YOU probably know that rice is grown in Europe – mainly in Italy. Carnaroli, arborio and vialone are three varieties of rice which are used for risotto and are readily available in good food shops and supermarkets. You might think that was “European rice” – but in fact European rice is something different, grown in…
PEOPLE who love goat’s milk cheese will need no introduction to Tor, one of the many fine cheeses made by Roger Longman of White Lake Cheese, based at Bagborough close to the Royal Bath & West showground near Shepton Mallet. Already a three-star Great Taste Award-winner, the ash-covered, pyramid-shaped Tor has just won the Best…
THE recent second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a sombre reminder of the trauma and horror that Urkainians have endured – and the continuing need to support the refugees who are living in this area. If most of us didn’t know much about Ukraine’s distinctive culture and history before the Russian onslaught,…
LUCA Silvestrini’s Protein dance company comes to Somerset and Dorset in March with the acclaimed contemporary dance theatre piece, May Contain Food, May Contain You. The local dates continue with Artsreach at West Lulworth village hall on Wednesday 13th and the Exchange at Sturminster Newton on Thursday 14th. Have you ever been swayed by the…
A CELEBRATION of the Dorset dialect poet, linguist and polymath William Barnes has become an annual fixture in the calendar of Dorset’s rural touring arts charity Artsreach and the Ridgeway Singers and Band. This year the event, Tea with William Barnes, will be at The Exchange at Sturminster Newton on Sunday 25th February at 3pm,…
NURSERIES in Gillingham, Wimborne, Wareham, Christchurch and Yeovil are among a group of 32 early education centres taking part in a new food project, introducing sustainable, nutritious and delicious wild meat to the menu at educational establishments nationally. . The wild meat introduced to the Tops Nurseries group includes venison and feathered game which has…
SAY “Wassail” to most people in the West Country and they picture January-cold orchards, raining or even snowing, with a bunch of cider-fuelled people, many with leaves in their hair, gathered round a bonfire, celebrating the ancient heritage of cider. An event at Bruton’s At The Chapel on Saturday 20th January provides an introduction to…
BRIDPORT Arts Centre hosts a double bill of food documentaries on Thursday 25th January, at 7.30pm – Hungry for Change and Food for Thought. The films, both made in Cornwall, focus on key challenges for the future – waste, resilience and meat. In Hungry for Change, the film maker, forager Josh Quick, explores the shocking…
THE November event in the Tollard Talks series at Tollard Barn in Tollard Royal, on Thursday 30th November, is a serious look at the arguments for and against a plant-based diet. The speaker, Jayne Buxton, poses the question, “What if removing animal foods from our diet was a serious threat to human health, and a…
FIRST generation farmer, chef and internet star, Dorset-based Julius Roberts comes to the Butterfly House at Castle Gardens at Sherborne on Wednesday 8th November at 7pm to talk about his newly published, first book, The Farm Table at Castle Gardens The event is being held to conjunction with Winstone’s Bookshop in Sherborne, and will include…