When pizzas were first invented as a way of creating a cheap meal, little did they know what they would be turned into by the might of Dominos.
That beacon of fast food has introduced a new tempting feast to its range, called Domino’s Premiere. A pizza of truly epic proportions.
And what, pray, does the Premiere boast as its topping? A little mushroom and asparagus, perhaps? Maybe some tuna, capers and anchovies? Not a bit of it.
The Premiere is a pizza for the truly unreconstructed. A pizza aimed fair and square at the carnivores of this world.
If you order a Dominos Premiere you get the following quartet of toppings: pepperoni, chorizo, steak and pastrami. Meat, a little more meat, ooh some of that meat and, why not a little bit extra meat just to make it up.
Tell me, please, that people out there don’t really want something like this. Surely…
Outrage in The Daily Mail today, as M&S have been ‘exposed’ for selling mince pies that have a best-by date of November.
Now on the face of it, this is a perfectly valid story. If you’re buying an obviously Christmas-themed product, you’d expect it to last till the festive season, wouldn’t you?
But then I stopped to think. I know we’re in credit crunch (god, am I fed up with those two words) time and people like to start buying things early, but why would you buy mince pies now – in October – to use on Christmas Day?
I can understand buying crackers or stocking presents. But mince pies?
When I make a batch of mince pies at home, they’re lucky if they last 2 days before starting to be past their best, not 2 months!
What must manufacturers be putting in these pies that allows them to last so long? And more to the point, what are people thinking that makes them decide to buy mince pies in October and expect them to be OK to eat in December.
Let’s face it, it’s the Daily Mail’s fault!
Today is Blog Action Day and thousands of bloggers are uniting to talk about poverty.
Now I know that poverty is rife in the developing world, but sometimes I think people forget the poverty in developed countries.
In the UK, Jamie Oliver is midway through a series called Jamie’s Ministry of Food, where he’s attempting to get an entire town, Rotherham, to learn to cook properly.
I’m impressed by his drive and passion for the project and think it’s immensely honourable, but it’s just highlighted to me the problem many people have in affording ingredients.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that people are learning how to cook beef stir fry or chicken wrapped in prosciutto, but Jamie is paying for all these ingredients.
Once he leaves, how many people are going to be able to afford to buy these items: beef is expensive, even if you buy it diced and prepackaged. So is salmon, especially if you’re feeding a family.
I’m not denying that takeaways aren’t just as expensive, but food costs are spiralling and for many people, it’s tough to buy much of this food.
A feature in The Guardian a couple of weeks ago pointed out that it’s far cheaper to get calorific intake through ‘value’ high-fat sausages than good quality meat-packed bangers. The same is true for french fries and similar junk food.
This is why people eat takeaways. I’m not denying that people need to be better educated about food, but money talks and for the underclass in the UK it will always be more appealing to live on crap than learn how to cook and spend a little more!
