I always love the opportunity to get out of London and I also love food, so I was really excited to have been invited up to Keswick to work (i.e. eat food) with the California Prunes chef Peter Sidwell. After a couple of years of rarely going anywhere or meeting anyone I was especially keen to get out and about.
We started with freshly baked croissants and apparently this is the way the California Prunes team always get welcomed when they come here. I had heard about this on the train on the way up and was not disappointed to find this tradition maintained. But the food didn’t stop there. Peter had put together some delicious recipes showcasing the versatility of California Prunes. I was there to talk through the nutritional benefits of each and there were some great combinations of nutrients in there. I love Korean food and loved the recipe with kimchi. The Asian noodles with California Prunes and tofu was delicious and full of nutrients 
necessary for good bone health. California Prunes are high in vitamin K and a source of manganese which together with the calcium from the tofu make a winning combination for good bone mineralization.
My other favourite recipe was the Nordic Loaf. This isn’t a recipe that most people would recognize as bread. It contains no flour or yeast, but uses seeds as the base and eggs to bind it. The California Prunes (along with a bit of dark chocolate) give it sweetness but also slow-release carbohydrate for energy. Perfect for walking up some of those beautiful Lake District mountains. Aside from the recipes I also got to taste some incredible food pairings with California Prunes. My favourite was with brie and I’ve since incorporated that one into my weekend breakfasts.
The Lake District is obviously stunning so I felt really lucky to be there, and Peter’s kitchen was such a pleasure to film in. The view from the huge windows was like a postcard. I also got to visit Derwant Water and see the sun set behind Catbells,a beautiful mountain overlooking the lake.
We nutritionists often have an action-filled existence but mine doesn’t usually lead me to such impressive surroundings. The last filming I did before this was outside a supermarket in Basildon.
The kitchen studio set up was great. Usually when filming you end up doing multiple takes from different angles, but Peter has about five cameras, all filming simultaneously so the whole process was seamless. I was very jealous. In my kitchen studio (which admittedly is just my family kitchen and not a studio at all) there is poor lighting, a flimsy tripod and my phone. It was great fun working with Peter’s team as well. I could do with a Carlos-the-sound-guy and someone to operate the camera for me. Of course the California Prunes envoys were there too and Peter’s enthusiastic black Labrador! I can’t wait for the next trip.