January into February 2023

In January…

January has been interesting.

Colder than a well digger’s arse, then warm as custard, then cold again...and on it goes. But the light is coming: each day the morning rise from the horizontal feels less like being hauled out of a well.

This is good news as I need those extra minutes for making new beds in the garden. Card down over the grass, raking endless barrows of topsoil over that, and in time the combination seeing off the grass beneath to create a deep rich topsoil. Plants will go in soon, seeds sown between. I’ll be posting a good deal about this: taking the principles of forest gardening, of everything we did at Otter Farm, and developing a perennial-rich, edible ornamental garden that’s rich in pollinators, grows most of its own nutrients and provides food and flavours year-round. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it evolve. It’s not a large garden by any means, it’s on a mad slope, and I’m not convinced the soil is ideal: hopefully that’ll help anyone with some of those limitations. It’s all doable. More soon.

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In Liverpool

The week before last, I was in Liverpool to be made an Honorary Professor of the University of Liverpool. There is no laughable shot of me wearing robes and a comedy hat as the ceremony was before Christmas when I was laid up with the bug, but I led an event a couple of weeks ago that officially began my involvement with the University.

I will write about this soon as while some of the reasons why I might’ve been given the honour might be obvious if you have followed my writing over the last 14 years and establishing Otter Farm - the first climate change farm - it has been interesting watching more recent friends trying to find a nice way of saying ‘um…what was it for exactly…?’

Something else happened that day that was highly unexpected and I think I’ll save that for the same post that too.

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Collaborations

I spent a marvellous hour chatting with Jo Thompson and Nina Baxter about everything from marmite and cheese to spices to Harry Nilsson to how the feck did we get anything done - as part of their Rich Pickings podcast. Click above to listen - I hope you enjoy it.

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Last weekend’s Cafe Murano Book Club was a double header of Jeremy Lee and Dave Broom. I ran into Jeremy at a food awards evening a couple of years ago and asked when we might be getting a book from him - assuming that he perhaps wasn’t ever to write one as he’s been doing his brilliant thing forever (at Quo Vadis and elsewhere before) and people tend to try to bring a food book out the first time they bake a cake these days: Dear boy, wait no more: it’s nearly done. Music to my ears. I always want everything on his menu, and his book - Cooking: Simply And Well, For One or Many - is even better than I might have hoped. Sadly we are both long-listed for the Andre Simon award which doesn’t bode well for me. It is - with no hint of exaggeration - a modern classic; a book we will be reading and cooking from for generations to come.

Though I knew him by reputation, I didn’t know Dave Broom’s A Sense of Place - A Journey Around Scotland’s Whisky. It’s a beautiful book of people, place, landscape, and more - asking the important questions: what makes us respond to opportunities and constraints as we do, what do we want from our countryside, and so much more. It’s the book I can’t currently put down, and I highly recommend it to you.

In this beautifully crafted narrative, award-winning writer Dave Broom examines Scotch whisky from the point of view of its terroir - the land, weather, history, craft and culture that feed and enhance the whisky itself. Travelling around his native Scotland and visiting distilleries from Islay and Harris to Orkney and Speyside, Dave explores the whiskies made there and the elements in their distilling, and locality, which make them what they are. Along the way he tells the story of whisky's history and considers what whisky is now, and where it is going.

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In my ears

This is some of what I’ve been playing this month; an occasionally noisier mix than the fairly friendly recent playlists. Thank you for all the messages about the Best of 2022 one.

This one has more than one appearance from David Crosby who left us a few days ago. If all he’d done was make huge noise about Joni - and produce her first album - until the industry took notice I would remember him very well, but there is so much to love in his work with Stills, Nash and Young, as a member of The Byrds, and his first solo album in particular is gorgeous from start to finish.

Click above and it should play.

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Into February…

I hope you can join me for the next The Ethicurean Talks on Wednesday 22nd February where I’ll be in discussion with Telegraph food writer Xanthe Clay, exploring all things spice-related post my latest book - Spice/a cook’s companion. We will take a look at how to spice and season food well, what British alternatives to international spices might be, and how The Ethicurean is working to keep things hyper-local. Come cosy up in the candlelit restaurant for an evening of conversation between myself and Xanthe, and snack on canapés showcasing recipes plucked from the book. You'll also have the opportunity to ask me any questions, pick up your own copy of the cookbook, and even get it signed.

Book here

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Every last Sunday of the month, I host the Cafe Murano Book Club. On Sunday 26th February our guest will be Georgina Hayden whose excellent books - Nistissima most recently - win awards and hearts in equal measure. It’ll be a fabulous evening with great food, conversation and drinks, under the guiding hand of the amazing Angela Hartnett.

These nights always sell out so book soon if you’d like to join us.

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Early bird tickets

I’m hosting at Toby’s Garden Festival towards the end of April, with guests including Joe Swift and Toby Buckland himself. A great day for those into their gardening.

I’m also hosting the Food Theatre at Malvern Spring Festival in mid-May - a favourite show against the backdrop of the Malvern Hills. Early tickets are now available.

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2023 brings podcasting to The Imperfect Umbrella.

Expect cooks, writers, gardeners, fermenters, editors, growers and more to be guests. We’ll talk ab out what they’re up to, how they do what they do, but I also want to know about the moments where things changed, the right-angled turns, and what fills their mind away from what we know them for.

The first will be here in the next few days ahead: a fascinating, open talk with someone who’s led an interesting life, to say the least: Adam Frost - Gardeners’ World presenter, garden designer, etc.

I hope you had a fine January and Happy February to come.

Mark