Miss Foodwise

Celebrating British food and Culture

Regula

British Library Event

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Monday 23 may I’m on stage at the British Library’s Food Season with superstar food historians Annie Gray and Polly Russel to talk about the Platinum Pudding and the history of patriotic food in Britain. Tickets are just 10 pounds here > and you will also have the chance to taste the winner of the Platinum Pudding Competition courtesy of Fortnum & Mason: The Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti biscuit TRIFLE!

The winner of the Platinum Pudding Competition, aired on May 12 on BBC One is Jemma Melvin and her Trifle! I had the huge pleasure and honour to be a judge together with some fab judges including queen of baking dame Mary Berry! I think as someone working in the culinary world that it is incredibly exciting to see 5000 people enter a recipe in the competition, we had several kids sending in as well! That is such a joy all on its own! Plus you never know one of these kids could become a food writer when they grow up. Jemma chose lemon as her theme because the queen had lemon posset and amaretti biscuits at her wedding. You can find the recipe for the trifle to make for your own Jubilee celebrations over on the BBC Good Food website here > You can also find the other four finalist recipes there.

Our judging panel

To catch up on the Platinum Jubilee Competition program you can go to the BBC website here > to see when it is repeated or if you are in Britain watch on iPlayer.

Platinum Pudding Competition, a pudding fit for a Queen

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I am honoured and excited to have been asked as one of the judges for this competition along with people like Dame Mary Berry, Masterchef judge Monica Galetti and Buckingham Palace Head Chef Mark Flanagan.

The Platinum pudding chosen as a winner in the competition will become part of this historic moment and will be talked about for decades, maybe centuries to come.

Traditional British puddings – photo from my book ‘Pride and Pudding, the history of Britsh puddings savoury and sweet’ (Murdoch Books)

In collaboration with The Big Jubilee Lunch, Fortnum & Mason is launching a nationwide competition to find a pudding to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year. 

All UK residents over the age of 8 have a chance for their pudding to become the next commemorative royal dish. This follows the Jubilee chicken created for the silver jubilee of George V in 1935, Coronation Chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth (French always sounds more fancy, right?) created by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume from London’s Le Cordon Bleu to mark The Queen’s Coronation in 1953 and the Jubilee Chicken created for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. 

As a judge and British pudding expert because of my books Pride and Pudding (Murdoch Books £20), my ‘National Trust Book of Puddings’ and my book on British baking Oats in the North, Wheat from the South (Murdoch Books £25) my advice is to look into the Queen’s long and exciting life and work and take inspiration from it. …

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Regula Culinaria – podcast episode three

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Fawkes is third from the right. Source image Wikimedia

Remember, Remember the 5th of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot?

I know of no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
It was his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:

By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.

Vandaag had ik het over Bonfire Night in mijn nieuwe aflevering van Regula Culinaria. Je kan de aflevering vinden op je favoriere Podcast App, Spotify of Anchor! Of volg deze link >

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Belgian Café Culture – 5 year anniversary edition and Photo Expo

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I am thrilled to announce that in November 2021 my book “Belgian Café Culture” (Authentieke Belgische Cafés in Dutch) is getting a 5 year anniversary edition with a new cover! 

This book is a plea to carefully handle the fragile café heritage of Belgium. For too long have we taken these little cafés for granted. Not enough have we stopped to think about their history and their relevance in our culture. They are part of our social and cultural patrimony in Belgium. When I walk the streets, everywhere I look I see forgotten and lost cafés.

When I read in the papers that a much-loved café was going to close down I went to visit it, to talk to the people there who were about to lose their local. I was probably one of the last to document it. Nothing could be done; the owners of the building wanted to renovate the café and there is wind of a more hipster implementation. For this reason alone a lot of authentic cafés have had to go.

Although this heritage has always been staring me in the face, I only realised how fragile it is, and how important it is to preserve it, after taking a Belgian beer sommelier course which involved a lot of homework visiting cafés. The news of the closure of café Den Akker gave me the drive to do something about it in the only way I know how: by writing this book and documenting the importance of it.

But the need for modernisation is not the only reason why so many old Belgian cafés disappear. The ones that have been in the family for generations often disappear because there are no children who want to take over, or because no-one dares to take over an old-fashioned café. The cafés that have been closing in the last 5 years mostly become residential dwellings. All that remains are the memories of those who used to drink there.

A café can be the centre of a community, where people laugh and cry together over a glass of ale. Where disagreements are settled with words and sometimes with the fist. But where people often help those who are in need. Listen to those who would otherwise only have silence as a reply. Births and weddings are celebrated, but so are the dead.

Photo Exhibition in Antwerp

From 3 december until the end of januari you can visit the exhibition “Op Café” with Regula’s photo’s from the book at Luddites Books & Wine, first floor in Antwerp. For the occasion you will receive a complimentary Vintage 2016 Vintage Rodenbach with every purchase of her book. All books are signed by the author.

The book was featured by the BBC Radio 4’s The Food Program and on Radio 1 ‘De wereld van Sofie’.

Regula Culinaria – podcast episode two

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Goede Vrijdag.

(For my foreign readers, I am planning episodes in English, watch this space)

In deze tweede aflevering van mijn podcast heb ik het over de gebruiken rond Pasen in Groot Brittannië.

Ik spreek over Hot Cross Buns, Saffron buns en Simnel cake. Hieronder vind je het recept voor Hot Cross Buns uit mijn ‘Brits Bakboek’ (Oats in the North, Wheat from the South). De recepten voor de Saffron Buns en de Simnel cake vind je eveneens in mijn boek. Vergeet je niet in te schrijven voor mijn nieuwsbrief in de rechter kolom. De podcast is te vinden op alle gebruikelijke platformen, inclusief Spotify. Hier is ook een handige link >…

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My first Podcast episode on ‘Regula Culinaria’: Fat Tuesday

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Welkom op aflevering 1 van mijn podcast ‘Regula Culinaria’ In deze podcast ga ik, Regula Ysewijn, het hebben over culinaire tradities, hun oorsprong, hun evolutie en hun invloed op het leven. Het is eigenlijk verder bouwen op de culinair historische onderwerpen waarover ik schrijf in mijn boeken. Alleen geeft deze podcast me de vrijheid om breder te gaan.
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Regula Culinaria komt natuurlijk van mijn naam, maar wist je dat mijn naam Regula Latijn is voor de wet of de regel? Nu in deze podcast gaan we ons hoegenaamd niet aan de regels houden hoor.
Vandaag is het Vette Dinsdag. Vette dinsdag, hoezo vet?
In veel landen eten ze vandaag pannenkoeken maar wij hebben die al gebakken op lichtmis. Hoe zit dat nu eigenlijk en wat zijn onze gebruiken op vette dinsdag in Belgie. We kijken op het einde van de aflevering ook kort naar de gebruiken in het buitenland.
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Onderwerpen in de aflevering

‘De strijd tussen Vastenavond en Vasten’ is een schilderij uit 1559, geschilderd door Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Het toont ons meteen wat de kookboeken uit die tijd en later ook verraden…

Wafel recept uit een 16de eeuws handschrift 

Dit recept maakt een lopend beslag zoals het beslag dat we zien op het werk van Pieter Bruegel de Oude. Het bestaat uit bier, verse gist of biergist, gesmolten boter, eieren en lichtbruin meel.

Om te maicken dicke wafelen 
Neemt zess eijeren mit dat witte ende zess sonder wit ende slaetse wel cleijn mit een lepel vol versche ghest mit een half cruijse warm biers, die helfte meer boters gesmauten mit den bier, mit veel suijckers alsoe dattet wel soet is, ende dan neemt gebudelt meel ende menget wat dicker dan die lepel daer in overeijnt in staen mach , ende mengetse eenen halven dach te voeren eer ghijse backet ende setse bij tvier dattet warm blijft ende maict het vier van koelen ende maket yser wel heet ende doet dat deech daer in ende backsche ende neemt versche boter ende doet daer suijcker in ende maect die boter wel heet ende ghietse over die waefelen.
476 UB Gent

Het Carnaval van Binche

Het is een 400 jaar oude traditie die zo belangrijk wordt geacht dat het in 2004 de Unesco-wereld- erfgoed status kreeg.

Verdere links

Voor het carnavals recept van de Italiaans – Toscaanse Cenci moet je hier zijn: bij Julskitchen

Regula Culinaria

Vergeet mijn podcast niet toe te voegen aan je favoriete podcast app (Apple podcast neemt 10 dagen om een nieuwe podcast goed te keuren dus voorlopig enkel via de link hier of in je spotify app), en ‘subscribe’ in de rechter kolom bovenaan om bericht te krijgen van een nieuwe aflevering. Voorlopig zal er eens per maand een aflevering online komen. 

Anoniem, 1610-1620

Kitchen renovation with ecological aspect

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I’m excited to show you all our finished kitchen! It’s been great to read all your responses to my stories on Instagram while the renovation was ongoing – you helped me make some important choices for our worktops!

For the new kitchen we chose practicality and durability as the rule of law. You all know my vintage kitchen downstairs with the ESSE stove and the open shelves and the apothecary cabinet… the little drawers on the apothecary cabinet are troublesome for a working kitchen and the open shelves gather a massive amount of dust.

My husband Bruno designed the kitchen and we based it all on a vintage cabinet we found last year which was a reddish wood, shortly after we found the cabinet that has become our kitchen isle which settled the matter. We needed a reddish wood for the kitchen cabinets. The wood has a sustainability grade number 2 which is great and as I mentioned in my last post the sintered stone worktops are also an ecological choice.
Our walls are nearly 3 meters high so the upper cabinets can hold a great amount of our stuff – and keep it dust-free. 
Just before works started on the kitchen we also found these two old factory stools and although the wood isn’t the same, I think they make the result a bit more rough, which is nice.
When it came to choosing worktops and wall cladding, I wanted something natural and eco-friendly. Marble would have been my first choice, but in a working kitchen it poses many issues with staining. I am also aware that there isn’t an endless supply of marble so I looked into other natural options. I was surprised to find out about ‘sintered stone’ which is a man-made material composed entirely of natural minerals. I came into contact with a company called Neolith who see it as their company ideology to be as eco-friendly as they can be. They assured me that as a keen cook, ‘sintered stone’ would be ideal. It’s durable, nonporous, and it’s even being installed in restaurant kitchens as an alternative to steel, so it’s also very hygienic. On top of that, Neolith’s designs are very versatile, so I had the choice of various patterns which look exactly like marble. I was immediately sold when I saw the bold Abu Dhabi White from their new Six•S collection. But it wasn’t just purely an aesthetic choice as I said. I wanted to make a conscious choice, like integrating old furniture. Neolith is one of the most sustainable and environmentally-friendly materials on the market right now. 

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‘The Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook’ my new book

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Copyright Greetje Van Buggenhout

I’m happy to announce the publication of my new book: ‘The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook’!<
(Scroll down for the reference list which wasn’t printed in the book because of the page count limit)

For this book I jumped into my collection of cookery books of not only the early 20th century in which Downton is set but also the Victorian era when our most beloved cook Mrs Patmore was training as a chef. I made a little excursion into the oldest cookery book in the English language for the first festive recipe for goose and witnessed the curiosity for continental cooking around the late 1920’s….

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Burleigh Pottery x Regula Ysewijn Competition

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I am a huge Burleigh Pottery fan, as you will know if you have been following me on this website and my Instagram. I have used almost exclusively British pottery in my cookbooks Pride and Pudding and Oats in the North, Wheat in the South and a lot of that is Burleigh ware. That’s why Burleigh Pottery and I thought it was a super idea to team up to celebrate British pottery and my latest book on British baking! As an extra treat I’m finally sharing the pictures I took at Middleport Pottery many years ago, scroll down to find a reportage.

On to the giveaway! The winner will receive my book Oats in the North, Wheat in the South and Burleigh Pottery are offering this amazing Blue Calico (my favourite!) set worth over £250 consisting of:
A Blue Calico Teapot
A small milk jug
A sugar bowl
A large cake plate
2 dessert plates
2 teacups and saucers

All you need to do to be in the running to win is follow @burleighpottery and me @missfoodwise on Instagram and comment telling us why you’d love to win this incredible set of British pottery! You will have extra bonus entries if you share the competition page from @burleighpottery in an Instagram story, or if you bake my Treacle pumpkin tart recipe on the Burleigh website and share a picture of it on Instagram tagging us both (so we can see it and share!). Competition ends 31 oktober!

Burleigh ware is made by hand at the iconic Middleport Pottery in Stoke On Trent, it is the last working Victorian pottery in England. Burgess & Leigh was established in 1851. “Burleigh” is a combination of the two names William Leigh and Frederick Rathbone Burgess who were the founders. In my book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South’ which tells the history of British bakes and how the diverse climate of the British Isles influenced the growth of cereal crops and the development of a rich regional baking identity, you’ll read the story of the staple food of the pottery workers in the North of England and how these bakes are a fantastic relevant and healthy breakfast or lunch option today….

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War & Peace Pudding with Mock Apricot Jam – for the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe Day’ A Recipe from Pride and Pudding

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Today 8 may I’ll be showing two war-time recipes over at London’s Borough Market for the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe Day’ or the end of WWII.
While world wars and lockdown are very different, both have led to difficulties obtaining certain ingredients. We’ll be looking at two war-time recipes that were actually promoted by the Ministry of Food because there was an overload of carrots and potatoes. Recipe booklets were made to help cooks to whip up a variety of recipes with carrots and potatoes and other austere but often very delicious creative recipes…

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