I think you need to ask a professional chef, such as the one and only Jack. If you don’t have any chickpea flour, you can substitute it for any kind of flour really. White, wholemeal, self-raising, plain, strong. It’s all flour
I think you need to ask a professional chef, such as the one and only Jack. If you don’t have any chickpea flour, you can substitute it for any kind of flour really. White, wholemeal, self-raising, plain, strong. It’s all flourEvening Hausfrau
I have a cookery question for you knowledgeable bunch, I've been looking at various recipes recently and book marking lots I'd like to try and each time I go shopping I add a few of the new ingredients to the list so I don't make the shopping list crazy expensive in one gotoday I was looking for chickpea flour, I keep seeing it mentioned in some of Nadiyas recipes and I have now seen it in a few recipes I have book marked from various places, now where I live there is no speciality food stores, just standard supermarkets and a few Polish ones , googling it, I have found varying degrease of confusing information in my quest to possibly find a substitute for chickpea flour, is gram flour the same, some places say yes, some say no, sainsburys did have a big bag of gram flour today (which is where my googling substitutes came in and then I read this https://www.veganricha.com/difference-between-besan-and-chickpea-flour/ which left me scratching my poor noggin) but I didnt want to buy incase it's not right help me hausfrau...
This is a really interesting post and absolutely the sort of issue Jack should be pursuing! I do think the major issue here is the fact food deserts exist - if (fresh, healthy, varied) food is not accessible then education is not much use, though I can see the need for it when access is establishedIn one of the many hilarious articles I read about her here recently, she mentioned food deserts. I had heard of the term in relation to the USA but wasn't 100% sure what it meant for the UK. I found this extract in an interesting article from the Guardian.
Food deserts are defined by the report as neighbourhoods of between 5,000-15,000 people served by two or fewer big supermarkets. In “normal” areas of this size there are typically between three and seven large food stores, it says. Small shops are less likely to sell fresh or healthy food.
The report cites Lisa Cauchi, a mother of eight in Salford, in the north-west of England, who said the nearest reliable source of affordable fresh fruit and vegetables was a big supermarket half an hour’s walk away. She occasionally gets a taxi but finds that depletes her food budget. “A taxi is a meal,” she said.
A survey carried out as part of the study found that nearly a third of respondents reported that lack of money was the biggest barrier to eating healthily (29%), followed by lack of time to cook (22%). Some 18% said they did not know how to cook healthy meals.
The article also talks about how these areas are often over-served by cheap fast food outlets, leading to all sort of health problems in these neighbourhoods. Several things come to mind:
Councils should be held accountable to which planning permissions they give. Someone with a large social media platform could draw attention to local councils giving planning permission to yet another burger joint instead of thinking how they could provide land to a supermarket, for example.
There are lots of practical ideas that I'm sure are already being implemented by many people, but that could be retweeted, turned into a campaign, etc. I.e. supermarkets deliver for as little as £1 - that is way cheaper than a taxi. What's the barrier? Is it that people don't have debit cards to order online? Is it that they don't know how to order online? Is it the minimum order required per delivery? How can we help people overcome these problems? What can supermarkets do to help? What can local communities do to help?
A local shop to me offers very cheap fruit and veg boxes for local delivery. They are not organic - just basic stuff, but decent quantities that would last a family of four for the best part of a week. Supplemented with some frozen stuff and juice would make it achievable for a family to get their five a day. Again, how can we encourage shops to offer this and people to take them up on the offer?
Lack of cooking skills - lots and lots of information online and published. Why are people not engaging with it? What are they engaging with? What can be done? My kid's local primary offers (in normal times) monthly cooking classes. The focus where I am is different. I live in a very multicultural and quite transient area, so the focus is on meeting people and sharing your culture. However, I am sure this is offered in other areas with a different focus. Someone with a large social media platform could highlight these success stories to inspire others. Perhaps come up with a downloadable plan of how to start a cooking class. I think the great thing about cooking is that really everyone can do it. We can't all be top chefs, but we all can learn to make a simple pasta con pomodoro or baked potato with beans or think about how we can plan things so when life is very busy, we can keep eating healthily and cheaply. Teaching people how to cook pasta or rice properly will really help change meals from stodge to something lovely. And it costs no more to cook pasta well than badly.
I was fortunate enough to learn all of these things from my mother and have just expanded my knowledge because cooking interests me as I got older. One of the greatest breakfasts ever in terms of nutrition is porridge. Soaking oats the night before mean they heat up in the microwave or hob in a minute and are super creamy, even if made with just water. Now how can you improve that meal nutritionally and make it taste of something? Add almonds or cashews (expensive, but not pound for pound when you think of healthy fats and protein) or if you are on a really tight budget sunflower seeds. Dried fruit can cost pennies and adds sweetness. I would add those in the soaking process, so they get all soft and the sweetness mixes into the whole bowl. A banana, a grated apple, some frozen berries. All cheap, all very healthy. Cinnamon or ginger will really elevate it.
Anyway, so many things someone who truly cared could do.
Speaking of flour, my 16 kg bag of strong bread flour arrived. Portioning it up into 2 kg bags to share. I could have googled it but does anyone of our fabulous baker sistas and bros here have a decent tried and tested recipe for courgette bread? I have a few courgettes and would like to make a nice bread.I think you need to ask a professional chef, such as the one and only Jack. If you don’t have any chickpea flour, you can substitute it for any kind of flour really. White, wholemeal, self-raising, plain, strong. It’s all flour
Coo you have shoes - fancy!I just noticed my shoes are on the wrong feet. What a complete and utter doofus I am.
My best friend is a chef ( a proper trained chef might I addIn one of the many hilarious articles I read about her here recently, she mentioned food deserts. I had heard of the term in relation to the USA but wasn't 100% sure what it meant for the UK. I found this extract in an interesting article from the Guardian.
Food deserts are defined by the report as neighbourhoods of between 5,000-15,000 people served by two or fewer big supermarkets. In “normal” areas of this size there are typically between three and seven large food stores, it says. Small shops are less likely to sell fresh or healthy food.
The report cites Lisa Cauchi, a mother of eight in Salford, in the north-west of England, who said the nearest reliable source of affordable fresh fruit and vegetables was a big supermarket half an hour’s walk away. She occasionally gets a taxi but finds that depletes her food budget. “A taxi is a meal,” she said.
A survey carried out as part of the study found that nearly a third of respondents reported that lack of money was the biggest barrier to eating healthily (29%), followed by lack of time to cook (22%). Some 18% said they did not know how to cook healthy meals.
The article also talks about how these areas are often over-served by cheap fast food outlets, leading to all sort of health problems in these neighbourhoods. Several things come to mind:
Councils should be held accountable to which planning permissions they give. Someone with a large social media platform could draw attention to local councils giving planning permission to yet another burger joint instead of thinking how they could provide land to a supermarket, for example.
There are lots of practical ideas that I'm sure are already being implemented by many people, but that could be retweeted, turned into a campaign, etc. I.e. supermarkets deliver for as little as £1 - that is way cheaper than a taxi. What's the barrier? Is it that people don't have debit cards to order online? Is it that they don't know how to order online? Is it the minimum order required per delivery? How can we help people overcome these problems? What can supermarkets do to help? What can local communities do to help?
A local shop to me offers very cheap fruit and veg boxes for local delivery. They are not organic - just basic stuff, but decent quantities that would last a family of four for the best part of a week. Supplemented with some frozen stuff and juice would make it achievable for a family to get their five a day. Again, how can we encourage shops to offer this and people to take them up on the offer?
Lack of cooking skills - lots and lots of information online and published. Why are people not engaging with it? What are they engaging with? What can be done? My kid's local primary offers (in normal times) monthly cooking classes. The focus where I am is different. I live in a very multicultural and quite transient area, so the focus is on meeting people and sharing your culture. However, I am sure this is offered in other areas with a different focus. Someone with a large social media platform could highlight these success stories to inspire others. Perhaps come up with a downloadable plan of how to start a cooking class. I think the great thing about cooking is that really everyone can do it. We can't all be top chefs, but we all can learn to make a simple pasta con pomodoro or baked potato with beans or think about how we can plan things so when life is very busy, we can keep eating healthily and cheaply. Teaching people how to cook pasta or rice properly will really help change meals from stodge to something lovely. And it costs no more to cook pasta well than badly.
I was fortunate enough to learn all of these things from my mother and have just expanded my knowledge because cooking interests me as I got older. One of the greatest breakfasts ever in terms of nutrition is porridge. Soaking oats the night before mean they heat up in the microwave or hob in a minute and are super creamy, even if made with just water. Now how can you improve that meal nutritionally and make it taste of something? Add almonds or cashews (expensive, but not pound for pound when you think of healthy fats and protein) or if you are on a really tight budget sunflower seeds. Dried fruit can cost pennies and adds sweetness. I would add those in the soaking process, so they get all soft and the sweetness mixes into the whole bowl. A banana, a grated apple, some frozen berries. All cheap, all very healthy. Cinnamon or ginger will really elevate it.
Anyway, so many things someone who truly cared could do.
Thats brilliant!My best friend is a chef ( a proper trained chef might I add). She volunteers at her GP surgery, she approached them and they were super engaged about it. So every 2 weeks she teaches basic cooking on a budget. It’s free to go to, the surgery provides the space and the food. It’s for people who struggle to cook healthier foods because they’ve never been taught. She also does it for old people in care homes and assisted living...Jack could create an army of people like my friend and help all over the place...people with skills but not really knowing how to use them, could work alongside food banks etc. Just a thought.
I presume she did think that - hence the laughing up a lung comment. And frantically getting herFor instance, I just had a full body cringe flashback to her calling herself and Matt a "naughty little duo". DKL was an utter car crash. Did she really not see that? Did she really think she should be given further opportunities on the back of it? I wonder if she is ever pierced by moments of self-reflection or just lives in a permanent state of delusion.
Anyway, morning lovelies x
I’ve seen pictures with toothpicks horizontally used to support the stumps. I think it’s to make sure it doesn’t go too deep into the water.Good day to the Frau pit and happy birthday @LennyBriscoe.
I’m trying the growing lettuce from stumps thing - has anyone made this work and has some foolproof tips to share? And yes, I realise I should’ve left it to fester in a bag for rancid pesto but my CK bras aren’t going to stretch themselves, you know.
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Try some of the japanese leaves, Mizuna is brilliant.@Betty Neumar yes re the lettuce, literally the second you see a bit of new growth, and/or a shoot I put them in compost and it always works. My celery and pak Choi are growing like crazy from stumps, too. If you have the space I would have a go at growing from seed. You can just keep cutting and they’ll keep growing. I grow a mixture of different leaves and only cut two or three from each at a time, every 1-2 days, so I’ve got red lettuce, romaine, rocket, mustard leaves, and spinach. They do grow from the stumps but I find the flavor of things grown from stumps tends to be duller. I think something to do with the way they’ve used their energy or something. I do a bit of both because (I’m fancy) I’ve got a fair amount of space.
Thank you! Unfortunately my beautiful little (rented) flat doesn’t have any of it’s own outside space (I have been tempted to ‘claim’ a bit of ground around the back of the building but it doesn’t get much light). Maybe a small indoor planter? Got some potting compost in the cupboard... damn you fancy folk with actual gardens!! I’d kill for even a small festival space with a nutty room/trauma shed.@Betty Neumar yes re the lettuce, literally the second you see a bit of new growth, and/or a shoot I put them in compost and it always works. My celery and pak Choi are growing like crazy from stumps, too. If you have the space I would have a go at growing from seed. You can just keep cutting and they’ll keep growing. I grow a mixture of different leaves and only cut two or three from each at a time, every 1-2 days, so I’ve got red lettuce, romaine, rocket, mustard leaves, and spinach. They do grow from the stumps but I find the flavor of things grown from stumps tends to be duller. I think something to do with the way they’ve used their energy or something. I do a bit of both because (I’m fancy) I’ve got a fair amount of space.
As a fellow child sexual abuse survivor, I'm always so sad to see how bloody many of us there. Weirdly, I don't know any in "real" life.I’ve never met someone else with it either, and I get what you mean about it being oddly nice to know others - until diagnosis I thought I was all alone in the world. Badges would be very useful!
You can grow herbs and cut again salad leaves inside. Get a 1.5 litre bottle of water (empty of course. Cut the bottle and poke a few holes in the bottom of the bottle. Fill with composts, sprinkle leaves or herbs on the soil and Bob's your uncle.Thank you! Unfortunately my beautiful little (rented) flat doesn’t have any of it’s own outside space (I have been tempted to ‘claim’ a bit of ground around the back of the building but it doesn’t get much light). Maybe a small indoor planter? Got some potting compost in the cupboard... damn you fancy folk with actual gardens!! I’d kill for even a small festival space with a nutty room/trauma shed.
I had a look at the other competitors in the “inspiration” section and I have to say that ALL of them - apart from Jack - are doing really impressive PRACTICAL stuff, like running cookery courses to promote healthy eating (£1 meals from fresh, healthy ingredients) for those facing poverty; food education for children, including kids sharing recipes from their different heritages (the My World Kitchen videos are so cute!); arranging donations of surplus food to charities and community groups; and providing free meals and meal kits to families at risk of hunger due to Covid-19. It actually is inspiring and well worth looking them up to see what they’re doing.The Inspiration category (where Jack is nominated) is the only one without judges notes. It would be interesting to know what inspiration they think she provides. Shit food for poor people? It’s insulting really.
http://www.gfw.co.uk/2020/awards-2020-finalists-judges-comments/
But oh my such lovely books in there. I want the vinegar one
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