After hearing horror stories from my Dad about what my Mum attempted to cook when they first moved in together I shut my eyes and prayed I wouldn’t follow in her culinary footsteps. What could be so bad you ask? How about slicing up a ‘Ready to Cook’ chicken and sandwiching between two slices of bread with some salad cream for good measure. Don’t say you made the same mistake as Mum and read ‘Ready to Eat’ instead of ‘Ready to Cook’! Luckily Dad questioned the squidgy-ness of the sandwich and opened up the slices of bread to reveal the pink chicken inside – eek! Food poisoning avoided, culinary lesson learned.

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My favourite tipple…so I thought I would investigate its origins a bit more. The delicious craft gins which we enjoy today are a long way from the original gin, which is said to have been created by a Dutch physician, Franciscus Sylvius, and was essentially a malt wine base using juniper to disguise its harsh flavour and was deemed to be ‘medicinal’. Although even as far back as 70AD juniper berries mixed with wine were used as a herbal medicine.

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I am lucky enough to have visited Nelson in the Marlborough area of New Zealand’s South Island several times now as my daughter lives there and of course I have fallen deeply in love with NZ Sauvignon Blanc or Sav as it is known locally.

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The time is approaching, and the vermouth revolution is on the brink of worldwide domination.

Many still picture vermouth as an epitome of that dust-gathering liquor at the back of their grandparent’s cupboard (right next to the Advocaat and Maraschino Liqueur) which rarely sees the sunlight. But just like the old proverb says, “Everything comes back into fashion if you wait long enough!”.

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Over the last 10 years the snacking industry has continued to grow, highlighting a huge opportunity for operators and retailers to market their newest innovations. This month saw the return of the Lunch! Show. Having outgrown its previous location, it was back bigger and better than ever before, in its new home at the ExCeL London.

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