Archive for December, 2006

Clarissa Dickson Wright is to head a new daytime cookery program on UKTV Food (a digital channel that I can’t receive). The new program, The Market Kitchen, will be partly broadcast from London’s Borough Market.

The 90 minute programme, replacing Great Food Live!, has been commissoned for a 12 month run from April 2007. In addition to Dickson Wright the show will feature chef Simon Rimmer, Gordon Ramsay’s wife and cookery writer, Tana Ramsay, and food columnist Tom Parker-Bowles.

the ambitious series will include a mix of daily and weekly strands that will include meeting the people behind Borough Market’s best ingredients and products; candid, behind-the-scenes takes on the professional lives of specialist food producers and their customers; top tips on sourcing, preparing and cooking specialist seasonal produce from individual stallholders; accessible demonstrations of mouth-watering signature dishes from featured chefs; and opportunities for viewers to participate both in person and interactively with the content and personalities involved.

The WellFed network (I write and act as editor for two sites in the network Wine Sediments and Paper Palate) are again hosting the (pull)Food Blog Awards 2006(/pull).

There are 18 different categories that a blog can be nominated for by anyone. So get your thinking caps on and look for best Food Photography blog, the best New Food Blog, the best drink blog and many more. Nominations need to be in by 15th December (midnight EST). Then the judges – not sure who they are exactly – select the top 5 in each category. Then it is back to the people to vote!

The winners will be announced January 5.

Not sure, as editor/writer, if I am able to vote but if I could just nudge you in the direction of Spittoon for that drink category….

Two big blog events have kicked off this week. Firstly there is the charity auction Menu For Hope which plans to raise money for the UN Food Program.

Bloggers from around the world are donating prizes for a raffle. In the UK I have seen Cooksister put together a marvelous looking South African food package while the Passionate Cook is donating a voucher for a tasting menu at the Atelier restaurant in London; jointly they are offering to manage the food for a lavish cocktail partyfor 20! Amazing.

Elsewhere famed food photographer Nordljus is offering a selection of goodies from the Amai Tea & Bake House in New York, which I am assured are every bit as tasty as they look in her photographs.

Check out their individual posts for full details on how to bid for these wonderful prizes. For a full round up of European prizes see David Lebovitz who is organising things from Paris.