Latest News!

The NEW April Food Poetry Competition!

1^st Prize: £50

April’s entry requirements:

• 40 lines max
• Theme: ‘Spring'.
• Maximum of 4 poems.
• Entry Fee: FREE!
• Send to: zara.preston@bathspa.org
• PLEASE SEND YOUR ADDRESS IN THE EMAIL SO IF REWARDS ARE WON, THEY CAN BE SENT. THANK YOU.

CLOSING DATE: 5^th April 2011.

BLOG PUBLISHING DATE: 10^th April 2011

Winner of the March Food Poetry Competition!

Congratulations to Zaina Budaly who has won March's Food Poetry Competition! I hope the following poem inspires my reader's to pick up a pen and send in some food poetry! Well done to Zaina again, here is her poem:

The Sugar Tong Collector

There was something about them

picking up clustered sweetness

then set free in the perfervid

liquid.  Many times I watched

him behind net curtains, torn

by my longing, wild fingers.

They could have been Georgian

or once stroked by Her Majesty’s

painted fingernails; silver plated,

imbedded in skin and shiny as

mirrors.  Snaked writhed

like long hair in water meeting

a diamond ball at its peak.  Priceless

it was, the catastrophic way diamonds

crumbled when compressed; granulated, once

cast from a mould.  “Elizabeth I,” he sighed.

Even an oval-shaped sun, once cast from a tong

could not stun me.  I cried for attention, punching

 the sprinkled floorboards.  His words took

hold like water, soothed the burning coal,

left me fumbling for my own.

Zaina Budaly

Please look out for the next update informing you of the April's competition.

Pizza Day!

After Pancake Day, I am still in the mood for a rounded flat object to eat: pizza is the only cure! Here is the proof of the successful pancakes:

The therapy of kneading out pizza dough (or mixing pancake mix) is similar to the therapy I receive from some of the poetry I read. It's therapy to eat and also to read other people's food or poetry but the creative process of making it yourself is what I think I revel in; by providing pleasure and comfort to other people (is there anything more heart-warming?!) Also, I think I'm saving a lot of money in therapy by using food and poetry to cure my worries. Try it: it might work for you too! The easy pizza recipe is below:


Ingredients:
One Sachet of Sainsbury's Pizza Base Mix (a cheap cheat!)
Ketchup or Tomato Puree or BBQ Sauce
Mozzarella or any cheese you love
Toppings (I prefer vegetables to keep it healthy, or parma ham and mushrooms)

Preheat oven to the highest temp your oven will go (usually 240'C)

Recipe:
Mix warm water with sachet ingredients until (170ml)
Bring to a ball in the bowl
Sprinkle surface with flour and knead the ball for 5 minutes
Leave for 10 mins in a bowl with clingfilm on top
Roll out and spread sauce, cheese then toppings on top.
Cook for 10 mins.


One of the quickest and most satisfying dinners I have discovered:

Enjoy!

p.s TOP TIP: Scissors are the easiest way to cut a pizza (see above!)

Springtime is nearly here...

The snowbells are brightening the dullest of grass-strewn pavements and the daffodils are waiting to flower. I love this time of year. I have started to use my bicycle again after the harsh winter. I find it a wonderful way to pick up fresh vegetables from the Covered Market in my basket, and I also love the fresh air as it gives me new ideas for poems. I spent the weekend away from my student house in Bath, to go back to my hometown in Oxford. I love exploring the city centre and taking pictures. I hope you like this picture of the Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library. The sunlight was beautiful that day.

Ideas about Connections...

I have recently been thinking what would interest readers about the connection between Food and Poetry. I began to look deeply into the structure of how a recipe and a poem can talk to each other. It's interesting to think of each ingredient to be like each line of a poem. Each ingredient is just as important as the next and if you don't include it, there is a chance that the recipe, and therefore the overall dish, may falter. It's exactly the same as a poem; if you don't secure the exact words in correct order in the exact line then the poem will struggle to be concise and therefore the poetry you write will suffer. This sounds very broad thinking, but it has made me understand how intricate the art of poetry is. It has made me realise that each word and each beat in music of poem, must be in tune with the rest; each line must sing to every other line. I've been told this by many of my poetry tutors but I have never truly understood what they meant. I love discovering new connections with poetry, and especially if food has helped me discover it.

I have perfected my Mum's Stew, dauphonoise potatoes, hollandaise sauce, a poached egg and many more since I started to cook at twelve. Now, I can see how each of these recipes can represent the form of a poem and how long it takes to perfect, and what it needs is practise, practise, and more practise.

***

March Food Poetry Competition!

Welcome to another month of the competition!  There has been a new addition and you can now recieve cash rewards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place! See below for all the information you need:

The Cuisine of Poetry presents:

The NEW March Food Poetry Competition!

Prizes: 1^st: £20

              2^nd: £10

             3^rd: £5

March’s entry requirements:

• 40 lines max
• Theme: ‘Food and the Senses’.
• Maximum of 4 poems.
• Entry Fee: FREE!
• Send to: zara.preston@bathspa.org
• PLEASE SEND YOUR ADDRESS IN THE EMAIL SO IF REWARDS ARE WON, THEY CAN BE SENT. THANK YOU.

CLOSING DATE: 5^th March 2011.

BLOG PUBLISHING DATE: 10^th March 2011

The Winners of February's Food Poetry Competition!

Congratulations to Kate Silvester, Tom Stone (twice monthly winner!) and an anonymous entry. Please read the following and enjoy!

February's Theme: Vegetables

Italy

Sliced beefsteak tomatoes

on a bed of crisp spinach.

A sprinkle of fresh basil

and a dribble of extra virgin olive oil.

Add generous slabs of buffalo mozzarella

and a sheen of balsamic vinegar.

A thin, crisp dough base

covered in freshly beaten tomatoes.

Crushed garlic cloves, just picked oregano.

Slices of local goats cheese melt

accompanied by a helping of aged prosciutto.

Add rocket tossed in olive oil once cooked

for a tingle on your taste buds.

Linguine pasta, freshly made,

bubbling for five minutes.

Add some salt and pepper,

some crushed tomatoes.

Introduce clams, prawns, tuna

and lashings of garlic.

Flavours exploding; your perfect pasta dish.

Kate Silvester

THE VEGETABLE

Sharpened Carrots

Frozen Peas

All my favourite

Edible weapons

Clara won’t

Eat her vegetables

So now she must die

Before she gets fat

She'll be picked on at school

I can't let that happen

So I'm going to kill her

Frozen peas to the forehead

Should do it

Oh dear

I’ve dropped one of

the carrots

It’s sticking out of my knee

Along with

Lots of blood

Ouch

I can’t walk

Oh the irony

For now I am

The vegetable

Tom Stone

The Onion

I usually halve it,

cut it through the root

and roughly chop:

It could get tossed in a salad,

fried with bangers and mash

or thrown in a cheese roll –

but when I cook for you,

I take my time;

I leave the root whole

and slice slowly,

each piece exactly even,

then add to a stew

and leave it to simmer.

Anon

Please look out for March's Competition with the new Monthly theme.