As a rule, I find it hard to make decisions. What to cook for dinner keeps me awake at night, and choosing between a range of sandwich fillings sends me into a tailspin. Yet I seem to have no problem making potentially life-changing moves. Five years ago, my husband and I went to Norfolk for a long weekend of wine… Read more →
There’s no counter at Hill and Szrok, a butcher on Broadway Market. Upon entry by day, customers are greeted by meat being chopped on a large marble counter at the centre of the shop. At night, the same slab becomes a communal dining table that seats 14 people as the space transforms into a restaurant. Opened by restaurant manager Luca… Read more →
We don’t often give beer much thought. It’s the go-to drink at the bar, the first item on the list for a party. But, like putting on socks, we tend to pick any old thing, more out of habit than anything. While there’s romance around making, selecting and tasting wine, beer typically just gets on with it. But there’s a… Read more →
Like most kids, I was a picky eater. But until my plate was clean, I wasn’t allowed to leave the table. I was raised in a home where no food was wasted—my mother turned turkey bones and neglected root vegetables into hearty soups, and transformed tired fruit into colourful juices. But standing in my own kitchen, looking at leftover fish curry, a shrivelled… Read more →
In the Austrian market town Oggau lives a family you might recognise, even if you’ve never heard of them. Bertholdi is wise and full of stories, his wife Mechtilde a resolute but kindhearted old dame. Their son Joschuari and his sweet wife Wiltrude have two kids—the popular Atanasius and his shy sister, Theodora, who’s very close to her grandmother. They welcome… Read more →
Along the quiet, narrow streets on the left bank of the Seine, cheesemongers, green grocers, butchers and boulangeries perform the same morning routine day after day, year after year, generation after generation. Shopkeepers, preparing for the day with a typical French mix of both pride and ennui, arrange their wares before the locals arrive to do their daily food shopping. The… Read more →
