Bitten by the Instagram bug yet? Yeah, me too! (Although I also love Snapseed and Big Lens as well.) Everyone seems to be snapping their food these days - it's NOT JUST ME!! The great thing is it's instantaneous, take the photo with your phone or iPod and ta-da!
This photo of my pecan praline chocolate fancies won me a ticket to the Diwali Banquet (Festival of Lights), held at Cinnamon Kitchen, London. The banquet is a gala dinner uniting 6 of the country's top Indian (including 1 Mauritian) chefs, in aid of Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger.
For the competition, which was in aid of the annual Love Food Give Food appeal, you had to snap a picture of your food and upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #lovefoodgivefood and a hashtag of one of the three blogs where you read about the competition, in my case it was English Mum's post, hashtag #offthetable, saying what the photo meant to you. There were over 200 entries, so I was thrilled to hear that I was 1 of 3 winners. I decided to buy my husband a ticket so he could go too, it's a great charity to support.
It wouldn't be right if I didn't share the amazing food that was served at the banquet with you. Indian food is one of my favourite cuisines - and this wasn't your average Indian take-away food, believe me! Beautifully presented, every dish had it's own unique flavours, served with Indian wines and beers, it was a delicious night.
This year, the chefs were Vivek Singh and Abdul Yaseen of the Cinnamon Club and Kitchen, Sriram Aylur of Michelin starred Quilon, this year's Masterchef winner, Shelina Permalloo, Head Chef at Benares Sameer Taneja and food writer and broadcaster Anjum Anand.
The evening started with a Champagne reception, sponsored by Taittinger, which was accompanied with canapes, from Abdul Yaseen.
Then we sat down to a stunning 5 course main event:
Check out the dessert!
The Diwali Banquet raised an impressive £33,995 for Action Against Hunger!
Did you know that if you enter a food photo that you took on your phone into the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Food Sn-apping category, £2 will go to Action Against Hunger and you could win £5000?!
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2012 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Pecan praline chocolate fancies. Choc + cake = love!
This photo of my pecan praline chocolate fancies won me a ticket to the Diwali Banquet (Festival of Lights), held at Cinnamon Kitchen, London. The banquet is a gala dinner uniting 6 of the country's top Indian (including 1 Mauritian) chefs, in aid of Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger.
For the competition, which was in aid of the annual Love Food Give Food appeal, you had to snap a picture of your food and upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #lovefoodgivefood and a hashtag of one of the three blogs where you read about the competition, in my case it was English Mum's post, hashtag #offthetable, saying what the photo meant to you. There were over 200 entries, so I was thrilled to hear that I was 1 of 3 winners. I decided to buy my husband a ticket so he could go too, it's a great charity to support.
It wouldn't be right if I didn't share the amazing food that was served at the banquet with you. Indian food is one of my favourite cuisines - and this wasn't your average Indian take-away food, believe me! Beautifully presented, every dish had it's own unique flavours, served with Indian wines and beers, it was a delicious night.
This year, the chefs were Vivek Singh and Abdul Yaseen of the Cinnamon Club and Kitchen, Sriram Aylur of Michelin starred Quilon, this year's Masterchef winner, Shelina Permalloo, Head Chef at Benares Sameer Taneja and food writer and broadcaster Anjum Anand.
The evening started with a Champagne reception, sponsored by Taittinger, which was accompanied with canapes, from Abdul Yaseen.
Lamb mince kebab wrapped in roomali bread, corander chutney
Grilled tilapia with coconut & mustard, red pepper relish
Hunter style game fritters with mustard & green pea 'raita'
Indo-Chinese chilli paneer
Then we sat down to a stunning 5 course main event:
From Anjum Anand, Delicate yoghurt kebab
From Sriram Aylur, Duo of black leg chicken - chicken sukke with lentil crust and coriander & curry leaf chicken
From Sameer Taneja, Sea bass ki kathi, Calcutta-inspired sea bass kathi, masala puff, peppers & free range eggs
From Vivek Singh, tandoor smoked Kentish lamb saddle with saffron sauce & anise pilau
My husband had this mega prawn dish instead of the lamb
Naan breads with sauce
Check out the dessert!
From Shelina Permalloo, tropical tapioca with coconut,
rose & palm sugar
From Dhruv Baker, petit fours, pistachio rose & cardamom mini madeleines, mukhwas shortbread hearts

The chefs line up with Action Against Hunger's Executive Director, photo credited with thanks to ©ACF_UK S.Haunstein-Swan

The chefs line up with Action Against Hunger's Executive Director, photo credited with thanks to ©ACF_UK S.Haunstein-Swan
A live performance from Mitel Purohit & S-Funk
There was a silent auction and a raffle
The evening was hosted by Hardeep Singh Kohli
The Diwali Banquet raised an impressive £33,995 for Action Against Hunger!
Did you know that if you enter a food photo that you took on your phone into the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Food Sn-apping category, £2 will go to Action Against Hunger and you could win £5000?!
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2012 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.