TALKING ABOUT FOOD

27.09.2018 So I got some thoughts. After reading the James Beard Awards efforts to find ways to combat inequality and inequity (and reading about another award that has said they want diversity but clearly had no time t say how/ have a mission statement). Let's talk about 'empty diversity' *firstly, empty diversity is a term brought to my attention by Chryssy Hunter, who's PhD title used it - and she will be much better than I to explain it fully, but I'm going to adopt it in terms of food and accolade. Awards are important. They validate work. Awards currently are problematic, as I bang on about, hugely because they rely on criteria that confirms status quo and that understands value in very narrow terms. So yes, we need to widen our concept of what makes something 'excellent' But. Awards are like tick boxes. They're really useful for people to feel like they're doing good. But they mean s...

Soup du jour 2: noodles I'm tired. It's late. I'm eating 2 min noodles for dinner and Im talking to the dog about my day. I feel guilty. Guilty that I'm eating something so low in nutrition, guilty that I'm getting chubby and this is not a meal to halt that. Guilty that I feel guilty. Guilty that I'm vain and want to be thin and beautiful. But, I slurp each noodle and love it. It's home. It's hungover glory and comfort. I'm tired because I went out cavorting with friends last night at the restaurant awards. Drank wine, whoop and cheered then danced dirty till 2am at El Camino. Its late because I've spent the last week juggling too many deadlines - freelance work and passion projects - so I'm working all hours. This month I'm juggling eating well. If I had time I'd go to the supermarket and cook big batches of food. If I had more money I would buy healthy on-the-go food. I have money aside for the gym and exercise clas...

I have been thinking a lot about diverse voices and representation. Representation is important. Platforming, showcasing, promoting people that don't usually get coverage, changes the game. It changes the game by drawing attention to, and therefore leading to, accolades. Accolades bring in business (usually), and media exposure does that too. And also, accolades, brings rewards and leads to more diverse leadership and people of authority. Better articulated here: If you're thinking how can we make the food world more diverse, here are somethings you can do. But. But. It's not just about representation. Representation helps people dream and achieve. But, it doesn't directly address the systemic quietening of marginalised voices. To change that, you have to put money where your mouth is. Have a diverse payroll. Pay people. Money shows confidence. Money shows value. PoC, and other 'others' have been doing the grunt work for so long. And giving expo...

I'm currently back home in Sarawak, Malaysia. The day in punctuated by food, your metronome is meal times. Breakfast is eaten out, at a coffee shop, the hunt for the best laksa, kolo mee et al, is always on. We talk about where is good, where has had a dip in quality. It is serious talk that we start the day with. Dad comes back from work for lunch and we all sit down together. If you're not home for lunch - you call. As with dinner. There is always rice, there is always conversation. Lunch and dinner are home cooked meals. All meals are relaxed, quick, un-ceremonial. They are points of contact, checking in, keeping pace. Each with a slightly different rhythm and topic of conversation. Dinner is reflective of the times, the last week of July 2016 is a precipice. The East looks to the West and waits to see what it will do - fall or fly, there doesn't seem to be any other options. Dinner follows a pattern, it doesn't change, except who asks the questions. W...

I’m really interested in the things we talk about when we share food, and that time we share when we sit down and eat and drink. I’m interested in community, how we fit into the world, how we measure ourselves against the world, and the fact this year seems a particularly political year.  I am also acutely aware that within popular media, there are still too few a space for women to have complex and in-depth conversation - the Bechdel test is still relevant to do today, with many films failing. Therefore, this is an interview column with women I find inspiring, and we sit down and eat and drink. I recently meet with Emma Underwood, GM of Burnt Truffle in Haswell, for an earlier dinner. She was down in London to do Blood Shot at The Dairy with the Sticky Walnut crew. We spoke about how a restaurant can create a community, how people can still feel tribal about the space they have carved out for themselves. Both our PhDs had feminism theory as the main component and so we s...

I ’m really interested in the things we talk about when we share food, and that time we share when we sit down and eat and drink. I’m interested in community, how we fit into the world, how we measure ourselves against the world, and the fact this year seems a particularly political year, a year into a new government after a coalition, with the EU referendum, plus London’s mayoral campaign. I am also acutely aware that within popular media, there are still too few a space for women to have conversation that range across different topics - the Bechdel test is still relevant to do today, with many films failing. Therefore, this is an interview column with women I find inspiring, and we sit down and eat and drink. It is very much a 'short & sweet' snapshot, but hopefully is an insight into some wonderfully interesting people.  I recently sat down with Vera Chok , writer, actress, performance maker. We have, over the years, talked a lot about identity, trying to unde...

I am constantly trying to find a home away from home, away from home. I’m constantly trying to run away to somewhere comfy, like Goldilocks trying to work out which is the comfiest bed to sleep in. Berlin has become that place.  I have been coming to Berlin since 2008; it is my almost twice-yearly pattern. I came here for three months and wrote the first (terrible!) draft of my PhD thesis here, and over the years I have built up a small but wondrous group of friends. I grew up in Malaysia, New Zealand, and now London is my home and soon to be the place I have lived the longest. At my heart, I am a homebody, a homebody with itchy feet and a need for adventure. And so I calm both urges by visiting Berlin. Berlin is familiar, and yet changes, develops and grows, but hasn’t lost its soul. And so, this is a round up of what my most recent trip looked like, in food and drink, I have a few my favourites, which are asterisked. I stayed most of the time at my friend Sarah’s in Ne...