With millions tuning in to watch tears over flat bakes, soggy bottoms, collapsing cakes, and not forgetting that floral bomber jacket, this year's Great British Bake Off confirmed that we remain firmly in the grip of the baking boom. But whether you are inspired by bread baker Paul Hollywood's tricky plait-off in that nostalgic, picturesque tent, have a growing appetite for cookery shows, or simply taken to sipping the carmine-coloured drink du jour, Campari, as your evening tipple, has food become the new fashion?
Yes, there have always been 'trends' in food, just as on the catwalk, but there seems to be more prominence placed on Russell Norman's downstairs red titan bar, Scandinavian foams, pickling, offal, and a return to casual dining (with those minimal menus), than in previous years. Sales of cookbooks have also risen by a whopping 250% this year, with the Hairy Bikers' new offering even knocking E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey off the number one bestsellers list. Farmers markets, national food weeks, supper clubs and TV shows are in abundance, with an emphasis on achieving that lifestyle - whether it's Nigel's minimalist kitchen or Maman Blanc's golden tarte tatin,
And, food, after all can be enjoyed by everyone. A Chelsea bun doesn't suit a pear shape better than an apple, or a small kitchen that rivals Rachel's Khoo's no longer means spaghetti bolognaise. And the dream is affordable, too. The current climate appears to have fed our interest in cooking, with the economic downturn resulting in more and more people eating at home. Young women, in particular, are once again turning to the WI to pick up money-saving tips. With a new vibrancy about this 93-year-old organisation, 56,500 women have signed up to branches across England and Wales in the last three years, bringing the total membership to 210,000. It's no longer just about jam and Jerusalem. Thanks to the new wave of younger WI groups, such as the Shoreditch Sisters, the Women's Institute has got cool. So while preserving and pricking are still enjoying a new lease of life (with sales in jam making equipment still continuing to rise), there is more to the WI than channeling The Good Life with homemade cakes, scones and tarts.
Geoff Booth, Vice Principal of the School of Hospitality at Westminster Kingsway College, says 'There has been a massive growth in the interest surrounding food in the last 10 years. Because of the TV chef and the concentration on television of all kinds of elements of food, such as foraging, procurement, sustainability, and the seasonality of food, we've found that there is a great demand and interest in each of these areas, and it is this which is defining where we are going with our curriculum.'
Founded just over a hundred years ago by Cesar Ritz and Auguste Escoffier, the godfather of catering if you will, in a response to the shortage of labour for London's five star kitchens, they now train chefs and restaurant managers for establishments including Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social, The Dorchester and Gordon Ramsay's empire. The college also counts Jamie Oliver, Ainsley Harriott and Anthony Worrall Thompson among their past students.
And with 15 kitchens, supplying two in-house restaurants, guest lectures from Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White, and courses in everything imaginable from sugar work and bread making to game, fishmongery, molecular gastronomy, and restaurant managers, the appetite for food is certainly continuing to grow.