Lifestyle News

When Shahed Amanullah started a website that crowd-sources lists of halal businesses, he found 200 U.S. restaurants serving food prepared in accordance with Islamic law. Today, 25 years later, the site tracks nearly 13,000 U.S. halal restaurants, with menus featuring cooking from Malaysia to Mexico.

While representing a relatively small number, U.S. Muslims’ share of the U.S. population is growing —  the Pew Research Centre projects it to more than double (from 0.9% to 2.1%) as a share of the population in the period from 2010 to 2050.

Culinary diplomacy is back.

The U.S. Department of State, with the James Beard Foundation, on February 9 relaunched the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership, a network of 83 noted American chefs and culinary professionals. The American Culinary Corps will encourage cross-cultural exchanges by planning menus and preparing cuisine at diplomatic events, such as state dinners and embassy receptions abroad.

Broad Street’s premium Indian restaurant and cocktail bar, PushkaR has been named as the Best Of Birmingham at the Nation’s Curry Awards.

The Nation’s Curry Awards - which is a celebration of the best curry houses and chefs across the UK - were held on Monday 20th February at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel.

Batman, Harley Quinn, Superman and Wonder Woman join forces with Tom and Jerry and The Flintstones*, to name a few, in the latest McDonald’s Happy Meal promotion. As restaurants across the UK and Ireland welcome the latest Happy Meal promotion, customers can look forward to this exciting Warner Bros. takeover, to commemorate the Studios’ centennial. Available until 21st March, each Happy Meal will feature 12 double-sided Warner Bros. toys with swappable aluminium heads and paper construction bodies.

University College Birmingham’s training kitchens provided the backdrop for a community culture cooking session where more than 70 families got to roll up their sleeves and learn how to make Jamaican dishes with an expert chef. Let’s Get Culture Cooking with Families, delivered by 2 Much Passion CIC as part of a Bring it on Brum! food festival, gave local people the chance to master a range of Caribbean food with Chef Dane from Dane’s Caribbean Catering, inspired by his place of birth.

1800 guests visited luxury Ribble Valley hotel, Northcote between 20th January and 5th February, for the annual Obsession culinary festival, sampling innovative, original dishes from 23 world-leading chefs that hold a combined 15 Michelin Stars between them. 

The event was a sell out success as usual, living up to its reputation as an unrivalled highlight in the UK's culinary calendar, this year raising an enormous £73,000 (approx.) for charity, Hospitality Action. 

The U.S. Department of State, with the James Beard Foundation, relaunched the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership, a network of 83 noted American chefs and culinary professionals.

The American Culinary Corps will encourage cross-cultural exchanges by planning menus and preparing cuisine at diplomatic events, such as state dinners and embassy receptions abroad.

The Three Counties Food and Drink Festival, a brand-new two day celebration of local food and drink producers, taking place this summer at Three Counties Showground, Malvern, has announced the exciting details of their Saturday line-up of activities, including some very famous guests.

Mothering Sunday falls on 19 March 2023 and families are planning how to spend the day with Mum to thank her for all she does for her family. Mandira's Kitchen invites you to a sumptuous Afternoon Tea served on their delightful patio overlooking the Silent Pool or you can order a family feast for 4 people that can be delivered to your door.

Almost a quarter of a million pounds in grant funding is being made available to organisations that help provide struggling families with food. The city council is offering grants of up to £3,000 each via the Affordable Food Infrastructure Fund for 75 projects across the city, with £225,000 available in total.

This follows the Emergency Food Aid scheme which gave grants to food banks and other providers to buy food and other essential supplies.

If there’s one thing we all agree on, it’s that putting pineapple on pizza is one of the greatest sins ever committed in the name of cooking.

And that’s why one British waste company is launching a national campaign to have this culinary blasphemy deleted from takeaway menus across the country, and – if necessary – naming and shaming the guilty parties.

A restaurant in Madrid, in Span, known for its egg tortillas has temporarily closed after a salmonella outbreak - triggering a debate over how the country’s iconic dish should be cooked and how runny it should be.

The dish typically contains a mixture of fried potato and egg, often with onion, and is one of Spain's most widely eaten foods. Casa Dani is known for only lightly cooking the eggs, serving a particularly runny version.

Celebrate Mother's Day this Spring with Luscombe Damascene Rose Bubbly. The jewel in Luscombe's crown, organic Damascene Rose Bubbly combines Damascene Rose, Muscat grape juice and Sicilian lemons with sparkling Dartmoor spring water to create a delicious Champagne alternative, perfect for a springtime family gathering to celebrate Mother's Day with loved ones. 

On 31 January, a new Bottega Prosecco Bar was opened in the international departure area of Istanbul Airport. This is an extremely prestigious location, as it is located in the centre of the Luxury Hall and surrounded by the boutiques of the most famous fashion brands. It represents another step on the road to enhancing the value of Prosecco, which even today, despite having higher production costs, does not enjoy the same image as Champagne.

For many of us coffee offers a much-needed boost, but we may be getting much more - or less - caffeine than we bargained for at popular High Street coffee shops. Consumer group Which? measured the caffeine in drinks at five big chains and says it found "huge differences".

An espresso at Pret for example had six times as much as one in Starbucks's. A medium cappuccino at Costa Coffee has 325mg of caffeine - far more than rival drinks and equal to four cups of tea.

As of Wednesday 1 February, eggs laid and then sold through the British egg industry Lion Code label can no longer be labelled as free-range or free-range organic which means consumers will only see ‘barn’ or ‘caged eggs’ on their supermarket shelves.

However, whether free-range, organic or barn, RSPCA Assured eggs are always higher welfare.