PLECTRUM

presents

Biba & I

An evening of illustrated and music accompanied Biba tales with Delisia Howard & Chris Price

Writer Delisia Howard was not only in charge of cosmetics and household for Biba from 1968 to

the closing of Big Biba in 1974, but she was also the in-house model on whom Barbara Hulanicki

would fit and refine all her sample clothing designs for the highly influential fashion label and

shops. With her husband, the illustrator Chris Price, Howard has created the imprint Hazard

Books, to produce fabulous limited edition and handmade books, two of which, InBiba, and

SinBiba, have continued their creative collaboration with Barbara Hulanicki, as they also feature

her illustrations.

Wednesday 24th February 2010

at

The Horse Hospital

Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1

(Russell Square Tube Piccadilly Line)

Doors 8pm Performance begins 8.30pm

Tickets: £5

To reserve tickets email: guy@theculturalpick.com

Each ticket includes the current issue of Plectrum – The Cultural Pick magazine

www.theculturalpick.com

Become a fan of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick on Facebook

The books InBiba & SinBiba by Delisia Howard, Chris Price, and Barbara Hulanicki,

in addition to other books from the Hazard imprint, which Delisia and Chris will be happy to sign,

will also be for sale on the night, with the cover prices specially reduced by 15%

www.bibabook.com

As will copies of the limited edition DVD boxset of the documentary

Beyond Biba: A Portrait of Barbara Hulanicki

at a specially discounted price of £20

www.beyondbibamovie.com

(Please note no credit or debit card facilities are available on the night)

--

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Guy Sangster Adams

Editor Plectrum - The Cultural Pick www.theculturalpick.com

Freelance arts journalist

guy@theculturalpick.com

07970 834102

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The Granola -new multigrain granola launches this spring

With their award-winning cereals filling breakfast bowls up and down the country,
Rude Health have set their muesli-making expertise to creating the country’s first
multigrain organic granola with spelt, amaranth and barley, and no added salt
or sugar. The Granola launches in Waitrose stores nationwide from May.
Rude Health’s The Granola – so called because it is the ultimate organic granola – is both indulgently delicious and healthy. It is the only organic granola to blend porridge and jumbo oats with wholesome spelt flakes, toothsome barley flakes and puffed amaranth.

Considered a super food by the ancient Aztecs, amaranth is a popular street-side snack in Mexico, which is where Rude Health’s co-founder and fanatical foodie Camilla Barnard discovered this highly nutritious, tasty little seed. High in protein and packed with iron and calcium, the puffed amaranth in The Granola gives it a lovely lightness whilst the spelt, a great alternative to wheat, and barley flakes add a complex, grown-up flavour.

Rude Health blend this unique multigrain combination with freshly roasted hazelnuts and almonds for an irresistible nutty taste. And a cheeky sprinkling of crunchy sunflower seeds adds an extra boost of goodness.

This mix of marvels is drizzled with date syrup and honey, then gently baked to create a crisp granola that softens seductively in the mouth. Rude Health choose their ingredients like they choose their friends: wild not refined. Rude Health never use refined sugars or artificial flavourings; instead they opt for naturally sweet things like honey and date syrup, which are also packed with nutrition. Dates are high in fibre and rich in potassium, whilst honey is a great source of energy and is even said to boost your immune system.

The Granola is mouth-wateringly moreish with cold, creamy milk or a dollop of Greek yoghurt. Listen to Rude Health’s co-founder and chief ranter Nick Barnard voice his utter loathing for skimmed milk - or dirty dishwater as he calls it - on the website
www.rudehealth.com/why-rude-health/nick-rant


editor’s notes
Who are Rude Health?
Cereal revolutionaries Rude Health aren’t afraid of punching above their weight. The crack team of just seven, led by co-founding couple Nick and Camilla Barnard, are on a mission to bring delicious healthy breakfasts to cereal bowls up and down the country. With no added salt or sugar and no junk, Rude Health vehemently reject over-processing and refined ingredients. They rely instead on the highest-quality, sustainably-produced ingredients to make cereals worth waking up for.

For further information on Rude Health and their range of fabulous breakfast foods you can visit the website - www.rudehealth.com

Product Information
The Granola, £4.49 for 500g
Available from Waitrose, Ocado.com and independent health food
stores, organic shops and delis nationwide.
Please contact Holly for details or
photography:
Tel: 0208 877 9821
Email: holly@rudehealth.com
www.rudehealth.com

Dinner in Dalston - courtesy of Ben Greeno at The Loft

I like to think I'm an adventurous eater but a schlep to the Kingsland Road for a dinner in Dalston is almost one adventure too far.

On Saturday 20th February however I'd coughed up the cash (£117.50) to join private members club The Loft for a week and in doing so was entitled to a place at the dinning room table with young Brit Ben Greeno in the all but domestic kitchen. Having caught a glimpse of Ben's CV which included 2 stints at current obsession Copenhagen's Noma I was compelled to jump in my car and take my chances. I had no idea who I'd find myself sitting next to nor what was on the menu.

First sigh (of relief) came when I discovered that my neighbours were a riot. Second sigh (of delight) came upon first sip of the thoughtfully and delightfully paired wines and final sigh (of joy) expelled when I realised the meal was going to be worth every hard earned penny it cost. If there's a place left at a future table (and there are only 3 weeks or so left of Ben's residence) then in a musical chairs manner dive in and grab one.

Here's the website: http://theloftproject.co.uk/

And here's the menu - pictures were posted on twitpic as the dishes were placed in front of me - so I snapped them in the dimmest of lights and with an impatience to shove fork in mouth, as delicately as you'd expect from an uptight English girl with a food obsession: http://twitpic.com/photos/SpoonHQ

BEN GREENO AT THE LOFT - 20 FEBRUARY 2010

Oyster in buttermilk & poppy seeds with rhubarb granita

Poached & pickled carrots, chorizo, apple and ham

Cheese soup, ratte potatoes & pork fat

Duck heart salad with lettuce emulsion

Confit salmon with sunflower and mustard sauce

Salt baked beetroot, goat's cheese & gorse flowers

Beef onglet & onion puree

Skyr - Icelandic soft cheese - with aquavit raisins & malt dirt

Sea buckthorn curd, gingerbread & apple vinegar meringues

Poached and pickled pear, toasted oats and brown butter caramel

Final notes - I had never met or spoken to Ben Greeno before, I don't know any of the guys behind The Loft, I am certainly not the PR of anyone involved and I would strongly urge you to keep your eye on Ben Greeno. Last night he proved himself to be a highly talented Brit with ambition a plenty. And sadly for those of us rooted in the UK he's headed back to Copenhagen shortly.

The Old Brewery Restaurant, Cafe, Bar and experimental Brewery to open in the Old Royal Naval College

Shortly before Easter, one of the UK’s most innovative and highly regarded brewers, Meantime Brewing Company, will open a new restaurant, cafe, bar and eight barrel brewery in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, part of the spectacular World Heritage Site of Maritime Greenwich and a stone’s throw from the world’s last tea clipper, the legendary Cutty Sark. The Old Brewery sits along side and connects to Discover Greenwich, the new Greenwich cultural centre, which will tell the story of Greenwich to the millions of visitors to the World Heritage Site each year.

The site occupied by the Old Royal Naval College has a surprisingly robust brewing heritage known to date back to Tudor times. In 1717 a brew-house was built to supply the pensioners of the Royal Naval Hospital with a 3-pint daily ration of beer. The Old Brewery itself is built upon the foundations of an early 19th century brewhouse and under the guiding hand of Meantime’s founder Alastair Hook, the building will once again come alive to the sight, sounds and aromas of brewing. Its unusual history has been acknowledged by Hook in his choice of signature beer for the venue, a deeply flavoured, restorative Hospital Porter. Brewed to a 1750’s recipe and matured for a minimum of 1 year the Hospital Porter, an ‘oak aged’ London Porter, weighs in at 8% ABV and is packed with rich malt, liquorice, chocolate and caramel flavours.

In addition to being a convivial place to dine, The Old Brewery will be Meantime’s most dramatic experimental workshop. Here the brewers, including 2008 Brewer of the Year Alastair Hook, will be able to trial, tinker and ultimately create extraordinary quality, limited edition beers, many in a style unavailable anywhere else in the world, including some wild beers (brewed using non conventional yeasts). Delving into the history books, long forgotten recipes, such as old Tudor style ales, will be given a new lease of life.

The Main Hall
Cafe by day, Restaurant by night

By day, whilst Discover Greenwich is open, the main hall will be run as a cafe with a wide selection of freshly made deli sandwiches, simple British bistro style dishes, house baked cakes and pastries as well as Meantime's vast selection of award-winning beers.

By night, the room with its dramatic copper-clad beer vessels and waves of suspended bottles will be transformed into a restaurant. In the magnificent surroundings of this Grade II listed building, diners can expect modern British food with the occasional nod to Britain's rich naval history. Beer will be integral to many dishes and woven through the menu in beer cured salmon or chocolate beer sorbet for example. Shucked oysters marinated in Hospital Porter, served in their shells with watercress and a glass of the beer is exactly the sort of dish customers could expect to see on the menu - Native Rock Oysters and Porter being a staple food of Londoners when the original brew house was built.

Britain’s capital city has a rich but largely forgotten heritage as the home of modern brewing. Here were created India Pale Ale, Porter and Stout. The Old Brewery will have the history of beer and London brewing in particular on proud display. A brewing history timeline will wrap around the main dining room, illustrating the integral role played by beer and brewing in British culture with London the centre of the brewing world.

Before Henry VII took possession of the land upon which The Old Brewery stands it belonged to the Abbey of Ghent. It is more than happy coincidence therefore that the first beer of many to be created for The Old Brewery’s customers will be a Belgian Abbey style ale. Having spent a year in 350 litre oak Syrah casks by the time it is tapped, this ale has a delicate candy sweetness balanced by a dry hoppy finish. Apart from a fine tipple, it would make the perfect marinade for pork belly, which at The Old Brewery would then be served with caramelised apples and sweetheart cabbage and smoked bacon.

The Bar and Courtyard
Adjoining the Main Hall, will be a cosy annexe bar and tranquil courtyard. Displayed against the exposed brickwork will be the beer bottle and glass collections of the esteemed Beer Hunter, the late Michael Jackson, an early fan and great supporter of Meantime. It is from this relaxed area, serving hand-drawn Meantime beers and an all day bar menu that customers will be able to descend to the cellars for tutored beer tastings.


FACTS
Opening – Spring 2010

Opening Hours: Cafe – 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Sunday
Restaurant – 6pm to 11 pm, Monday to Saturday & 6pm to 10.30 pm, Sunday
Bar – 11am to 11 pm, Monday to Saturday & 12pm to 10.30 pm, Sunday

Reservations number: 020 3327 1280

Address: The Old Brewery
The Pepys Building
The Old Royal Naval College
Greenwich SE10 9LW

Email: info@oldbrewerygreenwich.com

Websites: www.oldbrewerygreenwich.com
www.meantimebrewing.com
www.greenwichunion.com

Meantime Brewing Company
Founded by visionary Master Brewer Alastair Hook, Meantime has a simple mission – to demonstrate the full potential that beer has to offer. Not only has Meantime garnered a reputation for quality beer but it has also picked up a multitude of awards along the way. In 2004, Meantime became the first British brewery to win any medals at the World Beer Cup and it has repeatedly revisited that success even scoring a prestigious WBC gold medal in 2006. Meantime brews more beer styles than any other brewery in the UK, exports to 13 countries around the world and last year created a highly successful and unusually diverse Limited Edition series. The Meantime Brewing Company also owns The Greenwich Union pub. A new brewery site currently under construction in Greenwich will triple the company’s brewing capacity.

Alastair Hook
Trained at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and at the world famous brewing school Weihenstephen in Munich, Master Brewer Alastair Hook founded breweries for Freedom and restaurateur Oliver Peyton amongst others before opening the acclaimed Meantime Brewing Company in 1999. Alastair was named Brewer of the Year in 2008 an award which the Chairman of the Guild of Beer Writers stated was "long overdue" when he congratulated this innovative Master Brewer on his achievement. Under Alastair's direction Meantime unashamedly challenges the way that both brewers and consumers view beer.

Discover Greenwich
Discover Greenwich at the Old Royal Naval College, is the new £6 million contemporary cultural venue in the heart of Maritime Greenwich. Discover Greenwich will unlock the history of Maritime Greenwich for over a million visitors a year and becomes the starting point for understanding and appreciating this World Heritage site and international tourist destination.

Discover Greenwich will use state of the art interpretation techniques to tell the story of Maritime Greenwich and the Old Royal Naval College. Over 500 years of history from Henry VIII's Tudor Palace, Wren’s Royal Hospital for Seamen and the Royal Naval College will be explored through displays of never been seen before historic objects on show to the public for the first time, film footage and models in permanent and temporary exhibitions. Key figures from Anne Boleyn to Nelson are the highlights in a narrative bring telling the story not just of Greenwich but of Britain. A new Greenwich Tourist Information Centre, run by The London Borough of Greenwich, and the new Clore Learning Centre are also important features of the project.

Discover Greenwich is run by the Greenwich Foundation, the charity which manages the Old Royal Naval College.

For further information on The Old Brewery , please contact:
Sarah Canet E. sarah@spoon-pr.com T. +44 (0)20 7610 9821

For information on Discover Greenwich, please contact:
William Kallaway E: william.kallaway@kallaway.com T: +44 (0)20 7313 6279

Ingredients in Taste No.5

We have been inundated with requests this week to find out exactly what the 'secret ingredients' are in Laura's Taste No.5 paste so here is a list of all the items, which are all natural and all umami-packed;

Tomato purée
Garlic
Anchovy Paste (anchovies, salt, sunflower oil)
Black Olive
Balsamic Vinegar
Porcini mushrooms
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Vinegar
Sugar
Salt

Taste No.5™- U-mamma!

It's the secret 'ingredient' that sets tongues wagging



Taste No. 5™ is the exquisite new paste by Laura Santtini which can transform even the blandest of meals into something truly extraordinary. Based on the notion of the fifth taste of ‘umami’, this secret pioneering recipe contains many inches of unadulterated deliciousness.

The existence of the umami taste was first discovered early last century by the Japanese and has only recently been accepted by Western scientists. By no means limited to Japanese cuisine, umami is a borrowed word which roughly translates as ‘deliciousness’. In the simplest of terms umami refers to the things that make us go ‘mmmmm’. Scientifically speaking however it is the intensely savoury taste imparted by glutamates and five ribonucleotides which occur naturally in many foods such as meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. Previously only sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes have been universally recognized. Now an umami receptor has also been found on the tongue – cleverly hidden away inside the receptors for sweetness – leading scientists like Dr John Emsley of the Royal Society of Chemistry to acknowledge its importance in taste sensation.

Laura Santtini has long been fascinated with umami and, after much research into the subject, dedicated a section of her cookery book - Easy Tasty Italian – to how different ingredients can be combined to maximise the potency of the end result. Taste No. 5™ is the result of her combining the most umami-rich Italian ingredients such as tomato, Parmesan cheese and porcini mushrooms into a single paste that can be simply rubbed, squeezed or spread for explosive U-mamma results.

Designed to become your favourite squeeze, Taste No. 5™ adds depth to sauces, gravies and risottos. It can be added as a flavour bomb to anything from grills, roasts and bakes to pastas, soups and stews or simply used on its own as a condiment for panini, crostini and dressings.

Taste No. 5™ is part of the Easy Tasty Magic™ range, Laura’s spellbinding collection of transformational scratch cooking preparations. With a little abracadabra, Easy Tasty Magic™ empowers cooks of all levels with spectacular kitchen wizardry.

The Easy Tasty Magic™ range available from Selfridges Food Halls, Waitrose and Booths stores nationwide is the perfect compliment to any kitchen. A little squeeze goes a long way.

Laura Santtini, who ran her parents’ Belgravia restaurant Santini for 8 years, is a long standing consultant to Selfridges. Her Selfridges’ Credit Crunch Chocolate made headlines the world over. Aside from writing her book, Easy Tasty Italian, and developing her own product range, Easy Tasty Magic™, Laura is developing a new Selfridges’ own label herb and spice range.



Editors Notes

PRICE
Taste No. 5™
60g tube £2.99

AVAILABLE

Selfridges – London, Birmingham, Manchester Trafford & Manchester Exchange Square
Selfridges Enquiries: 0800 123 400

Waitrose – nationwide from 15 February 2010

Booths – nationwide from March 2010

Press Contact

Sarah Canet
Spoon PR
Telephone: +44 207 610 9821
Email: sarah@spoon-pr.com

or

Alice Stanners
Spoon PR
Telephone: +44 207 610 9821
Email: alice@spoon-pr.com

goldilocks index shows porridge is hot

Whilst the big freeze coupled with the rise in VAT has slowed sales on the high street, shoe shops, leather retailers and porridge makers have got off to a flying start in 2010.

According to the CBI’s latest Distributive Trades Survey, 72% of retailers say that sales had dropped or were largely unchanged.

“The big freeze kept many shoppers away from the January sales and the VAT hike has hit bigger purchases like furniture and electricals,” says Andy Clarke, Chairman of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel.

Only grocers, footwear and leather goods retailers have seen strong sales. Porridge sales in particular have rocketed. In the first 3 weeks of the year, independent cereal company Rude Health saw a 400% increase in sales of their gourmet porridge. To use the Goldilocks Index analogy, Rude Health’s porridge sales have been as hot as Father Bear’s breakfast.

“Porridge has seen a real resurgence in the last few years. But the spike in sales this winter has taken everyone by surprise. People just can’t get enough of it. This January we had to make 5 times the quantity we usually produce,” says Nick Barnard, Managing Director of the independent cereal company.

The porridge market is valued at £53 million, with 3.8% y-o-y growth compared to 2008. Sales of Rude Health porridge grew by 108% between the period Sept-Dec 2008 and Sept-Dec 2009.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago uses the Goldilocks Index as an analogy to describe the level of economic activity. When activity is growing at a steady rate they call it “just right” – like in the Goldilocks story. The Chicago Fed describes activity as hot when a business or economy experiences growth greater than its usual rate.

editor’s notes
Sources

CBI - Distributive Trades Survey January 2010
‘Retailers Disappointed By Weak New Year Sales’ News Release
www.cbi.org.uk
Email: press.office@cbi.org.uk

TNS World Panel
www.tnsglobal.com
Press Office: Laura Chatterton, 020 7656 5054

Rude Health UK Sales 2008 – 2010