Street Food = Good Food?

Having recently visited the Olympic Park to soak up the atmosphere and gaze open mouthed at the swarms of people wending their way through the carefully planted, landscaped meadows. I thought I'd do the dirty and moan about the food as everything else seems to be going so well. On my particular visit I found the food offering to be pretty mediocre and as you'd expect highly priced. I suspect the coffee was was made from water drawn from the Steeplechase water jump and pies were warm and filling but all flavour had been surgically removed somewhere along the line.  I didn't attempt to visit one of the four McDonald's apparently located on the park as the thought of fighting through those crowds was just too much. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed a McDonald's burger on many occasions.  We all know that McDonald's and Cadbury's contribute to the games and it would be ridiculous to assume that feeding the masses could be done without them.  Or, would it?  Can you imagine a venue without McDonald's?  Personally, I think we took the easy option and if Danny Boyle had had anything to do with organizing food vendors at the games I'm sure we'd have had something far more palatable and interesting in our mitts.  As a nation we have so much to offer in terms of food.  Where was Jamie Oliver when we needed him most?  Perhaps, when it comes to food at large venues we're just apathetic, lacking in imagination and just too darn tired to care. 

Andy's Mum at EAT MY PIES!

Street Food in London has been growing at a fast and furious pace popping up in all sorts of places with eager vendors keen to fill the stomachs of office workers. All manner of weird and wonderful food offerings are appearing, some better than others. Companies have been closing their canteens or increasing prices to reduce subsidies, eroding benefits and ultimately pushing their workers onto the high street to fend for themselves and eat on the hoof.  

The variety of food available is huge and a recent visit to Kings Cross Station provided some delicious and interesting food offerings.  Andy's mum from Eat My Pies , sorry Andy's mum I forgot your name, was a delight providing a fantastic range of Scotch Eggs including, Black-pudding, Chorizo, Thai Red Curry and Haggis were amazing and freshly produced.  The egg yolk was cooked to perfection!  Pork, Leek and Ham Pie also went down a treat.  

Other stalls included The Ribman with his Holy F*~k chili sauce and portions of pulled pork that were so huge they could feed a small family for a week, Fleisch Mob with their Emmental Austrian sausage which oozed alarmingly but tasted delicious!  To finish off enjoy an ice cream from Sorbitium Ices, the Lavender, Chili Chocolate and Sea Salted Caramel flavours were fantastic and a great way to finish our little trip. Stall holders are knowledgeable and love their product with such enthusiasm that you just cant help yourself.  If you fancy working off some of those calories you can even enjoy a game of table tennis!

To enjoy Street Food you need to listen to the vendor, look beyond the surroundings and enjoy the experience.  Dive in, get to grips with those dribbling Austrian sausages and enjoy! 
Visit Eat Street for more information on stall holders and venues.  

Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 72 M&S

Sunny weather, blue sky.........remember?

I wish I could say that the weather is getting better. Record after record is being broken and what's coming over the horizon isn't looking very pretty either.  I've decided that the slutty mummy trilogy, 'Fifty Shades of Grey', is to blame for all this!  Surely, 'Fifty Shades of Pink' would have been a more fitting and apt title?  
The word 'monsoon' has reached a new peak this month as we try to fit it into every sentence.  While sleepy villages in Wales, county shows and the country's sporting events are swept away by rising water levels the Olympics looks set to be a total wash out!  Even Kylie and Jason could't get it on because of that killjoy, rain.  


I wish I could say that our enthusiasm for the Olympics was running a different course to the weather. According to recent polls the British public don't believe the games make or have any 'real' connection with them. The Olympic Torch Relay may have passed through their village or town a few weeks ago, producing a spark of enthusiasm, a glimmer of sporting achievement but now that has all been washed away. Recently I've noticed that even the Greater Anglia train guards have stopped announcing, "Welcome to Stratford, home of the 2012 Olympics".  Now, commuters don't even raise their heads from their tablets as they pass through Stratford, such is their lack of expectation, only foreign visitors show interest, by clicking frantically at their cameras as we speed by. Sometimes, I think the UK, as a nation, collectively needs a good slapping!  


However, all is not doom and gloom, Nick Clegg, who looks sadder each day, has failed in his attempt to abolish the Lords or whatever he was fuddling and muddling with. Why can't politicians get their priorities right? 


Fortunately, Bradley (Wiggo) Wiggins is sending the French into melt down as he proudly wears the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France, for a fifth day.  Let's hope Wiggo is setting the stage for further triumphs at the Olympics and that the mood of the British public changes soon. Maybe, just maybe that stiff upper lip may even crack a smile? Ok, enough of my waffling....let's eat some chocolate.


As happens with chocolate tasting there are always a number of chocolate bars that seem to remain at the bottom of your chocolate pile, so to speak. This 72% Ecuadorian dark chocolate bar from M&S is no exception and has passed its 'best before' date by a few months!  Sometime ago M&S set up their, Plan A, 'Doing the Right Thing', initiative several years ago. Launched in 2007, M&S have been setting 100 commitments, now increased to 180, to assist with Climate Change, Waste, Sustainable Raw Materials, Health and being a Fair Partner.

Ecuador 72 - 100g

According to the blurb M&S have been working directly with cocoa farmers in Ecuador to develop high quality chocolate. As part of their relationship they've invested in ecological projects to replenish the rainforests while the Fairtrade standards mean better social conditions for the farmers.


The bar itself is carbon neutral. Those clever people at M&S have calculated the quantity of CO2 emissions throughout the whole process, from bean to bar and offsetting this by planting lots and lots of trees.

Carbon Neutral Chocolate

The chocolate itself has a delicious fruity, blackberry and a hint of forest aroma which continues throughout the chocolate. Which has a juicy, tangy and slightly acidic mouth feel that has plenty of depth. Not bitter in the slightest, a very enjoyable piece of chocolate and you can feel good about yourself at the end which ticks all my boxes! Overall 7/10.