Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Yesterday I spent the day working at home and waiting in anticipation for the finale of Master Chef Australia.

And as I hung my washing out to dry, it occurred to me. What if Julie wins? What if they rigged it because Julie is a white middle class mum and the show is sponsored by Coles supermarket and Campbell's soup. Maybe, Poh, who is obviously a better cook won't win because she is Asian and uses century black eggs and doesn't appeal to the key target audience of white middle class Australia....(Coles doesn't even sell century eggs)

No.....I thought. That is far too cynical and it would be far too obvious because Julie was definitely one of the weakest cooks on the show.

Gasp.....but maybe Poh has already been paid to take a fall? It's possible because the elimination of Chris was totally surprising.

So I watched it. And Julie won.

And then my phone started ringing.

My friends on the other end of the line said "but the judges helped Julie with her sorbet, they didn't help Poh"

And today on ABC talk back the host raised the topic and asked listeners if they thought the show was rigged.

Everyone is talking. Everyone is upset.

If you live in Australia and were following the show, do you think it was rigged? Was it a white conspiracy?

And further still...

will Master Chef Australia make amends with the next season and select a black mute midget master chef?

thoughts comments

I for one am outraged. Shame on you Channel Ten, and all you sell out "celebrity chefs" of Australia. Shame on you for not choosing the better chef. Shame on you for trying to sell more crappy supermarket products to overweight white woman. Shame

So as I may have mentioned, Hock and I are both living in separate countries in studio apartments with kitchenettes

My kitchenette is more functional than his, which makes sense because I can't get 2 dollar street noodles like he can.



On my recent-ish conjugal visit to see him, I got to check out his kitchenette. And of course, what does he have sitting in there but a can of caviar.



"It's not that good caviar" Hock explains, "someone from work bought it back from Russia for me, I think it is just cheap"

But never having had the opportunity to gouge myself on caviar like Hock, I didn't care. For him perhaps it was nothing special, but for me, a lowly student who does not have access to luxury food supplies at wholesale prices or even as gifts I got stuck in.

Caviar on rye with condiments

We ended our ten day stay in NYC, by attending an intimate chat with Ferran Adrià. A perfect end to a great food focused week including a day spent experimenting with Alex and Aki and a dinner stuffing our faces at WD-50 (more to come on both of those experiences).

So It was so very sweet of Maytel and Ms Q to indulge me in a nearly two hour inspirational talk held at the New York Public Library in honour of Ferran and his new book. I had said if it was boring that we could just slip out and head for eats earlier than planned.

No slipping needed.

Both Maytel and Ms Q loved it and were both left truly inspired, for me I know a lot about this this man and had heard much of what he had spoken of before from the Joël Robuchon story, and that he and a few others (see chefs statement or Manifesto under Heston Blumenthal) were willing to except the term Molecular gastronomy but not Molecular Cooking.

Maytel loved the comments he made about bread, that bread is just as scientific as cooking with liquid nitrogen but no one calls it "scientific bread". Ferran continued to push the point that El Bulli is a kitchen and not a laboratory as is often believed and one myth that clearly the moderator (slow food guy) wanted to maintain. He stressed that there are no scientists in the kitchen, just passionate chefs that are dedicated to their discipline. I also loved that what Ferran emphasised is the importance of cross-disciplinary dialogue, between not only chemists but architects and engineers. Nonetheless while people ahhh and ohhh over smashed fruit pulled from liquid nitrogen and other equally cool techniques. I was personally inspired or reassured that he was just a chef. A chef who has run with every opportunity that has crossed his path.

I loved that he was nervous to start and then the passion of what he does just over took him. Ignoring stupid questions from fellow panellist (except those of course from Super Nerd Harold McGee -he could have held his own talk by the way). Ferran quietly spoke of his interests and seemed to glow like a proud Dad when pictures of his latest creations emerged upon the large screen, and that most importantly he likes Katz's pastrami sandwiches just like me.





In a few days with any luck there should be an audio or hopefully a video cast available here (unfortunately I don't think you can rss this page) but checking back here in the next few weeks should allow you to find a wealth of interesting food discussions during the Restaurant Month at the NYCPL. With talks from Grant Achatz and possibly my favourite topic for a talk ever "A Farewell to Quenelles".

Jake Houseman: Max, our Baby's going to change the world.
Max: [to Lisa] And what are you going to do, missy?
Baby: Oh Lisa's gonna decorate it.


One thing about guilt.
It's bad for digestion.

Generally, I have a talent for guilt. It often feels obscene to be posting about luxurious food stuffs on this blog. Maybe it is a case of the famous 'white guilt' but then I do think white people deserve to be guilty. They kind of suck.

Reading Nalika's post Hand to Mouth Eating#3 brought up a few more of those inescapable food-related guilt pangs.

I think somebody should outline an ethical guidelines for eating. Maybe this could be something like karma credits in Buddhism.
Maybe you don't have a 'nest egg' saved up, maybe you don't have health insurance, maybe you're stealing creme eggs on the reg. These stressors would be like credits for a bonus round.
"Don't get caught"
If you have a huge student loan, no savings to speak of and get down to loose change at least once a month, this gives you the potential for an extra ball to play with, or alternatively, one serving of Hokkaido scallops and caviar.

Does someone get automatic mega karma points (imagine a flashing pinball game screen) for living in the developing world? Do you get minus points for every ten grand you earn per year? Perhaps there should be a sliding scale with purchasing power parity: i.e. if you are the equivalent of a millionaire compared to what the poorest people in your country earn, your social debt increases.

Should poor people be absolved from caring about the planet? Is ecological thinking a luxury?

Does every choice in the 'free world' come with a burden of guilt?
If I take a vitamin supplement, is it automatically a bourgeois sin, because an Ecuadorian might not have the choice to do so?
Game over, next player.

I was telling my friend Hanna about my guilty thoughts, like maybe I should be working as a nurse in the Ruhr area, like maybe at some point I have to take some social responsibility in Germany even though I still feel a negligible feeling of connection to society in general here. She said "You just have to do what you feel naturally driven to do and have some useful talent for, and do it ethically and somehow you will end up having a positive impact on the world."

I guess I sort of agree with her, as long as your natural talent isn't exploiting Polish workers to pick white asparagus or sell mulled Glühwein in the Christmas Markets. Beyond that, I guess I can vote in the NZ elections, read the Mental Detox, try not to throw out half a pot of rice and freeze it instead for next week's chahan, send money to my mother, donate to charities, and just keep dreaming about a retirement fund.

Does all of this make me more hypocritical than the guy who eats a solid block of corn syrup for breakfast, drives an old gas-guzzling pick up truck and eats GE potatoes for dinner because they're the cheapest and therefore the most democratic.

This week I might spend ten euros on a fancy piece of cheese, next week I might have the IRD department banging on the door. Oh well, at least I don't care about fancy cars.


Johnny: Last month I'm eating Jujubes to keep alive, and this month women are stuffing diamonds in my pocket, I'm bouncing on shit and quick as that [clicks his fingers] I could be down there again.

Photo: Carl Parks

As some of you may know, when Thailand's new right-wing conservative prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, isn't passing draconian internet censorship laws, defending the military junta of Burma (and cooking them dinner), or underhandedly supporting extra-judicial killings via the "war on drugs", he can be found cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

On his show Cooking and Complaining, Samak shows viewers how to make pigs legs in coca cola and fried rice.

Samak told the Guardian

"The constitution does not restrict a prime minister from talking about food. I think I’ll have a one-hour programme on Sundays,’ Mr Samak said. ‘Even the Prime Minister of New Zealand can be a tour guide to promote the country’s tourism. I may host a similar tourism programme in the future.’

I shudder to think what that will entail.....given that Thailand's tourism still relies heavily of boozing sexpats looking to score a good time with young Thai women from the provinces....It's not exactly white water rafting but quite possibly just as perilous


Samak's Pigs' leg in Coca-Cola

Ingredients (serves five):
Five pig legs
Four bottles of Coca-Cola
Three tablespoons salt
Fish sauce
Garlic, chopped
See-uan (a sweet, dark sauce)
Four to five cinnamon sticks
Coriander root
Ground pepper
Five tablespoons "pongpalo" powder
Shitake mushrooms

Method:
Place the pig legs in a large pot. Pour over the Coca-Cola and bring to the boil. Add the coriander root, garlic, pepper, salt, fish sauce, "pongpalo" and cinnamon sticks.
Add sufficient water to cover. Cut the stalks off the Shitake mushrooms and add hot water to soften. Then add to the main pot. Bring to boil and simmer or at least three hours. Make sweet sauce with see-uan. Serve chilli and vinegar sauce.

Samak's Fried Rice

Ingredients (serves 8-10):
500g chicken pieces
500g chopped ham
Six tomatoes, chopped
Six onions, chopped
10 chillies (hot northern Thai variety)
One cup mushrooms
Five to six kale leaves
Eight small cucumbers
20 spring onions Boiled rice

For the sauce:
Fish sauce
Pepper
Oil
Butter

Method:
Fry the chicken and ham. Fry all the vegetables except the spring onions and cucumbers, which are for garnish. When vegetables are softened add the chicken, sauce and ketchup, along with the rice. Stir-fry.


Either way it seems there is no escaping the truth of the matter.....Samak is bad for your health

It was a lovely warm easter weekend in New Zealand, and out in West Auckland an informal home made pasta lesson took place. "It's easy" said Hock in the kind of way that Jaimie Oliver says things are easy and really they are time consuming and difficult.



With Hock over seeing, G&G rolled it and folded it and rolled it again, and when at first they failed...they tried again



First homemade pasta dish of the weekend involved our dead easter bunny....Hock and Ginny took charge of this. First they pan fried the loin and the kidneys, then they made a stew of rabbit, bacon and tuber veges with a light white wine and sage sauce. They served it with fresh "beginners home made pasta" parpadelle





And we drunk it with some damn good NZ wine.




Later that weekend the lesson continued and G&G graduated onto the ever tricky ravioli, stuffed with chicken. Hock pronounced, as resident chef, that the "ravioli must be sealed properly with no air bubbles otherwise it would split and we'll end up with a gruesome bowl of boiling water with bits of broken up pasta and poached mince meat."...He said and everyone looked horrified and set about double checking the ravioli for air bubbles and broken seals.

"Ravioli is difficult, that's why in the 1990s there was that time when everyone made one big ravioli, because making small ones is annoying and often disasterous".



But of course, it's not exactly rocket science either


We put basil, roasted tomato, mozzerlla and parmasan on top, well they did...I watched and drunk wine and complained about being hungry. Then they heated it in the oven, just enough for the cheese to go gooey.


Someone set the table


And we treated ourselves to another damn good bottle of NZ wine, a well earned bottle of Mt Difficulty. I love my sister and her wine cellar.



Papadelle hanging out to dry

MC Hammer the food blogger....

Masta Killa the vegan...

now Coolio the celeb chef

Rap stars take on the food industry, will Jay-Z now become a grain merchant mogul or buy out Woolworths?

Some basic stuff here that all kids know, but I guess we're all guilty of boiling with the lid off the pot sometimes...

The most interesting point to me is about the extreme energy inefficiency of gas burners. I suppose the main argument for them was always the level of control, but in the end taking a pot off the heat can be as fast a movement as switching off a flame...

But soaking pasta? I can just see the expression on Marco Passarani's face now - and Erik's too for that matter. Still, I'll try it, since these days I make myself a separate pot of wholegrain pasta anyway! Some might say I've already thrown the real pasta experience out the window, so what's the diff huh? May as well presoak and throw out the baby with the bathwater (wholegrain takes longer to cook, so it makes even more sense). I'll let you know how it goes.

You will notice if you pay more attention to your kitchen’s thermal landscape, even in terms of what you can feel, how much heat escapes without ever getting into the food.

Among the major culprits here are inefficient appliances. According to the United States Department of Energy, a gas burner delivers only 35 to 40 percent of its heat energy to the pan; a standard electrical element conveys about 70 percent. Anyone thinking about kitchen renovation should know that induction cooktops, which generate heat directly within the pan itself, are around 90 percent efficient. They can out-cook big-B.T.U. gas burners, work faster, don’t heat up the whole kitchen, and are becoming more common in restaurant kitchens.

Maximizing the transfer of heat from burner to pot produces better food. In deep frying, the faster the burner can bring the oil temperature back up after the food is added, the quicker the food cooks and the less oil it absorbs. In boiling green vegetables, a fast recovery time means better retention of vibrant color and vitamins.

No matter how efficient an appliance is, the cook can help simply by covering pots and pans with their lids. Some of the heat that enters through the bottom of the pot exits through the top, but a lid prevents much of it from escaping into the air. This is especially true when you’re bringing a pot of water to the boil. With the lid on, it will start bubbling in as little as half the time. Turning water into steam takes a lot of energy, and every molecule that flies away from the water surface takes all that energy with it into the air. Prevent its escape, and the energy stays with the pot to heat the rest of the water.

Once a liquid starts to boil and is turning to steam throughout the pot — the bubbles of a boil are bubbles of water vapor — nearly all the energy from the burner is going into steam production. The temperature of the water itself remains steady at the boiling point, no matter how high the flame is underneath it. So turn the burner down. A gentle boil is just as hot as a furious one.

In fact it’s easy to save loads of time and energy and potential discomfort with grains, dry beans and lentils, and even pasta. But it requires a little thinking ahead. It turns out that the most time-consuming part of the process is not the movement of boiling heat to the center of each small bean or noodle, which takes only a few minutes, but the movement of moisture, which can take hours. Grains and dry legumes therefore cook much faster if they have been soaked. However heretical it may sound to soak dried pasta, doing so can cut its cooking time by two-thirds — and eliminates the problem of dry noodles getting stuck to each other as they slide into the pot.

The trickiest foods to heat just right are meats and fish. The problem is that we want to heat the center of the piece to 130 or 140 degrees, but we often want a browned, tasty crust on the surface, and that requires 400 degrees.

It takes time for heat to move inward from the surface to the center, so the default method is to fry or grill or broil and hope that the browning time equals the heat-through time. Even if that math works out, the area between the center and surface will then range in temperature between 130 and 400 degrees. The meat will be overcooked everywhere but right at the center.

The solution is to cook with more than one level of heat. Start with very cold meat and very high heat to get the surface browned as quickly as possible with minimal cooking inside; then switch to very low heat to cook the interior gently and evenly, leaving it moist and tender.

On the grill, this means having high- and low-heat zones and moving the food from one to the other. On the stove top or in the oven, start at 450 or 500 degrees, and then turn the heat down to around 250, ideally taking the food out until the pan or oven temperature has fallen significantly.

Another solution is to cook the food perfectly with low heat, let it cool some, and then flavor its surface with a brief blast of intense heat from a hot pan or even a gas torch. More and more restaurants are adopting this method, especially those that practice sous-vide cooking, in which food is sealed in a plastic bag, placed in a precisely controlled water bath and heated through at exactly the temperature that gives the desired doneness.

All these are two-step processes, but the same principle works for three steps or more. Rotisserie cooking alternates high and low heat many times: as the meat turns on the spit, each area of the surface is briefly exposed to high browning heat, then given time for that dose of energy to dissipate, part of it into the meat but part back out into the cool air. So the meat interior cooks through at a more moderate temperature. Similarly, steaks and chops cook more evenly on high grill heat — and faster as well — if you become a human rotisserie and turn them not once or twice but as often as you can stand to, even dozens of times, every 15 or 30 seconds.

Heat knocks molecules at the surface of food into the air where we can sniff them, so it increases the aroma. Inside the food, agitated molecules make sauces more fluid and hot meat more tender. And the sensation of a food’s warmth is satisfying in itself. The moment hot food is put on a plate, its heat energy begins to flow out into the cooler surroundings. Aromas fade, sauces thicken, fats congeal.

So when you transfer heat’s handiwork from the kitchen to the table, take along some extra. Warm the plates to prolong the pleasure. And encourage everyone to sit down and eat it while it’s hot.

from article: 'The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen', NY Times, Jan 2nd, 2008

I just got back from my annual sister gathering.

There are four girls in my family and we try to get together whenever possible.

Being four half Chinese girls there is usually lots of shopping, great food, too much alcohol and often some fights and tears

The last get together was on my birthday and wedding in New Zealand - it didn't run that smoothly

The year before was skipped on account of 2004's gathering that included far too much wine, bickering at Neil Perry's now failed XO restaurant and me standing up in the middle of dinner to announce "fuck you both, I'm leaving" (the youngest one was not present at that gathering). At which point my older sister snatched my bag and scowled "no you're not". My announcement reduced my other little sister to tears who, in between mouthfuls of Neil's excellent braised pork hock, quivered "I hate it when everyone argues". We then all argued over the bill. Such is the nature of family.

This year's annual feast however, went exceedingly well. I chose Yoshii's figuring that wine is not ideal for those prone to fighting and tears.

Being all a bit older Japanese also seemed ideal given that we are now all on continual diets

Plus the Sydney Morning Herald had just released their good food guide and gave Yoshii's the thumbs up.

We went on the night of the election....I rudely enquired as to who the Maitre D voted for, he said Howard.....we changed the subject and left a miserly tip

The food........well.....the sake was excellent, definitely a highlight and we all drank so much of it and we talked so much that the food seemed rather secondary

Although we were interrupted and explained what each dish was by excceedingly polite Japanese waitresses, I can hardly remember what we ate. I did take photos though.


At dinner there are two set menus to choose from: The Yoshii Course ($130 AUD) and the Sakura Course ($120 AUD)

Below are some photos of both

I had the Yoshii Course


Sea Urchin Egg Cup. I was still very much sober at this point. The egg is half cooked by hot dashi inside. The sea urchin was Australian sea urchin, thus not that lovely golden colour and not exactly bursting with flavour. Plus it was used so sparingly I could hardly taste it.


? This was on the Sakura course that my sister had. I can't remember what it was


Quadruplet of Appetisers: Ocean trout wrapped with nashi pear and served with kimizu; blue swimmer crab and goats curd avocado roll; grilled pacific oyster; deep fried kanpyou; cumquat and frois gras mousse.



Despite the whimsical descriptions it was all a bit bland

Salt Baked Abalone. I've never been a big fan of abalone. I don't see what the fuss is about. Nice texture, no flavour.


Miso Blue Cheese Black Cod. This was very very good. Memorable and delicious indeed.



Duck (on the Sakura course, I wasn't even tempted to try this)


Veal Capriccio...from what I recall at this point it was tasty and meaty and full of lovely unami mushroom flavours


Fish Baked in Paper, unspectacular (on the Sakura Course)


Rose gum smoked wagyu with horseraddish and turnip puree in Tamari reduction. I wish I could say I tasted the rose gum, but then I would be lying.


All I know is that the green stuff is green tea soba noodles in the middle (Sakura course)


Something rather bland in an edamame broth that was an odd slightly grainy texture (just checked the menu and it said spanner crab mousse wrapped in long net mushroom and edamame bonito)



Sushi Course (nothing amazing here, no premium toro or uni here)


Best Miso I Have Ever Had - No Photo

Dessert

Sweet potato crepe with orange reduction and goji berries (the fresh orange flavour definitely balanced the potential heaviness of the sweet potato filling


Pannacotta with black sesame crust and bits


Apple Spring Roll with Apple and Wasabi Sorbet (sounds unappetizing but was probably the best dessert)


Yoshiis is billed as kaiseki styled dining which is supposed to be a type of Japanese banquet whereby the diner is delighted by a series of small seasonal dishes and left to admire not only the artful food presentation but also ponder the beautiful bounties of the season and lastly appreciate the handcrafted ceramics on which the food is presented.

It is supposed to be an exercise in aesthetic appreciation and although it was definitely an exercise in sake appreciation, I felt that the food did not really reach quite the same pinnacles as the sake enjoyment. The presentation and plateware didn't knock my socks off either.

We spent a whooping $720 AUD for four people (including lashings of sake). It's not the first time I've been disappointed by an acclaimed and expensive restaurant, and it probably won't be the last. I guess there is a lot to be said for over planning and expectations. Next time I'll leave more to chance.


We ended the night at Ding Dong Dang on Sussex St belting out kareoke hits and torturing each other with our worst high pitched renditions of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You Is Easy Cause Your Beautiful", I wish I could have sung the same fever pitched praise about the meal

The Democratic contenders include Gov. Bill Richardson, a veteran of the Atkins and liquid diets who wears a double chin despite daily workouts. Senator Barack Obama, who was chubby as a child, refers to himself as skinny in speeches and barely touches fatty foods — except at events like the Iowa State Fair, where he ate caramel corn, pork and a corn dog for the cameras. At one campaign event, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said she prayed to God to help her lose weight.

On the Republican side, there is Mike Huckabee, a self-described “recovering food addict” who lost 110 pounds a few years ago. Rudolph W. Giuliani and Fred D. Thompson are on diets imposed by their wives. Mitt Romney is so vigilant about nutrition that he eats the same thing every day: his wife’s granola for breakfast, a chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch, and pasta, fish or chicken for dinner.

And John McCain probably spoke for all the candidates when he arrived at a New Hampshire college for a speech on Sunday night and surveyed the snack foods set out backstage. “I’d love some spaghetti,” he said wistfully, as if a warm, comforting meal could somehow be conjured out of the air.

Those wanting to be president must never, ever refuse or fumble the local specialties, lest they repeat the sins of John Kerry (dismissed as effete when he ordered a Philly cheese steak with Swiss in 2004) or Gerald R. Ford (on a 1976 swing through Texas, he bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on).

So this fall, Mr. Giuliani has visited what seems like every diner in New Hampshire. Mr. Romney, whose idea of a late-night fridge raid is a bowl of cereal, has been ordering milkshakes. Mrs. Clinton introduced calorie and fat counts on White House menus when she was first lady, but a few weeks ago in Tama, Iowa, she had a loose meat sandwich — a kind of Sloppy Joe, but without sauce — and fries.

But while the tradition of campaign consumption endures, physical standards have changed drastically, the portly presidents that Americans elected in the late 19th century giving way to thinner, fitter leaders.

Mr. Huckabee also eats lightly, sticking largely to salads, protein bars and steamed vegetables. But if a campaign trip he took this month is any guide, his mind tends to wander into more dangerous nutritional territory. At a metal factory in Cedar Falls, Iowa, he stared as a worker punched out a flat disc. “Put a little pepperoni and cheese on that, and you’re made,” he observed. One machine, he said, looked like a grill for rib-eye steaks.

Mr. Huckabee, once so overweight as governor of Arkansas that a chair collapsed under him at a meeting, said in an interview that obesity could put politicians at a disadvantage.

Amusing article in the NY Times.

I like good wine, I dislike bad wine and that's about the sum of it. Despite the fact that I am a food blogger the link between my taste buds and that part of my brain that controls verbal description seems to be broken

Food, wine, beer is, in my books, either yummy, or not. I'm not one to start waxing lyrically about vanilla undertones or blackberry flavours, to me it all tastes like fermented grapes. Not to say that there are not good bottles and bad bottles of fermented grapes and that I can't tell the difference. I'm just not going to bore anyone with the petty details of my tongue

it's a sensual wine????? a naughty wine????? a charming wine????

Mushrooms are not actors and wine isn't a young woman.....it's wine.

So I'm so glad that someone else has been incensed with this insufferable snobbery and food fetishism and called a spade a spade

Introducting, the Anti-Wine Guide

AFP - US-born film director Jonathan Nossiter, maker of Mondovino, has released his first book - an ''anti wine guide'' which like his 2004 documentary slams overly influential critics and outrageous prices.

Launched in Bordeaux recently, Nossiter said the book, Le Gout et le Pouvoir (Taste and Power), aimed to demystify wine and make it more democratic.

In a veiled attack on powerful critics such as American Robert Parker, whose arithmetical ratings of Bordeaux wines influence sales and prices, Nossiter says it is treason to taste 300 wines and then issue mathematical calculations.

''If there were 40 people in the room tasting we would have 40 different experiences,'' Nossiter said.

''This book is an anti-guide,'' he said, not aimed at imposing one person's tastes but instead at championing the taste of the individual over that of well known critics.

The book, which will be available in English late next year, ``is a call to find another way to talk about wine, to find words that include people, not exclude them,'' he said.

It follows hot on the heels of another recently launched book that also criticises Parker, accusing him of croneyism and lack of independence.

Aside from slamming wine buffs and their snobby talk, Nossiter also takes on outrageously priced restaurants as a barrier to enjoying wines.

Describing a visit to one trendy Paris restaurant which aims to bring good foods to a wide audience, Nossiter said the wine prices were ''punishing'' with a simple white burgundy at 17 euros ($A27) a glass.

''Scandalous,'' he says for a wine that could have been priced at
1.50 euros ($A2.38).

''More than 1,000 per cent mark up, when the norm is between 250 and 300 per cent,'' the book says.

Another wine, selling at 13 euros ($A20.50) a glass, normally costs 6 euros ($A9.50) a bottle, he says, a 1,300 per cent mark-up.

When the restaurant's sommelier is asked if the wines by the glass come from bottles opened that day or the day before - as wines change taste and lose freshness when opened for too long - the sommelier says he doesn't know and that it doesn't matter.

''That is like saying to a film maker, you can screen your film on the pavement instead of the screen, no difference,'' writes Nossiter.

Asked at the launch about fears that both critics and supermarkets will eventually impose standardised wine tastes, Nossiter said: ''Despite mafia-like efforts to standardise our tastes, I think intelligent people will not accept this, and they will become more and more sceptical about wine and other things.''

Nossiter, who chose to wrote his book in French, made waves at the Cannes filmfest in 2004 with Mondovino, a documentary about the good, the bad and the ugly in world wine.

It portrayed a troubled world, one of big business taking over the vineyards of the world. Nossiter travelled three continents to recount the family sagas of billionaire Napa Valley growers, the rivalry between two aristocratic Florentine dynasties and the efforts of three generations of a Burgundy family to preserve their vines.

''Wine is a kind of guardian of Western civilisation,'' he said at the time.