Last Thursday evening, long before anyone was out taking pictures of the sky, my friend Claire Bruce and I were admiring a culinary star. Martin Kyran had invited us to the George, to meet Diana Henry.
I talk a good hospitality story but Claire, as a MasterChef semi-finalist, walks the walk. Between us, we’ve got the measure of most ingredients, recipes, chefs, restaurants and cookery writers.
Martin, who you all know from Sailors of Rye, has found a new string to his bow. He interviews the authors of books he stocks in his shop. His warm, generous style isn’t an accident and is clearly achieved through research and knowledge of his subjects. In July he was in conversation with garden designer Sean A Pritchard at Tillingham, where incidentally he will be again on October 22, this time with Atlanta Bartlett and Dave Coote.
Diana Henry is the author of 11 books, writes a regular cookery column in Stella magazine, is a contributor to Radio 4’s The Food Programme, House and Garden and BBC Good Food. Over the years she has received multiple awards for her writing, including the Guild of Food Writers ‘Book of the Year’ and ‘Cookery Journalist of the Year’.
So there we were, all in perfect alignment. And we weren’t the only ones, it was a full house at the George, who generously hosted the event in their beautiful ballroom.
Diana is a natural raconteur. Born in Northern Ireland, she always liked trying new flavours, so at 15 persuaded her mother to send her on an exchange to Paris. The family she landed in had a house in the country, so after an initial stay in the capital, the rest of her trip was spent on their farm. Here she was surrounded by an enormous variety of fresh produce, bread and patisserie and ‘exotic ingredients’ like olive oil. She learned how to make a proper vinaigrette and the importance of fresh herbs, ate three homecooked meals a day and discovered recipes, in the form of cut-out cards from Elle Magazine.
Back in England, while at university she started cooking and experimenting with ingredients and flavours. Her roommates weren’t impressed and told her that she needed to join some feminist groups. “But I like cooking!” she replied.
Having wanted to be an actor, she became a TV producer and because of her food knowledge was asked to ghost write Antonio Carluccio’s book on vegetables.
After the birth of her first child, she didn’t have time for a shower, never mind cooking a meal from scratch, so she saw a gap in the market and penned her first book Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons which 22 years later she is still immensely proud of.
Her early influences were Jane Grigson and Claudia Roden, who has since become a dear friend. They both shared the view that food is about joy not judgement, which is Diana’s philosophy too.
She describes herself as a ‘home cook’ and is still amazed by what happens when you put perfectly ordinary ingredients into an oven and out comes a wonderful, deeply flavoured dish.
In the last few years, she has suffered severe health problems, resulting in extended periods in intensive care. Her only medium for expression during that time was Instagram. She lovingly chronicled the food of the NHS (which she describes as somewhere between school and aeroplane food) and how the seven other women she shared a ward with, all from different backgrounds, were united, as they looked forward to meal times and exchanged their food histories, dreams and cravings.
These two food lovers, left happy that their favourite subject, was shared with knowledge, joy and laughter and none of the ignorance and pomposity that so often turns our work into entertainment, instead of highlighting it as a glorious profession. Thank you Diana. Thank you Martin. And thank you the George.
Image Credits: Natasha Robinson , Claire Bruce .