For twenty-five years, award-winning restaurant critic Jay Rayner has been uncovering the very best of the nation’s eateries, from high end restaurants to high street grills. In his new book, Nights Out at Home, in a love letter to his favourite eating houses, Jay serves up recipes inspired by the superb dishes that have stolen his heart over the decades. He talks to Julia Leonard about the book, and foods from around the world that have inspired him.
Last night we had an evening of delicious conversation with former Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award-winner Caroline Eden as she spoke to Olia Hercules about her new book Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Journeys.
From Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show in London’s Olympia, The Stanfords Travel Writers Festival welcomes one of the world’s most respected chefs, Michel Roux. He talks to food writer and presenter Jo Pratt about some of his favourite dishes and cuisines, discovered on his culinary travels around the globe.
Michel Roux is one of the world’s most respected chefs, and this love of food runs through his family and heritage. Le Gavroche, which he ran from 1991 until the beginning of this year, received recommendations for excellence in every food guide. Michel’s early training in France instilled in him a belief in simplicity and quality of raw ingredients which has he put to use in developing the recipes he uses both at Le Gavroche and in his books.
In West Winds: Recipes, History and Tales from Jamaica, award-winning food writer Riaz Phillips tells countless tales of Jamaica through its dishes, drawing on his memories of growing up in the Caribbean diaspora of London and time living in Jamaica.
With a mix of location and recipe photography by Phillips, West Winds fully immerses readers in the spirit and food of Jamaica. From the “waste not, want not” approach instilled in Riaz by his grandmother, to the Ital food he was introduced to living with the Rastafari community, working at eco-farms as well as reconnecting to his grandfather’s birthplace of downtown Kingston, the 100 plus mouthwatering meals, hearty soups, bakes, and refreshing drinks cover all the different elements of Jamaican cooking.
Recipes rooted in centuries of culture through folktales and anecdotes make West Winds so much more than a cookbook – it is an ode to Jamaica and the diasporas, the people and their heritage, with something for everyone. Here is an extract:
