Why chow now?

Whilst I’m sure there are very few of us who actually celebrated Chinese New Year on Monday with some crispy duck, a few spring rolls and a bottle of Tsingtao, it has got me thinking about the future for Asian cuisine in the UK. Our high streets seem to indicate we’re a nation obsessed with Italian…Strada, Prezzo, Carluccios, Zizzi to name a few. And yet according to a recent survey by Food Network UK, Chinese stir-fry has just taken over as the nation’s favourite dish. Should we therefore be weeping that our high streets are bereft of any major players in Chinese cuisine? Or should we be celebrating the little sticky boxes of rice and tubs of gloopy gelatinous sauces peppered with a few pieces of unidentifiable meat that are churned out of the kitchens of our local Chinese restaurants?

It’s safe to say we should probably stick to a little bit of home cooking if we want some fresh and tasty wonton soup or a bok choy stir-fry. So, to Amazon for the perfect Chinese cookery book and what do you find? Ken Hom (there’s no denying he’s the king of Chinese cooking but surely he’s not alone?), Ching-He Huang (no doubt a woman with passion). And then? Then, we get no more than two pages in to the search results and I’m bored already from looking at the kind of books that are in the back row of my doubled-parked cookery books, the ones covered in that dusty grease from years of sitting untouched above the cooker. 

So, what is the future for Chinese food? Two decent cookery writers and maybe the odd M&S Chinese ready meal? Let’s do something about this. Watch this space for a few Chinese experiments from the Phipps team.

Posted by Liz Lock

Smart phones killing the family dinner?

Hot on the heels of our recent insights on how to reach today’s teenagers (Gen Y...Where are You? via slideshare) comes the latest research from Ofcom which suggests that nearly a quarter of adults and a third of teenagers have used smart phones during mealtimes (Are we addicted to smartphones? via BBC News). Despite the mini boom of eating at home during the recession it would be too easy to jump on this and write off the family dinner as a thing of the past (anyone remember the Bisto Promise TV advert earlier this year?) Yes, the rise of the digital world, or digitalisation, is a current mega trend but it’s not an either/or kind of trend. Think of it as a blurring of the digital and the real world, so while we are increasingly connected via Facebook and Twitter we are also hankering after real experiences like family time or live events. Want proof? Phipps’ recent Tapas Fantasticas event in London was attended by over 15,000 people of all ages in just two day, and last week’s Riesling Week boosted footfall to independent wine merchants by 11,000 lovers of Germany’s finest wines. Family dinners will continue but we may have to get used to the fact that there is a new family member at the table…the smart phone. 

Posted by Toby Schuster