Don’t Spend A Bunch On Brunch

Anushka Searle on 25 March 2020

Let’s be honest brunch is expensive, with most places charging £8 for some avocado on toast! But it doesn’t have to be. You can make an amazing budget friendly brunch at home, and the best part is you can eat it in your pyjamas. Listed below are some delicious brunch ideas, that will definitely impress your brunch pals.  

Frittata 

This Italian omelette is extremely easy to make, and much easier than a fancy French omelette. The basis of the frittata is slow-fried beaten egg, but you can throw anything into the mix to make it extra tasty. A frittata is a great way to use up leftovers so why not try adding cheese, boiled potato, asparagus, or even sweet potato? Great served with salad and even toast.  Not only is this dish extremely budget friendly, but a great dish to share! 

Loaded Toast 

Why buy toast from a restaurant when you can make it so easily? Honestly, I’m not a big fan of avocado unless it’s encased with other flavours. Therefore, my favourite way to eat avocado on toast is to use a tub of guacamole, and to top it with a fried egg and some chilli flakes, to make an instantly flavoursome avocado on toast.  Alternatively, why not try toast topped with hummus, cracked black pepper, cucumber slices, and some rocket.

Crepes

Once you nail how to make crepes you will always have an impressive dish. My recipe: whisk together 2 eggs, and 360ml oat milk, then add 8 heaped tablespoons of plain flour one at a time until fully combined. The mixture should lightly coat the back of a spoon. Cook in an oiled hot pan and be patient with them. The best thing about crepes is that they use 3 ingredients that you probably already have, and you can top them with anything from sweet to savoury.  I like to add cinnamon to the batter, and topped with maple syrup, bananas and whipped cream. 

French toast

For us brits French toast is more well known as eggy bread, which frankly makes it sound gross. But I think it’s highly underrated. French toast can be made with very few ingredients, all of which are cheap and probably already in your kitchen. Soak your bread in a mixture of egg and milk, and feel free to add vanilla and cinnamon if you want it sweet. Fry the bread in a pan and it’ll be done in minutes! Top with anything you have, or if you really want to impress your brunch pals then whisk up some ricotta, icing sugar, and vanilla, with some chopped strawberries to make an impressive sweet topping.

Header image credit: Twitter

Food Should Be Made More Affordable on Campus

Séamus O'Hanlon on 10 March 2020

The news that Leeds Beckett University has opened up a foodbank for students who have to pay up to eighty per cent of outgoings on rent is damning evidence that austerity and its destructive consequences are not over. Food banks themselves offer practical solutions to young families, pensioners and those receiving Universal Credit. The volunteers who run the City Campus food bank should be commended for their generosity and diligence, but as expressed by Beckett’s Union Affairs Officer Charlie Hinds, this is no cause for celebration.

Food bank usage has grown rapidly, with the Trussell Trust reporting an increase of seventy-three per cent over the past five years. Food banks are used by various groups of people: families with two working parents, the ‘just about managing’ category, and now students. Students have been demoted from no fees to modest fees: bursary provision has been reduced to the current system where maintenance grants are crudely doled out with the payment being simplistically the same outside of London. Starvation is presented as a cruel option when grants just about cover accommodation. Food poverty affects academic attainment, social experience and physical health which all limit disadvantaged students upon graduation.

Looking after the physical and mental health of students should be the top priority of all parties concerned, which means that wholesome meals, fresh fruit and vegetables and variety should be treated like attendance by the University. How many personal tutors or support staff proactively enquire about the diet of their students? Universities are still transitioning from the assumption that those who get in are broadly middle class and can afford the cost of living. Positively, it now seems that some universities are addressing students who have to go without. Opening up a food bank is a great practical step. However, I worry that reliance on food banks further marginalises poor students from important socialising heavily associated with lunches and dinners that many universities push.

Universities provide specialised education to all, ranging from international students to first-generation to low income. Many have support staff to help facilitate equality of opportunity. I would argue that universities should be more concerned with affordable on-campus food that is accessible and nutritious, albeit basic, rather than whatever faddish, costly food store they put in place. The Union has a right to make a profit for its investment but it must provide affordable options that don’t exploit the lack of convenience and competition on campus.

ToastLovesCoffee in Harehills is a local establishment that the various universities in Leeds could and should follow the example of: using otherwise wasted supermarket ingredients with no prices on the menu, it makes food accessible for those on various incomes by employing a ‘pay as you can’ method. I believe that a better partial solution would be for the University to adopt this system in a few establishments as an experiment that could benefit those who could pay for their lunch but not at that price.

The University has the chance to champion dignity and inclusivity and make campus food available for all catered and non-catered if it can remember that food is a human right.

Image Credit: University of Leeds

Changing The Way The Cookie Crumbles

Anushka Searle on 6 March 2020

Statistics show that 83% of chefs in the UK are male, according to data from the Office of National Statistics employment in 2018. Time then to cover three incredible chefs, who have managed to force their way into the small demographic of female chefs to show that women can be successful in a culinary world.

Claire Saffitz

Credit: Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person, YouTube

If you don’t know Claire Saffitz then where have you been? Not only is Claire Saffitz a trained pastry chef (though she recently claimed that she’s “not a chef”) and a contributing food editor of Bon Appétit magazine, she is also a YouTube sensation! Saffitz’ stardom began in 2017 when she began the show Gourmet Makes for Bon Appétit’s YouTube channel. The show consists of Saffitz trying to recreate popular snack foods as well as elevating the foods to a more gourmet standard. Indeed the rising popularity of Gourmet Makes was due to Claire’s relatable ‘low’ moments. 

Claire herself stated in an interview with Mashable that “there’s some sort of transference from people, they get stress relief from watching my stress” and for anyone that has watched the show, this is certainly true. We are used to watching culinary shows where the chef is the expert and we absorb the information as viewers but it is Saffitz’s stressful cooking that engages us with content that has more entertainment value. It is certainly uplifting to watch Saffitz go through a rollercoaster of emotions, to then seeing her happy and relieved at the end of the episode. Therefore it is this emotional vulnerability, that is often deemed a ‘weakness’ in women, which has catalysed Claire Saffitz’s success. 

Ravinder Bhogal

Credit: The Independent

Ravinder Bhogal was born in Kenya to Indian parents and grew up in London. It is this mixed culture and heritage that has enabled Bhogal to create impressive fusion dishes and menus. Bhogal is not just a remarkable chef, for she is also an award-winning food writer, journalist, TV presenter, stylist and restaurateur. Her most impressive achievement is the opening of her restaurant Jikoni in 2016. 

Jikoni is frankly an adorable restaurant with a cosy almost café-like feel to it and is designed in an overtly ‘feminine’ style, with a pale pink colour scheme and floral designs. However, it is not only Jikoni’s design that makes a statement but Bhogal’s menu too. Jikoni offers a variety of Asian comfort food, but with intriguing British, African and Middle Eastern twists, showing off Bhogul’s accumulation of travel and culture. The dish on the menu that appealed to me the most was the “Cold Silken Tofu, Peanuts, Puffed Wild Rice, Caramelised Foxnuts”, mainly because I was very intrigued by what foxnuts were, and also because it was one of the many creative vegan options on the menu. Bhogul’s interest in developing vegan dishes came about when her niece decided to become vegan. Consequently, Bhogul created a completely vegan menu for W London, which included her niece’s favourite, caramel tofu with garlic confit rice and chilli smacked cucumbers.

Samin Nosrat

Credit: People.com

Samin Nosrat introduces herself on her website ciaosamin.com with “Hi. I’m Samin Nosrat. I cook. I write. I teach” and while it’s clear and simple, it undoubtedly does not give Nosrat’s talent justice. If you’re a foodie, or simply have access to a Netflix account, then you need to watch Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. The docuseries is based on Nosrat’s New York Times bestselling, and James Beard Award-winning book titled Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, which is written on the premise that the way to master the culinary arts is to master these four elements. In the Netflix series, the four elements are explored through four episodes in four countries: Italy, Japan, Mexico, and her home in California, USA. Its success led to Nosrat becoming an international culinary celebrity. 

Nosrat is recognised for her talent as well as her endearing personality (please watch “Brad Makes Focaccia Bread with Samin Nosrat” on Youtube). The Guardian even described her as someone that “projects the kind of charisma that fosters a sense of familiarity, allowing audiences to believe they know her”, which is very similar to the reason behind Claire Saffitz’s success. 

Header Image Credit: Pexels