12.11.07 S4C's Wedi 3 magazine programme
Nerys continues to cook for S4C’s Wedi 3 magazine programme. Festive preparations have already started, with Nerys cooking her own Christmas pudding. She will also be disclosing a number of Christmas food ideas on the live programme on the 9th,15th and 23rd November. The countdown to Christmas starts now! For more information about Wedi 3 visit: http://www.s4c.co.uk/c_watch_wedi3.shtml
09.11.07 The True Taste Awards
The 6th Annual True Taste Awards ceremony will be held at the Glamorgan Cricket Club on Thursday 15th November. Dubbed the Oscars for Food and Drink,the eveningwill be an opportunity to celebrate the best in the food and drink sector in Wales. There will be 500 guests from the food and drink industry present, and Nerys Howel and Colin Gray from Capital Cuisine were responsible for developing the menu as well as the unenviable task of overseeing the evening’s proceedings.
08.11.07 Better Pub Grub in Crickhowell
The Pub Grub project is a new initiative by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority with the aim of improving the quality of the food served in the region’s pubs. Nerys who has been appointed to lead this pilot project, will be working closely with Colin Gray from Capital Cuisine. They will both have the hardship of having to eat at eight pubs around the Crickhowell area over a period of three months. Their aim will not only be to encourage chefs and managers to use local produce in fresh and exciting ways, but to also emphasise and celebrate the localness of their ingredients and dishes on the menus as well. It is hoped that this project will be expanded in the coming months.
30.10.07 True Taste recipes
Due to popular demand, the next A True Taste supplement will include recipes for the very first time, as well as the traditional articles about food suppliers. Nerys has been charged with the mouth-watering task of preparing twelve new recipes for this latest edition. The recipes will showcase the best True Taste ingredients, including Deri Môn Hot Smoked Salmon with avocado salsa and Shiitake Mushroom Open Ravioli. The supplement will be published on the evening of the True Taste Award Ceremony on the 15th November. For copies or more information please visit: www.walesthetruetaste.com
18.10.07 The World’s Most Important Food Fair
Sian Roberts, representing the Howel Food Consultancy, recently travelled to Cologne with International Business Wales for the Anuga FoodTec. With over 1,000 exhibitors from 43 countriesand over 39,000 trade visitors, this is the world’s most important trade fair for food and drink technology. Sian’s role at the event was to attract visitors to the stand and to publicise the produce of the Welsh suppliers such as Rachel’s Organic Dairy and Penderyn Whisky. The stand was always popular and the event was a great success for everyone invovled..quite possibly as a direct result of Sian’s secret weapons – her own freshly made Welsh cakes!
14.10.07 The Restaurant Show
Howel Food Consultancy has teamed up with Capital Cuisine to promote Welsh culinary produce at the prestigious Restaurant Show in October. Held at London’s Earl’s Court the event is aimed exclusively at the UK’s restaurant industry and it provides an excellent platform to showcase the best Welsh produce and suppliers to a wide market place. Howel Food and Capital Cuisine were proud to support the strong contingency of suppliers who also attended including the Cheeses From Wales co-operative; The Welsh Sausage Company and the Pembrokeshire based Princes Gate Spring Water. The innovative and striking True Taste exhibition stand featured a new bold signage and colour scheme, plasma screens, glass walled kitchens – making the preparation process part of the display – and three custom-made sushi carousels around the stand displaying and offering visitors a tapas-style tasting. The bar has been firmly raised for exhibitions of this kind in future.
02.10.07 The 1927 Diet
Nerys has been given the task of creating a collection of exciting recipes for the high profile BBC Wales television series Coalhouse. As the programme takes three modern day families and makes them live as mining families in 1920s, the recipes will not be what we consider to be conventional. Following extensive research, Nerys has created a fascinating collection of recipes that are reminiscent of the period and includes delicacies such as pig’s head, tongue and the fat from around a pig’s kidney (the flead)! The series is shown on BBC Wales through October and early November and Nerys can be heard on Radio Wales with Jamie and Louise and Hywel a Nia on Radio Cymru updating the listeners on how the families are coping with the culinary challenges facing them at the Coalhouse.
21.09.07 Blas National Eisteddfod 2007
The new look Blas made its first appearance at the National Eisteddfod in Mold where visitors enjoyed a selection of mouth watering dishes of True Taste award winning produce. Some of the dishes such as Black Mountain smoked duck with kumquat compot and Crai Shitake mushrooms with pesto proved a big hit. Nerys worked closely with Colin Gray of Capital Cuisine to develop the new menus.
21.09.07 Royal Welsh Show 2007, 23rd-27th July
This year’s Royal Welsh Show proved a busy week for Nerys, as she presented cookery demonstrations for S4C and Meat Promotion Wales. An Italian theme ran through the S4C demonstrations as they prepared for the airing of Casa Dudley in the autumn, where Nerys appears as a judge along with Bryn Williams and Dudley. The highlight of the week however was the judging of the five a day smoothie competition with the Young Farmers Club. The competitors creativity and ingenuity shone through the dark clouds and lashing rain, and it proved to be a first for Nerys tasting a concoction of raw tomato, carrots, parsnip and pear!
31.08.07 New Recipe
Nerys Howell cooks up a new recipe for her company. Following recent developments, Howel Food Consultancy has moved to new offices at:
Ty Cefn 14-16 Rectory Road Canton Cardiff
Why not pop in for a coffee?
P.S. We have two (official) parking spaces!!
23.07.07 Cardiff Food and Drink Festival - July
Cardiff Bay was filled with excitement over the weekend as it saw the return of the annual Cardiff International Food and Drink Festival with over 20,000 visitors attending. Nerys worked closely with Cardiff County Council to organise a series of master classes, and daily cookery demonstrations. Visitors were educated on the fine art of making cheese and whisky in Wales, in addition to picking up a tip or two from the cookery demonstrations.
23.07.07 Taste of London - June 2007
The Taste of London, sponsored by British Airways, returned to Regents Park for its fourth year. Bringing with it the Capital’s finest food and drink, a showcase of London’s top restaurants and chefs with samples of their signature dishes. For the first time Wales had a presence at this high profile event, with Nerys and the team tasting a variety of the finest award winning Welsh produce, ranging from Trealy Farm snack salami to Clam’s sticky almond cake. Taste of London once again demonstrated the quality of Welsh produce with visitors queuing around the corner to sample the delights on offer, which was then followed by a flurry of questions at to where they could purchase the products!
Photograph by: Philip Tull
23.07.07 Meat Promotion Wales Tour - June 2007
The team at Howel Food Consultancy travelled across Wales on behalf of Meat Promotion Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government promoting Sainsbury’s Taste the difference Welsh spring lamb. Customers were given an opportunity to sample an array of dishes, which focused on using the finest quality Welsh lamb and True Taste award winning produce. The tour was hugely successful, with customers demonstrating that they believe Welsh lamb to be ‘a cut above the rest’.
23.07.07 Blas at the Hay Festival - May/June 2007
As Blas returned to the Hay Literary Festival for its fourth year, it was clear that it has now become a central part of the eating experience at the event. A new look Blas was unveiled this year, with a more accessible style of service, and greater emphasis being placed on interactive dining. Howel Food Consultancy worked closely with the Welsh Assembly Government to develop the new concept that once again showcased the finest award winning True Taste food and drink.
23.07.07 Hong Kong - May 2007
Hong Kong was once again a key destination to promote Welsh food and drink this year. For the first time Welsh companies were invited to participate in the Hofex Trade Show, where Nerys worked with exhibiting companies promoting their produce. Amongst these companies were producers that currently export to the Asian market, and others that are hoping to do so in the near future. The presence of Welsh companies at this trade show aimed to build on the awareness and understanding of Welsh food and drink that was introduced at ‘This is Wales Showcase’, that took place in April 2006.
20.04.07 Visit Wales Tourism Roadshow - March 07
Following its success last year, the Visit Wales Tourism Roadshow returned in March this year to feature the best of locally sourced, award-winning Welsh food and drink served in a 'tapas' style. Nerys worked closely with catering teams at Technium, Bangor; The Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells; Liberty Stadium, Swansea and Chepstow Racecourse to develop and present the menus at each location. Delegates enjoyed Black Mountain smoked salmon and trout, Deri Môn smoked quail's eggs, Welsh Black beef, Patchwork pates, True Taste award-winning Welsh cheeses to name but a few. Further to the feedback received from delegates attending the roadshow, the event proved very successful with the food rated 72% 'Excellent' and 18% 'Good'.
01.03.07 True Taste Roadshow - Feb/March 2007
As part of St David's Day celebrations, the True Taste Road Show will offer a unique opportunity for shoppers to sample some of the best Welsh food and drink currently on offer in supermarkets across South Wales including True Taste award winning produce. The road show, which includes a purpose built demonstration kitchen, organised and co-ordinated by Howel Food Consultancy on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government will visit the following stores;
Co-op, Pyle - 22, 23, 24 February Sainsbury's, Bridgend - 25, 26, 27, 28 February Asda, Merthyr - 1, 2, 3 March Waitrose, Abergavenny - 4, 5, 6, 7 March Morrisons, Cardiff Bay - 8, 9, 10 March Tesco, Carmarthen - 11, 12, 13, 14 March Tesco, Llanelli - 15, 16, 17 March
Free recipe booklets and True Taste Awards magazines 2006/7 will be available to take away and Hybu Cig Cymru, who is supporting the tour is supplying recipes specially created for St David's Day.
30.01.07 Taste in a haste! January 15 2007
Monmouthshire County Council staff showed their culinary skills as part of their recent team bulding day. Following Nerys' presentation on 'A Sense of Place', teams were asked to plan a menu, prepare, cook, style and present the table using local food and drink and craft items from Monmouthshire - all within 2 hours! 'A breakfast for hill walkers', 'A picnic lunch for golfers' and a 'Romantic dinner for two to celebrate Santes Dwynwen's day' were just a few of the tasks set by Nerys. Contributors enjoyed tasting and discussing the dishes prepared by other team members at lunchtime.
05.01.07 Medrwn. 'Christmas decorations'. 29 Nov
With Christmas upon us, Nerys was busy inspiring self catering proprietors with endless ideas on how to create a festive atmoshphere in their properties. Nerys transformed every day items into elegant centrepieces demonstrating the simplicity of creating a welcoming environment over the holiday period.
