New to Student Cooking?
Our Web & Social Media Guru, Pam Bustard (no puns related to the topic, please) has a rather strange and random food obsession: custard.
Not just the shop-bought, pre-made, packet stuff – but the home-made real deal.
It’s become a bit of an addiction, to the point where she has to eat it every day.
Pam’s so passionate about it, she wishes to share how to make the perfect jug of the thick stuff (runny is just not an option).
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‘Stay Healthy. Be Lazy’
Want to know an honest, easy, and amusing way to stay healthy but still have a life?
This little book is like a mini healthy living Bible – but a lot less intense.
It gives you some simple tips and ideas of what you can do to eat better and move more (including tasty recipes and easy exercises) in a 7-day plan – with lots of cartoon pictures!
Great for you students starting – or returning! – to uni who want to look after themselves (while still having time to have fun)!
Check out the fabulous innocent website for more amusing foodie goodness!
‘Shelf Life: A celebration of the world’s quirkiest brands.’
Skum (marshmellow sweets). Faggs (coffee). Kocky (power food). Sugar Daddy (lollipop). Squirt (can of pop). Gross (water).
This random, colourful and humorous book brings together a bizarre collection of products from all over the world.
All are genuine, but you would question it.
Read it, explore it, buy it – even if it’s just for the pictures and the laughs.
Fish’n’Chips, Chicken Tikka Masala and a Yorkshire Pudding. This culinary motley crew has become something of a mantra when asking international students the question: “What comes to your mind when you think of British foods?”
It seems many never respond with, “A huge diverse range of ingredients, culminating in a mouth-watering selection of regional dishes, influenced over time by the many cultures, races and creeds which have flocked to this island. Cooked by some of the worlds most recognisable chefs in some of the worlds finest restaurants, Britain is a haven for the gastronome…!”
Britain’s poor reputation for food has been a perpetual complaint by visitors to this isle. W. Somerset Maugham once claimed in the UK: “To eat well in England, you need to eat breakfast three times a day”, while a Swedish visitor in the middle of the 18th century noted: “The art of cooking as practiced by Englishmen does not extend much beyond roast beef and plum pudding”.
It seems we have a reputation for a lack of creativity and a reliance on heavy, dull foods, saturated with gravy, sauces and condiments in the hope that we can inject a modicum of flavour into the lives of our pallet. What a load of rubbish!
This year alone Britain took more Michelin stars than ever before, our chefs are broadcast around the world, we consume more garlic than the French, we produce Brie, Camembert and Parmesan just as good as the French and Italians!
From the smoked kippers, sweet summer fruits, and quality beef in the North of Scotland, to the fresh fish, traditional cheeses and sweet ciders of the South coast, Britain offers any visitor to these shores a culinary adventure which they will never forget! Bon Appetito…or should I say, ‘enjoy yer scran!!’
Last Friday the office was struck down; famine stalked the edit suite, the meeting room AND the studentcooking.tv office. Granted, it was only 11.35, but seriously we were very hungry, biblically so.
I don’t know about any of you, but when I get hungry I start obsessing about all the most amazing foods I can think of. I taunt and test my aching, empty stomach with Google image searches of everything from juicy roast joints of beef, thick ribbons of parpadelle with porcini and garlic, to huge beef burgers, smothered in melted cheese and Jalapeños. As a recovering fatty, these actions are definitely steps backwards and wholly futile, however it happens, tragically, every time hunger strikes.
This Friday afternoon however, we went one step further; “If you could eat anything right now what would it be?” My mind skipped through all the most amazing meals I have ever eaten hurriedly trying to find the solution, Saltimboca in Bologna? Giorgio Locatelli’s red wine and Castelmagno cheese risotto, the kebab I had at Zurich train station in 2008? My mind landed on two dishes, the dishes of the gods, Foie Gras and the dish that made Hull famous, the Pattie. Tragically neither would be available in deepest darkest North Leeds and in the end a pack of Seabrook Worcestershire sauce crisps would have to suffice.
Now, when I get food on the brain it is there until I have devoured whatever is the target of my culinary lusts so with this in mind I decided to go to that Mecca of gastronomy! the jewel in the cuisine crown! no not Paris… Hull!
Saturday morning saw a quick bus ride into the city and a mad dash to the legendary Bob Carvers for a battered, deep-fried hockey puck shaped mound of potato, sage and fish. If you aren’t familiar with a Pattie, it is pretty much native to Hull, like a little grey sponge full of flavor, covered in vinegar and salt, served with dark, evil looking (but fantastic tasting) mushy peas. I always ask for “an old one”, one which escaped the jaws of one of last weeks eager customers and has now become hard and chewy, only to soften with the addition of Christ’s last drink (vinegar). It was delicious, a tour de force for the mouth and set me up perfectly for a day of loitering and pub stops. By hook or by crook, I managed to locate a little, delicious nugget of Foie Gras while I was in Hull that made the weekend! Lovingly fried and served with a bit of crusty bread nothing else bothered me that weekend, football results, girls, trains, weather. All these paled in my gastronomic accomplishments!
If you’d like to visit any of the shops and market stalls that Ainia and her friends visited, then you’ll find them below:
Leicester Market
9 Market Place South
Leicester
LE1 5HB
0116 223 2371
Monday – Saturday: 7am-6pm
(Indoor market Tuesday – Saturday: 8am-5pm)
Asiana Supermarket
70 Brazil St
Leicester
LE2 7JX
0116 255 3888
Monday: Friday 9am – 6pm
Saturday: 10am-4pm
Sunday: 11am – 4pm
To help you perform the best in sport and exercise – it’s good to be competitive! – you need to eat well to do well. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you can never drink or have a cheeky pizza ever again – but just not too much of it, and in balance with healthy things, so you’re not totally deprived!
There’s loads of great websites out there to help you make the right food choices, tell you what’s good to eat for a training regime (before and after exercise), and quick and easy recipes. Here’s a few we recommend!
GENERAL
• NHS: ‘Food for Sport’
• Teen Weightwise website
• Teens Health: ‘A Guide to Eating For Sport’
EATING FOR RUGBY
• Daily Mail: ‘The Food of Champions – What the rugby players eat’
• Rugby Coach: ‘Eating to Win for Rugby Players’
• The Rugby Blog: ‘Nutrition for Rugby’
And don’t forget to check out our very own blog post about eating for sport – from a student’s point of view!
Leeds International Shopping Guide Additional Content
Wondering how to get to the market? Or what time the Co-op closes? Look no further as below is all the info you need on the shops and supermarkets featured in Sofia’s guide:
The Co-operative Food Store
Where: 132 Cardigan Rd, Leeds
How to get there: Take either the no. 56 bus from the university, or walk down St. Michael’s Lane, then onto Cardigan Rd from Headingley.
Opening Times: open 24 hours (apart from Sunday, 10:00-16:00)
Phone no: 0113 278 5575
Sainsbury’s
Where: 12-16 Arndale Centre, Headingley
How to get there: Take either the 1, 28, 95, 96 or 97A. There’s a bus stop directly opposite the store.
Opening Times: Mon-Sat 08:00-22:00 / Sun 11:00-17:00
Phone no: 0113 214 2200
ASDA
Where: Holt Rd, Holt Park, Leeds
How to get there: Take either the no. 1 or 96 straight to the store.
Opening Times: Mon-Sat 08:00-22:00 / Sun 10:00-16:00
Phone no: 0844 894 1234
Wing Lee Hong Oriental Supermarket
Where: 117 Vicar Lane, Leeds
How to get there: Take either the no. 1, 28, 95 or 96 into town, then walk to Vicar Lane.
Opening Times: Mon-Sun 10:00-18:00
Phone no: 0113 2430500
Abu Bakar International Supermarket
Where: 37 Queen’s Rd, Hyde Park
How to get there: Take the no. 56 to Hyde Park, then walk.
Opening Times: Mon-Sat 09:00-21:00
For more information, check out the University of Leeds’ International Student Handbook. It’s full of useful advice all about making your stay in Leeds (and the U.K.) even better!
