On the 15th November, we food bloggers (or blaggers as some might like to call us) are taking over The Hawksmoore Steakhouse to host ‘The Blaggers Banquet’ to raise money for Action Against Hunger. Tickets will go on sale for a dinner that us bloggers (although maybe not me) will cook from produce that we’ve blagged. There will be an auction of any other goodies that we might have also managed to blag along the way, with all proceeds from both the ticket sales and the auction to go towards Action Against Hunger.

If you would like to donate anything towards this cause, eg, free dinners, booze, etc, such that we can increase the size of the auction pot, then we would love to hear from you. You can do this by contacting me or emailing blaggersbanquet@gmail.com.

For more details on The Blaggers’ Banquet, you can also visit Eat Like A Girl. I will let you know more about the auction, etc. when I have more info.

I came across this new website called Gekko recently. It helps you to find places or “spots” you love based on your profile. To create your profile, you answer nine simple questions, and then it’ll attempt to match you to the kind of restaurants and hotels you like.

Gekko are also running a competition on their blog which give readers a chance to win a meal for two by becoming a ‘Gekko Spotter’. All you have to do is submit a restaurant review during the month of July. Go check it out!

Here are some upcoming July events that caught my eye and might be of interest.

Like London’s recent Taste of London, there is a similar event to be held in Birmingham. Its the Taste of Birmingham and will run between 9-12 July.

The month of July is cherry season, but did you know that in the last 50 years, Britain has lost 90% of its cherry orchards and now imports around 95% of the cherries sold. So FoodLoversBritain.com has come up with CherryAid, a campaign to support the British cherry. The highlight will be CherryBake, to be held on National Cherry Day which is on 18 July 2009. Foodies can register online and then come along with a baked dish which includes cherries. The dish will be entered into a competition for a chance to win a cherry tree in an orchard in Kent. The venue for CherryBake will be London’s Borough Market. For more details click here.

This past February, the chain of Little Bay restaurants (in Kilburn, Croydon, Battersea and Farringdon) hit the headlines when they introduced a ‘pay-what-you-think-it-is-worth’ pricing policy for the month of February. Designed to be ‘recession busting’, the irony was that diners ended up paying about 20% more on the menu price.

This ‘pay-what-you-want’ concept was not new. Clifton’s Cafeteria in California operated such a system as far back as the 1960s, and since then, there have been a sprinkling of other eateries in the States which have also done the same throughout the decades. And, Peter Ilic, the owner of Little Bay, actually first introduced the concept to the UK in the 1980s.

So was the ‘pay-what-you-think-it-is-worth’ campaign back in February designed to be recession busting, or a masterstroke in marketing? Call it what you will, but Little Bay are certainly clever with their offers, and have come up with another one. The latest, available to diners at any of the Little Bay restaurants in the months of June and July, is a half-price theatre ticket voucher for use on either of the two summer shows at Sadler’s Wells . For full details and terms and conditions go to the Little Bay website. I haven’t been to a Little Bay in about a year, but when I last went the food was really cheap and fairly decent.

The BBC Good Food Summer Show is on next week in Birmingham, 10-14 June 2009. Details here.

And of course there is the Taste of London at Regent’s Park between 18 – 21 June. Is it just me, or do other people think this event has become increasingly pricey? A standard ticket costs £22.50 when you include the online booking fee. And this is before you even consider the cost of the vouchers that you need to buy so that you can taste the food.

On 30 June, Australia House on the Strand will play host to G’dayUK – Tasting Of ‘100 Best Australian Wines’. Contact rsvp@wineaustralia.com or telephone 020 7887 5259 (£17.50 single/ £30.00 double) for more details.

I have been following the TV programme ‘Great British Menu‘ avidly. I absolutely adore how the judges often disagree with each other – nothing like a bit of controversy and some infighting! And Oliver Peyton – how great is he?! Kind of like the Simon Powell of the food world. Now wouldn’t it be great to be a judge? Could there possibly be a better job than tasting all that fabulous food?

But my biggest beef (and I just felt like a rant, seeing as tonight is the last night of the programme) is the fact that public votes make up 50% of the final score. Huh? How can you judge food unless you taste it? It’s not like the BBC need the money…

A couple of months ago I blogged about attending the filming of the BBC programme ‘Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is‘ at The Mercer Restaurant. Well, it finally aired last night with a revised title of ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’. The chefs were Nick Nairn and Aldo Zilli.

I have to say, it was quite amusing to watch the finished programme and to reminisce about that evening, especially as two of my friends were interviewed and appeared on TV! My only comment – don’t believe the guests who said the food was good. It wasn’t.

Here is the link to the show on BBC iPlayer. It will be available to view for another 6 days.

Action Against Hunger is running an auction on eBay for a chance to dine at one of San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Lot One of the auction ran between 21 April to 1 May. The second set of lots opened last week and will run until 14 May. There are dinners to be had at Per Se, Daniel and The French Laundry in the US amongst other countries, so get clicking.