapse of Canada’s cod stocks exposed the failure of government agencies to regulate fish stock. Established by a group of scientists and conservation experts, it’s aim was to persuade companies around the world that preserving fish stocks would benefit business as well as the environment, and much of its success – global recognition, increased demand for sustainable seafood from retailers and consumers – has stemmed from its ability to integrate its own interests with those of the fisheries. Cons: the disadvantage of the MSC being so bound up with businesses, say critics, is that it has resulted in their having to compromise on certain standards. It’s great that so many retailers have embraced it, but where demand outstrips supply, they have lowered the bar. This has been made easier by the fact MSC don’t actually certify fisheries themselves; any fishery that wants the label must hire a commercial auditing companies to decide whether its practices comply. EU Organic/Soil Association Products: any food, raw or processed, and drinks In a nutshell: any foodstuff in the EU that claims to be organic must meet the EU Organic Certification standards and carry the green leaf label. Organic standards are defined by law to ensure robust environmental and animal welfare protection, with firm rules that restrict the use of chemicals, antibiotics and artificial additives and preservatives. Pros: food in the UK can also carry the Soil Association label alongside it, which means they have met the demands of the EU as well as the Association’s more stringent organic standards. This leads to an average of 50% more wildlife on organic farms, and the Soil Association has the highest standards of animal welfare in the UK, as verified by Compassion in World Farming. Cons: applying for organic status can be a lengthy and expensive process – particularly for small-scale farmer and producers who don’t have the time or money to do it. There are many growers in the UK and abroad farming to similar or even better standards than those set by the EU and even the Soil Association, but which cannot class themselves as organic. Red Tractor Products: all food and drink that are farm-produced in the UK. The red tractor could grace your red cabbage and redcurrant jelly, but it could also be on your flour, breakfast cereal and even your beer. In a nutshell: the Red Tractor mark can only be used on food and drink that has been produced, packed, stored and transported in the UK, and covers food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection. Pros: the tractor is a sure sign that your food has been locally grown and produced – already a win for your carbon footprint – and meets basic requirements for food safety. Cons: the criticisms levelled at the Red Tractor include the infrequency and inadequacy of inspections to the number of Red Tractor accredited farms found guilty of animal cruelty. Practices such as tail-docking, farrowing crates for pigs and long journeys to slaughterhouses (shown to substantially increase the stress of an animal) are all permissible under the label, and it does not take into account the protection of wildlife. Though it carries the illusion of independence, the label is actually the brain child of the National Farmers Union and the British Retail Consortium. Of course, many farms carrying the label will meet all their requirements and more; it is absolutely not a reason to avoid a product. But the lack of regular inspections means its claims are by no means guaranteed. Discover more about sustainability... Green kitchen swaps 7 ways to drink sustainably 10 ways to eat out sustainably The facts about food miles What sustainability jargon would you like more information on? Leave a comment below...
The best restaurants to eat in Stratford-upon-Avon
Discover BBC Good Food's favourite restaurants in Stratford-upon-Avon. Find where to get the best eats for every budget and check out our top cafés, bars and foodie hotspots.
All recommendations have been reviewed and approved as of the publish date and will be checked periodically. If you think there is any incorrect or out of date information in this guide please e-mail us at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk Whether you're looking for fabulous fine dining, casual family bites or brilliant brownies to enjoy with your coffee, Stratford has a range of restaurants, bars and cafés to cater to every taste. Indulge in a glass of vino at our favourite local bar or go all out on a showstopping tasting menu. If you're looking for inspiration on where to eat in this Warwickshire market town, take your pick from our tried and tested selection. Find even more foodie city guides and essential tips in our travel hub. Best restaurants in Stratford-upon-Avon at a glance Salt - Special occasion, casual dining N°9 Church Street - Special occasion Box Brownie Coffee - Cheap eats, kid-friendly El Greco - Kid-friendly, casual dining, cheap eats Barry the Butcher The Fourteas - Special occasion, kid-friendly The One Elm - Kid-friendly, casual dining Paxton & Whitfield Salt Special occasion, casual dining In 2011, in the heady wake of winning Observer Food Monthly's young chef of the year award, Paul Foster – then head chef at boutique hotel Tuddenham Mill in Suffolk – nurtured a secret ambition. It wasn’t London. It wasn’t New York. It wasn’t Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons – he’d been there and got those chefs whites. It was to leave Suffolk, return to his home county of Warwickshire and establish his own place: produce-lead, service-driven and dancing to his tune. Salt is this restaurant. It’s a cool, whitewashed affair in the centre of town, where ingredients come first, technique second and, if strictly necessary, technology adds the finishing touches. Try a four-course lunch of, say, cured mackerel with miso butter & brown shrimp, Otterburn Mangalitsa pork with caramelised turnip, and a rhubarb brioche dessert with cardamom custard – all for just £58 per person. You could spend more at the theatre – and with far less certainty of it being a showstopper. N°9 Church Street Special occasion Based in a 400-year-old, Grade II-listed building, N°9 Church Street is run by chef/patron Wayne Thompson, a finalist in numerous cheffing awards and a Bruno Loubot and Alain Ducasse protégé. This is one of Stratford’s most popular restaurants (popular meaning buzzy and sought after, as opposed to overrun with Baird-baiting tourists), serving seasonal, reasonably priced cuisine. There’s enough innovation to be interesting – the crab ravioli comes with asparagus and miso broth, the glazed burrata with compressed watermelon and molasses – but it's the ingredients and their hyperlocality that play the starring role. Atelier artisan smoked salmon, Hunscote Farm vegetables and Black Pig Company pork loin are just a few of the namechecked ingredients on the menu. Having finally realised his dream of running his own restaurant, Thompson is putting his money where his mouth is – and you should, too. Mains from £8. Box Brownie Coffee Cheap eats, kid-friendly It’s a brave soul who builds an independent coffee shop in a chain-choked tourist town, where proximity is often of far greater consideration than dark roast pour-overs. It’s a braver soul who does so with minimal social media presence. That Box Brownie Coffee continues to flourish is testimony to the quality not just of its coffee (locally roasted at Monsoon Estates and served with high-welfare milk from a farm just up the road) but of the level of service founders Ben and Hayley provide. Making and drinking coffee should be fun and friendly, they say, not an exercise in elitism. That’s what East London is for. As for their brownies – well, the term they use is 'banging'. If by that they mean dark, dense, whisperingly crispy on the outside and squidgily shy of molten within, then they’re right. El Greco Kid-friendly, casual dining, cheap eats A big fat Greek family affair, El Greco is fun, flavoursome and generous. All the headliners are here – think taramasalata, tzatziki, souvlaki, spanakopita – and there are delicious B-sides in the form of stifado, a slow-cooked beef stew, and kleftiko, a headily tender lamb shank dish. The atmosphere is buzzing, the food is made for sharing and tearing and bickering over, and it all makes a refreshing change from the modern British-European fare that dominates the town. What’s more, it's incredibly good value. 22-dish mezze for £29.95 per person; mains from £7.95. Barry the Butcher Uncompromising in quality, Barry's has been going for 30 years and is the trusted supplier for many of the area's better restaurants and cafés. The regulars – rump, ribs, shoulders and chicken breasts – are all there, alongside lesser known cuts, and there's also a tempting selection of plump, handmade sausages to choose from: venison & cranberry; Cumberland & sage; pork, leek & chili; mushroom & smoked bacon; and, crowning them all, the legendary pork, apple & black pudding. The selection of local, small-batch pickles, jellies and sauces provides all you could possibly need in the way of accompaniments and, come game season, you’ll find partridge, pheasant and venison on offer, too (sourced as regionally as possible, as with everything Barry the Butcher sells). The Fourteas Special occasion, kid-friendly Marking a change from many of Stratford's Shakespeare-heavy establishments, The Fourteas is free from Falstaff’s feasts or Bard’s breakfasts; its interest lies some 300 years later. What it does have, and in abundance, is Second World War memorabilia: ration books, OXO tins, a gigantic early radio, uniforms casually hung up among the tables and an air-raid shelter in the garden. It’s kitsch, but the café joyfully commits to the theme, from the titular pun to the solid brown teapots (filled with loose leaf teas sourced from ethical tea merchants Golden Monkey Tea Co). The charm in this, and in the fluffy scones and crustless sandwiches generously packed with egg and cress, is irreducible. The Fourteas sources from Barry the Butcher, local veg growers A.M. Bailey and local bakery Blackmans. Even the thematic waitress uniforms have been designed and made by a tailor in nearby Tiddington. Afternoon tea from £23.50 per person (£28.50 with prosecco). The One Elm Kid-friendly, casual dining Recently refurbished by the (resolutely small and independent) pub group Peaches, The One Elm is that rare beast: a gastropub in a tourist town that has managed to cling onto both its community and its character. General manager Mat Faulkner is a local lad with a passion for the people and produce of Warwickshire, and his regional pride shines through in his clientele and his menu. Obvious favourites – pork pie and piccalilli; chicken and garlic butter; beer-battered fish and chips – are given a delicious lift by virtue of their ingredients being ethically and locally sourced. When you’ve a 28-day dry-aged beef as part of your roast dinner, or free-range egg and sausage in your scotch egg, no one’s complaining about lack of originality – especially when it comes from Warwickshire-based royal warrant holder Aubrey Allen. That said, The One Elm is still, refreshingly, a boozer at heart. The drinks list is short but well curated, with gin from the nearby Cotswolds and ales on tap from award-winning Purity Brewing Co and Church Farm Brewery; the walls may be a stylish sage and the lightshades wicker, but the firelit bar area remains resolutely public house. Mains from £14.75. Paxton & Whitfield Yes, it may have been founded in London and have several shops elsewhere, but 222-year-old Paxton & Whitefield is no more a chain than Sainsbury’s cheese aisle is a cheesemonger's. The brand has supplied cheese to every monarch since Queen Victoria and is said to have been in favour with Sir Winston Churchill, prompting him to declare that “a gentleman only buys his cheese at Paxton & Whitfield.” Housed inside one of Stratford's characteristic period buildings, it has everything you’d expect from a cheesemonger of such renown – huge, smooth wheels of Alpine cheeses, fragrant with nutty, floral tones; clothbound truckles of vintage cheddars; ash-dusted goat's cheeses; nettle-cloaked Cornish yarg; crumbling, peppery stiltons; and an extensive variety of Cotswold- and Warwickshire-made chutneys and cheeses. Enjoyed these suggestions? Get even more travel inspiration... The best restaurants to eat in London Top 10 foods to try in Switzerland 6 foodie family ski trips The best restaurants to eat in Edinburgh Is there anywhere we've missed? Leave a comment below... Travellers are advised to read the FCO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice for the country they are travelling to.
The best restaurants to eat in Cheltenham
Discover the best places to eat in Cheltenham, from modern delis to cosy cafés and fine-dining options. There's truly something for everyone in this food-focused city.
All recommendations have been reviewed and approved as of the publish date and will be checked periodically. If you think there is any incorrect or out of date information in this guide please e-mail us at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk Whether you're looking for a cosy café to grab a quick and comforting meal, a family-friendly eatery or an elegant restaurant for a special occasion, there's a dining option you'll love in Cheltenham. Here's our pick of the best restaurants the city has to offer. For more helpful guides with expert recommendations for the best places to eat, check out our city guides for London, Sheffield, Nottingham and Norwich. Take your tastebuds on a world tour and find the best foodie hotspots with our travel hub. Best restaurants in Cheltenham at a glance Baker & Graze The Coconut Tree The Royal Oak Cheeseworks Black Gold Sixways Wine Bar Le Champignon Sauvage Well Walk Tea Room WOODKraft Baker & Graze While topped toast is on menus everywhere, a plate of it in all its buttery glory is surprisingly hard to find these days. Baker & Graze, a bakery/deli/café on Suffolk Street, serves toast topped with smashed avocado & smoked streaky bacon as well as more creative options like fennel sausages, cavolo nero & anchovy butter or nduja, labneh & pickled fennel, plus a host of delightful salads, sandwiches and delicate pastries. But, it also elevates its tangy homemade sourdough from sideshow to serious menu option by offering it with a simple smear of homemade jam – a confident move that proves just how good the loaves here are. Need more evidence? There was also a recent appearance by Mary Berry, who dropped in for a loaf and a spot of lunch. Mains start from £3.25. The Coconut Tree The Coconut Tree is the brainchild of five Sri Lankans who grew up together in Colombo, then all wound up in Croydon when they moved to the UK. They soon moved to Cheltenham, and spent every evening for six months converting a knackered boozer into The Coconut Tree, a restaurant serving Sri Lankan street food in blue-and-white enamelware. The service is friendly and fast, and the food is a carnival of curries heady with coconut and turmeric, warm roti, battered spicy cuttlefish and of course hoppers (coconut milk pancakes) served with fruity, spicy sambals. Their 'express lunch' option including hopper, curry, sambol or condiment, rotti or rice, soft drink or hot drink costs only £15pp. The Royal Oak While The Royal Oak is just outside of Cheltenham, there are plenty of reasons to make a visit. It's next to the race courses, has log fires, a beautiful garden and a menu offering veg from its own allotment as well as – it's a Butcombe Brewing Co pub, after all – a range of local beers. Provenance lies at the heart of its modern British menu, which rests on sustainably caught fish, deliveries packaged in recyclable containers and bespoke products from local producers. There are Butcombe beer chutneys made by nearby Rose Farm, plus cider-cured salmon from Severn & Wye Smokery in Gloucestershire to enjoy. Go for the Jazz Festival, but stay for the confit duck leg croquettes with pickled carrots & fennel and tarragon mayonnaise. Mains from £9.50. Cheeseworks Offering ‘an antidote to the often impersonal experience of modern supermarket shopping’, Cheeseworks offers a modern variety of farmhouse cheeses and exceptional customer service. Gruyères to gloucestershires line the walls, ready to be sampled, hand cut and wrapped in wax paper. While you wait for your order to be prepared (there are, needless to say, no self-service checkouts) you can browse a selection of chutneys, ales and ciders – many of which are produced in the region – and enjoy the family-run vibe of the place. You'll find that all of the staff are friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about cheese. Black Gold Coffee shop Black Gold might look like a saloon bar from the outside, but inside you'll find petrol-blue walls, filament bulb fixtures, James Bond-esque wing-backed armchairs, and single-estate, sustainably sourced coffee alongside a variety of cakes and treats. We like that Black Gold is so rooted in the community – the cakes are made by a Cheltenham resident, milk is sourced from the Cotswolds and even the crockery is made by a local pottery business. It's a long and welcome cry away from the soulless coffee chains that dominate the high street. Sixways Wine Bar There aren’t many bars that strike the sweet spot between sophisticated and laid-back, but in its debut wine bar and shop, Sixways Wine Bar, local wine supplier Cheltenham Wine Company has nailed it. Its verre du vin preservation system means its entire range can be offered by the glass, allowing customers to try a variety of wines without committing to a full bottle. Its philosophy of ‘enjoying wine without taking it too seriously’ means the atmosphere is approachable for everyone from the serious connoisseur to the average wine drinker. It's a perfect spot to while the night away with a drink and sharing cheese or charcuterie board. They offer a wine tasting board, you pick the colour and they select five 75ml glasses of wine for £13. Le Champignon Sauvage It would be remiss not to mention the venerable Le Champignon Sauvage, one of only a handful of restaurants in the UK to hold two Michelin stars for over a decade. While they lost one last year, you should still sample the cuisine of David Everitt-Matthias – one of industry’s most revered chefs, he's been widely credited with cooking years ahead of the curve. He and his wife, Helen, have run the restaurant since 1987, and David has never missed a service. His food unites the principle of terroir and classic French fare with flashes of originality – think roasted wood pigeon with black pudding cream & choucroute of kohlrabi, duck egg custard cream with rhubarb & hibiscus and mango & Thai-spiced cream served with his famous Thai green curry sorbet. They offer two menus for lunch and dinner. The full menu is two courses for £60, three courses for £78 or four courses (with cheese and dessert) for £93. Well Walk Tea Room With its trinket-filled shelves, polka-dot tablecloths and bountiful floral prints, Well Walk Tea Room, just off Cheltenham’s Promenade, is as much twee room as tea room. Even if the decor isn’t your thing, the scones will be: plump, slightly craggy, moist without being doughy and served warm with homemade strawberry preserve and clotted cream. In an age where every mouthful is Instagram-ready, its sandwiches and cakes are a welcome relief: generously filled and thickly sliced, they're the work of a baker – Isabelle – whose primary objective is flavour. This is afternoon tea, not art, and it’s all the better for it. It's a celebration of local ingredients treated with love and talent, served up with a smile and a hot pot of tea. Afternoon tea starts at £14.95pp. WOODKraft Emboldened by the success of his Mancunian joint, WOOD, MasterChef 2015 winner Simon Wood opened WOODkraft in 2018. It's a more informal ‘artisan eatery’ compared to WOOD, and is a place where guests can enjoy Sunday lunch ‘sharing boards’ breakfast and brunch, or shop at the small, in-restaurant deli. Here, Simon's signature passion for democratising quality dining meets with Gloucestershire’s wealth of local producers and growers, resulting in a menu as intent on flavour as it is accessibility. Expect ham hock and Hereford hop cheddar sandwiches, Old Spot sausage rolls, longhorn beef patties in brioche buns and the delectable fondant potato-esque hashbrowns that are truly worth the trip themselves. Breakfast starts at £7 and lunch at £11.50. Want more local top tips? Check out our top travel guides The best afternoon teas in the UK Best restaurants in Stratford-upon-Avon Best vegan restaurants in London Best places to eat in Birmingham Best rooftop bars london What's your favourite place to eat in Cheltenham? Leave a comment below... Travellers are advised to read the FCO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice for the country they are travelling to.
We’re here to help and support you through the cost of living crisis. Here, we talk to experts about how energy-efficient the appliances in your kitchen are.
All of us were shocked when our fuel bills doubled in the last few months and ever since, home appliance manufacturers have been scrambling to assure us that their hobs, ovens and microwaves are the most efficient of them all. Comparing appliances isn’t easy: the energy labels aren’t always obvious, and they don’t make much sense even when they are, unless you know what A and G stand for. Understanding energy ratings A+++ is the most efficient in its class, and the letters run through to G, which is the least efficient in its class. Look at the power rating, too, says Brian Horne, senior insight and analytics consultant of the Energy Saving Trust. ‘It's possible to estimate how much energy each appliance will use by multiplying the appliance’s power rating in kW by the time you leave the appliance on for, in hours. This information should be on the label or any manual that came with your appliance. For example: a microwave may have a power rating of 700W and you may run it for three minutes. 0.7 * 3/60 = 0.035kWh.' Of course, when it comes to more specific appliances – slow cookers, pressure cookers, soup makers and so on – comparing energy use is fairly meaningless. ‘Different types of cooker are used for specific purposes, or they produce food that is different to an equivalent meal cooked in a different way. This means you may not want to compare them in terms of the amount of energy they use,’ says Horne. ‘However, you can sometimes make direct comparisons between different appliances doing an equivalent job.’ Buying new kit 1. A good general rule, when shopping for new kit, is to look for the best energy rating for the size of kit you need. A big Bosch oven might have a better rating than a smaller Hotpoint, for example, but if you don’t need a large oven, it will still work out less efficient. 2. Another key point to consider is that rapidly rising energy prices means past calculations as to how much an appliance costs to run are fast becoming outdated. ‘Though the information is out there about the cost of energy and how that equates to different types of appliances, that data is based on standardised cost per unit of energy, which at the current rate of rising energy prices goes out of date very quickly,’ says Ben Welling, a spokesperson for Smart Energy GB. Smart meters can keep you up to date A smart meter tells you how much your appliances cost in pounds and pence accurate to your tariff and the current price of energy, thereby enabling you to monitor which appliance is costing you the most so you can minimise your use of it. ‘There’s no getting around the fact that we need to use energy in the kitchen, but ensuring you have transparency over how energy-efficient your appliances are and ensuring kitchen activities, such as cooking, are done most efficiently will help you reduce energy waste and save money,’ continues Welling. Your kitchen appliances The following guide should be a useful primer for cooking as efficiently as possible going forward, but there is something you can do right now that will have a real tangible impact, says Welling: turn your appliances off at the wall – even your oven and microwave, if you can be bothered. ‘If they’re on standby that will be using energy.’ Hobs (electric, gas, induction) ‘An induction hob uses energy more efficiently than a gas hob or electric ceramic hob,’ says Emily Seymour, Which sustainability editor. This is regardless of whether you’re gently heating up soup, simmering chickpeas for hours, or bringing pasta to a rolling boil. This is because no energy is wasted heating the space around the pan. Electric hobs are your next best bet in terms of efficiency because when you’re cooking with gas ‘a significant amount of heat is lost to heating up your kitchen, rather than your food.’ That said, electricity is more expensive than gas, so a gas hob may save you a few pounds a year. Also worth bearing in mind – from a cost and waste perspective – is that if you change to induction, you'll have the upfront cost of replacing all your pans and pots with induction compatible ones. Oven (gas/electric) The same rule applies to ovens as to hobs: gas is cheaper than electric but electric is more efficient. In either case, if you’re reheating food, the Energy Saving Trust recommends using a microwave, particularly if it has a good energy rating. ‘They're more efficient than electric or gas ovens,' agrees Seymour. ‘Using your oven every day can be a real drain on power, and therefore finances.’ But if you do have to use an oven (and there are, of course, certain things which necessitate it), there are ways to maximise your energy efficiency. Avoid storing baking trays in the oven, ‘this limits the flow of air and increases cooking times,’ says Seymour – and don’t forget to deep clean it. A clean oven ‘will reach the desired temperature faster as well as distribute heat in a much better, more efficient way compared to a dirty oven,’ she explains. Slow cooker Slow cookers are making a comeback – and with good reason, says Welling. ‘In terms of appliances, it's one of most energy-efficient ways to cook.’ Even if you have it on all day, slowly braising beef shin, it will use ‘about the same amount of energy as a lightbulb, cutting your energy consumption and saving a few bob in the process,’ says Seymour. Read more on slow cookers: Try our delicious slow cooker sausage casserole recipe Read our review of the best slow cookers. Watch our video on how to use a slow cooker For more inspiration, take a look at our slow cooker recipes. Microwave ‘It’s true that microwaves aren’t as versatile as conventional ovens, but for certain tasks a microwave can be very useful,’ says Seymour. Reheating is a good example, as is defrosting, melting butter or chocolate or softening onions. Baked potatoes are also best started off in the microwave before being crisped up in the oven – or indeed finished in the microwave, if you don’t mind a softer skin. ‘As they can cook or heat food more quickly, microwave ovens use up to 80 per cent less energy less than conventional ovens,’ says Seymour. Read more on microwaves: For a scrumptious pudding you can whip up using your microwave, try our fastest ever lemon pudding recipe Read our review of the best microwaves How to cook with a microwave For more fuss-free cooking, try our other microwave recipes. Air fryer Air fryers have seen a boom in popularity recently and it's no surprise why. These counter-top appliances are effectively miniature fan ovens but can potentially save you time, money on your energy bills and space in the kitchen thanks to the versatility of functions and cooking efficiency. The compact size means they're quicker to heat up than traditional ovens and can circulate hot air more efficiently around food. The result is dinner cooked quicker. For particular dishes, air fryers can save you having to switch on your gas oven at all. Read more about air fryers: Discover our full collection of air fryer recipes Read our reviews of the best air fryers and the best air fryer accessories Pressure cooker Provided you can stand the squeal they emit to alert you to your food being almost ready – I put my fingers in my ears – there is a huge amount to be said for investing in a pressure cooker. Not only are they cheap, they ‘make cheap ingredients – cheap cuts of meat, beans and pulses, for example – taste delicious in a short space of time’ says Seymour. ‘So they’ll save money off your supermarket bill as well.’ What’s more, they’re energy saving. ‘Pressure cookers can save a huge amount of energy compared to traditional cooking methods, simply because they get the job done so quickly,’ adds Seymour. On a regular hob, cooking chickpeas from dried takes about two hours, plus a long soaking time. A pressure cooker will have them ready in just over an hour, and that’s without soaking. Read more on pressure cookers: For a risotto packed with flavour that can be made in the pressure cooker, try our lemony prawn & pea pressure cooker risotto recipe Read our review of the best pressure cookers How to use a pressure cooker Multi-appliance cookers Multi-appliance food processors don’t just save time, they save energy. ‘A trusty food processor that can do lots of different jobs – chopping, grating, kneading, mixing and weighing, for example – can be a good way to minimise how many gadgets you have in your kitchen, and less clutter ultimately means less electrical waste,’ says Seymour. That said, they’re not always easy to clean, especially if they’re not dishwasher compatible, so take care to wash them with as little hot water as possible in order to not lose what you’ve saved on the electricity bill in your heating. Read more about multi-cookers: Try our pressure cooker beef curry for a quick and delicious midweek meal. Read our review of the best multi-cookers How to get the most out of cheap cuts of meat Soup maker Obviously this is a bit of an outlay if you don’t make soup often, but if you do find yourself whipping out the hand blender on a regular basis, a soup maker could be a savvy investment. It takes a soup maker 20 to 30 minutes to make soup from scratch, which is significantly faster than using the hob and then the blender. This means ‘it will not only save on energy, you’ll also save time and energy on the washing-up,’ says Seymour. Read more about soup makers: Serve up this creamy and comforting soup maker leek and potato soup, perfect for a hearty lunch or supper. Read our review of the best soup makers Watch our guide on how to make (almost any vegetable) soup For even more budget-friendly ideas, check out our collections of budget recipes and freezable family recipes, plus see our top 10 budget family meals. Also see our budget section for more money-saving tips and recipe inspiration. Have you got any tips on how to cook efficiently? Leave a comment below...
We explore the positive impact our collective baking bug has had on Britain’s artisan flour makers.
In the last year, baking has been our entertainment and salvation, and we’ve become more adventurous, seeking out lesser-known flours made with heritage grains. Here, we explore the positive impact our collective baking bug has had on Britain’s artisan flour makers. For a long time, my understanding of flour comprised four types: plain, wholemeal, bread and self-raising. Then, lockdown hit. Suddenly, an ingredient I’d taken for granted was the most sought-after staple. ‘People went on a journey,’ says John Lister, founder and CEO of Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire, which saw a phenomenal increase in sales right across its range of flours as we all baked banana bread and sourdough and our confidence grew. Environmental and health benefits Standard wheat is dependent on pesticides and fertilisers, as it’s been bred with a shortened stem that cannot grow tall enough to shade out weeds, and has lost the protective husk for its kernels. The shallow roots also make arable soils more prone to flooding, and the widespread use of chemicals is stripping the soil of organic matter and reducing biodiversity. Research is ongoing into how the widespread use of these chemicals may be increasing wheat allergies and intolerances. This correlation is driving interest in heritage wheat varieties, which have deeper roots and can be grown without chemicals on farms that adopt regenerative natural practices. Many heritage wheats ‘are naturally gluten-free or have a more digestible structure of gluten,’ says our health editor, Tracey Raye. ‘That’s helpful for people following special diets. A flour that’s naturally free from, or lower, in gluten will invariably be higher in nutrients and fibres than one that’s been processed to remove the gluten.’ Additionally, the deeper roots of heritage wheats draw more minerals up into the plant, enriching its nutritional content. How is it processed? The golden rule is the less processing, the better, which is why the renewed interest in heritage grains has come hand-in-hand with a resurgence in traditional stone milling. ‘Stone milling means the wholegrain is ground in one process, so its goodness is retained and imparts a lovely, nutty flavour,’ says Lister, who pioneered the return to stone milling in 1979. By way of contrast, in modern mills, steel rollers strip the bran and wheatgerm from the grain, leaving only the white endosperm for grinding. Brown and wholemeal flours undergo the same process, but are slightly healthier as some of the extracted bran is added back in. ‘Stoneground flour makes a big difference when it comes to the flavour of your bread. It also activates a sourdough starter more quickly because there's more natural yeasts present,’ says our resident sourdough expert, Barney Desmazery. ‘Once activated, the yeast has more to feed on, so can swiftly get on with fermenting.’ Lizzie Parle, head baker at E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, London, explains, ‘The starch and gluten you need for baking is in the endosperm, but the nutrients and flavour are in the bran and wheatgerm.’ She, and her team, started their baking journey ‘believing flour is just flour. But, the more we learned about baking and sourdough, the more we realised how much flour and grains vary.’ Their quest was simple: ‘We wanted to make the simplest, most delicious sourdough. The bread we bake is about celebrating the flavour of flour.’ How to use it The best flavour comes from flour that’s been freshly milled, which is why tabletop mills are also taking off. ‘It’s like coffee – as soon as you mill it, it starts oxidising,’ says Parle, who mills for E5 in a bespoke stone mill next to the bakery. ‘A tabletop mill opens up a world of flavours and means you can support your local grain farmer.’ But, you don’t need to go as far as procuring your own farmer and stone mill to reap the rewards of heritage grain. You don’t even need to be an expert baker. Before August last year, economist Susie Symes had never baked a single loaf. ‘Until then, I’d made a cake maybe once a decade,’ she says. Her lockdown search for something ‘fun, calm and sustaining’ led her to baking bread, and from there, curiosity prompted experimention with rye and spelt flours in her weekly sourdough boule. ‘They add depth of flavour,’ she says. Summer Ryland, a freelance editor and enthusiastic home baker, reports a similar experience: ‘I reached for a bag of spelt flour one day in a bid to incorporate more interesting flours into my bakes, and quickly realised I love the pleasing chew and subtle nuttiness.’ Savour the flavour Not every flour has a pronounced flavour. While ancient varieties – einkorn, emmer and spelt – are distinct in taste, the flavour notes of more recent heritage grains, which are descended from them, are less discernible. British heritage grains have wonderful names – April Bearded, Red Fife and Devon Orange Blue Rough Chaff, to name just a few – ‘but the differences between them are nuanced, like that of grapes from the same vineyard,’ explains Shipton Mill’s John Lister. What draws him and his customers toward these grains is their environmental credentials and the stories and people behind them. ‘In some remote areas in Europe, you’ll find farmers who are still growing old heritage grains, so we’ve started stocking them on rotation,’ he continues. ‘Most recently, we’ve brought over Solina and Faragolla from the Abruzzi Apennines in Italy – medieval varieties grown on small family farms in the mountains.’ Lister’s comparison with wine is apt. Many of the bakers and millers I speak to hope flour will follow in the footsteps of cheese, wine and beer in becoming slower, more natural and more environmentally conscious. As Parle points out, ‘the reason you get such rich flavours from old vines and organic vineyards is partly because the vines have longer roots to dig deep into the soil and bring up trace minerals, as well as more time to do so. Those minerals are concentrated in a smaller amount of fruit.’ Beyond bread ‘I love to incorporate ancient grains into my general baking,’ says Desmazery. ‘Rye flour makes cookies really chewy, and gives bun doughs more complexity. Spelt flour gives savoury pastries a nutty flavour.’ The best way to incorporate heritage grains into your daily bakes is through experimentation: add them gradually to plain flour and increase the proportions as you feel comfortable. ‘Ancient grain flours are different to work with as they have a lower gluten content, but if you simply swap them for 20 per cent of the wheat flour in a recipe, you still get the flavour without having to change the recipe too much,’ Desmazery adds. Anna Higham, executive pastry chef at the River Café in west London, recommends starting with pancakes. ‘They’re a brilliant way to experiment and see how different flours react – they’re a good base for detecting the different flavours and textures.’ ‘We’ve become so accustomed to using strong, stable, high-gluten flour from Canada or Kazakhstan,’ says Rosy Benson of Field Bakery, a farm-based bakery in Somerset. Heritage grains demands ‘a bit more attention,’ she says. ‘Feel how the flour absorbs the water and look for signs of fermentation. It’s more trial and error, but that’s how it should be.’ What are heritage grains? Historic wheats were once abandoned in favour of modern ones, but they’re now back in our kitchens. The supermarkets were low on flour, so we looked to the smaller millers. Once there, we began to dig deeper into flours from different places, plants and even time periods, like einkorn, spelt, emmer, rye and Khorasan. These varieties are known as ‘heritage grains’, or ‘wheat varieties that predate the development and mass distribution of modern wheat in the 1950s,’ says Lister. Modern wheat – what’s behind most of the flour you see today – is quite different from its forebears, with shallow roots, short stems and husk-free kernels to enable fast growth and easy harvesting. It’s now grown all over the world. ‘The arguments in its favour at the time were that it directed more energy into the grain, rather than a long stem and roots, so it yielded more, faster,’ says Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University London’s Centre for Food Policy. ‘Yet, creating a universal grain stock suited the big seed companies and chemical manufacturers more than it did local farmers, who previously grew grains that had evolved to suit their area, and did not have to pay for seeds.’ 8 flours to use in your bakes 1. Organic Bakers Blend spelt flour, £3.75 (1kg), sharphampark.com Sharpham Park is the best-known producer of spelt cereal, pasta and flour in the UK. Its light, nutty spelt is organic and grown regeneratively without fertilisers or pesticides, with a view to sustaining the land’s wildlife. Baker’s Blend is as perfect for bread as it is cakes and pastries. 2. 100% einkorn flour, £3.75 (1.5kg), gilchesters.com Gilchesters is a mill and farm in one, growing grains alongside livestock. Einkorn is one of the earliest cultivated varieties, and adds depth to bakes along with the health benefits of heritage wheat. 3. Wakelyns YQ wheat flour organic, £2.19 (1.5kg), hodmedods.co.uk In 2002, professor Martin Wolfe crossed 20 distinct wheat varieties to create hybrids with the quality and resilience of heritage and the high yield of modern. These were mixed and sown together to form a population with a high degree of genetic diversity. The resulting flour has great texture, flavour and versatility. Its hybrid qualities make it easier to work with than ‘pure’ heritage grains. 4. Organic barley flour, £1.65 (750g), shipton-mill.com One of the earliest cultivated grains, barley flour has a mild, slightly nutty flavour. Its low gluten content means it won’t rise in the same way as wheat. It can be used in pancakes, or cakes and breads where you can replace 50 per cent of the wheat flour with it. 5. Organic wholemeal rye flour, £2 (1kg), dovesfarm.co.uk The naturally low gluten content of rye results in rather a dense loaf, if not blended with wheat flour. But, its flavour is second to none – tangy and earthy, it’s perfect for close-textured breads, cakes and biscuits. 6. Balcaskie Landrace organic wholemeal wheat flour, £3.20 (1.5kg), scotlandthebread.org This is a blend of heritage varieties – Rouge d’Ecosse, Golden Drop and Hunter’s – and is as versatile as it is flavoursome and nutritious. Suitable for sourdough, pastries and cakes. 7. Oatmeal of Alford gluten-free oat flour, £3.20 (500g), realfoods.co.uk This flour is completely free from wheat contamination – an important consideration for those with allergies. It’s a good substitute for ground almonds, and creates great texture in cookies and breads. 8. 100% wholemeal flour (pricing on request), y-felin.com Welsh for ‘the mill’, Y Felin is one of the last working water mills in Wales, making stoneground flour and oats sourced as locally as possible. The millpond is also home to many species of waterfowl. See more inspiration... Plain flour cake recipes Where to buy flour during lockdown Top flourless cake recipes The health benefits of coconut flour The best flour sifters for bakers This article was published in May 2021. If you have any questions, suggestions for future stories or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.
The best food podcasts and why to listen to them
BBC Good Food expert Clare Finney shares her picks of the best food podcasts
We've picked podcasts we think you'll love. We may earn commission from links to services on this page. They’ve not tasted, smelled, touched or seen it, yet the number of people who have heard comedian Greg Davies describe his mum’s lemon suet pudding runs into the tens of thousands. On comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble’s podcast Off Menu, his interview is the most popular download – and Off Menu is one of the most downloaded podcasts across the UK. Were it about politics, music, history – anything easily confined to the ears – this would hardly be worth mentioning, but it's about food. It’s the most multi-sensory subject going. Yet, far from being the exception, Off Menu is one of a number of food-based podcasts for which the nation has developed a bottomless appetite. 'It started because Ed and I love food – and we love talking about it. It’s a way of enjoying food all day without eating your way into obesity.' They made a podcast, James Acaster continues because they were 'having those conversations anyway'. If people stopped listening, they’d stop recording them. The premise was simple: in a dream restaurant where you can choose anything from anywhere and anytime, guests must choose their dream menu, including a starter, main course, side dish, dessert and drink. Its success –100,000 subscribers and over a million listens at the time of the writing – lies in the stories their choices generate, and in Acaster and Gamble’s reactions. 'Pretty quickly we realised, we can’t keep coming back to food – we have to let the conversation flow,' Acaster muses. 'Step back, and you see that food is a window: onto community, socialising, cultures, and your memory of different times of your life.' Food as a vehicle rather than an end in itself, then, is Off Menu’s formula. Indeed, Jay Rayner argues, it is the only formula if a food podcast is to succeed. Though perhaps best known for his reviews in The Observer, Rayner is equally at home in the recording studio, with two successful podcasts of his own under his belt. An Off Menu listener himself, he has also been featured, and observes that what the listener is 'tuning into here is two extremely deft comedians playing off each other. Beware thinking it’s about format,' he continues. 'It’s not about format. It’s always about personalities. Both Off Menu and Table Manners [another popular food podcast, in which Jessie Ware and her mother Lennie invite celebrities round to their house for a meal] are about the people presenting them, and the dynamic. Really what you’re earwigging into is the relationship between mother and daughter.' Both Table Manners and Rayner’s podcasts – Out to Lunch and the panel show Kitchen Cabinet – differ to Off Menu in that there is actual food present. Where Acaster and Gamble rejected the idea of food on air, for the Wares, and certainly for Rayner, eating is a fundamental part of the event. He’s never had an episode of Out to Lunch (where he interviews people of profile he admires over a lunch out) let down by the food – 'the least I can do is land a good restaurant' he observes – but his best interviews are those where he’s succeeded in matching his celebrity guests to a restaurant in 'a way that conveys a sense of the person': classic, chic Italian Locanda Locatelli with Stanley Tucci, for example, or Elbow frontman Guy Garvey with the no-frills nose-to-tail restaurant St John. 'The food has to be good', he says, or at least, the food has to be 'a talking point.' Certainly on the Kitchen Cabinet, a culinary panel show that explores the various ways in which we cook, eat and drink, the food needs to create 'some sort of visceral response.' Yet even on this programme, that is absolutely about food and cooking, food knowledge alone is not enough to qualify as a panellist. 'What we’re looking for is a personality,' Rayner continues. Simply 'rattling off a list of ingredients might work on TV where you have the distraction of visuals, but what’s important here is an emotional reaction.' Speaking to me, as he is, six weeks into lockdown, this feels particularly resonant. We are cooking more now than we ever were – but unable to eat with anyone outside our household, it feels not just preferable but pertinent that food podcasts and their presenters provide a means of 'connecting food to life.' You could ask why, with such a smorgasbord of food programmes on screen, you’d opt for listening over watching. For Rosie Birkett, co-host of the BBC Good Food’s own podcast with Tom Kerridge and Orlando Murrin, it is the potential of a podcast format to 'be more sincere and natural. It can be off-putting' she says of the studio, crew and cameras that come with TV programs. 'When we're making the podcast, it's just the three of us and the producer in the room, chewing the fat.' Where TV and books offer more technical advice, audio lends itself to more to stories: 'there's a narrative behind every ingredient, producer, chef, food system.' Sure, there are few subjects so multi-sensory as food, she agrees, but there are also 'few subjects so relatable. Even if you're not physically seeing, tasting or touching the food, we can draw upon our memories.' In divisive, difficult times, an informal chat about food is something we can all engage in and connect over. 'We might not agree politically,' Acaster concludes, 'but if start talking about fresh fish I had right out the ocean, then for 20 minutes you and I can just relax.' Pick of the best food podcasts Off Menu James Acaster and Ed Gamble invite special guests – usually comedians – to their dream restaurant, and ask them about their dream starter, main course and dessert. Listen now. Out to Lunch with Jay Rayner The famous food critic invites a well-known name out to lunch. Listen now. Kitchen Cabinet A culinary panel show hosted by Rayner that sets to celebrate, study and sometimes change the way we think about food, cooking and eating. Listen now. Table Manners Guests from the worlds of music, culture and politics join Jessie Ware and her mum Lennie for dinner and a natter. Guests ranges from John Legend and Richard Curtis to heroes of the hour Jamie Oliver and Joe Wicks. Listen now. BBC The Food Programme Investigative programme examining in all manner of issue surrounding the food and drink, through history, politics, science, culture and agriculture. Listen now. Voices at the Table Hosts Miranda York and Anna Sulan Masing explore the light and the dark side of food culture through stories, poems, readings and performances extracted from their popular Voices at the Table events series. Listen now. Take a Bao Exploring the resplendent panoply of Asian food, from dumplings to durians via chefs, farmers, food writers, scientists, anthropologists and more. Listen now. The Splendid Table A modern, multicultural snapshot of the cultures, cuisines, ideas and the personal stories that spill forth from the wide world of the table. Hosted in its current incarnation by Francis Lam, this well-seasoned program has been running for two decades. Listen now. The Sporkful 'It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters' is the strapline of this award-winning podcast hosted by Dan Pashman, which uses food as a way to talk about people and how and why we eat. Listen now. Listen to our foodie podcasts Have you listened to the BBC Good Food podcast yet? The first ten episodes see Orlando Murrin and Rosie Birkett unearth the stories behind chef Tom Kerridge’s favourite recipes and ingredients. Orlando and Tom have now returned for a second series, which includes special guests. Plus, find episodes where the GF house team liven up your kitchen with tips, recipe inspiration and techniques. Listen now. For everyday tips, virtual culinary tours, step-by-step guides to subjects like sourdough and home smoking, listen to the podcast from our friends at olive magazine. Expect subject material as diverse as it is delicious. Hosted by Janine Ratcliffe, it features chefs, writers, bakers, brewers, butchers, dieticians and more. Listen now. Do you have a favourite food podcast? We’d love to read about it below… This review was last updated in September 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews, or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.