Ten years in food
A Barry Manilow moment, some reflections and top 10’s
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This week, it’s unbelievably ten years since my first book ‘A Modern Way to Eat’ came out. I’m not sure where that time has gone etc etc, and how I sit writing this having written five books. What? And 21 years since I started cooking for a living. Someone must be mistaken. Surely.
The other day I went to a dinner with a load of new(ish) food influencers, none of whom I had heard of. Which was awkward. Lots of them (I now know) are very good and have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers. But I have not had Instagram on my phone since my son was born a year and a half ago in an attempt to be less ruled by it and in the hope ‘phone’ would not be in his first 5 words. Reader, it was approx his 40th word.
Back to the dinner, to begin with no one knew who I was. I felt out of place. Soon though, someone kindly said, “You’re Anna Jones aren’t you? Legend”. Of course they used the term legend much more loosely than literally. Kind though it was, it made me feel a mixture of things.
The overwhelming feeling was how Barry Manilow might feel at a Taylor Swift concert. Mixed. Pleased to be there, but a little off the pace. How could there be so many new voices in food in such a short time? It was equally thrilling and terrifying.
Now I felt out of place in a different way. It was genuinely a thrill to see people who had literally grown up with my books, one person said their Mum loved me. I love it when a Mum (or Dad) loves me but it cemented a feeling in me. I am no longer a new voice, up and coming, or a young writer. Perhaps a surprise to no one but me.
It took me a couple of days to feel OK with this. I am not old, I am 45. But I have always felt new, like I am still earning my stripes, stuck somewhere between a love of actual books, tangible recipes on paper and a need (and want) to embrace how food is shared now.
Ten years ago there was a new wave of books and food writers and I still feel part of that young, bright group. But after the Barry Manilow moment there is no denying it. I am a grown up.
Ten years ago a whole lot of debut authors released their books. I’ll set the scene. Ottolenghi’s (with Sami Tamimi) self-titled cookbook was 6 years old, two game-changing books - Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef and St John’s Nose to Tail eating (and I say that as a vegetarian) - were 15 years old. If you were vegetarian in 2014 you were very likely to be given the choice between a stuffed pepper or a goat’s cheese risotto HASHTAGblessed.
2014 was a good year for food. On the same day as my first book published so did the first from Honey and Co and Hemsley and Hemsley. Later that year first books followed from some favourite and seminal food writers Mark Diacono (I love his Substack), Meera Sodha, Mina Holland and Sabrina Ghayour. Closely followed in 2015 by Rachel Roddy. Some would use the word zeitgeist.
All of these writers, cooks, chefs are still writing and doing their best work. I wonder what made this time so special?
Instagram was still somewhere you posted quiet, arty pictures. It was not a prerequisite to have a following to get a book deal. Publishers, buoyed by the growing ‘foodie’ (I hate that word - that’s for another newsletter) culture and booming sales of cookbooks from the ‘big’ authors took chances on some new voices and in doing so, I think, changed the landscape of cookbooks. I wonder now if any of us would get a book deal. I so hope we would.
What was new was a lot of women writing about the food that moves them, their family stories and what happens when they feed the people they love. Until then yes, we had Delia, Nigella, Madhur and Claudia. But the shelves were mostly filled with books by men. This was a new wave of young women writers who paved the way for a more open playing field, for books by writers and homecooks as well as restaurant chefs. To me it felt like a shift. And it felt so exciting.
It feels a different world to where we are now, so much life in those 10 years.
For me personally there are so many moments that stick in my head - deep joys - holding my kids that first time (and every time), marrying John on a little island in a haze of sea mist, astounding things that happened thanks to my books - awards and being on the covers of magazines I idolised.
Also these have been times which sit so deeply in my soul but with no clear moment or memory. The oxytocin haze of newborn babies, years of post-natal depression where I melted into someone else, the loss of three dear dear life-defining friends. Sinking my face into my kids cheeks and telling them I love them. Their smell. The tapestry as I call it. Life.
And in the wider world. In the UK we’ve had 450 Prime Ministers, instability the likes of which I’d never felt in my lifetime, political, social and moral movements that changed how we think. I am not a historian or academic, so I am not going to try and do justice to the last 10 years but I know, as you do it has been A LOT.
The world feels different. Less innocent. More polarised. Maybe it always was. But somehow it’s easier to see now. But that’s why I will always fly the flag for writing, for books, for recipes and cookbooks for things written on paper.
Which is why I will always try and make my work a calm, thoughtful, irreverent place. A book to bury your head in and smell the paper and the ink. Or this part of the internet where recipes come first, and thoughts and stories come with them too.
Some Ten Year Lists
Ten things I’m consuming less of:
Avocados
Coconut milk
Quinoa
Cupcakes
Kale
Almond butter
Sweet potato
Spirulina
Chia seeds
Kalettes
Ten things I’m consuming more of:
Jarred Beans
Greens
Peanut butter
Oats
Kimchi
Natural wine (sorry)
Kombucha
Garlic
Tahini
Coffee
Ten favourite recipes from A Modern Way to Eat:
Ten things that have changed in my kitchen in the last ten years:
I no longer drink cows milk (I hate the taste)
No gluten free pasta/flour for me
Natural wine only here
We rarely eat avocados
Chilli crisp rules my life (I realise this is not an original opinion)
We eat a lot of white rice (see number 5)
The ONLY crisp flavour is ready salted
My cookbook collection has passed 1500
I use ghee as much as olive oil
I rarely eat squash (pregnancy aversion became permanent)
Ten classic cookbooks from 2014:
(If you want some other peoples opinions on the best cookbooks of 2014 this list by cookbook buyers is 10/10.)
It has not escaped me that most of the people on this list from 2014 are white. I am thankful that there is more focus/conversation on bringing a more diverse range of voices into the world of food. There is still much work to do, while there are more diverse writers I am struck that the awards often go to the same people.
Something I’ve been excited about and is going a small way to redress this is a new restaurant mentorship program from Vittles.
“There is still a glaring disparity between those who get to write about restaurants and the people they write about.” - Vittles
Please check it out and send to anyone who might be interested.
Love this Anna.
Would love to know the reasons you've switched from eating less of 10 foods to more of 10 foods. Is it environmental? Nutritional? Personal? x
This morning I was flicking through a modern way to eat, prising open stuck together pages looking for inspiration as I wrote our fortnightly meal plan. I ended getting a modern way to eat out as well. I lost half an hour of my morning rediscovering old favourites and ear marking new recipes to try. One thing that struck me was just how exciting your recipes still are. Then I opened up my emails and read your thoughts on the past 10 years. I can’t believe I have been cooking your recipes for so long but I also feel like they have been in my life forever. Some of our family favourites are yours, my children will say is this an ‘Anna’ when I bring out a new dish. Your reflections are so interesting, being able to look on an industry with wisdom behind you. Your emails are ones that I look forward to and read with intrigue, you have introduced me to so many new things and your writing is so comforting. Thank you for the past 19 years, I eagerly look forward to seeing what you will do with the next 10.