Great British Food Revival, BBC Two

Great British Food Revival, BBC Two | reviews, news & interviews

Great British Food Revival, BBC Two

Too many hectoring celebrity chefs spoils the broth

by Howard MaleWednesday, 09 March 2011

White, knobbly, rotund and past their sell-by date – and those cauliflowers don’t look too healthy either

If you know which side your bread is buttered on, you should be up in arms about the white fluffy stuff you’ve been hoodwinked into putting into your toaster, implied a positively evangelical Michel Roux Jr in this first of a five-part series on the state of the nation’s food. Real bread is something that requires love, time, kneading, and more time, and more kneading. Supermarket bread is a cad and an impostor borne of sinister shortcuts in the process of making it, and the unholy use of countless scary additives and evil preservatives.

‘The fact is you really can’t get decent bread these days unless you’re within in stone-ground loaf’s throw of an artisan baker’

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Permalink Submitted by roy warren (not verified) on Fri, 18/03/2011 - 10:19

after watching the great british food revival I almost enjoyed it but became increasingly irritated by the inane and noisy "BACKGROUND" music, I can manage to maintain interest without the clatter and wish it could be made easy to avoid by use of the red button, (as used to get rid of the sports commentators) surely I'm not the only one to find this racket played over someone explaining the finer points of the programme annoying. I hope I have sent this to the right address, if not please forward to the correct person.

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Permalink Submitted by dizzy (not verified) on Tue, 22/03/2011 - 23:14

I agree with the "crusade" of improving the quality of bread that we eat in this country. I also identify with the pleasure that great, proper bread can bring. However I thought Roux preached in a completely sheltered way. Does he not realise that for most lower middle or working class families the cost of buying the sort of bread he was championing is completely unjustifiable in the day to day routine? Try telling a mother who is managing perfectly capably but on a tight budget that it's worth spending £3 on a loaf of bread just cause it's made from the urine of 200 year old Eskimos in Lapland!

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Permalink Submitted by John (not verified) on Wed, 23/03/2011 - 09:57

If you thought Roux was crusading we hadn't seen anything yet until Clarrisa Dickson Wright stepped up to the plate. It was all a bit off-putting, even to someone who actually agrees with what she is saying. And the recipes! Not exactly inspiring to go out and use the produce. Really a bit of a missed opportunity. Organic Rare Bred pork is brilliant and well worth seeking out. Lost of producers sell by mail order on-line and ordering is quick and easy. We say expensive, and yes it can be but it isn't actually more expensive than the supermarket's 'Best of' ranges. I buy from an organic sustainable farm in the Borders, these guys really care about what they are doing and are award winning. Check out Peelham Organic Pork www.peelham.co.uk

Talking of irritating, why

Permalink Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 18/11/2011 - 19:25

Talking of irritating, why has the trainee cameraman decided that being out of focus for most of the scene is a good thing? On a large television, after squinting at a computer all day, this is actively discomforting. How about focusing on the food rather than...well, nothing.

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