Food & Drink

To Autumn O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance! Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

by William Blake Hi, my name's Iain Smith and I've been running my own little wine shop, Smith's, on Magdalen Road for the last 2 1/2 years. Prior to this I spent four years with Majestic Wine and before that it's all a bit of a blurr! I'll be writing regular pieces about my adventures with, mostly, wine...

The great and good of the worlds of gastronomy and travel gathered in London on Monday 2 September for the Food and Travel magazine Reader Awards, held at The Savoy hotel. Among the big winners on the night was Angela Hartnett MBE, named Chef of the Year. The culinary power behind Murano and Lime Wood was also honoured with head chef Luke Holder for her newest venture, Hartnett Holder & Co, in Hampshire, which scooped the Newcomer of the Year award in the restaurant category. Meanwhile, closer to home, Exeter's Magdalen Chapter was named City Hotel of the Year and Devon's Ashburton...

Choccie Bar is on fire this week as it receives a bronze award for its new Chilli Chocolate Box set from the Taste of the West Awards 2013. The creation of a gourmet chilli chocolate line took its original inspiration from the Chillees of Taunton, which creates stunning chilli jams and sauces.

Choccie Bar first created the Strawberry Chilli choc which takes some key ingredients from the Chillees’ Bengal Naga Strawberry Jam with a little added choccie magic. Encouraged by the feedback and comments from testers, two new flavours followed quickly to complete the set; the Chilli Ginger...

Motivated by rising food and fuel costs and concerns over Genetic Modified crops, Bicton College has taken the ‘food fight’ into its own hands.

From melons, aubergines and grapes, to lemongrass and the highly profitable Thai Basil, Bicton College horticulturalists and volunteers are determined to produce high quality, chemical free fruit and veg.

Andrea Rye, a Horticulture Instructor at Bicton College is proud to promote natural growing. “We don’t use any chemicals in our growing and encourage natural growth so our food tastes just as it should and we are working towards...