CODE Quarterly: my round up

I write for CODE Quarterly, various thought pieces about where the industry is today and looking to ask questions around where we are heading. Here is a round up of all the pieces I have written for CODE Quarterly, thus far.

The waiting game: does FoH need a re-brand?
The price of everything: the meaning of value
Casting a net, working for change: networking in the industry
What’s in a name? The“modern British food” question
Technologyin restaurants: where is it taking us?

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Opinions about media

Jamie Oliver & American podcasts In January this year, whilst lying in the Aotearoa New Zealand sun on my mother deck, sipping a beer I listened to the Sporkful podcast with Jamie Oliver. It is a succinct 35 mins – which, I think is a good length for a podcast. It picks up on certain aspects of his career but aims to cover his whole life story, in particular the fact he is the best-selling nonfiction author in the UK of all time, and the irony of him being dyslexic and not reading a whole book till the age of 38. I understand the desire in a short interview but trying to give an overarching sense of a man and his whole career - this means there is a lot of myth building. Jamie is like a politician, he goes in with good intentions, does great stuff. Then gets caught up in his own Kool-Aid and loses touch with the real people, and the full discussion. Which is, ironic, or rather amusing, because of what he says about politicians – “these are people that are car...

Understanding Malaysia: part one of ?

‘The (Malay)Asian Friend’ I think this will be a series of essays, a disgruntled thread that may take a lifetime to untangle. The continued misunderstanding of a complex nation, where borders and boundaries come from flux, where the jungle makes lines in the earth an impossibility and yet politics, nationalism, colonial lens and the exotic touristic eye compete to limit and define a nation built on migration and the movement of people. (and I realise that this could refer to not just Malaysia!) My original gripe comes from the limitation of how Malaysia food, and therefore Malaysians, gets represented in London. I write in my book (out in a year’s time) that we are boiled down to a few dishes - “roti canai, beef rendang, nasi lemak, nasi goreng, maybe sambal, and now laksa.” The request for these dishes is like a checklist of if a restaurant is ‘authentically’ Malaysia, or someone is authentically Malaysian if they know/like/eat them. You don’t crave nasi lemak, are you really Mal...

JUNE: Gawai

I am half Iban, the Iban are a tribe in Borneo, predominantly in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Gawai is our harvest festival, so each year I try to celebrate it, which is around the beginning of June. This year I had a garden party. It was wonderful! I cooked for 22 people. Everyone brought bubbles of some kind to start the day off, and I served riesling with food - kung fu girl (from Washington State) and Farmingham (from New Zealand). This day is what London is to me - family, friends and sharing good food and wine. I cooked beef rending from a recipe from my mum, obvs (recipe at the bottom). I also marinated chicken - can't remember what, something chilli, garlic, ginger no doubt, classic stuff. I made sweetcorn ice cream, which is hugely reminscent of my childhood in Malaysia. I used Dan Doherty's peanut butter ice cream recipe, and used three tablespoons of sweetcorn. The key with ice cream is about the sugar, and I figured peanut butter and sweetcorn had s...

TALKING ABOUT FOOD

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