The Lakeland Effect

As you might have deduced from reading previous posts, I'm quite a keen cook. What might not be so clear is that I am also a dedicated Bond fan. The former means I use the kitchen... a lot. The latter has given me a love of gadgets. Combine the two and you get to the heart of my love of kitchen gadgets.

Almost a secondary hobby is the collection of interestingly shaped bits of equipment. I love browsing kitchen shops looking at (and buying) various bits of kit. Better still is planning recipes where a new toy piece of equipment is vital. You would be amazed how many uses a mortar and pestle has. If I feel like being particularly challenged then there is always the game of 'guess the purpose' in relation to particularly oddly shaped items on shop shelves.

All this leads me on to one shop in particular. A haven for those of a cooking disposition; Lakeland. For the uninitiated, Lakeland is a chain of shops where it is possibly to buy almost every conceivable type of kitchen equipment and a few inconceivable ones to boot. A particular favourite is some specially domed tupperware designed to store half an onion.

The above example perfectly demonstrates something that I have come to call "The Lakeland Effect". Said effect is the ability of the shop to fill itself with dozens of items that I for one desperately need but didn't know I needed them until I saw them

Don't believe me? How about the pre-cut rings of backing paper for lining cake tins. Or a specially designed banana box. And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, you could always pick up some colour-coded kitchen knives?

Right, I'm off. I've heard there's a sale on!

TFB