Howdy folks. I hope everybody’s had a lovely Christmas. It’s been one of the most relaxing ever here on my end. So I thought I’d take advantage of the down time to post another recap in my #SoupSearch adventures. This’ll probably be my last #SoupSearch related post for awhile – definitely the last one for this year. Thanks again to everyone who voted for me to win this thing. I really appreciate you making it possible for me to have such a remarkable experience.
The latest news is about my visit to the Symington’s factory up in Leeds. That’s where Ainsley Harriott Foods, including the World Flavours range of soups, are produced and packaged. Not one to miss the chance to get snooded up, I was taken on a fascinating tour of the facilities where I saw from ship-in to ship-out the high speed and large scale process of manufacturing and packaging that goes into all of Symington’s products.
Calling the shots on the industrial end of Symington’s is Steve Sheldon. Steve was my guide during the factory visit. Not only does the man have a firm and competent grip on how to run a big time show (Ainsley Harriott Foods alone is worth a purported £3 million a year), but he’s a fine host as well.
After my factory tour, I spent the afternoon in the Symington’s kitchen with Mr Harriott himself. We caught up on how things went for me in Japan and cooked up a storm. It was a lot of fun and cool to see how me blathering about what I’d had to eat in Japan could be transcribed into a warming and comforting bowl of delicious soup.
Offering considerable help generating awesome flavours from my ramblings was Lisa Harris. Lisa’s a true behind-the-scenes hero with a palate as sharp as any I’ve ever come across. How she could so astutely, precisely and quickly turn a concept into something tangible kinda blew my mind.
I think we came up with some flavours worth sharing while I was at Syminton’s. Time (and their marketing department) will tell I suppose. Whatever the case, it’s been a fun excuse to travel around all over the place and slurp a lot of soup!
Have a happy new year! Here’s hoping that 2013 will be just as soupy.
