{"id":831,"date":"2010-03-08T13:01:30","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T13:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesramsden.com\/?p=831"},"modified":"2010-03-08T13:01:30","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T13:01:30","slug":"the-food-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesramsden.com\/2010\/03\/08\/the-food-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FOOD DEBATE"},"content":{"rendered":"
At 8.30pm on Friday, 5 food writers and bloggers took to the stage in The Westbridge Draft House to argue the toss for the most indispensable ingredient. The tension was palpable as they mounted the podium, preceded by 3 formidable judges in the shape of Katy Salter (her off Waitrose Food Illustrated and A Pinch Of Salt<\/a>), Rejina Sabur (her off Gastro Geek<\/a> and Fire & Knives<\/a>), and Henry Harris (him off Racine<\/a> in South Kensington).<\/p>\n The contestants were themselves forces to be reckoned with. Feisty Rachel McCormack <\/a>was there to promote olive oil, Kavey Favelle<\/a> was fighting for cheese, Charlie Nelson<\/a> was the egg man, and Oliver Thring<\/a> was seasoning the whole event with salt. Disaster had struck the day before when pork jouster Tim Hayward<\/a> pulled out due to unforeseen circumstances. All was not lost however! In an act of heroic selflessness and, well, Frenchness, Mathilde Delville<\/a>, with not half an hour to go before kick off, put herself forward to battle in the name of that most Gallic of ingredients – the onion.<\/p>\n ROUND ONE – 3 minutes to introduce your ingredient Charlie kicked off the evening with a rousing, if slightly rambling (the pressures of going first), eulogy to the egg. Demonstrating its resilience and shapely perfection, it was a strong start.<\/p>\n Next up, Rachel entertained the throng with tales of classical mythology and oily lustfulness.<\/p>\n Kavey was next, with an impassioned and convincing performance in the name of cheese. “Cheese is the only ingredient that gets its own course” she argued.<\/p>\n Ollie followed her, his measured, honest and knowledgeable paean to the preserving qualities of salt seemingly impressing everyone.<\/p>\n Finally Mathilde put forth her witty, tender and almost seductive argument for the onion.<\/p>\n The two weakest arguments were selected by the judges to battle it out to keep their place in the competition. Charlie and Rachel were chosen, due to the fact that they hadn’t concentrated on food enough in their opening speeches. After a filthy barrage between the two, the judges asked them one final question. “What would you cook with your opponent’s ingredient?” Both were shrewd enough to incorporate their own choice into the answer (it’s indispensable, remember?), Rachel offering scrambled eggs drizzled with olive oil, and Charlie circuitously suggesting mayonnaise. It was this that swung it for the judges, and Rachel was dumped out.<\/p>\n
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