Author Archives: Qin Xie

A delicious way to earn a living

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Published on Foodepedia on 22nd August 2010:

The late Michael Bateman, a prolific writer and food enthusiast, was probably the father of modern food journalism. When he started out in the 50s, it was considered a topic of little worth, but a topic he nevertheless continued to champion throughout his life. ‘A delicious way to earn a living’ is a collection of his food writings from early on in his career to when he became Food Editor at The Independent on Sunday.

Inside this food journalist’s bible, you can find column musings, serious investigations and recipes, all interwoven with Bateman’s own food illustrations. How could any food journalist be taken seriously without having first read at least a portion of this book? Perhaps what is most surprising, for those strangers to Bateman, is the range of topics it covers. It’s possible to find everything from ethical eating to a guide to prison food, offering a very refreshing change for those who thought food writing was just recipes and reviews. This is certainly an encompassing selection from a man who took lengths to exhaust the topic of food via a multitude of angles.

The book reads like a collection of clippings from his long career, but without dates or publication details, it also feels like a collection of short stories. There are no chapters, just portion after portion of food exaltation. For anyone with a passion for food, this book really is a must. Whether you’re a novice or a connoisseur, the book will educate as well as entertain. What’s more, the book is an easy read and gives a fabulous insight into how food and food writing in Britain has changed between the 50s and 80s. It is also probably one of few books for which the foreword is also the author’s obituary. A regrettable fact indeed.

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JING launches Nilgiri Black

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Published on Foodepedia on 19th August 2010:

Mixologist with cocktail

Tea! Oh glorious tea!

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a big fan of the stuff and there are few weekends when I’m not sitting somewhere with a pot to myself. So what better way to spend a Tuesday evening than to attend the launch of a new tea from JING, supplier to Michelin restaurants and five star hotels?

The little soiree took place at The Cinnamon Club, Westminster, where the evening can only be described as tealicious with tea cocktails, tea friendly canapés and of course the all important cup of tea.

Curious about what it is?

The new addition, bolstering JING’s already burgeoning portfolio of teas, is a black tea from the Coonoor Tea Estate in Nilgiri, India, aptly named Nilgiri Black. If brewed for a couple of minutes, it tastes super light and fresh like a green tea. If left a little longer, it would become heavy quite quickly but perhaps not enough to require milk. Although in a cocktail, it’s probably not quite fragrant enough to beat off the competition from Earl Grey. Still, I think the Nilgiri Black would make a nice cup of chai.

Guess what I will be trying out in my teapot this weekend? Makes a change from my usual Sikkim TGFOP I suppose. (that’s ‘tippy golden flowery orange pekoe’ and not ‘too good for ordinary people’)

Namo

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on Foodepedia on 18th August 2010:

178 Victoria Park Road, London E9 7HD www.namo.co.uk

How many restaurants can lay claim to a Banksy on their wall? The answer is probably not many. But Namo, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of leafy Victoria Park, can boast one. Well, almost one as it’s been partially painted over and graffitied on since it’s inception.

Inside is a whole different story. Namo, the second restaurant of husband and wife team Colin and Linh, is tastefully decorated with just a hint of the orient, playing host to a surprising mix of young families and trendy youths.

It seemed appropriate to time my visit to a menu change, given that the restaurant is already five years old.

Crispy courgette flowers and steam stuffed baby squid were complaisant introductions to the menu – they were just European enough to be familiar without defecting from the aim of trying out the Vietnamese cuisine. There were also more traditional options to choose from like Pho or ‘la lot’ wrapped beef. The courgette flowers arrived with a chilli dipping sauce placing it firmly on Vietnamese terrain. The baby squid, stuffed with pork and prawn, also had a sprinkle or two of chilli. The two offered an indescribable blend of flavours to the palate and a touch of spice.

For the main, Saigon pork and Vietnamese fish in claypot were ordered, both with a side of leaf wrapped coconut rice and vegetables.

The coconut rice is something you could happily have on its own. The leafy parcels opened up to sweet coconutty rice mixed with savoury vegetables, a combination that was really quite moreish. Mackerel pieces in a caramelised ginger sauce made up the fish in claypot. It was simple, uncomplicated and complemented the rice very nicely. The Saigon pork, though, turned out to be Saigon beef.

As it happens, Namo had a particularly busy lunch service and ran out of pork. You would have thought that they’d ask if a change of order was required before bringing it to the table. Luckily I had no quarrels with eating beef and the flavours weren’t half bad. The deep fried sprinklings of vermicelli topping seemed a little excessive but the beef was seriously tender and you could certainly taste the spices in the sauce.

At this point, the meal was sitting quite heavily and yet there was some how room for dessert. Banana fritters with coconut ice cream was ordered but apple fritters with coconut ice cream arrived – the meal replacement service strikes again! The restaurant was clearly still having some teething problems.

Namo didn’t serve up the fresh and overtly health conscious Vietnamese cuisine I had anticipated and the relaxed approach to orders was rather disappointing. But to its credit, the food that was ultimately served up was wholesome enough and certainly enjoyed by the hoards of locals that seem to flood in around 8pm. And the coconut ice cream was definitely a nice way to round off a heavy meal.

Artist Christian Boltanski Tours ‘Les Archives du Coeur’

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Published on Dazed Digital on 16th August 2010:

The 65 year-old French artist takes his inspired collection of human heartbeats to a remote Japanese island

Christian Boltanski is the critically acclaimed French artist whose primary purpose in art has been to remind us of our own mortality. The 65-year-old veteran has been exhibiting since the 70s and his current touring project, Les Archives do Coeur, has been globetrotting for the last five years, receiving contributions from the public and celebrities alike. The same ongoing archive has also formed part of other notable exhibits such as Personnes at the Grand Palais, Paris, and No Man’s Land at Armory, New York. The latest installment has just been exhibited at the Serpentine, London, and will be heading to Finland next year on its whirlwind tour. But right now, it’s happily taking a breather on the remote Japanese island, Teshima, as part of Setouchi International Art Festival.

Dazed Digital: What’s the inspiration behind Les Archives du Coeur?
Christian Boltanski: The idea came about six or seven years ago. You always try to capture people you love with photos: you know, you take a photograph of them to keep as a memoir? The recording of the heartbeats are like photographs: they capture a part of someone. Two or three years ago, I was asked by Mr Fukutake of Benesse Art to visit this island in Japan. I was inspired to make a library of heartbeats because it was so beautiful. It was very quiet and isolated, and you could hear the heartbeats of the person you love in a very quiet way.

DD: So are the heartbeats constantly playing on this island?
Christian Boltanski: There are two parts: one is like an office and you can record your own heart if you want to. The other is like a corridor where you can listen to your own recordings, and you can hear the heartbeats of other people.

DD: Who was first person to have their heartbeat recorded for the archive?
Christian Boltanski: I think it was a Swedish man. The first time I did it was in Stockholm. A man called me and said: ‘I love my dog so much, please can you put his heart in the library?” Now I have around six thousand Swedish heartbeats and one Swedish dog.

DD: What does the future hold for this project?
Christian Boltanski: It will just travel all over the world. It has been to Korea, Sweden and London, and it’s going to Finland next. The heartbeats will just be stored together in a big computer in Naoshima. After a few years, when you go to Naoshima you will find that the heartbeats all belong to dead people. Naoshima will become the island of death in fact. The idea of the piece is that it’s impossible to preserve something: you can record the heartbeat of somebody, but you can’t stop them dying.

DD: Are you planning to destroy the archives when it’s completed?
Christian Boltanski: No, this will be a permanent piece of work and it will be ongoing.

DD: Have you given any thoughts to your final project and your legacy?
Christian Boltanski: I think this project will be my last, because it will not finish until I’m dead.

Les Archives do Coeur is currently at Japan’s Setouchi International Art Festival

What’s for dinner? – Romilla Arber

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Published on Foodepedia on 14th August 2010:

“What’s for dinner?” That’s a question asked approximately two minutes after the confirmation of lunch on the table in my house. The answer to that question isn’t a light one. At least not for Romilla Arber who tried to address it with her 656 page début, ‘what’s for dinner’.

On first look, the book has everything – seasonal recipes, weekly shopping lists, helpful hints and a handy bookmark, complete with conversion tables. With a book of this scale, would you ever need any other cookbook? And it’s not just a simple cookbook either. The profits from sales goes towards funding Arber’s charity, the Food Education Trust, which aims to teach children and adults basic cooking skills as well as the benefits of healthy eating. Not a bad concept.

But upon closer inspection, it’s hard not to question the contents of the book. It’s certainly surprising, given the charity the book supports, that oddly enough there’s no explanation of any basic cooking skills.

As a time-saving meal planning bible for the family, it should definitely be applauded. For starters, there are just so many recipes to choose from. Arber has also recognised that no family meal would be complete without puds and treats so each week there is a recipe, or two, for a little something sweet.

With the book divided into months, albeit nominally, it’s easy to stay seasonal without worrying about what may or may not be on the shelves. The weekly shopping lists will certainly come in handy for anyone too busy to work out what they need to buy from week to week. That said, if you don’t have a family of six like Arber, you will still need to scale the recipes, and therefore the shopping list accordingly.

This book is one woman’s recipe binder, a book by a home cook, for the home cook.

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