The Great Staffordshire Breakfast

So while I sat last week eating my brunch - a delicious plate full of bacon, eggs, sausage tomatoes and mushrooms with a good cup of tea, (I was being spoiled in return for washing up duty) I overheard a couple next door who had also partaken of a great Staffordshire all day breakfast commenting to Peter that is was the best breakfast they had enjoyed. I glowed with pride and then began to think. So what made it better than any other breakfast?

Was it the fact that the bacon, cooked gently in the pan, tasting ever so slightly of crisp porky sizzle and salt complimented the creamy texture of the free range egg and the tart acidic soft texture of the tomato or was it the fact that it was presented beautifully on a large fine china Wedgwood plate and my cup of finest English tea brown enough to taste of tea but pale enough to be delicate was also in a lovely china tea cup... maybe it was as simple as the sunshine streaming through the window, bouncing off the floor making me feel warm whilst the dulcet sounds emanated from the CD player temporarily taking me far away from my pots and pans!


Now everybody likes a big, hearty English breakfast once in a while, don't they? Families sit at their tables on a Sunday morning and tuck in but I wonder do they know where the tradition really came from? why is the Full English Breakfast, so well... English?

I bet they don't know that the English breakfast first came in to our households as a marketing ploy, in the 1920’s, much the same as the red Santa Claus arrived via Coca Cola. ‘Bacon and eggs’ was the phrase used by Edward Bernays to persuade people that a good hearty breakfast after a relaxing lie in on a Sunday morning was just what they needed to start their ‘relaxing’ day off.
With the passage of time and significant advertising it became very popular to buy Edward Bernays bacon and eat it with lots of different things on a Sunday morning. The most popular were sausages, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Further google research has also revealed that Henry V and his men ate a hearty breakfast before going out to battle. This included all manner of ingredients, some not so appetising such as uncooked cows kidneys with black pudding and bacon! Eggs were also eaten but as they were harder to come by they must have been a bit of a treat and I guess in those days an impending axe crashing through your armour kind of obliterated the worry of cholesterol!

More recently in 2002 the BBC reported the death of the Great British Breakfast claiming foreign muesli's and french croissants to be at fault, however reports from a small rural village in Staffordshire can confidently claim that the Staffordshire all day breakfast is definitely not deceased but growing in popularity. So why not pop down to the Gastronomy Shop and enjoy a moment of pure deliciousness with Staffordshire bacon and eggs but definitely no raw cows kidneys and let us know what you think - Are the days of bacon and eggs a thing of the past...

A Tenor and Cinderella!

Well If you like a good quality modern Opera, you enjoy Italian cuisine and good company you need to join us on the 9th October at the Wedgwood Museum.

I would like to tell you a little story about a chef and an office girl (naming no names!) ;
It was an early autumn evening and said chef who was a member of the local 'Round Table' had been invited to the area Ball which was to be held at Stapley Water gardens. The Chef and the office girl had only been on a couple of dates and neither knew at that stage what the future would hold.
The office girl had not been to a ball before and was very excited so much fuss and attention was paid to choosing the right dress, the right shoes, the right curlers etc etc. The chef didn't have as much work to do - just a change from a white jacket to a black one and a neckerchief to a dicky bow.
The carriage arrived at 7.00 to collect the girl and together they sped across Staffordshire to the Ball. Neither was convinced that the venue would provide a Cinderella type atmosphere but romance was in the air and as the orchestra started (a local chap on a keyboard over dinner) and the lights dimmed it became an evening to remember and a meal that sparked mixed emotions. Much dancing around handbags and rugby talk at the bar followed and the guests were allowed the privilege of walking around the aquarium and the planted gardens. The beat of the music in the background could be heard faintly and as the young chef gazed into the eyes of the office girl over the indoor ferns her heart flipped and so a lasting love began...

So reel forward in time to the present and Peter and Sarah met with the staff at Wedgwood to plan some special themed evenings. The first of these has been planned meticulously to offer loyal customers and those who would like a rather special evening of their own, the opportunity of relaxed time to browse the galleries at the museum. To discover the culture and heritage of the finest china made in Stoke for over a hundred years. The opportunity of experiencing a fantastic meal cooked with fresh seasonal produce to reflect the theme of the evening and served on finest Wedgwood china in the best museum in England. Then to complete the evening musical entertainment that will leave you breathless and eager to do it all again at the next event...

So may be there are no fish and ferns at Wedgwood to flutter your eyelashes over at each other but we promise you a great evening of real tradition and culture and it will be special... and you never know where new relationships may flourish be they romantic or of a business nature!

To book your place on this evening not to be missed call The Wedgwood Museum on 01782 371913 or pop into the shop to pick up your personal invitation and booking form.

Peter Loves Food. He loves feeding people and more importantly he loves feeding people with good quality wholesome food. If you want to upset him then suggest he cooks a boil in the bag meal with processed potatoes out of a packet. - light the touch paper and stand back! Its really important to him where the food comes from and that belief is two fold – He has a big picture view of why local food production is essential to our rural way of life and why that is important. He also simply rejoices in the vibrancy and character of local food on our door step, made in Staffordshire and Shropshire.

So what is the big picture?

Most food in the world is grown, collected and harvested by more than a billion small-scale farmers, pastoralists and artisans. This food is mainly sold, processed, resold and consumed locally. Local food production provides the foundation of peoples' nutrition, incomes and economies, it enhances cultural diversity, reflects the local history and circumstances of countries across the world. At a time when halving world poverty and eradicating hunger are at the forefront of all governments’ agendas, reinforcing the diversity of local food systems is vitally important.

Yet, the rules that govern food production and agriculture at all levels - local, national and international - are designed to facilitate not local, but, national and international trade. This only concentrates the wealth of the world's food economies in the hands of ever fewer multinational corporations, leaving small-scale food producers, local traders and consumers marginalised.

And the local picture?

The Campaign to protect Rural England published a report in June 2006, The Real Choice: how local foods can survive the supermarket onslaught, which surveys the successful local food economy which has developed in East Suffolk following a decision by the local council to refuse planning permission for a Tesco superstore. The report argues in favour of planning and retailing policies that will encourage local food networks like the one that is flourishing in East Suffolk rather than short term financial gain that ultimately crushes local businesses.

Chef Gordon Ramsay, is quoted saying of the report Local food matters because it's fresh, it's seasonal, it's distinctive and it tastes great. The producers care about the quality of their food, and it matters to them if we don't. The people in CPRE's report are producing and selling great local food and are surviving against the odds. We need more like them and they need our support to succeed.

Only this week Former Conservative leader and shadow foreign secretary William Hague voiced his support for regionally-branded food as a way of ensuring the future sustainability of rural economies.
Speaking at an event organised by the Wensleydale Creamery based in his constituency in the Yorkshire Dales – Mr Hague said it was important to protect iconic British brands, particularly in more remote areas.

Tony Naylor of the guardian wrote on his blog that “according to the New Economics Foundation, every fiver spent at a locally owned business circulates five times before it leaves the local economy and, in this way, is actually worth £25. On this basis, if two million people choose to spend £5 in their local shop rather than a supermarket, that's a £50m cash injection for Britain's independent food shops”... And where do the independent retailers spend their money. If they hold the same values as us probably locally so the circle continues.

We are not suggesting that independent deli’s and farm shops occupy some moral and gastronomic high ground. Nor are we are suggesting that everyone in Staffordshire should shop only at The Gastronomy Shop over any other local shop. We are suggesting that people take a look at their buying habits and examine their own values and think of the long term big picture for all small retailers and the effect that habits now will have on the future.

For our part we are glad and thankful for the many people in Gnosall do appreciate Peters passion for food – even if it’s because it tastes good. We are glad that we have a whole plethora of local suppliers who feel about their businesses and customers as we do and we are grateful for the community that has developed in our own small part of the rural economy – long may it last.

Going from strength to strength - History of The Gastronomy Shop

Peter and I decided to open The Gastronomy Shop nearly two and a half years ago. Having decided that our outside catering company had out grown our kitchen at home we looked for premises. After much searching and planning we found the shop - previously known as 'Greens'.

The original plan was to convert the shop floor area into a large commercial catering kitchen and keep the small room as a meeting area for our clients to visit us - Somewhere to sit with a nice coffee to discuss their dreams for their weddings and special parties .

However with a different hat on I had been working with many local food producers and understood that many of them struggled to find a route to market. It occurred to me that as 9 High Street has a great shop window and Gnosall is the largest village in England ( lots of people) - what better than to create a business with a double edged sword and open it up as a delicatessen.

Armed with this idea we set about converting the back half of the ground floor of the building into our kitchen so that we could create wonderful home cooked food for weddings and corporate lunches etc, and the front half as The Gastronomy Shop - stocking local cheeses from Shropshire and Staffordshire, local Sausages from Market Drayton, Delicious pork pies, smoked goods from Alan at Bings Heath and Peters own home made breads and cakes.

It was very important to us to keep the integrity of the building - we have been told that its the oldest shop in the village and we really didn't want to cover up its charm with modern trappings. However we didn't want it to be old fashioned either so we chose the decor very carefully and invested lots of time restoring the old oak floorboards.

The Shop opened on the 15 May 2007 Since then the range of products and local producers who supply to us has developed and grown so that different and seasonal foods are always changing on the shelves.

Before Christmas when the economic downturn really began to bite we had to take a good look at the business and rather than sit back, moan and allow things to overwhelm us we decided to be positive and be creative. We attended lots of food fairs and Christmas shows in the festive run up and even won a prize at The English Winter Fair for our stall. We decided that if customers weren't going to find us we would find them! We also decided to change what had previously been our store room come office into an extension of the small coffee area and so the Meeting Room was launched on the 17th January this year.

With the help of Angela Smith, a talented local jeweller we opened the doors on the 17th with the goal of inviting villagers to come along, sample Angela's Jewellery making workshops and hopefully buy a cup of Aroma Coffee. It was a great success and more people venture into the cafe each week to discover that local and home made food is not any more expensive than mass produced and imported food, that our shop is really relaxed, friendly and inviting and that we don't mind if you sit with a whole pot of tea and read the Newspaper for as long as you like.

Now appraoching our second year we are so proud of the community feel that has grown amongst our loyal customers and we choose to count many of them as friends now.

So If you are visiting Staffordshire and fancy a really good cuppa pop in and see us... We might even tempt you to a slice of Peters coffee and walnut cake or a Staffordshire cream tea.