Observer Food Monthly

[Richard_D]

Normally like OFM (apart from Cocktail Girl) but was shocked to find this video mentioned.

God, it's been ten minutes since I saw it and I'm still cringing. It's complete and utter pretentious bobbins.

I think it's done the oppposite of what was intended - I'm going nowhere near an Audi or those restaurants.

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

[jayrayner]

Normally like OFM (apart from Cocktail Girl) but was shocked to find this video mentioned.

God, it's been ten minutes since I saw it and I'm still cringing. It's complete and utter pretentious bobbins.

I think it's done the oppposite of what was intended - I'm going nowhere near an Audi or those restaurants.

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

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There is a noble tradition of cooking on car engines as this fine book proves:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manifold-Destiny-G...ie=UTF8&s=books

sorry. Still haven't worked out how to do bloody hyperlinks.

[fisherman]

You just need to believe Jay, you did it without even realising, that's true power.

[Richard_D]

Normally like OFM (apart from Cocktail Girl) but was shocked to find this video mentioned.

God, it's been ten minutes since I saw it and I'm still cringing. It's complete and utter pretentious bobbins.

I think it's done the oppposite of what was intended - I'm going nowhere near an Audi or those restaurants.

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

←

There is a noble tradition of cooking on car engines as this fine book proves:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manifold-Destiny-G...ie=UTF8&s=books

sorry. Still haven't worked out how to do bloody hyperlinks.

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I stand corrected

[Laibach]

I remember an old Floyd on Oz programme where he strapped a steak to an engine of a farmer's 4x4. By the time said farmer had rounded up the livestock in the vehicle the steak was cooked. Can't remember how it turned out though, but have a feeling it was not good.

[PoppySeedBagel]

You can also cook a whole salmon in the dishwasher, well-wrapped in foil. My stepmother did once - she also barbecued a turkey one year. Eating her meals was always an experience.

[KimS]

Wasn't it tricky getting the salmon to lie still long enough to wrap it in foil?

[PoppySeedBagel]

My stepmother can quell with one look, so, in this case, no...

[Gary Marshall]

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

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i don't think this was intended as a practical demonstration of what you can do with your new audi.

[Laibach]

Now you tell me...

[sunbeam]

I understand the dynamics of newspaper sales. I understand that, if they can popularise a subject to appeal to a more general audience they can increase sales. I understand that, these days, that means 'celebrity'.

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It's also about maximising space to place lucrative colour advertising. That is essentially why the Sunday colour supplement was invented in the first place. We don't actually need or read the massive amount of paper that thuds onto our doorsteps each Sunday. I personally would be happy with a lot less but of higher quality. However there is no going back it seems and so we get special subject supps that are full of padding and the OFM is no different. It's very hard to fill all that space each month and the pool of quality writers must be small as the same people seem to crop up in all the papers all the time.

S

[Gary Marshall]

Normally like OFM (apart from Cocktail Girl) but was shocked to find this video mentioned.

God, it's been ten minutes since I saw it and I'm still cringing. It's complete and utter pretentious bobbins.

I think it's done the oppposite of what was intended - I'm going nowhere near an Audi or those restaurants.

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

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i watched this last night, can't see why it provoked such a strong reaction.

tony said he wanted to do something different other than the usual 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario and i think they certainly achieved that.

[Zoticus]

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

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i watched this last night, can't see why it provoked such a strong reaction.

tony said he wanted to do something different other than the usual 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario and i think they certainly achieved that.

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Obviously, the 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario would have been out of place considering that this is a commercial for Audi.

The whole thing seemed uncomfortably contrived, and could only have been surprising to those who hadn't realized that car engines get hot. Somewhat worryingly, this group included Guardian Science Correspondent Alok Jha.

[Gary Marshall]

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

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i watched this last night, can't see why it provoked such a strong reaction.

tony said he wanted to do something different other than the usual 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario and i think they certainly achieved that.

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Obviously, the 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario would have been out of place considering that this is a commercial for Audi.

The whole thing seemed uncomfortably contrived, and could only have been surprising to those who hadn't realized that car engines get hot. Somewhat worryingly, this group included Guardian Science Correspondent Alok Jha.

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err, if you watch the other films in the series, they are essentially 'me in my kitchen plating up food', with a few arty shots of audi A6's for good measure.

so when does imaginative become contrived? they are trying to link cars and cooking, not natural bedfellows.

fwiw i thought they were all good, the l'enlcume one especially made me want to try it again.

[ajnicholls]

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

It's a bit of light-hearted fun. Don't take it so seriously!

Adam

[Zoticus]

err, if you watch the other films in the series, they are essentially 'me in my kitchen plating up food', with a few arty shots of audi A6's for good measure.

so when does imaginative become contrived? they are trying to link cars and cooking, not natural bedfellows.

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Point taken, I hadn't watched the other ones. Still, they all seem a bit a contrived in that faux reportage style of infomercials. They wouldn't be out of place on the Home Shopping Channel.

[Richard_D]

What's the flippin' point of cooking something in an audi headlight?!?!?!? What does it demonstrate (apart from you've got too much time and money on your hands)??

It's a bit of light-hearted fun. Don't take it so seriously!

Adam

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I'm trying not too

But it just seems so pointless. It's the whole 'chef as artist' (another discussion) scenario that winds me up. After all it's just a plate of food. It either tastes and looks good or doesn't.

so when does imaginative become contrived?

At that point!

[ajnicholls]

But it just seems so pointless.  It's the whole 'chef as artist' (another discussion) scenario that winds me up. After all it's just a plate of food. It either tastes and looks good or doesn't.

I think this whole thing may be Audi trying desperately to get their car into one of these films. The other 2 films had alot more about the chefs and the restaurant. As Audi are sponsoring the whole thing (and the only really good OFM in months), I think they're allowed to. Was pointless though!

Adam

[Timperley Chris]

Just found this thread and thought I'd add my two penneth.

I really enjoy OFM (except Cocktail Girl who never fails to rile me with her dull tails of oh-aren't-I-fashionable cock and bull). In fact, I've collected and kept every issue since number 8. I even occasionally browse through them when looking for culinary inspiration?

Does this make me sad?

[Gary Marshall]

i keep various issues for the recipes and do look forward to it, sometimes it's worth the wait othertimes a bit of a let down. I'm no fan of the hand wringing 'fish is running out' sort of articles but then i'm not exactly their target market.

[Harters]

Thanks for the resurrection, Chris.

I was fascinated to read Thom's 2007 outpourings as to whether Alti should be classed as Midlands or North Western - not least because I recall having a similar discussion about Cheshire in my real life at about the same time.

Some books will have the county in the Midlands. Such sources are tosh. Cestrians are as northwestern as anyone else. Innit.

And politicians going round fiddling with boundaries (which might make a change from fiddling expenses) does not alter things one jot. South of the river you're in Cheshire; north of it you're in Lancashire. Simples!

As to the OFM, I also look forward to it each month. It's normally a sensible and interesting read. And I was glad to see that with their awards this year not everything northern went to somewhere in Chorlton (which might otherwise have been taken to be a bit of a fiddle)

[Timperley Chris]

Thanks for the resurrection, Chris.

I was fascinated to read Thom's 2007 outpourings as to whether Alti should be classed as Midlands or North Western - not least because I recall having a similar discussion about Cheshire in my real life at about the same time.

Some books will have the county in the Midlands. Such sources are tosh. Cestrians are as northwestern as anyone else. Innit.

And politicians going round fiddling with boundaries (which might make a change from fiddling expenses) does not alter things one jot. South of the river you're in Cheshire; north of it you're in Lancashire. Simples!

As to the OFM, I also look forward to it each month. It's normally a sensible and interesting read. And I was glad to see that with their awards this year not everything northern went to somewhere in Chorlton (which might otherwise have been taken to be a bit of a fiddle)

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...Ah yes, Chorlton. So desperate to be Didsbury it hurts!

[thom]

I was fascinated to read Thom's 2007 outpourings as to whether Alti should be classed as Midlands or North Western - not least because I recall having a similar discussion about Cheshire in my real life at about the same time.

Some books will have the county in the Midlands. Such sources are tosh. Cestrians are as northwestern as anyone else. Innit.

And politicians going round fiddling with boundaries (which might make a change from fiddling expenses) does not alter things one jot. South of the river you're in Cheshire; north of it you're in Lancashire. Simples!

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Oh for me Alti is nailed on North West all day long. The historical idea of South of the Mersey being the Midlands is exactly that, a historical quirk which has no relevence to the Modern World. Cheshire is in the North West, culturally, commercially, socially and certainly in terms of the endless governement quango's (NWDA, Food North West etc etc).

The bigger question is whether or not Altrincham is now in the county of Greater Manchester or Cheshire. Historically Cheshire it is now part of Greater Manchester, whether people (who attach more cachet to a Cheshire address) choose to acknowledge that or not. I love people in Altrincham or indeed Stockport who still insist on putting "Cheshire" on their postal address. Bless 'em.

You can find endless circular arguments on what Manchester is/isn't (with constant provocative baiting from Brummies, Scousers and Tykes) on The Manchester forum of www.skyscrapercity.com which is the architecture/urban planning/built environment version of eGullet.

The time I don't waste posting and lurking on here I generally spend posting and lurking on there...

Cheers

Thom

[thom]

I think (without scanning back) my original ire was raised by some newspaper referring to Juniper being in the East Midlands? I certainly believe that mistake was made by ill-researched and disinterested journalists cocooned within the M25 than because of any deep-seated belief that crossing the Mersey instantly transports you to the Midlands.

On a more topical but equally irritating note The Sunday Times had a "Isn't Britian Lovely" supplement last week and it included a page on Manchester which as per usual was a witlessly roped together and disjointed ramble around the city's cultural cliches with a fact/fallacy ratio of nigh on 50/50.

My favourite part was the round-up of the Northern Quarter's thriving alternative food and drink scene (fair enough) which highlighted quirky independent restaurants such as Ning (Yep - Oldham Street based Malaysian independent with a neighbourhood feel and gloriously camp/lo-fi decor) and Grado (What?! A slick yet patchy Piccadilly tapas place which is part of Heathcote's expanding restaurant conglomerate and is typical full of pin-stripe suits).

It's not up their with poverty, global warming, child cruelty I know, but it just really bloody irritates me. Sketch might be a stone's throw across Regent Street from Soho but as any fule know it ain't your typical Soho joint.

It's just lazy.

Cheers

Thom

[thom]

...Ah yes, Chorlton. So desperate to be Didsbury it hurts!

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I absolutely understand what you mean, but actually I'm not so sure it holds true. Didsbury has an edge in house prices (for what that's worth as a measure of "desirability") but aside from that I find Chorlton much the more interesting place.

In terms of going out although West Didsbury (my old stomping ground) has some great little restaurants and bars Didsbury Village itself is limited in it's range and is now hopelessly tainted by over-development allowing Pitcher and Pianos, Slugs and lettuces and whatever which turns it into a heaving meat-market of lager-swilling idiots of a weekend.

I would also certainly prefer to do my food shopping in Cholrton, where The Unicorn, the incomprable Barbakan, Belgian Belly, North Star deli, Out of the Blue fishmongers, Frosts Butchers etc etc severely spank what you have in West Didsbury (the Lapwing Lane Deli - sadly no more R&M) or Didsbury Village (the glorious Chese Hamlet and Axons but that's about it, unless you like M&S butties).

Sadly such days of lolling about drinking orange mocha frappuccinos and reading the weekend papers in any chi-chi metropolitan suburb are far, far behind me. Now I nibble cheese toasties in the Curly Cornet cafe with my caterwauling kids.

Joy.

Cheers

Thom