The Chancellor Rishi Sunak says the hospitality sector has been particularly badly hit and announces a Temporary cut to VAT on food, accommodation, and attractions from 20 per cent to 5 per cent from next Wednesday until January 12th, 2021. He also announced a new job retention bonus for employers to bring back furloughed staff,…
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells MPs that restaurants, pubs, hairdressers and hotels will reopen in England from 4 July as the 2m social distancing rule is being reduced to 1m plus. In Hotels empty minibars, buffet-free breakfasts and regular deep cleaning are among the measures being introduced by one of the biggest operators in…
50th Anniversary of the Earth Day and celebrate one of the smallest but most critical organisms. Did you know the bee pollinate two-thirds of our world’s crops and 85 per cent of the world’s flowering plants and vegetables? Bees are flying insects related to wasps and ants, especially the western honey bee is famous for…
Our food culture is fragmented, a mix of mass “ultra Processed” foods ( high in salt, sugar and fat) the effect of Europeanisation as pizza is children’s favourite food and wee also eat the world’s cuisines, as UK got wealthier, allowing aspirations and tastes to flower. Industrial and post-industrial societies have moved away from…
Consumers who were worried about contracting COVID-19 have been boosting their immune system by drinking orange juices. Frozen concentrated orange juice, traded in New York, rising 25 per cent to $1.214 a pound since the start of January. US shoppers were stockpiling on the staple, as fears over labour shortage in factories and transportation have…
In India Parsis from Persia were instrumental for popularising and producing carbonated beverages in India two centuries ago, which is now a £7bn industry. A bottle of Pallonji’s Raspberry soda come with a disclaimer “Contains no fruit”Electric red in colour syrupy drink sold in the Irani cafes in Western city of Bombay. Soda had…
Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his bold budget speech suspended business rates for shops and cafes, Beer, wine and cider duties were frozen as pubs get help, UK interest rates cut in an emergency move, and promises his measures to help the economy tackle the coronavirus outbreak which is expected to bring a “significant” short-term…
The US has approved its first drug AR101 or Palforzia which uses oral immunotherapy treatment for peanut allergies in children given in tiny but increasing doses of peanut protein over a six-month period under medical supervision. The treatment is not a cure and makers warn that the risk of a potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction remains.…
Cow & Gate and Tesco are recalling 15 types of baby food jar as a precautionary measure amid concerns some may have been tampered with. Customers who bought food for babies aged over seven months in Tesco stores in the UK are advised not to use them because they may pose a safety risk. The…
The Great universal connects agriculture and climate to trade and exchange to traditions and cultures to identity and politics. Ned Palmer’s A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, is a canon of food-centric histories begun with Mark Kurlansky’s Cod (1997). How we feed ourselves can tell us as much about who we are and where…