As many who know me will know, I love fruit and veg. This isn’t a plant-based, nutrient-savvy trendy love,
I’m afraid. I am a real fruit and veg geek. One of my first jobs in journalism – around 10 years ago now (how?) – was with a trade magazine focused on just fruit and vegetables, and the business opportunities around the growing, trading and eating of them. I managed to travel around most of South America, go to Central America, visit Holland countless times (it’s pretty much the fruit and veg headquarters of the world), Europe, the Middle-East, as well as travel up and down the UK, all in the name of fruit-and-veg journalism. It sounded so obscure that I thought people might think I was an undercover spy… In fact, I was nearly stopped getting into Costa Rica because passport control didn’t believe me that I would come all that way to write an article on bananas. I left them a magazine – everyday’s a school day.
Even after leaving that magazine, and in my jobs as cookery editor, recipe developer and food writer since, fruit and veg has been at the top of my list. Apart from them being, in the main, exceptionally good for you, and great partners for many different meats, fish and cheeses, I just find them really interesting. There are so many types of fruit and vegetables – and within that their are so many different varieties. Did you know that there are over 7,500 varieties of apples? It’s mind boggling. And then you’ve got the lovely bits and pieces that don’t even fit into the ‘fruit’ or ‘veg’ brackets like herbs and edible flowers. Or mushrooms. Don’t get me started on mushrooms… They are amazing.
Anyhow – what’s the point of all the love on this page? Well, I am putting on a supper club that’s all about fruit and vegetables on Thursday 28th July, at new wine and cocktail bar 68 and Boston in Soho, London. My menu, below, will include an arrival glass of sherry and an amuse bouche, as well as four fruit-and-veg focused courses. Now, don’t get the wrong idea – you’re not going to be wading through tonnes of radishes and peashoot, and coming out hungry (and pissed), this is real food, making the most of all summer has to offer us in this country and further afield.
The menu for 28th July:
Amuse bouche
Oyster mushroom ceviche
Rare beef or barbecued aubergine on red and sweet potato
salad with courgette flowers,
sweet and sour tomatoes, and a tarragon aioli
Cherry cream cake
Coffee and homemade chocolates and jellies
£35 per person, includes a welcome sherry
Wines and cocktails available at the bar
This is the wine list (all wine is £20 a bottle, £17 a 500ml carafe or £6.50 a glass)
Book tickets – here
