The Food Passion Blog

It seems to be official. Wine drinkers everywhere are demanding more from wine these days; better selection, better value and importantly better taste and balance. But as is the case with local and sumptously prepared seafood, meat and produce, many of us now are interested in the provenance and authenticity of the wines we are choosing to drink. In fact, recent reports predict an increase in demand of 17% for better quality wine (Harpers, 2/11/05).

So how does this affect our local restaurants and pubs? An important challenge facing restaurants and pubs is encouraging people to try exciting regional wines, and to provide wine by the glass.

To find out more about what we as customers and what restaurateurs both think and desire, we informally elicited thoughts from the trade and selected customers. We then spoke to Michael Palij (MP) (MW), one of just 250 Masters of Wine worldwide, to give us more insight into the “Wine by the Glass Challenge”. Please be warned that Michael is known for his straight talking ways and potent comments! Interview held by Antoinette Milne (AM)of Sensuous Wine Merchants.

am: Michael, firstly, in your opinion, are we demanding more from wine when we go out or are we satisfied to only have a Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon on offer by the glass?

MP: Let’s start at the beginning. Most restaurateurs come into the industry, naturally enough, from a food background. Many go on to make the mistaken assumption that expertise in the kitchen translates to skill in the cellar. They put wines on by the glass that they know and drink. Which, if you think about it, is as ridiculous as my opening a restaurant and taking over the pans.

Wine is a complex subject and assembling a wine list a difficult task. Even for an expert the choice is daunting. So, to answer your question, the proliferation of Chardonnay and Cabernet is a result of short cut decision making all ‘round. The owner knows they’ll sell and has neither time nor staff (nor, in many cases, the interest) to select or promote a more challenging range. In the absence of any guidance the consumer, also bedazzled, goes back to what he or she knows to be reliable.

am: Many people often feel unsure about ordering wine by the glass because they think they either may not like it and/or they wonder how long the bottle has been open. What do you believe are the best ways for restaurants & pubs to encourage experimentation with different wines by the glass?

MP: You are absolutely right about these fears and it goes back to what I’ve been saying. Communication is key. There are dozens of ways to make the customer understand what’s in the glass – and I’ll come on to those later - but it starts with the proprietor. If he or she doesn’t understand the wines, what chance do the staff or customers have? When I do restaurant training I am amazed how few restaurateurs actually let their staff either eat the food on the menu or taste the wines by the glass. There is virtually zero training and most wait staff are paid the minimum wage. Is it any wonder there is no interaction with the consumer? And it really doesn’t need to be that way, just have a look at France, Italy or even America. Most wine suppliers will conduct the staff training for free and what does it cost to make a couple of dishes once a week and pass them around at meal time?

am: Many restaurants rely on support and guidance from their suppliers. What kind of support should restaurants be getting from their wine merchants/suppliers?

MP: Suppliers should be seen as a vital cog in the sales machine. If you, as the proprietor, don’t know anything about wine, the first thing you should do is admit it to yourself. There is no shame in not knowing – the shame comes from pretending you do. The second thing is ask your wine supplier to take over that responsibility. A good supplier should do the folowing:

• print the wine list (arranged by price, or origin, or grape, or style)
• offer ancillary support such as ice buckets, corkscrews, etc.
• write tasting notes
• manufacture tent cards or blackboards
• offer food and wine matching suggestions
• take back unsold stock when the list changes
• offer monthly training for staff
• provide a selection of house wines that rotate monthly
• design a wine tasting by the glass to go with a degustation menu

All of these will make the consumer more likely to experiment and take a chance on something they don’t know. The best thing about wines by the glass is the opportunity to experiment.

am: Michael, as an Italian specialist, which Italian wines would you recommend currently as being interesting wines to have by the glass and why?

MP: Italian wine is normally high in both tannins and acidity which make the wines more difficult to appreciate on their own but absolutely ideal with food. This is an extremely important point and one that is often forgotten. Wines that taste good on their own seldom have the necessary structure to parry the myriad of flavours, textures and cooking techniques that appear throughout a meal. Italian wines are custom-built for this and are perfect by the glass as the diner can choose the ideal wine for each course. Look for white grapes such as Greco, Arneis and Verdicchio and red grapes such as Sangiovese, Dolcetto and Aglianico.

am: What important trends do you see that will further challenge restaurant & pub wine by the glass offerings for the future?

MP: The challenge facing every business is the same: increase the number of customers and increase the average spend. Few restaurants, however, really understand what it is people want when they dine out. The increasing popularity of chain restaurants is testimony to the fact that diners may not be hugely knowledgeable about food and wine but they are certainly not stupid. Why spend £20 on a steak, dressed with a pre-prepared sauce and served by indifferent staff when you can get more or less the same thing for half the price? Restaurants must find a competitive edge if they are to flourish and I am convinced that wine service in general, and wines by the glass in particular, is critically important to profitability and customer satisfaction.

am: Have you any final words for restaurant & pub customers when considering which wine to have by the glass?

MP: Go on, experiment! Ask the staff – if they don’t know then ask them to find out. It’s only through this kind of pressure that the wine by the glass culture will start to change. So don’t be afraid to ask questions. There is so much snobbery associated with wine consumption that many people feel like they ought to know. Utter rubbish! Why should you know? Certainly not as a result of any educational campaign launched by the majority of restaurants.

am: And final words for the restaurants & pubs that work hard to please their customers all round when it comes to wines by the glass?

MP: Take wine seriously and if you don’t understand it then draft in an expert. You wouldn’t do your own plumbing, would you?

Most customers don’t know a bad wine when they taste it but amost everyone recognises a good one. Don’t just buy on price – keep them coming back for more.

Michael was born in Toronto, Canada and emigrated to the UK in 1989. He was admitted to the Institute of Masters of Wine in 1995, winning the J. Sainsbury award for best dissertation in the MW examination. Michael writes for wine publications such as Decanter and Harpers Wine & Spirit Journal as well as contributing to the Italian sections of, Which? Wine Guide and the DK Guide to Wines of the World. He teaches Wine & Spirit Education Trust courses in the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Norway.

Article written and edited by Antoinette Milne (Sensuous Wines) and Tony Kluge (editor).

Cockles and what? That is often the response of visitors to Swansea, one which I was once guilty of. Cockles are pretty self explanatory – a delicious, juicy, plump little shellfish gathered in estuarine locations nearby. But what on earth is laverbread, (and it doesn’t come wholegrain or white)!

So if you are a visitor reading this, let us make you feel at ease about this local delicacy: seaweed, dark, green, gloopy, traditionally served at breakfast with cockles and maybe a bit of toast. Not impressed? Neither was I the first time I tried it. Now I adore it, even on its own, cold.

But I wouldn’t recommend that you go this far – instead here is a day trip for you, completely based around laverbread. Has this guy gone mad, you are probably saying to yourself? Probably, but read on anyway.

•    Get yourself down to the beach for the day, have a look to see the seaweed unadorned.

•    Then, late afternoon, move on to the Swansea market to see it somewhat prepared, in oatmeal or au naturel.

•    Now unless you have your cooking equipment with you, book a table in one of the local restaurants (you should find it on the menu at most of those in this guide) and ask for a dish that has laverbread. As an added bonus you’ll almost certainly find cockles alongside. Don’t worry, the chefs here know how to treat it well and it often comes in very small quantities.

Follow these 3 simple steps and you’ll get a real taste of Swansea and its finest delicacy. And, if like me, you fall madly in love with laverbread, you can take these simple recipes and a tub of the green stuff home from the market and carry on your affair! Enjoy.

Laverbread Mash Potato

Cook off some spring onion in a little butter, adding a small amount of laverbread (you don’t want green mash!). Then turn this mixture gently into some of your finest mashed potato and serve hot. It goes wonderfully with fish.

Bacon, Laverbread and Cockle Fishcake

Add a little laverbread and some cockles to some unsalted mashed potato, and leave to cool. Cook some bacon in boiling water, drain and finely mince. Add to the mash, mix together and shape into tennis ball sized sphere. Lightly roll in flour, then egg, and finally breadcrumbs. Pan-fry in a little oil until warmed through.

Recipes contributed by Ieuan Williams, sous chef at Patricks Restaurant

Most of us cook because we have to, and dream of creating the mouth-watering concoctions that our TV chefs seem to rustle together so easily. Then there are a smaller number of us who like to dabble at dinner parties, and usually make a fine host for friends and family.

And there are those who would rather be in the kitchen than anywhere else. Someone like Ben Griffiths, who as 2nd chef, calmly supervises within the heat and clamour of the kitchens at Patricks with Rooms. The restaurant’s motto is Seriously Good Food, so by implication, Ben should be a Seriously Good Chef. The food at Patrick’s is certainly good, but I wanted to investigate further Ben’s story behind this Swansea success story.

At 24, he has done very well for himself. Initially Ben had hopes of becoming a teacher, though he always loved cooking from a young age. Unlike many teens, he cooked all his own meals and from an even earlier age was baking home made fairy cakes. In 1998 he began his working life as a pot-washer, one of the less glamorous jobs in the world of fine dining. Soon enough though, his culinary interests were noted and he began to cook for the Patrick’s kitchen team.

8 years on, and he has just recently returned from competing for the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship 2005. When I questioned him, Ben admitted to being quite nervous on the day, especially when his rivals turned up with the all the latest culinary equipment, and a pedigree from some of the country’s best known Michelin-starred restaurants. His daunting task for the semi-final was to cook a meal using the ingredients from a mystery box. This was no mean feat, but after creating his own dish to get him into the competition, he was fairly confident in his ability, which was enough to get him through to the semi-finals.

Interested in what motivates Ben now, I asked him what the best thing was about his job. “Being able to buy and cook ingredients as I please, and meeting with suppliers on a daily basis to find out what the freshest, most seasonal produce is.” His enthusiasm is evident, if only by the fact that his wife, whom he met whilst they both worked in Patrick’s, despairs at the fact that Ben buys a new cookery book each week!

Whilst happy in his current role, Ben has longer- term ambitions: ‘I would love to work in France, and maybe spend some time in Australia, before opening my own restaurant with my wife Jackie.”

All chefs have their ups and downs though. Ben described how during his early years of training, he managed to make green custard. Yes, green custard. ‘It tasted fantastic, but kept turning green. I couldn’t figure it out so the head chef asked me to show him how I was making it. In the end it turned out that it was the pan making the custard green!’ Just goes to show that even the best chef’s are capable of mistakes!

‘I would recommend that anyone who is thinking about making this a career works their way up from the bottom, in an establishment with a good reputation. It gives you a good understanding of how demanding a kitchen can be and will tell you straight away if it is for you.’

Ben has been good enough to let us in on the secret to his winning quarter final recipe to us, so have a go making it, knowing that a Swansea boy has cooked this in front of Gordon!

Recipe:

Slow Roasted Gower Lamb Shank, on Butternut Squash Puree, with Balsamic Glaze (Serves 4)

Ingredients

4 Gower Lamb Shanks (trimmed)
1Bulb of Garlic (split in half)
6 peeled and chopped carrots
4 peeled and chopped white onions
6 sticks of chopped celery
4 sprigs of rosemary
200ml Balsamic Vinegar
1 large butternut squash
1 oz butter
1 dessert spoon tomato puree
Olive oil
Tomato concasse (de-seeded, skinned and finely chopped tomatoes)
Salt and Pepper

Method:

Season the lamb with salt and pepper. In a large ovenproof pan, heat olive oil, place in shanks and brown on all sides. Remove and put to side, then sauté the chopped vegetables and garlic in the remaining olive oil until browned. Now create the jus by deglazing the pan with the balsamic vinegar. Stud the lamb with rosemary and place on top of the vegetables. Pour the lamb jus over the top of the shank and place the pan in the oven on Gas Mark 5 for 2 hours.

While the lamb is cooking, peel and remove seeds from butternut squash, dicing into 3 inch cubes. Boil until nice and tender, drain off and place in blender whilst hot, adding butter and puree until nice and smooth. Season to taste and keep warm. Once the lamb is cooked, drain off pan juices through a sieve into a pan and reduce, add the tomato puree and keep reducing until you have a nice sticky sauce consistency.

Place 4 large spoonfuls of squash purée onto the plates followed by topping it off with the shank, drizzle the balsamic glaze over the shank and a little around the plate. Garnish with a little tomato concasse and serve.

I do wonder at the tendency to make food trendy, whether it is celebrity chefs, vegetables washed in spring water, or the tiniest of tiny portions at some restaurants. As a generalisation, we seem to lack the interest in food that the Italians possess for instance, in our everyday lives, thus somehow allowing food to become a ‘trend’. I suppose doing this has raised its profile, which is something long overdue, and a lot of good work has been done in recent years to raise people’s expectations of the food they eat. Even supermarkets now have their own fine ranges, organic and some specialist and ethnic foods, and there is certainly room for specialist suppliers to provide premium products. However I do feel that the exclusivity created around the very food that we are told we should be showing an interest in, is handcuffing progress. Fresh food, good food, food that has had pride taken in getting it to our plate often comes with a hefty price tag. And this means that ‘good food’ can be meaningless for many.

As the Swansea Community Farm has shown, this doesn’t have to be the way. Adjacent to Carmarthen Road a little green oasis, surrounded by retail parks and speed cameras, is providing something that has grown from a simple idea, into a farm with livestock, crops and a wonderful sense of self purpose.

One of only 2 community farms in Wales, the idea was the inspiration of a number of people who had left London in the early 1990’s, to gain a better quality of life here in South Wales (and who can argue!). These individuals had experience of the city farm concept in London, and thought that this was something that Swansea would benefit from. After a number of years planning and negotiating with the council for a plot of derelict land, they were eventually endowed with this 4 acre plot.

Starting off with small birds and traditional allotment crops, they now have 5 sheep, and are just about to receive some pigs once the housing is in place, to compliment the ducks, rabbits, and guinea fowl amongst others.

So what, you say – how is this bringing food to everyone? Well, as Ray Dancer (Senior Manager) described, the farm works on all levels, bringing together people who normally would have little interest or time for understanding where their food comes from. I sensed an anecdote about children not knowing about crisps coming from potatoes. Instead he tells me a story about a supporter of the farm, whose neighbours didn’t know what to do with the carrots he had given to them, as they didn’t recognise them with the attached foliage. This is not so hard to believe; as editor, I consider myself quite well versed when it comes to food – but as Ray showed me around the farm, pointing out a strange looking creature called a Guinea fowl, I became incredibly embarrassed. It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard of them or eaten one, but that this was the first time that I had seen a guinea fowl, alive, and with feathers. They really do look odd! Point made.

The main focus here is on getting children involved. Originally the children simply grew crops. Now they incubate eggs in the local school, and visit the chicks as they grow older and lay their own eggs, learning about the cycles of life. The idea is not to simply play at being a farm though, as the animals will eventually be slaughtered, and the children learn about this too, regardless of their attachment to the animals. The crops too are used, and the children are taught to cook meals from the produce. This can be as simple as unearthing, preparing and eating the potatoes, but it gives them the chance to not only learn where their potatoes come from but moreover what a difference in smell and taste there can be with fresh local produce.

Going back to my initial point, it is a great thing to see the involvement of food in our daily lives as something special that should be cherished. There is no reason why good food should only be experienced on a special night out, and that people’s everyday experience shouldn’t involve some enjoyment of quality food. We have managed to bring good food onto restaurant plates and supermarket shelves, hopefully projects like this can help to make it a daily feature on our dinner tables.

The interest that the farm has raised has been phenomenal and it has been successful in growing and developing, on the back of the fantastic work that it is doing. However it does work largely through external funding, and therefore is always glad of help towards better facilities. Food Passion would like to help the Swansea Community Farm, so if you own or manage a business that would like to donate any equipment such as cookers or fridges, second hand or nearly new, or assist in any other way, please contact the editor for details on how you can help.

Swansea Community Farm

2 Pontardulais Road, Fforestfach, Swansea SA5 4BA

01792 578384

Open Mon-Sat 10-4, please book if you are a group wishing to have a guide

Swansea folk are lucky to live by the sea. Well I think so anyway, and I am constantly reminded why on my almost daily drive along the bay front. Though my car frequently receives an unwanted sandblasting, I find it hard to believe that there can be many other cities in the world that have such an extensive and picturesque stretch of seafront promenade.

Certainly this panoramic 5 mile path with its pool and plants impresses most visitors to the area as well, but perhaps fewer get to experience another aspect of our maritime heritage. Though the days of huge landings of fish at the old docks are long gone, we are still blessed with a great choice of fishmongers, many of whom are to be found in the Swansea covered market. Each of these displays their own unique products as well as some of the more well known fish and shellfish.

One such fishmonger, occupying a corner plot on the main thoroughfare, is Coakley-Green. With a 150 year old pedigree, this business has become a local by-word for quality seafood and also does pretty well for a nationwide reputation. Opened in 1856, the original business was situated at No.1 Goat St., near the current location of the former David Evans’s building, but like much of the city centre was destroyed in the Blitz.

I met Adrian, who now heads the stand and the staff that work there. Stopping by on a Thursday afternoon, I find a very busy trade going on. Adrian is busy at his makeshift desk (plank of wood, telephone, order books) while his team that day James, Lee and Tanya fight for space between weighing scales, customers and the cutting block. It becomes immediately apparent that there is a very loyal trade going on here, and that they have acquired a lot of friends during their years in business. Watching this fantastic market stall banter was almost as interesting as the glistening fresh fish on display.

In between the frantic bustle, I take a good look at what is on offer. I have to say the choice is very tempting. On a recent trip to Australia, my wife and I visited the Sydney fish market, apparently one of the top three in the world. OK, so it was on another scale altogether but the quality on display at the Coakley-Green stand certainly compares and in true Swansea fashion is on an altogether more personable level. Here, speckled squid are pushed aside by whole Scottish salmon, and bold-striped Mackerel glare angrily at the Herrings with their intense red faces, mouths agape. It is a superb display. My favourite were the rainbow trout, who looked as if they had just been pulled out of the river.

It’s a long day at the Coakley-Green stand, which starts at 6:15 am, and doesn’t finish until 5:30, sometimes even later. This is the dedication that is required in order to ensure only the best fish are ready for the day. Adrian tells me that he only sources his fish from a day boat fleet to ensure freshness. The alternative is trawlers, who sweep the ocean, catching any fish in the way. The fish are easily bruised as they are crushed against any other marine life, then they are frozen at sea. Once offloaded, there is only a very short time before they deteriorate, so they are not at their freshest when you buy them.

Adrian points out the gleaming eyes, the red gills and something that I was not aware of. Apparently mucus, slime, or more palatably perhaps, the ‘sheen’ on the fish, is another indicator. But if you look closely, it is definitely mucus, and definitely looks fresh. Never mind, I have to have some anyway, so I order some fine filleted Hake, and much to my wife’s delight, cook it up for dinner that night.

I can safely say that the area’s maritime heritage is alive and well, and I would recommend anyone, local or visitor, to try some of the fantastic fish and shellfish that is available here.

The old supermarket debate regarding the omni-potent corporations who control our choice of food goes on, dictating the meagre margins that farmers make, and putting them out of business in the process, goes on.

It seems difficult to have a conversation with a market trader or food business that doesn’t at some point turn to the “big ‘ol baddies”. Inevitably, price and overbearing power over our choices as individual shoppers are the topics of discussion. These topics may come as a surprise, for surely stocking mangosteens in March and apples in April is providing me with choice, right? Wrong. There are discreet cogs turning away that affect what is stocked where and when, which in itself is not a bad thing, until you take into consideration the following experiences.

Take this example – at 2 Swansea supermarkets, I personally spoke with the fresh produce manager of each about the availability of the stock (or lack of) and the unbelievably poor quality, i.e unfit for consumption. Both managers agreed and made their respective promises to rectify the situation. Months later, I am still waiting to see any difference in these areas. Although it appears that complaining may not get something done, I’m certain that taking my pennies elsewhere will eventually have an impact. I have also entirely given up purchasing fresh produce from either. To make things worse, I was even recommended to shop on a Saturday to ensure freshness, and that the poor quality of the produce was in relation to the low earning demographic that lived around and used the supermarket! So I guess if you are relatively poor, you get relatively poor produce, at the same price. I left shaking my head in disbelief.

The real problem here is that I have no other choice about where I can purchase my fresh produce from. I have found some suppliers, but only after my local independent closed down due to supermarket pressure. The way I see it, if a supermarket can not provide convenience at least, over and in lieu of quality (choice) and price, what good are they?

The other discussion is around is price. It is a fallacy that markets are more expensive than supermarkets (according to my close observations, if not to official statistics). This is certainly not the case at traditional markets like the Swansea market –I can buy free range eggs of a far superior quality for up to 30% less than a comparable purchase at the supermarkets. And the market eggs come all the way from Dunvant. The local produce markets often have a slightly different clientele and do sell a different range of goods at a different price range, but for the most part they represent great value in terms of quantity vs price, without even taking into account the incontestable difference in taste and quality. For instance though a packet of standard supermarket chicken breasts will cost you around £3, The Mountain Rose farm breasts, which are completely free range, at around £5 will give you substantially more meat, don’t have water pumped into them top enlarge them (just watch them shrink when cooked!) And the difference in quality – well I’ll leave you to see! And again, I am enjoying local products with all the environmental and social benefits that brings.

You might like to argue the supermarkets side of things: after all you can purchase Welsh potatoes, Welsh Caulis, Welsh Lamb and so on, from most supermarkets. Clever at marketing, (some small producers could learn a trick or two), they have caught on to the public’s desire for local produce ( and even exacerbated it).But again, I’d willingly put any of the local supplier’s produce to the test. Just because a packet of meat has a ‘local’ suppliers photo on does not mean it hasn’t travelled halfway across the country first before arriving on your doorstep, or that the animals are known individually, or butchered personally and locally. Similarly, compare a bottle of wine, £ for £, between a wine merchant who has a number of selective factors in choosing his wine and the supermarket’s price focussed selection procedure and the majority of the time, if you are spending £5 or more, you can really only be happy shopping at the supermarket for convenience.

If I can find one argument for the supermarket it has to be the post 5 o’clock shop. I just can’t get hold of what I need after work, and so have to wait until the weekend. If I could persuade the smaller butchers, veg shops and so on to stay open until 6, it would make a huge difference to the amount of money I would spend there. Even my desire to deal with someone who cares about what they are selling to me cannot be overridden by convenience at this time of the day.

Finally, and rather peculiarly you might think, I’d like to thank the supermarkets for squeezing out the farmer’s and producers. For 10, nay, even 5 years ago, we didn’t have the thriving, growing, local food scene that is commonplace now not only at markets and small independent shops, but also at our restaurants. These same producers , who have had an entrepreneurial spirit and the inclination not to let the drive for greater supermarket margins destroy their livelihoods, are now bringing us great pleasure by selling directly to me and you. Together with those who always have done at the more established markets, I now spend less on my weekly shop, and my food tastes so much better.

I had an odd conversation with my hairdresser the other day - a Neath Valley guy, a pretty good hairdresser, with a pretty strong accent. You would think after all these years in Wales I would be used to the lingo by now, but I really showed myself up on this occasion (particularly since I generally make it my business to know when and where the latest -and not so latest - restaurants are in the area.)

He says to me, have you been to Teifi Nick’s in Swansea - they are a really simple place and the food is great? I tell him no, where on earth is Teifi Nick’s, thinking to myself, what a great name, thoroughly Welsh with an American slant (OK, so I’m biased). I simultaneously wondered if they had avoided the local predeliction for pluralising the owner’s name by an inexplicable lack of apostrophe at the end of the name.

So he describes the shed that Teifi Nick’s occupies, and the delicious Thai food that they serve. I still couldn’t think where he meant - ‘Tei -fi-Nix you say’. His colleague pipes up and says yes, ‘Tei - fi - Nix’. Well I quietly thought to myself, you’d better give up your job Tony because there aren’t that many Thai restuarants in Swansea to choose from. The Resolven boy said it one last time, and finally the link between Thai and Teifi clicked, and in case you haven’t already figured it out (credit due if you have because up til now I was lost) he was talking about the Thai Phoenix the whole time.

The moral of the story is, don’t assume anything about a restaurant before you’ve been, particularly if you’ve been told by a stupid American in Wales! Anyway, I haven’t been (yet) but will make it next on my list - and if any of you have been, add your comments here and tell us what you think of the place - good, bad, or just couldn’t find somewhere called Teifi Nick’s!

Due to many requests for the Food Passion Insights to be posted, we will be adding them one by one shortly -here’s the first for those of you that missed out on the first edition!

I have always thought Swansea’s maritime quarter has retained a certain edge, one that more gentrified waterfront locations have long since lost. I’m not sure many people would want to hang on too eagerly to the pungent smell of fishnets drying on the side of the marina, but it brings the source of my food closer to my daily life, which I think is no bad thing. Especially so, since those news reports of children who apparently don’t know what a chicken is. Sometimes it is just nice to be reminded where your food comes from. It’s a shame then that what is left of the Swansea fishing fleet is kept so restricted to the public. Yes, you can view the boats, but one is kept just that little too far from the fishermen themselves to see and hear what is going on.

Immensely frustrated at this, I managed to persuade a pair of fluorescent clad gents to let me through the double gate leading to the fishermen’s jetty. Within minutes of introducing myself, that wonderful Swansea hospitality came to life, and I found myself  aboard a surprisingly fresh smelling floating steel hulk, having been given a wonderful cup of tea by fisherman Peter Gwilliam.‘Why aren’t you at sea on such a beautiful day?’
 
‘No good’, he says glancing at the clear blue sky, ‘there’ll be bad weather shortly, a horrible south-easterly wind at Force 5 or 6’. I can’t see it myself, but it is part of Peter’s livelihood to know the weather, and sure enough as I sit here writing, the rain is truly coming down. After being caught out in a Force 9 electric storm not long ago, I guess he doesn’t want to experience that again too soon.

He flicks on an array of screens in the cabin, which I have to marvel at, as he demonstrates the 30-50m depth of the channel, the location of hitches (obstacles to you and me, including wrecks, anchors and even war mines), and where he catches his squid at Oxwich Point. ‘The squid disappeared for 9 years, after the Sea Empress disaster’ he tells me, ‘probably the detergent, but they came back last year for the first time’.Now you hear about the plight of fishermen on the news, but it doesn’t really sink in until they tell you face to face their predicament. A number are already selling their boats and moving on, others say it’s only a matter of time. It seems like a very sad resignation, for both of us. Some have suggested that there are good opportunities for working holidays, or for day boat fishing trips for tourists, but it must be difficult to make a jump from fisherman to tour operator.

Peter catches sole, plaice, ray, bass and turbot, and shows me his home-made shrimp pots, which he is hoping will see him through the winter. Much of his produce ends up on the plates of us Swansea folk, through Tucker’s fish market in the Swansea market. Today he has several large buckets of dogfish, a shark-like, brown fish. ‘We ‘shoot the gear,’ and the specially designed equipment allows no refuge for the fish. But this can have a negative effect on fish numbers as well.’ Ironically he points out a boat which has none of the trawling equipment anchored to the back. ‘This one just uses fine fishing nets, and has come back with a very good catch – we are considering doing this ourselves. Right now we just don’t get enough money for our fish, and the price of our fuel has doubled in the last few years.’

 As I look around at the gleaming 10+ story buildings going up around me, the simplicity of Peter’s rusting steel boat, and his brother’s floating a few jetties down, scrubbing brushes on deck, strikes me as something which we may not see for that much longer. 
  

After a very wet and windy autumn day out gathering plants, funghi and berries with Andrew Price of Dryad Bushcraft, I was incredibly surprised to learn of the huge array of ready to eat foods available in the countryside. Andrew talks more about his passion for food and the truly natural foods on our doorstep.
 

There is something primal and even romantic about taking a walk in the countryside or along the coast to forage something delicious to eat. Perhaps we as 21st century humans are experiencing a need to reconnect with the earth, and to live in some small way as our ancestors once did. Or could it be that we have grown tired of the limited range of foods available commercially, and have chosen instead to stride boldly forward in search of new and exciting gourmet experiences?It is so easy to walk into a supermarket and buy our food ready washed and neatly
packaged, but where is the challenge in that? The growing interest in wild foods over recent years has been staggering. Everything from wild Game to Fungi, have experienced a resurgence in popularity bordering on a revolution.