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Photographer’s eye for quality

Student photographer James Byrne is passionate about The Journal’s buy local, use local, eat local campaign, and he has a college project to thank for opening his eyes to the delights of North East food. Jane Hall found out more. Read

German wines pass taste test

GERMANY exports more wine to the UK than any other country, but it’s mostly the cheapest plonk that we can get our hands on. Read

WINE EXTRA

THE Co-op has marked Fairtrade Fortnight by slashing 20% off all its Fairtrade wines. Read

The Pavilion, Alnwick Garden, Northumberland

CHILDREN – at least my two – seem to have bottomless pits for stomachs. Breakfast has barely passed into history before the eldest is asking when lunch is. Read

A natural talent for learning new skills

THERE are some things you’re a natural at and others that you have to be taught. For instance, over the years I’ve discovered by chance that I’m actually quite handy around the house. Read

IT’S not just in Britain that we bake yummy breads at Easter. Many cultures bake special celebratory breads at this time of year.

Traditionally served on Good Friday, the perfect hot cross bun should have a rounded, glazed crust and plenty of raisins, sultanas and citrus peel in a soft, chewy dough. A hint of spice and a fruity tang is good. So how do the ready-made ones measure up this year? Read

Epicurus joins drive

A REGIONAL food company that started out in a family kitchen is celebrating its 10th birthday by winning two new flavourful contracts – and signing up to The Journal Taste North East England Campaign. Read

Aims of The Journal Taste North East England Campaign:

To encourage more shops – including supermarkets – to stock more North East food and drink Read

Emma Hobson, owner of the Rendezvous Cafe in Wooler

Perfect shop window

AN appetite for fine food has led one couple to open a specialist grocery shop – and they are offering local producers with a conscience the chance to find a new outlet for their wares. Read

Christine Jackson, from Sunny Hill Free Range Eggs in Detchant, Northumberland

Tasty facts go online

THE butcher, the baker and the artisan cheese-maker are just some of the local retailers, producers and caterers that have signed up to the new Journal Taste North East England Campaign online business directory. Read

Fairy tale world of Jane Williams’ chocolate factory

FROM the outside it is just another drab factory unit hastily erected on yet another of the soulless business parks that now proliferate on Britain’s urban wastelands. Read

Wine extra

ON The Journal Taste North East England website (www.journaltastene) you'll find a picture of me picking grapes (red and white from the same vine) in the vineyards of Champagne Drappier, maker of my favourite fizz Read

Flatbread Cafe, High Bridge, Newcastle

THE flatbread takes us back to times when bread was the plate that soaked up all the juices and finally was eaten. Read

If you dislike cabbage, blame those Romans

WHATEVER did the Romans do for us? Apart from introducing us to prefabrication, mechan- ised weapons, baths, central heating, aqueducts, sewage systems, cats, glass and street cleaners, as well as libraries, public order, firemen, police and an extended calendar, what did they actually do for us? Read

Mussels on menu, all thanks to taste

WILD Holy Island mussels are on the menu for the first time at a popular Tyneside restaurant, thanks to The Journal Taste North East England Campaign. Read

Ice cream parlour in planning for farmer

DAIRY farmers have not had it easy in recent years, but brothers Hugh and Tom Richardson are doing so well they are expanding the business they set up in the wake of the devastating foot-and-mouth crisis. Read

How does a 127-year-old recipe for soup stand up today?

A soup recipe served up on this date 127 years ago has Alastair Gilmour intrigued. What would it have tasted like? Read

Quality is no longer a lottery

WE ALL have gaps in our knowledge. One of mine is called Portugal. This is odd in a way, for the very first glass of wine I ever drank was Portuguese. It was Mateus Rosé, and I was 11. As a special Boxing Day treat I was allowed a thimbleful to help wash down my cold turkey and pickles. I felt ever so sophisticated. Read

Salt cod, anyone?

ONE of the dry white wines from Portugal I enjoyed so much is stocked locally by Richard Granger Fine Wine in Jesmond, Newcastle. Read

Why can’t food just be food?

I FOUND myself shouting at the radio. The people in the car next to me on the Tyne Bridge must have thought I was either bonkers or having a major argument on the hands-free. Read