Can your cooking give away more than you think? Does David Cameron’s favourite Italian sausage pasta recipe tell you he has leadership qualities? And does Ed Miliband’s tuna toasty reveal that he’s still very much in touch with his student self?
In the July issue of Sainsbury’s magazine, on sale 1st June, we get an unprecedented peek around the kitchen doors of the three main party leaders, who share their family favourites with us and prove that even the busiest of dads can get involved in dishing up family meals.
But these men’s choices reveal more than the fact that they aren’t afraid to don a pinny in the kitchen.
According to Judi James, leading behavioural expert and author of The You Code – what everything says about you (Vermilion, £8.99), David Cameron’s pasta dish signals a man ‘happy to get stuck in and take risks in order to get things done’, something with which many of his cabinet colleagues would probably agree.
But did you also know that, according to James, ‘he is calm, practical, easy-going with a penchant to challenge, springing surprises and speaking his mind.’ It’s the addition of red wine, chillies and those spicy Italian sausages apparently.
Meanwhile, Nick Clegg’s own choice of pasta dish, a melting pot of cream, peas and bacon points to a ‘clash of cultures’, according to James. ‘This is a quiet, simple man whose life has a tendency to chaos, a careful idealist who is used to having his plans scuppered.’ Clegg detractors – take note.
And finally James turns to the personality revealed by Ed Miliband’s tuna toasty, a simple yet more-ish combination of tuna, cheese and a splash of hot sauce. ‘Ed Miliband is firmly in touch with his student side,’ she says. ‘This is the sort of dish that boys concoct between visits home to get fed properly by their mum. However, his is a very logical, systematic, rule-centric approach to a bog-standard tuna melt, making additions that turn something basic and unpretentious into something special.’
Backing the Sainsbury’s magazine Dishy Dads campaign, which aims to encourage more fathers into the kitchen, the leaders of the three main political parties join forces with chefs Michel Roux Jr, Nathan Outlaw and Tom Kitchin, amongst others, who reveal how their dads inspired them to get cooking from an early age. Sainsbury’s magazine readers will also be able to have their say on the thorny subject of dads in the kitchen, by taking part in an exclusive online survey run in conjunction with Netmums.
Helena Lang, Editor of Sainsbury’s magazine, says, ‘When I met David Cameron he told me how much he loved cooking with his family, apart from the obvious mess created, and he gave full support to our campaign to persuade more dads – no matter how busy – to start pulling their weight in the kitchen. Many men love to cook, but many more are yet to discover the creative pleasure and fulfilment of putting a meal together and sitting down with the family – our campaign is designed to motivate and inspire them to do that.’
The July issue of Sainsbury’s magazine is in store from 1st June, £1.60.
Sainsbury’s magazine, which is published by Seven, the award-winning customer engagement agency, is now the UK’s most widely read, paid-for title. With just under 4 million readers every month (NRS), Sainsbury’s magazine is the only magazine to have won the covetable PPA Customer Magazine Award at the annual Professional Publishers Association (PPA) Awards three times.