An Edible Voyage

December 2020 For the friendliest service and a vast array or Welsh produce, head to Siop Carla just outside Maenclochog.  Food shopping turns from a chore to an enjoyable activity when you can chat with Carla whilst perusing everything from locally roasted coffee and meat reared on nearby farms, to Pembrokeshire chocolate, cheese and cakes.   Highlights for me were the homemade scotch eggs - succulent and not at all greasy, they make a fantastic addition to a picnic or just a great snack, as well as Mary's Farmhouse ice cream.  Available in a selection of unusual yet exciting flavours, such as apricots, walnut and brandy; double chocolate, cherries and fudge; or Caeltic Crunch, alongside the classics, this is ice cream for grown ups as well as kids, churned just down the road in Crymych. Stock up for a picnic or BBQ, or get your hands on some quality ingredients to cook up a seasonal, locally sourced meal. Find Siop Carla on the road between Maenclochog and Pontfaen...

 August 2019 It quickly becomes apparent that Furnas is focussed around lunch.   Crowds begin to gather around the sleepy geothermal lake just before midday in anticipation.   Huge cauldrons of bubbling stew are hauled up from holes in the ground, slow cooked by the geothermal activity.   Each restaurant has their own hole, marked with a small flag, and it’s an early start for restaurant owners.   Taking their cauldrons down to the lake at sunrise, they are buried in time to allow around 7 hours of slow cooking before loading them in to vans to drive to their restaurant where lunch is served.    Quite the spectacle! The flavours of all manner of meats and root vegetable, including carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage, taro root, pig ears, chorizo, chicken, beef, pork belly and black pudding, mingle together and are served with a selection of surgical-looking implements to attack it with.   The experience is definitely more enjoyable than the ...

May 2020 Think of the stickiest, meatiest, most tender rack ribs, so big you can only fit two thirds on your disposable BBQ for an impromptu dinner in the park...  Think of the freshest, zingiest ceviche with the juiciest pieces of plaice... Think of brioche rolls bursting with sweet, tender lobster... Find all of these edible delights at D'Ambrosi deli in Stow-on-the-Wold.   

January 2017 Solyanka, a soup of meat and pickled vegetables has a piquant, briny flavour.

January 2017 Menus in Russia often include dishes using meats we would never dream of eating in the UK. Bear burgers, a little sweeter than venison but with a very course texture. Beaver sausages, a similar flavour to pork, with a liver-like tang.

March 2018 There's nothing more satisfying than eating food you have foraged and had to work for.  Kuurdak, one of the oldest dishes in Kyrgyz cuisine, is traditionally made with lamb, however after a day riding around the hills near Bokonbayevo with our berkutchi, the lady we were staying with used the rabbit our eagle had caught that afternoon to make the dish.  The meat and offal is fried in fat with plenty of onions and spices, and simply served with boiled potatoes.  A subtle meat flavour, a little earthier than chicken, with bags of freshness shining through.