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.
DHappy New Year…. the so called “Silly season” is behind us and again we find ourselves loosening our belts and tightening the clasp on our wallets. We have indulged, splurged and feasted on all the festive season has to offer, leaving us content with our sufficient gulp of Christmas merriment.
We spent the month of December reflecting on the year gone by, re-kindling friendships, shopping and in many cases cooking for friends and family. This month we look forward to the year ahead, vowing that this will be the year where we achieve that temporarily shelved lifestyle change, from giving up smoking to finding a new job. And for thousands of us across the country, our new years resolution will have some connection to what we put in our mouths, whether it be a promise to cut back on takeaways, eat more fruit or ban carbs entirely from our diet, most of us will be thinking about making a few changes in the way we eat for the year ahead.
Personally I have made a promise to myself to go out of my way to buy and eat more organic produce, both at Foliage and at home. Thankfully this is not the daunting task it once was and it doesn’t mean I’ll have to sell a kidney either. Thanks to the ever growing demand for healthy, organic produce it is now easier and cheaper to “Go Organic” than ever before. I am not going to preach the pros and cons here as the issue has been widely debated for many a year and any sensible person can see the benefits of going organic. However, I will suggest a few places (as ever I have done all of the legwork for you) where you can buy your produce and even suggest a couple of ideas for healthy January-friendly things to do with it once you get it.
There are of course many, many places to buy your organic produce; my personal favourite being The Farmers Market, where you can not only choose the exact type and amount of produce you require, but you can chat with and get advice from the actual producer, whether it be fruit and veg, game, fish or bread and cheese. For information on London Farmers Markets see http://www.lfm.org.uk/
For those among us who have neither the time nor the inclination to travel to the market of a morning, the next best thing is a box scheme.
This is a delivery service where you can order everything from produce to shampoo, pasta and even cleaning products. For more info on box schemes in your area simply type in your postcode at http://www.vegboxschemes.co.uk/
So now you are stocked up with your organic produce, what should you be doing with it? One great way of using up your veggies (especially if you are using a lucky dip box scheme and are not able to choose which veg you receive each week) is a healthy and nourishing welcome treat when the weather outside is doing it’s worst.
Soup! Whatever you have in the cupboard or fridge you can make a tasty soup out of it. And it can be as ordinary or as decadent as you like, a meal in itself with a nice crusty organic loaf, and no post Christmas guilt attached. There’s one New Year’s resolution I am able to keep!
Chris Staines
This piece first appeared in The Resident Magazine
