Mark Cribb presents Humans of Hospitality Live

#gifted

Mark kindly invited me and Angela to come to his Humans of Hospitality Live event, named after his podcast. In the podcast he travels the UK interviewing people from the hospitality trade, drinks distillers, food suppliers and industry organisations in order to give you a different take on what it takes to serve a fantastic meal in a restaurant or to provide a great hospitality experience.

After listening to his podcasts, sometimes I follow up in a connecting way such as posting about my curry goat after James Whetlor from Cabrito Goats was interviewed or having lunch at the Blue Vinny pub after Emily was interviewed from Dorset Blue Vinny. Not that one is owned by the other, just a bit of fun.

Aside from the sheer hard work that goes into every business, and listening to the scary scale of resources that the manager of The Ned has to look after, there can be other eye opening snippets such as male animals being born is not the best thing, and how they are “dealt with”. As a foodie, or even a meat eater, I think it’s only right that you know these things.

After a cheeky little Prosecco on entering, the night proceeded with a three-course meal, made with ingredients from the three speakers lined up.

Mark gave a quick background to the podcast and why he started it. To get a plate of food in front of you at a restaurant, bar or café takes a lot of effort and care into the product and service. Just think, most bakers never get to see their children wake up or go to school as they are up and out way earlier. The milk and the butter used similarly has people up early but also out in all weathers.

Mark wanted to celebrate those behind the scenes that are also part of the story of your food.

First up was Steven Lamb, from River Cottage.

He recounted his story of working in “new media” as it was called way back then, with Big Brother and Nasty Nick, through to working with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

https://humansofhospitality.co.uk/2019/10/28/episode-41-steven-lamb-river-cottage/

A loyal lieutenant to the River Cottage family, his title is Head Brand Ambassador and he lives the life of River Cottage. Not sure what all that really means even now that I have wrote it.

His thing now is about the art of curing meats and charcuterie. He was in Bournemouth earlier in the day taking the Urban Guild team through curing techniques and the staff products should be ready in a matter of months.

On our starter plate, we had Salami, Bresaola, Coppa and Lomo. He said everything was a simple cure. I particularly liked the salami and he said there was garlic and black pepper, but it tasted like it had fennel as well.

My favourite line was what his mentor, Ray, told him to keep him in check – “I taught you everything you know, but I haven’t taught you everything I know.”

Following on with the curing theme for the fish course, head chef Quentin created a coffee cured Chalkstream Trout, recycling their used Bad Hand Coffee grinds. I loved that and will try it at home one day.

Then came Andy Parry Norton, a New Forest Commoner.

https://humansofhospitality.co.uk/episode/053-andrew-parry-norton-new-forest-commoner/

Andy gave us so much detail on what it means to be a commoner and all the rules and responsibilities that surround that. My head was spinning with all that and all the different names and terms.

Because he farms in the New Forest, there are no fencing or boundaries for animals to adhere to and his new flock of sheep went missing for a couple of months and ended up near Salisbury.

One thing I learnt was why pigs have rings in their noses. It is to stop them churning up the soil called rooting, which they could do at a high rate of knots if unchecked.

Talking of pigs, here's a pork pie.

He is trying to get producers to show off the New Forest Marque as a sign of quality and difference.

For our main course we had beef two ways with a slow cooked rump on top and a slice of sirloin underneath. It came with a cheddar tart made with cheese from the next speaker.

Finally it was Tom Foot from Open Air Dairy.

https://humansofhospitality.co.uk/2019/09/09/episode-32-tom-foot-of-open-air-dairy/

Lack of starting capital meant they went down the route of milking cows in the fields and creating their own take on the milking platforms.

This approach give less throughput but calmer cattle means a better quality product. The cows can see the green grass on the other side and patiently queue up and wait their turn.

The conversations left me with a question and that was to find what is biodynamic farming?

Just because someone is said to be organic, that doesn’t mean antibiotics may not have been used, as they can be used by applying for a licence. If an animal is sick, then they may have to take on medication. What free range means in reality can be very different to what we might envisage in our minds.

Seems we have to do better and treat the soil better as our food either comes from the soil or water. If you intensively farm the land, without giving it the time and input, there is a finite number of cycles it can go through before there are no more nutrients left to be of any use.

We finished off with a gorgeous Eccles cake, a Conker gin tart and a piece of Open Air Dairy cheddar cheese.

A very enjoyable evening. I loved the combination of food and speakers. A cheeky Tuesday night with a beer, a couple glasses of wine, great food and entertainment. Thankfully I’m in charge of when I go to work the next day.