There are few people who know more about how to cook a book than my guest on Cooking the Books next week, Rick Stein.
As we chatted this morning about his latest book, Rick Stein’s Food Stories, we travelled back through centuries of British food, and decades through his own TV and food writing career to find the people, the practices and the pantries that tell the story of a nation.
From market halls to water mills, delis to diners, crab and sweetcorn soup to chicken chasseur, it’s a fascinating deep dive into what makes Britain British. And our embracing of its rich diversity flips Nigel Farage and his cronies the bird with the most delightful style.
It’s what Rick has always done. His odysseys across France, Mexico, Thailand, Istanbul, the entire Mediterranean have always been in search of what a country eats and therefore what it is, and, a bit like Odysseus himself, I’m not sure he’s ever going to give it up. His depth reveals a passion for history while his lightness of touch comes from that genuine enthusiasm for people and their food that we’ve seen on the telly for so many years.
In the chaos of social media, the key is to find your niche, say the experts. Take a country, and find its beating heart in the food on its tables, is what Rick does. I’m not sure many others do it in quite the same way.
As I prepare the menus and plump up the duvets for the next How to Cook a Book food writing retreat on Oct 14-16th in East Sussex, I’m pondering on how we can all be more Rick Stein, how to balance that depth and light, how to fill our books with stories bursting with people, voice and aroma, riches, ideas, who knews. How to keep doing it again and again and again.
I have a couple of places left if you fancy joining us.