JournalLive - North East Taste - Recipes with Bill Oldfield

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Let’s take stock of the health benefits of fish Apr 22 2011

SURVEYS might drive you mad but they’re also a great source of inspiration; particularly for an aspiring columnist with few original ideas of his own.Read

How higher standards raise expectations Apr 08 2011

BEING mildly hedonistic, I find it difficult to imagine that you can have too much of a good thing.Read

Big helping of meddling Mar 25 2011

DID you see it in the Budget? It was well hidden and has had little publicity but it’s going to be a boon to the restaurant industry and make millionaires of all of us restaurateurs.Read

Too many fishy tales add to the confusion Mar 11 2011

HERE’S a riddle for you. What sounds like a dog but smells like a fish? Well it’s the Scarborough Woof so named because it’s got four legs, is covered in hair and digs holes in the beach.Read

Why slow food is not quick on the uptake Feb 25 2011

For the uninitiated, he’s a well- known environmental campaigner, a previous chairman of the UK Ecology Party (now known as the Green Party) and senior advisor to governments on all things green – in an environmental sense rather than vegetables.Read

How eating less can be good for the planet Feb 11 2011

IUSED to work for an energy giant – one of those companies frequently vilified for being uncaring about our environment and shareholder-pressured in their quest for ever greater profit.Read

We’re slowly learning to love our own produce Jan 28 2011

LOVE. It’s a funny word and possibly one of the most abused. Being male, it’s obviously one I try to avoid using in too many circumstances; particularly with regard to relationships.Read

Animal welfare issue will test your resolve Dec 31 2010

ANOTHER New Year’s Eve and the pressure to make more resolutions. We’ve all made them. But how often do we keep them?Read

Hearty meal makes for a real winter treat Dec 17 2010

ADVERTISERS understand it. That’s why we’re bombarded with the same adverts, time and time again. It appears that they work on the principle that our poor brains can’t assimilate their message until it’s been rammed into our heads a few times.Read

Long road to a better approach to our meat Dec 03 2010

FOURTEEN years ago, when I opened my first restaurant, I had this idyllic notion that I would knock on the doors of local farmers and, after a few minutes of negotiation, shake on a deal where they would supply me with meat fresh from their fieldsRead

Tips on how you can survive an office bash Nov 19 2010

SOME people just don’t know how to enjoy themselves. And that’s a problem with the party season fast approaching because to us, in the restaurant industry, it’s important that everybody who comes to our restaurant leaves wishing to come back again.Read

The way forward is to learn from the past Nov 05 2010

DON’T you just love the French? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve used that phrase in my lifetime.Read

Looking forward to a different, better future Oct 22 2010

I HESITATE to say this but maybe there’s some good to come out of this recession thingy. For a start, we’re going to end up with a nice balanced economy where the Chancellor no longer puts his mail, still unopened in its envelopes, behind the mantelpiece clock.Read

Keep questioning to make life interesting Oct 08 2010

ONE of the most infuriating phrases of my childhood was: “Because Y is a crooked letter and you can’t make it straight”. My grandmother lived with us and she was a very old, venerable lady, brought up in the time when children were to be seen occasionally but definitely not heard.Read

Heavy cost of poor customer service Sep 24 2010

SO YOU’VE decided to come to our restaurant. We’re delighted and hope that you’ll leave happy at the end of your visit.Read

A few potholes show up on entrepreneurial road Aug 27 2010

IT WAS 14 years ago that I opened my first restaurant in the small Durham Dales town of Barnard Castle. After seven years I sold it to concentrate on the developing a restaurant I’d opened in Durham and a further restaurant in Jesmond.Read

Scientists' findings a fat lot of good to me Aug 13 2010

SO now we know why we get fat. I always thought that it was fairly straightforward: you like your food too much, put an excessive amount on your plate and therefore shovel down more fuel than you’re actually going to use.Read

Same as it ever was Jul 30 2010

DO YOU think that “the youth of today,” when used in an eyes-raised- to-heaven sort of way, is a modern phrase?Read

Stuck in the old days with our food choices Jul 16 2010

YOU’RE stuck in the Stone Age, you are. Yes, I know that you think that you and your family have progressed, via your ancestors, through the Bronze Age, Iron Age and now into the rather large, digital, high-definition, wide-screen, LCD television age, at the same time thinking that your mobile phone’s pretty cool. But in truth, you’ve progressed little from the Neolithic era. Isn’t it time you modernised?Read

Cook your own meals and avoid those risks Jul 02 2010

WHAT’S in your kitchen cupboard? Nestling amongst the sauces, herbs and spices, the various odd vinegars and bottles of oil, is there a hydrogenated vegetable oil? No?Read

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