Global Nutrition Report 2016

Global Nutrition Report 2016 – It Affects You.

Gavin Wren Food Education, Writing

I was recently invited to attend the UK launch of the Global Nutrition Report in London. The report is a huge group effort created by over 100 contributors from around the world, looking at how nutrition is experienced on a global level. My invitation was due to my imminent commencement of the Food Policy MSc course at City University London, a course which looks in detail at all aspects of the global food chain and …

How to cook onions and how recipes lie to us

How to Cook Onions and How Recipes Lie

Gavin Wren Basic Ingredients, Food Education, Food Techniques, Writing

Today I’m looking at how cooks and chefs around the world have lied to us about how to cook onions, misusing terms like sauté, caramelise, sweat and fry along with frankly ridiculous suggestions of cooking times. So if you really want to know your onions, read on, and I will expose the real truth about onions. Hold the Front Page! It’s time for a News of the World style exposé of the food world. Time …

Authentic Italian Food and how to make sure there's passion in your cooking

Authentic Italian Food and How to ‘Do It Right’

Gavin Wren Food Education, Food Opinion Pieces, Food Techniques, Writing

An Italian Muse. Over the last few days my ongoing obsession with authentic Italian food has been stoked by working on an ultimate spelt pizza guide, a series of recipe tests that have furnished my table with some of the nicest pizzas I’ve ever had, which although sounding incredibly smug and arrogant, is true. Soon I will share the delights of these creations with you, so that you can partake in these discs of passionate …

10 garlic facts every cook should know! Cloves of garlic close up with soft natural lighting

10 Garlic Facts All Cooks Should Know

Gavin Wren Food Education, Food Techniques, Recipes, Writing

Garlic. The ubiquitous garlic bulb as we know it, allium sativum, has found it’s way into almost every country and culture of the globe from coast to coast, across vast continents and is deeply entrenched in the history of our world. That’s because it’s a regular little superstar of a plant, garnering modern scientific recognition for it’s effectiveness against high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, colds, some cancers and historically was a highly prized bedrock …

butternut squash black background

‘The Main Ingredient’ and Culinary Prejudices

Gavin Wren Food Education, Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Forgive me father. It’s confessional corner again, time to lay bare yet another one of my peculiar little nuances regarding food. This time it’s a distinctly partial perspective of mine, a way of approaching food which has taken years to become apparent, and taken quite some time to ultimately dispel. It affected how I planned meals, how I chose recipes and how I did my shopping. This particularly peculiar perception worked to furnish me with …

borough talks future of food

The future of food at Borough Market

Gavin Wren Food Education, Writing

Last week saw the final instalment of Borough Market’s ‘Borough Talks’ series, a set of hugely engaging debates that have taken place over the last few months as part of Borough Market’s 1000 year anniversary. This time it was about the future of food, a subject that filled my mind with wild sci-fi fantasies of space age foods and Jetsons-inspired meal packs, so I was keen to find out what people had to say, with …