You either love it or hate it …

Truck loads of Marmite

Marmite – I love it.

I’m led to believe that there are people who hate Marmite: it’s hard to believe I know, but there’s no answering for taste.

I take mine any way it comes, but preferably thickly layered on toast (buttered toast at that!).  Steppy* says that I’m weird because I keep my jar of Marmite in the fridge, but then I do tend to keep everything that’s open but not finished in the fridge.

What’s not to like?

Marmite is packed with flavour and B vitamins (I nearly wrote jam-packed, but that could possibly mislead Marmite virgins to misapprehend the flavour) so intense it makes your teeth itch. It flows under the knife like a luscious black butter, creating a glossy sheen to my toast.

Some years ago Marmite was banned in Denmark** (well, it can only be supplied under licence) but over here it is synonymous with good taste, health and flavour. I’ve tried ‘own brand’ versions (they’re ok – some spread better from the fridge and they’re cheaper) and I’ve tried Vegemite, the antipodean  version – but I still come back to the original and best.

Just saying 😉

*Step daughter – Betony 🙂
** http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13541148

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Menus

Newspapers are often guilty of writing utter twaddle. None more so than today’s Sunday Times (of whom I’d expect better). http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Society/article1467435.ece

Halibut

The author or this article attempts to suggest (via a linguistic professor’s findings) that seeing certain words on a menu can lead to paying over the odds. He uses Harvester Restaurants, which he describes as ‘mid-market’ (really?), with Restaurant Gordon Ramsey in Chelsea for his comparison.

Let’s begin by looking at the starting point for the premise that food costs more if certain words are used:

• Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant has three Michelin stars. (3!)
• Harvester is a cheap and cheerful ‘plastic menu’ chain alongside pubs

Gordon Ramsey uses French words like langoustine and velouté. Well you wouldn’t want to see scampi and white sauce on a three star menu would you? There is no direct translation in English for velouté by the way. 3-course meal – approx £95.

Harvester use words like large, crisp and tasty to describe their food. Well, why wouldn’t they? 3-course meal approx £9.99.

Don’t blame the words, blame the locations, the chef skills, the extensive training, the freshness of ingredients and customer expectations for the difference in price.

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