Clams, lovage, linguine; ricotta and cherry cake – Florence Knight’s summer...
The ex-Polpetto chef celebrates her return to a professional kitchen with fresh dishes perfect for the warmer weatherAfter a few years away from the pass at Soho’s Polpetto, I’m heading back to a...
View ArticleKitchen sorcery: lunch with Britain’s best chef
Clare Smyth has three Michelin stars, and cooked for Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Her mission? To make the humble magicalWhen Clare Smyth first looked round the premises of her restaurant, Core, she had...
View ArticleKitchen porter, commis chef, novelist: how working in restaurants shaped my...
The author of the acclaimed debut novel Moth tells how hard graft in the kitchen prepared her for the world of literatureYou hear about the shouting, the “oui chef”, “non chef”, the “behind you!”, the...
View ArticleMaggi Hambling: ‘There are always goody goody people telling you you’ve done...
The artist discusses statue rage, tennis tips from Andy Murray – and teethA little way into lunch, Maggi Hambling asks me, fatefully, how brittle the little rectangle of pork crackling that comes with...
View ArticleWatermelon and barbecue feta salad; jerk chicken; chilled courgette soup –...
Former Great British Menu champion James Cochran delivers five summery dishes, each one zinging with flavour and perfect for serving outsideJames Cochran has never been happier. A wildly inventive and...
View ArticleWelcome to August’s Observer Food Monthly
Our special restaurants issue brings back memories of my own happy, exhausting years working in the industryAll I ever wanted was to feed people; to bring them something good to eat, to offer a drink;...
View ArticleRavinder Bhogal’s secret ingredient: tajin spice mix
The chef and cookery writer on the Mexican chilli and dried lime flavouring that can be used on sweet and savoury alikeI was speaking to the Mexican chef Martha Ortiz, and she told me about a spice mix...
View ArticleCovid has changed many things – including my attitude to picnics
Holidays abroad are tricky. The UK is fully booked. There’s only one thing for it – buy a tartan rug and wicker basketOut in the world, everything is subtly altered. It’s as if I’m wearing glasses that...
View Article‘Sustainable isn’t a thing’: why regenerative agriculture is food’s latest...
Everyone from small farms to McDonald’s is getting involved in regenerative agriculture. Could it point the way to a better future for farming?A pheasant struts around the Garden of Eden. The pheasant...
View ArticleAndi Oliver’s secret ingredient: blackstrap molasses
The chef and broadcaster on ‘magical molasses’ that turn a meal into an eventI love the name: “blackstrap molasses”. It sounds fabulous, like something I want to wear. Mo-la-sess … it reminds me of...
View ArticleHow my grandmother taught me to cook – on WhatsApp
Novelist Rahul Raina lives in the UK. His grandmother, guardian of the family recipes, is in India. Lockdown had kept them apart, but cooking brought them together againKashmiri recipes are meant to be...
View ArticleFrom cucumber soup to ice-cream: summer recipes from Skye Gyngell
Recipes inspired by chef Skye Gyngell’s collaboration with Jane Scotter of Fern Verrow farmThere is a loving, odd-couple element to chef Skye Gyngell and her grower Jane Scotter. Theirs is a...
View ArticleChris Packham: ‘People like me have a very aggravated sense of injustice’
At his New Forest home, the broadcaster and activist discusses autism, Extinction Rebellion and his Self-Isolating Bird ClubOver the years, the BBC has seeded and nurtured some singular specimens of...
View ArticleDispatches from the grassroots: Farmerama and the new wave of food media
The Farmerama Radio team is leading a surge of podcasts and independent magazines examining the politics and culture of foodThe trio behind the award-winning podcast, Farmerama Radio, have spent a lot...
View ArticleWelcome to July’s Observer Food Monthly
A farming podcast that reminds us where our food comes from, plus recipes from Skye GyngellI invariably wake to the moos, baas and tractor engines of Farming Today– a programme that must be something...
View ArticleNigel Slater’s recipes from a summer herb garden
Pilaf with mint and parsley, baked tomatoes with basil cream, green beans with tarragon – make the most of homegrown flavoursA few steps from the kitchen door is a low wooden table creaking with pots...
View ArticleWhy are restaurants’ cheapest bottles of wine becoming so expensive?
Wine lists shouldn’t be terrifying but too often they make me feel like a second-class citizenIn matters of wine, I am not Withnail. I do not crave “the finest wines available to humanity”. I merely...
View ArticleFred Sirieix: ‘I was training to be a chef, but I thought it would kill my soul’
The First Dates star and maître d’ on what his parents taught him about service, the value of hospitality and his pride in his Olympian daughterI was born in food. My dad used to say: “We don’t have...
View ArticleThere is holiday hell and then there is self-catering
No salt and pepper, no spices, not enough loo roll – welcome to your holiday cottage“Welcome basket”. It sounds so nice, doesn’t it? So … welcoming. Driving up the M1 to the holiday cottage you booked...
View ArticleCan hospitality’s recruitment crisis ever be fixed?
Brexit and Covid have exacerbated a problem that has been building for years. But some restaurants are trying to attract and keep staff by changing the culture of the industryWhen Danny first entered...
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