Waitrose Kitchen

I have often sneaked a copy of Waitrose Food Illustrated onto the conveyor belt at the end of a shop and happily thumbed its pages, so I was definitely intrigued and excited when I saw a billboard featuring Delia and Heston and the new Waitrose Kitchen launch edition shortly afterwards in stores. The magazine has a new look but the content is mainly a refreshed version of the Waitrose Food Illustrated formula; that works for me.

As for the Smith/Blumenthal partnership, I love the idea but feel it got off to a shaky start with Delia's admission that the two have "only just met" (at a recent photo shoot). Could they not have made the effort before? I get the feeling that they'd probably rather not work together but they were offered a deal which neither could refuse and valued at £10m, who wouldn't work with anyone and break their "policy against advertising commercial brands"? If only the egos and value didn't make it all too contrived...

Then again, who am I kidding? It has the makings of a great campaign, TV ads are taking over entire commercial breaks at a time and even if it's not a credible pairing, I won't resist the weekly recipe cards or ingredient pimping. Well done Waitrose.