food – Page 3 – Rob Mansfield: Content-ment

Domino’s Pizza pledge

We got take-out pizza this evening from none other than Domino’s Pizza and I was mildly disturbed by their new ‘pledge’.

They proudly proclaim the provenance of their ingredients, as if it were a selling point. Apparently, their mozzarella comes from Wales, their hot peppers from Peru, their tomatoes from Portugal and their pineapple from Thailand.

Now, I don’t know about you, but that kinda weirds me out a little. I know that Domino’s are hardly a smalltime concern, but it would be lovely to think that they were thinking about food miles just a little bit.

I can’t believe that Peru is the closest place in the world that grows hot peppers and pineapples all the way from Thailand.

Possibly most laughable is the fact they make a traditionally Italian cheese in the principality.

Anyway, whatever the provenance, the taste was actually pretty good, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.

Soiled… by Delia

I returned from the supermarket yesterday and unpacked the shopping, when my eye caught an additional label on something I’d bought…

A DELIA Cheat ingredient

I recoiled at the sight of this… how could I have bought something that Delia uses to ‘cheat’ with?

I’m not suggesting everything I make in the kitchen is of artisan quality, but ‘cheating’ in the kitchen is the kind of thing that makes me feel dirty.

Let’s face it, we all use ingredients that make our lives easier: tinned tomatoes, stock cubes/bouillon powder, dried herbs are even cheating, if you think about it.

For me, that’s why the recent Delia series is a bit of a con. Cooking shouldn’t be about ‘cheating’ and ‘cutting corners’.

The end result should be something you feel proud of, not ashamed of.

Given that Ms Smith has spent her life telling us the ‘proper’ way to cook things, I’m disappointed she’s ‘turned turtle’, as it were.

Anyway, what was the item I bought that is a Delia cheat?

A packet of fresh tortelloni… come on, who makes their own pasta every time?

Bland of plenty

We experienced the wonders of Bromley this afternoon, doing some essential shopping and decided to have lunch in the soulless centre…

We alighted on a place where we had eaten before and they offered us a kids’ menu for A. We plumped for spaghetti bolognese, given that A loves pasta.

When it turned up, she gobbled down the spaghetti, but left the sauce, no matter how hard we tried.

Frustrated, I decided to try the meat sauce and was appalled. It was the most bland, unappetising plate of slop I had tasted in a long time.

I couldn’t believe that it was being served to anyone, let alone kids.

My theory is that because only kids are going to eat it, the restaurant assumes they can serve food that doesn’t taste great, which is a total insult.

Children should be granted the same standards as adults… the blander the food they’re given, the less likely they are to grow up enjoying good food and they’ll want to stuff their faces with tasteless food from the likes of McDonalds.

I know we’re lucky because A loves strong tastes, such as anchovy, olives and pesto, but that’s only because we’ve tried them on her.

All I can say is that if this sort of food is being served around the country to thousands, any hundreds of thousands of kids, I fear for the state of cuisine in the UK!