I recently read an article/interview with Joanna Blythman, a reputable food guru and the author of “Shopped: The Shocking Power of Supermarkets”. The article states that 80% of the food we eat in Britain comes from supermarkets, which is an astronomical percentage if you compare it with the rest of the world. According to Blythman: "We in this country are more dependent on supermarkets food than in America, Italy and France”.

With all that we are reading in the press about the alarming additives found in ready-made meals, all the artificial flavourings that are sometimes perfectly legal, but whose effects can be damaging, the consumer is becoming more and more frightened of ready-made meals. And so they should be, but what is the answer?! I believe it is time for us to go back to basics, to revert to the traditional way of preparing food from scratch without using any of the harmful additives and flavourings.

This is what Jamie Oliver has done with his school dinners, and he has succeeded because the government is listening to him. This is also what I am doing with my food at “Amoul”, as many of our customers know. From the food to the croissants and Danishes to the cakes and bread, everything is freshly prepared according to the traditional way of cooking, with no additives and no artificial stocks - just fresh ingredients, using only low amounts of sugar and salt. Basically, if it is something that I wouldn’t feed to my own family I would never feed it to anyone else.

The Evening Standard compiled a survey of all the sandwiches and salads found in reputed chains in London, and the result was astounding. Almost all of the products tested were loaded with mayonnaise which is high in unsaturated fat and one of the culprits that is causing obesity in children.

While I do not think that we should make our kids hostages to counting calories, nor should we ever feel punished in eating healthy food. Minimising the amount of butter and mayonnaise in the preparation of food is a key to healthy well-balanced diets. To give you an example, Amoul’s Tabbouleh salad has 119 kcals, 25mg of calcium and 37mg of magnesium per portion. In addition to it being nutritious, it is tasty.

I believe that good food is a staple for raising healthy generations. According to the old Ayurvedic philosophy, the food that we eat is divided threefold: the first part becomes excrement, the second becomes the flesh, and the third becomes the mind.

Amoul

14, fermosa Street

Little Venice

London W9 1EE

Tel: 0207 286 6386

enquiries@amoul.com