Northwest Food News – April 2014

We’ll kick off this month’s round-up with a miniature history lesson. It’s 16 August, 1819, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in St Peter’s Field (now St Peter’s Square), Manchester, to call for parliamentary reform. When the attendant cavalry charge on the protesters, brandishing their sabres, 15 people are killed and hundreds injured. It becomes known as the Peterloo Massacre. Beef & Pudding, the new venture from the New Moon Pub company, takes its name from Peter Cruikshank’s caricature of the event in which the yeomanry say of the rally: ”they want to take our beef and pudding”. This will evidently be pub grub as it should be. If you need convincing, check their Twitter photos. Opens 4 Apr, @BeefandPudding, www.beefandpudding.co.uk

Now, let’s move on to more topical matters. We ordinarily highlight new openings and food events (y’know, where it’s more about eating than thinking) but, in keeping with the quasi-moralistic themes of this month’s section, we’ll point you to a more edifying form of foodism. Liverpool-based, community-minded Can Cook are holding their third ever Food Poverty Conference in a bid to find some solutions to what’s become something of a national debate. Can Cook’s very own Robbie Davison and Martin Caraher, professor of food and health policy at Centre for Food Policy at City University, London, will be contributing their thoughts. 9 Apr, Conference Centre at LACE, tickets free at Evenbrite

And...snap back to the world of new restaurants. Drawing on the public’s obsession with small plates ([insert cuisine] + tapas OR find catchy native expression i.e. cicchetti), Liverpool’s Salthouse Bacaro is going Italian in a market that’s pretty saturated with Spanish joints doing diminutive dishes. It’ll probably pay off: we’re talking pizzettes (or mini-pizzas) with spreadable sausage of the moment, ’nduja, quality charcuterie and awesome-sounding fish dishes. Lots of Negronis too, naturalmente. Again, lest you remain a doubter, check out some pictures or, better still, eat the damn stuff. Open now, Castle Street, @Salthousebacaro, www.salthousebacaro.com

For those who shun restaurants: in Manchester on 5 and 19 Apr, Old Granada Studios’ new weekend market will play host to BITE, a gourmet and street food event with a huge array of traders. There’s also news that the guys behind Kosmonaut will be launching a new venture called Ply this summer. The space at 26 Stevenson Square will be a multipurpose venue with “some show-stopping elements”; and there are unconfirmed rumours of the holy grail – 90-second pizzas. Keep an eye on @plymcr for developments.

Staying in that neck of the woods, we’ll finish with a constitutional. The recently-formed Manchester Food Walks will be running a Northern Quarter Taster on 5 Apr, which, for a nice bit of repetition and a circular narrative, will involve a bit of history of the area and some small plates (“why you pesky…” *shakes fist*) from 10-12 eateries along the way. Tickets at Eventbrite, www.manchesterfoodwalks.co.uk