Bills Cafe in Lewes

Bills cafe in Lewes

Bills cafe is famous for its fresh fruit and vegetables and delicious all day food served in the cafe.

I asked Bill today what he thought about having his recipes analysed to show their nutritional value. His reply went something like this:

‘Look love, we have specifications for our recipes, but we are creative here. See these tomatoes. Some of them need more salt than others and some need a hint of sweetness by adding honey. We don’t know until we are making the passata so the nutrition will change. We’re not like those big food chains where food goes into the factory all the same and comes out the same. Here we are different. If the supplier delivers different varieties of potatoes we cook them in ways which work best, and this changes the nutrition.  I’ve got one chef who makes the most spicy hummus and another that adds his own touch of flavour. We’re creative, and do things by taste and flavour.’

What about allergens Bill?

‘We know our recipes, so we know whether they contain wheat or milk. Nuts is a problem as everything is prepared in a small kitchen and we can’t guarantee nut free.’

Can I try and analyse one of your recipes Bill?

‘OK, I’ll sort one out – but I think taste matters, not the nutrition!’

Nutrition of organic foods

Is there a difference between the nutritional value of organic and non organic food? The answer from the Food Standards Agency  is ‘No’.

What about free range chickens and free range eggs? Again the answer is that there is no evidence supplied by scientists of any nutritional difference between those intensively raised and those that are free to roam. So on our food database we have not included organic or free range foods. The prices are different, so you will need to adjust those using the Edit button, and many people believe that these foods taste better, and the farming methods are more ethical.

New food trends – what are people eating? Dragon fruit and harissa?

When people (mainly students) use the Nutrition Program, they can submit ingredients and foods to us if they are missing from the database. This is showing interesting trends as people are using more exotic ingredients in their recipes, choosing lower fat foods, and eating new food products in their daily diets.

Here are some ingredients which show new food trends – dried pineapple, apple and cherries, dragon fruit, green tea, smoked lardons, harissa, shitake mushrooms, canned pumpkin, mango pulp, lamb’s lettuce and snapper. There are many more – email if you would like the list. We’ll try and find the nutritional value of these ingredients and add them to the database.

What about diets? The funniest request was for paracetamol – and we’ll try and find it. You will see deep fried Mars Bar on the database as it was requested, perhaps in fun. We’re going to add Fanta Zero, Red Bull, candy floss ( it is summertime) and tequilla.

The most interesting to research has been Kamut flour which is an ancient type of wheat related to the durum variety used in modern bread making. They claim it is higher in protein than normal flour and is tolerated by people who are gluten sensitive. This is the link http://www.alimentstrigone.com/info_kamut_en.html. Doves Farm sell this flour.

Kamut wheat

What subjects can use the Nutrition Program?

The main subject areas using this program are Food Technology and Home Economics.

BUT – there are many other subjects and school areas which study nutrition, recipes, meals and diets, and their students could share your extra users.

1. Healthy Schools Initiative – use the program to look at school meals, tuck shop food, student diets.

2. School Meals – by September 2009, your school meals must meet government guidelines for nutritional standards. Our program provides the facility to check the meals.

3. Licence to Cook – analyse the recipes used on this course to see how healthy they are.

4. Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism courses – they need to analyse menus and provide healthy food.

5. Health and Social Care – BTECs and others learn about diet and health

6. PSHE – teaching about diet and health

7. Science – needed for KS3 and KS4 where they learn about balanced diets and nutrients

8. Physical Education and Sport – the GCSEs look at healthy eating and diet analysis and want students to do practical tasks.

9. ICT and Maths – both subjects need to use real data that is meaningful for students – and students really want to know if their diet is OK. There is a lot of Maths in the program and in my experience, students can’t understand the meaning of % and bar charts!

Click here to download examples of GCSE’s and other qualifications.

Jenny Ridgwell

Food allergy information

The Food Standards Agency has produced some chef cards to help people with food allergy when they are eating out. You can download these cards from here

If you want to find the allergens in recipes – the Nutrition Program shows you very quickly all the major allergens in our food.