MEATY PASTA
‘The Official Student Breakfast’
Recipe: Bread (Either sliced of whole loaf), Heinz baked beans, Free range eggs, Black Pepper, Sunflower oil, Salt.
As well as being a student, I also have a business (J.editorials) that caters to all forms of design and photography. This weekend, my job took me from london to Hull to provide photography coverage for an ACS (Afro Caribbean Society) event at Hull University.
Fortunately for me, I had one of my close friends (who originally comes from london) living near the university as he studied there. Seeing that his university is so far from his london, and also as I am busy with my studies, we hardly get the opportunity to see each other or catch up. This was the perfect opportunity to see my long lost london friend and to my luck he invited me to his student home.. This was my chance to experience a students life away from home and friends with him.
A house with five other students can be pretty manic, when it comes to factors such as privacy, trust, food, noise levels and all, but to his advantage all the housemates seemed to have bonded and have a very good relationship over the period of time living together. They all shared the roles in house cleaning and to my surprise even shared and helped each other out with food, although they did have their own private stock of food rationings that they kept to them selves to last the studying term. None the less I was overwhelmed with the harmony that blossomed through the walls of the house.
I was welcomed in the evening that I arrived at the house with a delicious plate of pasta and chicken. I had never seen my friend cook before so this was all a surprise to me as I didn’t even know that he could cook. It was also brought to my attention that apart from him, about three of the other housemates were fantastic cooks.
The morning after the event, I was surprised with an official student breakfast. Bread. Egg and Baked beans and seeing as I was incredibly hungry from a long night of working, this was perfect.
We had time before I set off to catch my coach back home to catch up on life, stories, girlfriends, uni and life as a student away far away from home.
‘Mum’s Bolognese Sauce’
Recipe: Onions, Tomatoes, Mince Beef, Basil, Black Pepper and Dried chilli pepper
This is what food is all about. The lovely aroma that oozes from the kitchen. The mouths drooling at the table anxiously waiting for that delicious dish to be served with the urge at the table to skip ‘Grace’ and just dig in. This is the beauty of Mums’ cooking.
There are days like this when my mums cooking literally draws me into the kitchen with the aroma of the food drifting through my nose heightening my hunger every time.
For this evening she made Spaghetti Bolognese and what a meal it was. The ingredients were nothing extraordinary, but for me I think she added a little motherly touch which is what made the dish that extra bit special.
I am sure that everyone has the same opinion for their own mums cooking and not any restaurant or top chef can come close to matching the cooking skills to those of your own mum.
In the past I was never fond of cooking shows, very anti Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey type shows, semi anti ‘Come Dine With Me’ or any show that takes the value of simple home cooking and turns it into a celebrity circus that focuses more on self promotion with bright lights and lavish cooking with near perfectly constructed meals that in reality any amateur home cook could never achieve.
But then today, my partner was watching ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ and I was curious to know what the show was about as previous cooking shows had left a bitter taste in my mouth. To my surprise I was right. Not so much a circus, but a high profile show. While watching the programme I did feel that it was a better attempt to encourage the nation to explore different areas of foods, to step out of their comfort zones of repetition and quick meals in order to experience new tips and techniques to become a master chef in the kitchen. With all that being said the show only seemed to cater to a particular audience and the food looked too polished.
I am currently doing a project on food looking at the relationship between people and food in Britain.
This is a fun project intending to unlock the doors of your mind, to understand why we eat what we eat, from our favourite foods, to dishes we hate, to sharing and experiencing food moments.
Its an opportunity to learn about new dishes, new cultures and along the road develop new relationships.
The value of good home cooking and natural ingredients is slowly being smoke screened by Bigger Supermarkets and cheaper deals in fast food restaurants.
Do we still value the worth of a good home made meal, regardless of whether it’s a sandwich or a Sunday roast?