Chris Staines- Head Chef at Foliage
Anyone who has had the pleasure of eating at Foliage in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge knows just what superb modern European cuisine Chris and his team produce every day without fail. One of our favourite restaurants and one of our favourite chefs, Chris has swapped spatula for keyboard to give us his monthly thoughts.
Fast food – that convenient, speedy alternative to proper food is something that we are all guilty of indulging in once in a while. You know the familiar scenario when you get home after a long day, there is nothing in the fridge and muscling-up a culinary delight is absolutely the last thing on your agenda. I am sure that each and every one of us would admit to at some point picking up that phone and ordering in a takeaway. In this city, where time is something no-one has enough of, what better way to save a few minutes than by ordering in that fat-filled, nutrition-free burger from the friendly takeaway down the road……anyway it’s free delivery, so what’s the harm right?
I know as well as the next Londoner, the challenges of juggling a busy professional life and time with the family, with a healthy diet. However, a long time ago now I awoke to the benefit of a well-sourced, well-prepared meal over the greasy spoon takeaway.
And so just to fill you in and fill you up, I have done my research and here I present you with the exact opposite of fast food… “Slow Food” … and just before you start bemoaning a lack of time and a pressurised professional life with deadlines and targets, let me explain. Slow food is not a meal which takes three hours to prepare and two more hours to eat; this is the beauty of it all. Slow food is in fact food that has, contrary to the speed, efficiency and productivity of the modern world, taken time and effort to produce. Unlike the mass produced, force-fed, plastic food which we have come to expect from our supermarkets and shopping centres, slow food has been naturally and lovingly produced by small local producers for flavour, nutrition content and individuality. So you see, someone else has already done the ‘slow’ part and all that remains for you to do is to eat it.
And the good news for slow food lovers is that there are now over 40 covivia or groups of people dedicated to the slow food movement throughout the UK. Originating in 1986 when Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, visited Rome and to his horror found that a branch of a well known fast food chain had opened at the foot of the deeply historic Spanish Steps, the society now has over 80,000 members worldwide from 90 different countries, all of whom believe in and support diversity and locality in the production of food and drink. These like-minded people are involved in a number of activities ranging from themed meal evenings through to the education of the younger generation at schools and colleges around the country and indeed around the world. So join the revolution and start enjoying the benefits of better tasting, nutritious food and a friendship and fellowship of 80,000 other like-minded people.
To join or for more information visit http://www.slowfood.org.uk . So the next time you might be contemplating a takeaway, think Slow Food Not Fast Food!
Chris Staines
This piece first appeared in The Resident Magazine
