A mouth watering read! (BBC Olive Magazine)

Member Name: berrydelight

Product:	BBC Olive Magazine
Date:	25/05/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good variety of articles and lots to read and try

Disadvantages: I guess the price...

I love to cook and I love to eat out, both hobbies that have been growing in the last couple of years buoyed by several rather attractive and charismatic celebrity chefs and in my case being forced to fend for myself. I like my magazines to be a little challenging and whilst avoiding the drivel about what Jordon and Peter did next found Olive.

At £3.30 it isn't cheap but you can find ways round this like by using your Tesco vouchers and it does become cheaper if you subscribe (25% cheaper). For a cookery magazine it has a pleasing diversity with some challenging articles that force you to examine about where your food really comes from, how to utilise 'unpopular' cuts of meat and also the next thing in the food trends.

Personally for me the regular features are the highlight. The magazine is split into two sections Eat In and Eat Out. Eat Out is great for recommending restaurants abroad when you are often relying on a guide book and not actual experience. I keep the ones that take my fancy on the off chance my other half takes me somewhere nice! It also gives me the opportunity to day dream about foreign climates and escape the fact that I'm budgeting with meal plans again!
The Eat In section is the most practical in any cooking magazine I have every come across. My favourite regular feature is 7 days for £35 which is basically a meal planner using a limited range of ingredients. Your provided with a clear shopping list and the dishes are amazingly diverse and it helps reduce waste. The 3 ways with article features a different vegetable each month and again offers creative and varied options for you to try.

There is good reader participation with a challenge Gordon Ramsey feature in which you can pit your homemade speciality against his version of the dish and an entertaining restaurant review in which a reader and a celebrity chef both review the same place. I really like the readers recipes as well, often simple and very tasty!

As you would expect the pages are awash with creative and colourful food photography as well as the usual adverts for expensive kitchen ware. All recipes include a calorie counter and breakdown of the salt/sugar content making it much easier for you to make informed choices. The recipes are also coded with labels such as 'really really easy' or 'something for the weekend' which offers something a little more challenging which great end results.

There is a lot to read in this magazine and on balance the cost is justified. It does become repetitive in terms of format but I don't really mind that and it never fails to get me cooking!

Summary: A great read and will get you cooking no matter what your level!