My Last Supper: One Meal, a Lifetime in the Making

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Rayner hosts the Out to Lunch podcast in which he interviews a celebrity guest in each episode. [10] Personal life [ edit ] My family hates it, which just proves they’re ungrateful sods’: Jay’s version of the vermicelli pudding. Photograph: Jay Rayner

The hospitality sector has been through a hellish 18 months. The combination of Brexit and the pandemic has challenged our food supply chain like never before. The climate crisis has raised serious questions about the sustainability of our agriculture sector. Too many people do not have access to enough good-quality food. All of these very real and important issues can make being enthusiastic about our food culture seem grossly inappropriate. I think that’s a mistake. But now they had their first child, a pregnancy which had encouraged in Cassie such a profoundly sweet tooth she started making fudge (stay with me; these things will all tie up eventually). Off to the West Midlands they went in search of affordable housing. Cassie set up Sweetmeat Inc, a fudge-making business on the high street in Stirchley just to the south of Birmingham city centre. James took cheffing jobs, but also cooked his Chinese food at pop-ups. Tofu is a blank canvas for the flavours it carries’: deep-fried tofu and pepper. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer In 2015, a 25th anniversary edition of White Heat was published, full of testimonials to the book’s brilliance by chefs it had influenced. One of those was the young lad from Nottingham who had only been able to afford it because he found it in a charity shop. “How mad is that?” Sat Bains says. Three decades on from its first publication there is no doubt: to a certain type of chef White Heat and Marco Pierre White still matter.A masterclass in both braising meat and reducing sauces’: Jay Rayner’s version of Gary Rhodes’s braised oxtail. Photograph: Jay Rayner A huge raft of crisp and chewy meringue layered with whipped cream and noodles of boozy chestnut purée’: Mont blanc gateau. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

I remained a reporter, investigating the tangled politics and economics of food supply chains and national health policy.

Buying 'locally' does no good. Farmers' markets are merely a lifestyle choice. And 'organic' is little more than a marketing label, way past its sell by date. This may be a little hard to swallow for the ethically-aware food shopper but it doesn't make it any less true. And now the UK's most outspoken and entertaining food writer is ready to explain why. Rayner has also written for magazines including GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, the New Statesman and Granta. His first novel, The Marble Kiss, published in 1994, was shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel Award and his second, Day of Atonement (1998) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Prize for Fiction. [8] His first non-fiction book, Stardust Falling, was published in 2002; this was followed by his third novel The Apologist, published in the US as Eating Crow, in 2004. This article was amended on 16 January 2023 because an earlier version misnamed Julie’s restaurant as “Jules”. If I could re-live one time in my life I think it would be my 18th birthday party. My parents had a tradition, which was that they would throw a lunch party. We invited 50 of their friends and 50 of mine. It was a beautiful early autumn day. All my friends came and they were a beautiful lot. I remember that afternoon at that great party house very, very well. And I’d like another turn around that garden please.