Food, History, and Heartbreak

April Round-up

April has been a month of discovery which started with a trip to Croatia. The Balkans is a region I’ve wanted to explore and Croatia was the perfect starting point for us.

Our ten-day trip was spread across Dubrovnik, Hvar and Split.

Dubrovnik is a stunning medieval city, best known today as the filming location for King’s Landing in Game of Thrones. The city is brimming with GoT sightseeing tours, themed souvenirs, and several Iron Thrones for the perfect selfie. But don’t let that put you off there’s much more: walled forts, monasteries, museums, cathedrals, and gorgeous beaches.

Our next stop was Hvar, one of Croatia’s 600 inhabited islands. The island has a distinctly Venetian feel, with winding cobbled streets and architecture spanning the Gothic, Venetian, and Habsburg eras all nestled together. 

But the real star of the trip was Split. This coastal city is built around Diocletian’s Palace, a Roman complex complete with a temple to Jupiter and ancient sphinxes that Emperor Diocletian had dragged back from Egypt. History seeps from every stone in this city, making it impossible to fully express its wonder in a few paragraphs.

And the food. Every day, I enjoyed the freshest fish, caught and cooked that morning. I loved the simplicity of the stews, soups, and grilled fish served with nothing more than a green salad.

One standout was a ricotta and fig ice cream, recommended by my friend, Irina Janakievska author of the bestselling cookbook Balkan Kitchen. A full write-up is on its way!

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Discovering Sri Lankan Cuisine in Hastings

I spent a day in Hastings with my friend and podcast guest, Sarah Baldwin, founder of Serendip Crafts.

Independently, we had both been following Jack Lury, who used to host Sri Lankan-influenced supper clubs in South East London. Just as I tried to book, he stopped running them.

A few months later, Jack resurfaced on my social feed, this time in Hastings, with a baby and a new restaurant.

His restaurant, Lury, is an intimate affair that only seats ten. He has created a tasting menu inspired by his Sri Lankan Burgher heritage.  

I’m working on a photo story, a review, and a podcast episode where I speak with Jack about the story behind his food.

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Back to the British Library Food Season

The British Library Food Season is one of the highlights of my year. I've been attending since 2019 when I saw cookbook authors Sybil Kapoor and Jenny Linford talk about the art of writing a cookbook.

This year’s Food Stories with Itamar Srulovich and Friends was both glorious and deeply moving. Each cookbook author chose a passage of food writing to read to the audience. 

Food writing is so much more than recipe writing. It can be memoir, fiction, history, it can be political with stories told through the medium of food. 

On stage were Cynthia Shanmugalingam (author of Rambutan), Olia Hercules (chef and activist), and Maria Mitchell (author of Kin: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen), among others.

Cynthia read a passage that resonated with anyone whose family has left their homeland, dispersed across the globe, and slowly losing connections until they are broken which is why food is sewn into our identities.  

Olia Hercules read from her forthcoming book, Strong Roots. The passage she chose was about making borscht while waiting for her parents to make their way to Italy having fled Ukraine at the start of the war.

Olia described how she cobbled together the ingredients for borscht. A local Italian supermarket had no fresh beetroot, all she could find was the pre-cooked vacuumed packed stuff that had to do. 

This was much more than an attempt to make borscht. It was about fleeing war with nothing more than a few precious items, making the treacherous journey to safety never knowing whether you’d get through the next checkpoint, and the realisation you may never return home. All of this was expressed in making a bowl of borscht. 

The British Libary Food season runs until 10 June, and it’s not too late to get tickets!