Anyone who knows me well is aware of my mildly unhealthy fascination with smells. I’m like an olfactory David Attenborough, but with less authority, gravitas, respect, knowledge, experience, expertise, grace, standing and qualifications. Basically, I’m the Steve Backshall of odours.
As a lover of both football and eating stuff I thought I’d have a stab at twinning my dual passions by examining the national dishes of each of the 32 teams involved in the forthcoming World Cup. What follows will hopefully surprise, delight, disgust and anger you in equal measure. Much like watching the home nations in action.
It’s a truism that if the roast is the king of dinners, then the Christmas dinner is the irrefutable king of the roasts. Turkey is traditional but can be bland and polarising. It’s also notoriously easy to ruin by overcooking, especially if you have ‘self-medicated’ with a pre 8am libation. Though many plump for tradition, the choice of Christmas roast centrepiece is uniquely individual to each household. Can we do better? Dare we? Here, I weigh up the festive proteinoid centrepiece alternatives so you don’t have to.
“I’ve got good news and bad news…which would you like first?”
We all know it takes a special kind of psychopath to ask for the bad news ahead of the good, but today’s Arena ‘From Re-Opening Roadmap to Recovery’ webinar really was a tale of two acts, top-loaded with bad, but tinged with some thumbs-to-the-troposphere optimism, arriving a little while after the interval.
Anyone who knows jellybean knows that when it comes to a physical challenge – sometimes even a reckless endeavour – we love to step up to the plate. Whether it’s climbing mountains, long distance cycling, running, golf, competitive baking, or simply having five fully grown humans stand on your shoulders in the freezing cold and rain as they try to scale a treacherously wet and slippery wall (my back’s not been the same since Tough Mudder), we’ve taken it on with aplomb and raised cash for some amazing causes into the bargain.
What with it being St Patrick’s Day and all – Ireland’s greatest celebration – it’s a good time to maybe redress the balance and talk less about Guinness, blarney, and those big leprechaun hats, and more about the rich food and drink culture of both the republic and the north. For this is a churning swell of incredible produce, traditional delicacies, burgeoning craft breweries and some stunning restaurants (and of course pubs).
I don’t know Edward, but like most parents lost in an emotional swell of nappies, nursery and notes to Santa, when I see his face, I instantly see in him my own son, or the imagined face of a son or daughter yet to come into the world.
This September saw Jellybean work with flavour innovator McCormick Flavour Solutions to stage its live-streamed ‘End of Summer Sessions’, featuring two of the UK’s most respected chefs hosting two unique digital inspiration demos, from their respective kitchens.
In the absence of almost all face to face interactions in our working lives, it’s amazing how quickly in isolation we have adapted and gotten used to viewing each other as small, slightly pixelated digital beings, via video platforms like Zoom or Teams.
This week our client Hobart – the UK’s leading catering equipment manufacturer and service provider – announced that it is to make the healthcare sector its “absolute number one priority” helping keep public sector kitchens operational in the face of overwhelming demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s a profoundly tragic fact that in today’s society, loneliness, living alone and poor social connections can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and worse for you than obesity^. In fact, it’s estimated that nine million people in the UK across all adult ages are either ‘always’ or ‘often’ lonely*. Currently some 1.2 million older people in the UK are classified as chronically lonely In terms of our aging population – one that is living longer than ever – with the number of over-50s experiencing loneliness set to reach two million by 2025/6 – a 49% increase in just 10 years**.
As the modern face of the Royal Family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex use their influence to help to promote change in the world. In their latest ‘Force for Change’ campaign they have sought to shine a light on charities and organisations around the globe allied to their cause.
Progressive, outward looking and dedicated to quality at every turn; just some of the ways in which you can characterise the modern face of one of our industry’s most vast dining fraternities, the cost sector.
Not all Christmas sandwiches are created equal and here to separate the wheat from the chaff are Jellybean’s Group Account Director for retail trade and food and drink marketing, Neil Brenson and Foodservice PR Director, Nick Clancy with their dual verdicts. In all, eight sandwiches have been put through their paces, sourced from Eat, Pret, M&S, Boots, Sainsbury’s, Costa, Gregg’s and Waitrose.
As we lurch awkwardly towards 2019, forcing it to immediately evacuate itself in fear and repulsion, we examine just some of the über trends that definitely won’t make the headlines in the coming food and drink year.
Jellybean is working in partnership with Plan International UK to fund the construction of five school buildings in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. The Safe School project helps refugees access safe and high quality education, reaching 39,550 children aged 3-14, many of whom will have gone through the terrifying and scarring experience of fleeing their homes in South Sudan. In Gambella they will benefit from a better education in permanent school buildings with good quality teaching and access to specialised counselling to help them overcome the challenges of being away from home.
One thing we beans truly relish is a spot of healthy rivalry. We’re a competitive bunch, you see. Woe betide anyone caught in the crossfire of, say, a genteel game of French cricket. One cross word or a perceived lack of respect for the rules of the game, and things can get pretty ugly pretty quickly, let me tell you.
We’re proud to announce that Jellybean has been appointed as the PR partner for the highly prestigious UK Foodservice Quality Food Awards – a leading food and drink integrated marketing agency joining forces with the number one quality mark for people and products in the industry.
We’re tremendously excited to be returning to a revitalised Hotelympia next week where the beans will be out in force, running the dedicated press office throughout the four-day show.
