I recognise that this blog post is a very tenuous link to food and food safety, but what the heck- it\u2019s Friday! Besides, I couldn\u2019t let this \u2018Little Gem\u2019 go unreported.<\/p>\n
For a long time now, women\u2019s bodies have been described as \u2018apple\u2019 or \u2018pear\u2019 shaped according to weight distribution, but now high street retailer, Debenhams, has developed a similar set of labels for men\u2019s body types. This time they\u2019re being likened to vegetables (although they appear to have missed \u2018couch potato\u2019 from their definitions…)<\/p>\n
Apparently \u2018the Parsnip\u2019 is likened to a woman\u2019s hourglass figure in being the most desirable body form for a man. Parsnips have wide shoulders, developed chest muscles and slim hips. \u2018Leeks\u2019 by comparison have slim shoulders and hips and long legs.\u2018Aubergines?\u2019 \u2013 yep, you guessed it! They have slim arms, rounded shoulders, a bit of a tummy and a largish derri\u00e8re. And finally, the \u2018Beetroot\u2019, which has medium shoulders, large tummy and chest and narrow hips and legs.<\/p>\n
The idea behind the labels is to help men dress to suit their shape and inspire body confidence. To help male shoppers, the retailer has given examples of celebrities sporting the different body shapes: Tom Daley is a Parsnip, Russell Brand is a Leek, Rapper Jay-Z is an Aubergine (bet he\u2019s less than chuffed with this description!) and cuddly presenter Eamonn Holmes is Beetroot-shaped.<\/p>\n
Will it catch on? Who knows? Maybe we ladies will wake up one morning to find our other halves in front of the mirror bemoaning the fact that their jeans would fit properly if only they weren\u2019t such an Aubergine. Or perhaps the day will come when we complement a man on his gorgeous parsnip physique. We\u2019ll just have to wait and see.<\/p>\n
In my opinion the best place for parsnips, leeks, aubergines and beetroots are in a greengrocer\u2019s rather than a department store. And the best dressings for these are to be found in a kitchen or restaurant. With this in mind, here\u2019s a recipe for Leek, Parsnip and Cauliflower Bake, taken from the Co-operative website:<\/p>\n
Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n 3 parsnips, peeled<\/p>\n 2 leeks, cut into 2cm pieces<\/p>\n 1 small cauliflower, cut into florets<\/p>\n 1\/2 tsp thyme<\/p>\n 2 garlic cloves, chopped<\/p>\n 200ml vegetable stock<\/p>\n 150ml double cream<\/p>\n 100g course breadcrumbs<\/p>\n 1tbsp chopped fresh parsley<\/p>\n 100g mature cheddar cheese, grated<\/p>\n Method<\/strong><\/p>\n Pre-heat the oven to 180\u00b0C \/ gas 4.<\/p>\n Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the parsnips and cook for 3-4 minutes then drain, leave to cool in its own steam.<\/p>\n Blanch the leeks in the boiling water for 1 minute and drain. Lightly grease with a little butter the insides of a medium sized ovenproof dish. Slice one of the parsnips into 2cm rounds and place into the oven dish. Next add half of the leeks, half of the cauliflower and half of the cheese. Repeat the layering finishing with the cheese. In a small saucepan add the thyme, garlic, vegetable stock and cream and bring to a simmer.<\/p>\n Pour over the vegetables. Lastly scatter over the breadcrumbs and chopped parsley and bake loosely covered with tin foil for about 20 minutes then a further 10 minutes without the foil.<\/p>\n Cool slightly before serving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recognise that this blog post is a very tenuous link to food and food safety, but what the heck- it\u2019s Friday! Besides, I couldn\u2019t let this \u2018Little Gem\u2019 go unreported. For a long time now, women\u2019s bodies have been described as \u2018apple\u2019 or \u2018pear\u2019 shaped according to weight distribution, but now high street retailer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-safety-hygiene-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vwa.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}