I’ve worked with M&S a few times before, and as a result I’m basically in love with their food. If I was rich enough, I’d probably definitely live off their food (when I wasn’t eating clean, obviously). When I got invited to their press show in London, with travel paid for, I upped and went. Being surrounded by M&S food is pretty much my idea of heaven and well worth the train journey. I was a little nervous as I’d never been to a press show before, let alone one in London and by myself, but I needn’t have worried. It wasn’t anything like a blogger event, and quite a lot of people there were actually journalists rather than bloggers, but I ended up touring the stalls with Laura from the M&S press team and a journalist from Grazia for a bit, as well as spending a lot of the evening talking to the different people from each brand displayed and finding out about the inspiration behind the new foods.
So the purpose of this press show was to unveil the new spring summer ranges which will be in store from April/ May time. It was held in the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, a very trendy hotel which looked more like a vinyl shop on first glance. I was greeted by Hayley, a really lovely girl who is from the PR agency Graylings, and treated to a cocktail (these were flowing free the whole night but I resisted too many, being a school night), and then I wandered around the various stall things, at which there was a different range being shown with someone there to explain about the range. Each range is British inspired, taking inspiration from traditional British tastes and improving them. Most people know that M&S food is a much higher quality than other supermarkets, but going to the press show taught me that the care and thought put into the developing food tastes is unreal.
The first stand I visited was a fish and chip inspired range, including really cute fish and chips for one with chips, fish, and scraps (!) with a little wooden fork all neatly packed in an ovenable tray. There is a few types of fish, with each batter being different to compliment the fish, including cider battered! There was also a range of party nibbles, such as coconut prawns which looked divine. M&S use sustainably sourced fish from the British coasts, and use a range of fish to avoid putting too much pressure on one species.
The next stop was the new Gastro Pub range for spring and summer. M&S already do an autumn/ winter Gastro Pub range which is your winter comfort foods like pies etc, but they’ve focused on meals and snacks which are a bit more summer friendly, such as an ultimate (giant) pulled pork sausage roll topped with pork crackling, a hog roast pork pie, coronation chicken and cod with bacon, Bramley apples and Kentish cider. There wasn’t too many veggie options in this range but for meat eaters, these would genuinely make a perfect at home pub lunch or salad accompaniment. Prices for this range are around £3.50 per one person serving, making it an affordable treat.
The press show had an outside barbeque going on which let us sample the barbeque range. I tried the vegetarian chipotle chilli bean burgers (£.50 for two big burgers) and it was honestly the nicest burger I’ve had. I had to double check it was vegetarian as it was so meaty! I also tried the butternut and smoke paprika sausages (£3 for six) and again, really meaty, really flavoured and just delicious. The meat range all looked good too, good cuts of meat, fresh spices, sticky glazes… An M&S BBQ would be pretty amazing. There was a lot of sauces with a twist which would be perfect for a barbeque too; smokehouse ketchup, treacle and sale sauce marinade, sweetcorn and fireroasted pepper relish… And at £2 each, I was surprised at how affordable they are.
The cheese and dairy section was my second favourite stand, as it was a free for all try the cheeses. Delicious. I got talking to the lovely people behind Shepherds Purse who supply M&S with three of their cheeses, including a hand salted feta style cheese called fettle. It was gorgeous. All of their cheeses are handmade by a team of 25, meaning the quality is incredible. I even tried a mild blue cheese for the first time and actually liked it! There was also a spreadable cheese I dubiously tried, to be happily surprised it tasted 100% of real cheese but just spreadable. Crazy. I also tried some cheese paired with wine. I am notoriously known as a wine hater, I can’t stand it, but I was really surprised by how much cheese and wine do alter the taste of one another. Am I an adult now? Probably.
My favourite stand (and by stand, I mean room) was the biscuits, cakes, confectionary and bakery room. It was literally like walking into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Traditional flavours were given a makeover with things like British strawberry jam and clotted cream buttercream Swiss roll, which you just know the ingredients are going to be on point. I tried one of all the mini caes (all handmade) and loved them all, leaving the room feeling incredibly full. The sweets were all British takes too, including Earl Grey flavoured sweets and Battenburg inspired biscuits! I got to try my hand at icing and decorating cakes with what can only be described as the nicest cream cheese frosting ever. They didn’t survive the journey home in one piece but luckily I grabbed a photo beforehand!
Other ranges on show was the groceries, aka cupboard food put up a notch including a beetroot and horseradish chutney I’d love to try, pumpkin seed oil, British summer honeycomb, oak smoked sea salt and fruit teas. The deli room showed off the fresh cuts of meat available at the deli counters, artesian versions of pork pies (including a three tiered pork pie wedding cake which I can just imagine being a perfect farm cake) and crazy scotch eggs including a full English breakfast version, sans beans. There was plenty of alcohol flowing, with an M&S version of Pimms (delicious) and some weirdly flavoured vodkas, and the new sandwiches and lunch time kind of foods as well. I also had a ten minute chat with the most adorable old man who is in charge of the farm which provides M&S with their British asparagus. He was so proud of the fact they’ve worked hard to ensure they’re the first UK farm to provide ready asparagus, and the last to stop supplying them each year. He also told me how at his son’s wedding, they had asparagus in every meal. Including asparagus ice cream. I wanted to adopt him, such a cute man and really the epitome of the pride M&S put in their food.
Overall I have to say I really enjoyed the press show. Partly due to the fact I could pretend in my head I was an important journo, partly because everyone was so nice, mostly because the food was incredible. Those adverts where they’re like, it’s M&S Food are genuinely true, the time and care they put into making food combinations and sourcing ingredients is unreal. Maybe not the type of food I could afford to do a full shop at, but I’m happy spending a little more money on some treat products (ahem chipotle burgers) and meals every once in a while. And when I win the lottery, daily.
