Second Helpings: Gurd Loyal

on becoming your own cheerleader

Gurd Loyal chats to my paid subscribers about how he wrote his award-winning Mother Tongue, one of the most exciting new food books of 2023.

He explains the process behind the book which won The 2021 Jane Grigson Trust Award for new writers in food and drink whose books have already been commissioned by a publishing house but not yet been published. His has been the pick of everyone’s top 10 books of the year, and he’s become the darling of the food giants; Nigella wrote ‘His recipes have a dynamism that is genuine, personal and flavour-led… dazzling and yet warmly inviting… There is so much more to the book than the recipes.’ Diana Henry says he’s ‘Amazing, original, boundary breaking. Gurdeep is a genius with flavour and a terrific writer too.’ Claudia Roden: ‘How thrilling and inspiring to be drawn into Gurdeep’s extraordinary diaspora and fantastic world of flavours!’

Here he talks about how a book can change your career, open doors to a whole new future, and why you’ve got to get over yourself to become your own cheerleader.