That Was The Week That Was

Amy Winehouse said this week that she’ll return to her home in London — as long she can find a St Lucian chef to move to the UK and cook for her. The troubled singer — who has been living on the Caribbean island while she works on her eagerly-awaited third album — has already started asking native cooks to move back to London with her. One of Amy’s favorite things about St Lucia is the food and she’d love to have that as a reminder of the island when she is back in the UK a source told British newspaper the Evening Standard. She has said there’s no way she’ll come back unless she can find a chef she likes and who is prepared to move country. So far she hasn't had any luck in recruiting her personal chef and it seems there are many in London who hope it stays that way.


Meanwhile back in London the controversy concerning a top Japanese chef and blue fin tuna continues as protesting actors, pop stars, models and socialites have started a celebrity backlash against the A-list's favourite restaurant Nobu for selling the endangered fish. Sienna Miller, Charlize Theron, Jemima Khan, Sting and his film producer wife Trudie Styler are among 31 signatories of a letter to the Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa appealing for him to remove bluefin tuna from his global restaurant empire so that they can "dine with a clear conscience". The model Elle Macpherson and the actors Alicia Silverstone and Woody Harrelson are also supporting the protest, which follows news that Nobu refuses to stop serving bluefin – a fish on the brink of extinction in the Mediterranean. Instead its two restaurants in London are advising diners to ask for an alternative.


In New York Nobu was also coming under pressure from Greenpeace as members of the group made reservations for six tables on Saturday night, and once there, planted fake menus listing dishes made with endangered animals--blue whale whale tongue and rack of mountain gorilla alongside the bluefin--and asked servers to answer questions about fish sourcing and sustainability. The fake menus were also posted in the toilets and some handed out directly to other diners. They were in there for an hour and a half, and at no point did they get satisfactory answers about bluefin or other unsustainable seafood, or even guidance as to which menu items they should order.