New Chancellor Dunks Yorkshire Tea in Hot Water by Dunking Yorkshire Tea in Hot Water

(Ou)r t(ea) does not equal endorsement

Yorkshire Tea finds itself in hot water, after new chancellor Rishi Sunak tweeted an innocuous photo of him making a round for his staff. A fairly regular set of responses endured — scepticism as to the verité of this appeal to the social construct of The Regular Briton, another instance of British politics’ deeply weird relationship with culinary authentocracy. A less expected consequence was a whole load of people blaming Yorkshire Tea for endorsing a Conservative government and threatening to boycott it, as if the brand had cunningly inserted itself into the Treasury’s kitchens.

It’s easy to write this off as the absurdity of Twitter, and it is definitely the absurdity of Twitter, but it’s also symptomatic of a cultural obsession with what and how politicians eat and drink which has itself lately grown more and more absurd: New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent toasting of a bagel inspired multiple commentary pieces. When brands do implicitly endorse politics — see Boris Johnson’s visits to Tetley and sausage maker Heck — it’s open season. But sometimes a cup of tea is just a cup of tea.

And in other news...

• Searching for good food in the maelstrom of Oxford Circus is for life, not just for Christmas: Here are the best restaurants near Oxford Street.
• Pollo Feliz, a popular chicken chain from the Sonora region of Mexico, is bringing its superlative flour tortillas to London.
• Phillipe Conticini is making a pâtisserie return to the city with a huge Camden shop.
• Fried chicken mini-chain Chick ‘n’ Sours will convert its Islington restaurant into a (faster, more streamlined) Chik’n, having originally planned to open it as a Chik’n before turning it into a Chick ‘n’ Sours. [Big Hospitality]
• How street food lost all its meaning. [Guardian]
• Good tweet: