I know I moan about London from time to time, especially when stuck on the Tube, but surely nowhere is ‘Cool Britannia’ more in evidence than in our capital city. London has been totally transformed since the 1980s and must be one of the top culinary destinations in the world for pure choice. You can eat or drink anything in the capital and the London Coffee Festival illustrated how London has become a haven for top quality coffee. From pop-up stalls to sit-down cafés, you can really enjoy your caffeine-in-a-cup like never before. There are clearly too many coffees to mention, but I particularly enjoyed the strong and delicious Neapolitan style from Kimbo and the delightfully smooth Vietnamese coffee from The Saigon Coffee Company.
Flat caps and Luddites?
In January’s edition of What’s Brewing, CAMRA’s monthly news magazine, there was a highly insightful article by food and drink market researcher, Peter Jackson. He investigates why more 18-24 year-olds don’t drink real ale when it often tastes better, has probably a greater variety of styles and costs less than lager and cider. I completely agree with everything he says in this article, so here are two of his key points and a few thoughts of my own.
The Beer Tax Escalator: CAMRA members lobby MPs
According to CAMRA, 3 million fewer UK adults visit the pub on a regular basis as a result of the beer duty escalator, which increases tax on alcohol by 2% above the inflation rate each year. This, in turn, is being blamed as a major contributory factor for the increase in pub closures. Therefore, following a 106,000 signature e-petition, CAMRA organised its biggest ever campaigning event, as over 1,200 members lobbied Parliament yesterday, demanding an end to this damaging piece of legislation.
A Sense of fun : Olympic proportions !
So the Olympics have finished, but the smiles remain, even if the full benefits won’t be felt for another 20 years, or so we are told. Hopefully, the Paralympics will be a fantastic success too (although can’t the Olympic flame be continued until those Games have finished ?). A real sense of fun has pervaded the atmosphere, which leads me to the following observation. Has food and drink become more “fun” recently? I think so and about time too!