The last 15 years has seen an explosion in the cookbook market. You only need to pay your local bookshop a visit to see that every chef and cook, celebrity or otherwise has published a collection of recipes and culinary musings. And much as I respect Gordan Ramsey’s restaurateur achievements, it does sometimes feel like he’s in a race to [...]

Honey, Not Just For Your Toast or Greek Yogurt Manuka Honey has long been renowned for it’s healing qualities through it’s immense antibacterial properties.  So much so that companies in America are utilizing the health benefits of manuka honey to create medical dressings.  Derma Sciences (part owned by Comvita a large honey producer in New Zealand) has been pioneering this [...]

Get the Right Tools So you have been reading DIY guides and fancy having a crack at building your very own smoke house in your backyard? Well we think its a great idea, as long as you take your time and concentrate on the instructions…..and never, never use galvanized metals in the building of your smokehouse. But now that you have created this masterpiece [...]

There is something reassuringly comforting and unpretentious about soup. It has the same potential to cheer you up as ice cream and comes in as many different flavours and textures if not more. Pretty much every country and culture in the world has a recipe for soup or broth, from Britain to Bolivia and beyond. A bowl of hot steaming [...]

The USA isn’t exactly renowned for their contribution to world gastronomy, but there is more to American cuisine than fast food and diners. Such a melting pot of cultures, new world produce, ideas and often excess is bound to produce something half decent to eat. Which brings us to the brownie. This highly imaginatively named sweet treat was first created [...]

Pizza is one of the most popular meals being consumed around the world, so much so that a whopping 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second in the US alone (source: Pizza – The Fun Facts About That Great Dish).  That is crazy stats considering the humble beginnings of the modern pizza in which cheese was added to in [...]

Every man has surely dreamed of having their very own ‘man cave’ where they can watch sport or play games uninterrupted for hours on end? And surely nothing screams ‘man cave’ more than a; robust, small and easy to reach beer fridge! It’s very rare that such a boring appliance can evoke such raw, manly emotion from the leagues of men that roam this [...]

I’m sure there is many a person out there reading this now who has watched their fair share of cooking shows like; Mastechef or Top Chef .  Watching intently as the various recipes are being made by the contestants, admiring the knives they use under pressure to cut their protein or delicately score the skin of a sumptuous cut of pork belly. Now you are [...]

Italy is famous for many things like; pizza, pasta, passionate people, mafia, the Roman Empire, and ancient architecture to name a few.  But it also produces some of the finest wine this world has to offer, with it being served in some of the finest restaurants and bars. Italy has some of the oldest wine grown regions in the world with the [...]

Let’s face it, keeping healthy is some what of a weighty issue (excuse the pun) these days and not the most enjoyable part of our lives. Watching calories, not eating too much, going to the gym, staying away from the booze etc etc etc.   Sometimes it even feels like its a full time job but as we all know [...]

Coffee has become one of the biggest beverage industries in the world spreading far and wide, giving it’s energizing hit with gay abandon.  Crazy to think that coffee’s origins started back in the 13th century in the country of Ethiopia, eventually spreading through Europe and the world. With the spread of the black elixir came the love for; what it could [...]

Cooking shows have come a long way from the simple two dimensional programme’s showing you how to break eggs and make meals that will give you a heart attack. The cooking phenomenon now makes superstars out of its culinary wizards allowing them to demonstrate not only their great skills in the kitchen but also their passion for cooking. Sure some [...]

Comfort food is the type of thing to serve on a cold winter’s day after a game of footy, when you are ill or just plain hung over and feel like shit. Wholesome comfort food evokes childhood memories, so everyone’s idea of comfort food differs slightly, especially if from another country. A good pie often hits the mark for the [...]

Are you an avid fan of the hit series Top Chef (now fast approaching double figures in terms of series)?  Have you always agreed with what Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Padma Lakshmi had had to say about the contestants and their recipes? Well don’t worry about what they have to say, as we have sifted through the episodes and got what we think [...]

There are many culinary treats in this world that make eating food an absolute pleasure.  But striping it right back to basics, there are some combinations of food that truly compliment each other.  Existing in an relationship of symbiosis, defying normal logic but pleasing none the less to our palette. Oh yes, it’s these very combinations that have built the basis [...]