Food Stories with Itamar Srulovich and Friends

What food writing has the power to entertain, inspire, enrage or delight chefs, food writers and critics? Join Honey & Co’s Itamar Srulovich for a raucous, thought-provoking and revealing evening with a cast of some of the best voices in food as he interrogates their choices and finds out what writing makes them cry, laugh, shout, and perhaps most importantly, hungry. Guests including Miquita Oliver, Aji Akokomi, Madhur Jaffrey, Jeremy Lee, Sally Abe, Rosie Sykes and Ravinder Bhogal will read from their favourite pieces of food writing, covering everything from sardines to the experience of cooking communally.

Discounts available for over 60s and BL Members and half-price tickets for students and under 26s

Doors and Bar open at 18:30. If you’re attending in person, please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.

Part of the British Library Food Season 2024

Sally Abé is one of London’s leading chefs, having worked in some of the capital’s most illustrious restaurants including The Ledbury, The Harwood Arms, and The Square. She runs the critically acclaimed fine dining restaurant, The Pem, at 5* Conrad London St James in Westminster. As a mentor and advocate for women in hospitality, Sally has become a leading voice for equality, diversity, and work/life balance in the industry. Sally has won multiple awards during her career, including ‘Female Chef of the Year’ in the SquareMeal Ayala Female Chef Awards 2021. Sally is also a familiar face on TV, regularly appearing on Saturday Kitchen Live, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, and reaching the banquet on Great British Menu 2022.

Ravinder Bhogal is a journalist, chef and restaurateur who was born in Kenya to Indian parents. Ravinder's food is inspired by her mixed heritage and the UK’s diverse immigrant culture. Her debut restaurant, Jikoni, was ranked 56th in the UK by the National Restaurant Awards within 7 months of opening and achieved a coveted place in the Michelin Guide in the same year. Ravinder has written three books; Comfort & Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen (Bloomsbury) published in May 2023 and the award-winning Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Cook in Boots (HarperCollins, 2009). She is a columnist at the FT Weekend and Guardian Feast and a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

Caroline Eden is a writer and book critic contributing to the Financial Times, Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. Her books include Samarkand, Black Sea and Red Sands, which won the prestigious André Simon Award and a Book of the Year for the New Yorker. Caroline’s new book, Cold Kitchen, published in May by Bloomsbury, celebrates the importance and curiosity of feeling at home in the world. www.carolineeden.com

Melek Erdal is an Istanbul-born Kurdish writer, chef & community activist who grew up in north and east London. Having opened her own cafe in 2013, she has since moved onto making an award winning documentary and writing about food, culture and identity. Melek is an advocate for food as a form of connection and preserving identity and history, food being the most resilient form of language.  Melek's work is predominantly centred around community focused food activism; working with local authorities, running masterclasses, pop ups and telling food stories through her documentary videos and essays.  Her most recent work has been essays published in London Feeds Itself (published in 2022), The Wellcome Collection and Vittles, as well as ongoing work with food sustainability charities Made in Hackney and the Felix Project and regular appearances on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet.

Jeremy Lee joined Quo Vadis in Soho in early 2012, becoming Chef Proprietor of this venerable restaurant. He had previously worked at Blueprint Café and with distinguished restaurateurs Simon Hopkinson and Alastair Little, who all played a considerable part in the great resurgence of modern British cooking. In 2012 Jeremy and Quo Vadis won the Catey for Best Restaurant Menu of the Year; in 2013 they won the Tatler Award for Best kitchen. In 2018, Jeremy was listed in The Evening Standard’s ‘Progress 1000: London’s most influential people – Tastemakers: Eat & Drink’. He writes for numerous newspapers and periodicals and has appeared on television Could You Eat an Elephant? for Channel 4 and several series of Great British Menu. Jeremy’s cookbook, Cooking: Simply and Well for One or Many, was published in 2022.

Rachel Roddy is a food writer from London based in Rome. She is the author of three books, contributes regularly to a number of publications both in the UK and Italy, and for nine years has written a weekly column in The Guardian newspaper called A Kitchen in Rome.

Itamar Srulovich was born and raised in Jerusalem. Cooking since the age of five and leaving a great mess in the kitchen ever since, Itamar trained on the job in various places in Tel-Aviv, where he met his wife, Sarit. Itamar and Sarit moved to London in 2004 and opened Middle Eastern restaurant Honey & Co in London in 2012, launching a grill house Honey & Smoke and food store Honey & Spice close behind. They have written four cookbooks, write a weekly recipe column for FT Weekend Magazine and host a podcast, Honey & Co: The Food Sessions. Be entertained with delicious recipes and food and travel stories from Sarit and Itamar on Instagram – @honeyandco.

Honeyandco.co.uk

The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today.

This event will take place in the British Library Pigott Theatre and will be simultaneously live streamed on the British Library platform. Tickets may be booked either to attend in person (physical) or to watch on our platform (online) either live or within 48 hours on catch up. Viewing links for the online version will be sent out shortly before the event.

What food writing has the power to entertain, inspire, enrage or delight chefs, food writers and critics? Join Honey & Co’s Itamar Srulovich for a raucous, thought-provoking and revealing evening with a cast of some of the best voices in food as he interrogates their choices and finds out what writing makes them cry, laugh, shout, and perhaps most importantly, hungry. Guests including Miquita Oliver, Aji Akokomi, Madhur Jaffrey, Jeremy Lee, Sally Abe, Rosie Sykes and Ravinder Bhogal will read from their favourite pieces of food writing, covering everything from sardines to the experience of cooking communally.

Discounts available for over 60s and BL Members and half-price tickets for students and under 26s

Doors and Bar open at 18:30. If you’re attending in person, please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.

Part of the British Library Food Season 2024

Sally Abé is one of London’s leading chefs, having worked in some of the capital’s most illustrious restaurants including The Ledbury, The Harwood Arms, and The Square. She runs the critically acclaimed fine dining restaurant, The Pem, at 5* Conrad London St James in Westminster. As a mentor and advocate for women in hospitality, Sally has become a leading voice for equality, diversity, and work/life balance in the industry. Sally has won multiple awards during her career, including ‘Female Chef of the Year’ in the SquareMeal Ayala Female Chef Awards 2021. Sally is also a familiar face on TV, regularly appearing on Saturday Kitchen Live, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, and reaching the banquet on Great British Menu 2022.

Ravinder Bhogal is a journalist, chef and restaurateur who was born in Kenya to Indian parents. Ravinder's food is inspired by her mixed heritage and the UK’s diverse immigrant culture. Her debut restaurant, Jikoni, was ranked 56th in the UK by the National Restaurant Awards within 7 months of opening and achieved a coveted place in the Michelin Guide in the same year. Ravinder has written three books; Comfort & Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen (Bloomsbury) published in May 2023 and the award-winning Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Cook in Boots (HarperCollins, 2009). She is a columnist at the FT Weekend and Guardian Feast and a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

Caroline Eden is a writer and book critic contributing to the Financial Times, Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. Her books include Samarkand, Black Sea and Red Sands, which won the prestigious André Simon Award and a Book of the Year for the New Yorker. Caroline’s new book, Cold Kitchen, published in May by Bloomsbury, celebrates the importance and curiosity of feeling at home in the world. www.carolineeden.com

Melek Erdal is an Istanbul-born Kurdish writer, chef & community activist who grew up in north and east London. Having opened her own cafe in 2013, she has since moved onto making an award winning documentary and writing about food, culture and identity. Melek is an advocate for food as a form of connection and preserving identity and history, food being the most resilient form of language.  Melek's work is predominantly centred around community focused food activism; working with local authorities, running masterclasses, pop ups and telling food stories through her documentary videos and essays.  Her most recent work has been essays published in London Feeds Itself (published in 2022), The Wellcome Collection and Vittles, as well as ongoing work with food sustainability charities Made in Hackney and the Felix Project and regular appearances on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet.

Jeremy Lee joined Quo Vadis in Soho in early 2012, becoming Chef Proprietor of this venerable restaurant. He had previously worked at Blueprint Café and with distinguished restaurateurs Simon Hopkinson and Alastair Little, who all played a considerable part in the great resurgence of modern British cooking. In 2012 Jeremy and Quo Vadis won the Catey for Best Restaurant Menu of the Year; in 2013 they won the Tatler Award for Best kitchen. In 2018, Jeremy was listed in The Evening Standard’s ‘Progress 1000: London’s most influential people – Tastemakers: Eat & Drink’. He writes for numerous newspapers and periodicals and has appeared on television Could You Eat an Elephant? for Channel 4 and several series of Great British Menu. Jeremy’s cookbook, Cooking: Simply and Well for One or Many, was published in 2022.

Rachel Roddy is a food writer from London based in Rome. She is the author of three books, contributes regularly to a number of publications both in the UK and Italy, and for nine years has written a weekly column in The Guardian newspaper called A Kitchen in Rome.

Itamar Srulovich was born and raised in Jerusalem. Cooking since the age of five and leaving a great mess in the kitchen ever since, Itamar trained on the job in various places in Tel-Aviv, where he met his wife, Sarit. Itamar and Sarit moved to London in 2004 and opened Middle Eastern restaurant Honey & Co in London in 2012, launching a grill house Honey & Smoke and food store Honey & Spice close behind. They have written four cookbooks, write a weekly recipe column for FT Weekend Magazine and host a podcast, Honey & Co: The Food Sessions. Be entertained with delicious recipes and food and travel stories from Sarit and Itamar on Instagram – @honeyandco.

Honeyandco.co.uk

The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Donate today.