Letters
What's wrong with foreign food?
Joe Hyam's thoughts on foreign ingredients, products and food are surprising. Has he never been to the supermarkets and delicatessens of New York, Geneva, Rome, Tokyo, Paris or Buenos Aires? They all stock - and not for expatriates - English tea and marmalade, mint sauce and jelly, Scottish oat cakes, shortbread, smoked salmon and whisky, Bath Oliver biscuits, Drambuie, Stilton and other British products.
So what's wrong with our shops selling feta or halloumi cheese? If supermarket shelves are overflowing with polenta, crostini, couscous, pitta bread, etc, it is because those products are delicious and cheap.
Lobsters and oysters may be equally enjoyable, but, at the price one has to pay for them, they can hardly be considered items for the average supermarket shopper.
Mr Hyam objects to the appearance of saffron risotto on restaurant menus. But does he really prefer his rice dyed with yellow food colouring, as has been done by many catering outlets?
Of course I am delighted that Mr Hyam is against food fads and the unnecessary ornamentation of plates. I am also against menus that are not in English, unless translating the name of the dish is complicated or is already part of our vocabulary. If we turned our backs on all foreign foods, we would not be able to enjoy marmalade, Sussex pond pudding or banoffee pie, because oranges, lemons and bananas are foreign.
Mr Hyam should be lobbying the relevant authorities to change the curriculum at our catering colleges. At the moment they teach students to prepare food that is 95% foreign (mainly French) and 5% British. It should be the other way round.
ALBERTO PORTUGHEIS
London W14.
A lecturer's lament
Further to your article about chefs lamenting the end of City & Guilds exams, I too have similar misgivings, but from the "other" side - that of a lecturer.
For several years colleges have been bounced from one educational theorist's ideas about training to another's.
The latest NVQs see the trivialisation of structured training into cooking by numbers, instead of producing individuals with well-rounded abilities in the kitchen.
They still, of course, require the discipline and experience of cooking in larger quantities.
As for this thing called "competent", that term can obviously mean as much or as little as individual assessors want it to mean.
If readers are wondering how I can continue in my present position, well that is something that I have also been struggling with recently: next month I return to a job in the catering industry.
RAY PALMER
Lecturer in professional cookery
Cambridge Regional College.
Strange rules of the ratings game
Regarding the reply (25 May) from Barbara Littlewood of the AA to my Viewpoint (11 May), I should like to respond to a few points.
I had hoped that any reply would not personalise the situation, but while I would be glad to call my hotel a Hotel Garni or the like, most of my argument was made on behalf of others. However, it does seem a little incongruous that a 22-bedroom hotel in town should be listed with guesthouses and farmhouses.
And if the presence of so much food service is so important to star ratings, why are the new townhouse and lodge facilities not also put in the farmhouse guide? Here I would say that, running the hotel the way we do, we still achieve a percentage room let nine or 10 points above the average in the heart of England for this size of hotel.
Ms Littlewood states that the books are designed for the public as well as members, but that will do the public no service whatsoever if we see the demise of small independent hotels because they have to carry extra costs just to satisfy the AA.
Finally, I would draw your attention to two other recent letters: "How Can Small Hotels Fight Travelodges?" (15 June) and "Forte Definition of Two-star?" (8 June).
Could it be that Sir Rocco has similar fears about the profitability and future of his smaller hotels with low star ratings? Perhaps when he has a word in the AA's ear it will begin to take some notice. After all, power talks louder than mere common sense.
CHRISTOPHER DALE
Cedars Hotel
Worcestershire.
A centenary celebration
In 1996 my hotel will celebrate its centenary.
My great-grandmother purchased the property in 1896 and commenced trading on 1 August, realising the magnificent turnover of £153 in that year - which at four shillings a day was not bad.
If any other readers of Caterer are also celebrating the centenary of their business next year, I would be delighted to hear from them. Or if anyone can supply details of interesting events from 1896, however great or trivial, which we can add to our expanding list, I would be most grateful.
MATTHEW WILLIAMSON
Managing director
York House Hotel
Eastbourne, East Sussex.
For those in peril on the sea
It is very sporting of Kevin Morel and Martyn Thomas to take part in this year's Fastnet Race, and even more sporting of them to challenge the excellence of the grub on board our Goring Hotel boat Outstripper. We heartily accept and will be suggesting a weigh-out of each crew member on 4 August at the start and a weigh-in at the finish with menu judging at Cowes.
Sous-vide seems a very appropriate system for your crew, gentlemen! The bags can be used to be sick in afterwards or even employed as colostomy bags for your more geriatric crew members. Watch out that you do not mistake the full colostomy bags for the unused sous-vide gourmet menus - I have always thought that they would look rather similar!
Before replying to my disgraceful observations, please bear in mind that our boat and crew will be armed.
GEORGE GORING
The Goring Hotel
Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1.
George the impaler
I am sure the Goring is a splendid hotel and indeed if not already living in London, I would certainly stay there. I could not help, however, noticing the rather sinister photograph of George Goring, the hotel's director (Reader Diaries, 29 June).
Would it be untoward to ask whether guests or staff have ever, upon awakening, discovered puncture marks on their neck?
GEOFFREY DISMORR
London N4.
The customer is always right
With reference to Michael Gottlieb's article "How Do We Tell Fact From Fiction" (1 June), I would like to offer him some help in unearthing the truth. I am a mere 23 years of age and still like to believe that I have a little of my sixth sense left.
In my humble opinion, the truth of the matter, although perhaps somewhat exaggerated, lies on the side of the customer. As one knows in our industry, customers are particularly inconsiderate to the pressures placed on a restaurant and its team. However, even if guests do arrive in dribs and drabs, and behave inconsiderately, this doesnot give us the excuse to "screw up".
I am also quite confident that Mr Gottlieb is fully aware that if guests have had to wait a long time for their starters, they are more likely to complain about insignificant problems later on. This is what I believe happened. The long wait at the beginning of the meal, triggered off a mass of complaints. Also, behaviour breeds behaviour: in a group of 14 diners, you may have one main complainer, but his or her dissonance will soon rub off on the rest of the group.
This conclusion was enforced when I read the manager's comments about letting the guests leave without paying, simply because their demands were too "spurious", and their presence was affecting the rest of the restaurant.
A competent manager would not allow a table of complainers to affect the rest of his restaurant, and he certainly wouldn't write off a £300 bill if he was confident of the quality of his product and service. This would happen only if the restaurant had performed as badly as the customers have illustrated.
Writing off the bill in a restaurant should be a last resort and not used simply to get rid of difficult customers.
CATHY YATES
Golders Green
London W1A.
