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Food snaps
Every now and again we get some food pictures at FDL HQ that make the entire office stop and look and this week was one of those moments. We received a selection of pictures from the Festival International de la Photographie Culinarie in Paris and had to show them to the world.
The event aims to highlight the relationship between food and photography and with 41 participants from all over the world the selection of images were highly impressive. The theme of this year's event was street food with each photographer submitting three images they thought best matched the theme.
We couldn't brig them all but there was a great picture gallery of some of the best shots, a brief description of the event and a look at street food in Palermo.
A train ride with Gaston
FDL werevery luck and brought you aspecial interview, with a special guest in a very special location. We were in South America, in Peru to be precise, taking ride on the Orient Expresses train, Hiram Bingham. But the train journey through the lush Peruvian landscape wasn't the special part, sat on the train with FDL columnist, Luciana Bianchi was Peru's ambassador of taste, Gastón Acurio, and it's this that got FDL excited.
Gastón is seen in Peru as a foodie god, someone who has bridged cultural and social gaps through his inclusive use of food and also his work setting up the annual food festival, Mistura, in Lima. While on the train FDL enjoyed a meal with Gastón and also managed to get some time alone with Acurio to bring you an exclusive FDL interview.
There was also a look at his work setting up a cookery school in the dessert, a biography of Gastón and a traditional recipe for camarones del sur, a traditional peruvian dish. This was an exciting interview with one of the word's best chefs and a real insight into his views, opinions and his motivations throughout his career - A must read for anyone interested in this curious chef.
From Upma to upmarket
Never ones to ignore a change in food or rising trend, this week FDL took a closer look at the rise of up-market Indian food and how the old image of fatty curries with excessive food colouring is being cast aside for highly refined, fresh and flavour packed food.
The piece looked at the work of the Berkeley Square restaurant run by Indian-born chef Atul Kochhar. Here Atul has worked hard to shed the image that many have of Indian cuisine to offer some truly magnificent dishes that capture the imagination and taste buds of guests from all over the world. The piece examined some of Atul's signature dishes and also interviewed the chef to discover more about his passion and just what inspires his crusade to bring Indian cuisine into the 21st century.
There was an amazing picture gallery of some of his dishes, a look at how Indian food is also going up-market in India, a look at some of the methods being pioneered that make Indian food much healthier and a look at the British curry dispute - an interview with Chef Aktar Islam who believes Indian food in Britain just doesn't make the grade.
Also this week
FDL had a very special wine tasting lesson with Swedish somellier, Andreas Larsson. While there we managed to film another video, this time teaching people how to easily navigate a wine tasting withou any prior wine knowledge.
