As a wealth of TV favourites escalate the importance and social benefits of cooking, restaurants and new food shopping ventures are opening up community-driven learning environments that suggest a new direction for the future of food retail.
For the majority of February my evening routine was religiously structured around one program that featured a wealth of scallops and failed chocolate soufflés. Yes, I’m talking Masterchef. But despite a pair of irritatingly loud-spoken presenters, Masterchef, along with other current favourites such as Come Dine With Me, teaches us about food.
Learning is something that for many stimulates, develops and engages. From the day we are born our learning adventure begins and thus our natural curiosity reacts well when fuelled with educational-centered environments. Take for example the Apple store. The clean, white and minimalist environment distances itself from other homogenised highstreet stores with an engaging and interactive space.
But learning needn’t be restricted to technology. Food is one area that is equally enjoying a revival, especially in terms of cooking. Learning was certainly the core focus for Jamie Oliver’s recent Ministry of Food initiative. Add this to Delia’s Cheats, Come Dine With Me and Heston Blumenthal’s current ‘Feasts’ series and you have the new cult of celebrity chefs that are inspiring us to put on our aprons and engage in a world that celebrates not only the nutritional benefits of cooking but also the social and creative.
Step in ventures such as the Cookbook Cafe. Newly opened in London’s Park Lane, shelves are stacked with antique and modern day cookbooks, a wealth of knowledge that certainly underlines this new dining concept. Learning is at the heart with guests sat around centrally located cooking stations to watch, share and pick up new skills.
Taking a Saturday Morning Kitchen style set-up becomes even more real in Jamie Oliver’s new venture, ‘Recipease’.
The grocery/school which is located in Clapham Junction, fuses food shopping with optional in-store cookery lessons for a functional and social alternative to the supermarket. Packed with fresh ingredients, shoppers can either pick up a pre-made meal or book themselves in for a unique one-on-one cooking experience.
These novel concepts are a fresh and inviting direction for the future of food retail. For too long many eateries have succumbed to following fail-safe and traditional methods of serving food from a pre-set menu. But why? As one can walk into fashion stores and have a haircut, grab a coffee and see some art before even partaking in the intended act of shopping, then why should food retail not sit up and take note?
Simply following recipes on our own from a book, or attending sterile, planned and structured food classes is for many just not cutting it. Multi-functional and interactive environments are thriving on individuality and prompting a change in the way we shop and perceive retail.
With this in mind who knows what the future of food retail could entail. Pop-up restaurants, recipe swaps, live food-tasting workshops, secret cooking clubs.... 
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Friday, 20 March 2009
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