Sophie Grigson was my next door neighbour - she would borrow my mother’s 1940s/1950s cookbooks (never returned) and pass recipes off as her own in her Evening Standard column…. Grigson and plagiarism in one post - do I win a prize?!
Lovely. I keep meaning to dig out Gill’s piece about how we should celebrate food from all over the world and that ‘local produce’ is a load of bollocks.
He's not the only one. In an essay on taste in the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik cites the example of the poet Lucien in Balzac’s novel Lost Illusions who is forced by lack of funds to eat in a restaurant that “has only local and seasonal produce.” He goes on to describe: “the shame and suffering that the diners feel in having to eat in so peasant like a manner right in the middle of Paris.”
How to get Meades on Substack!
Sophie Grigson was my next door neighbour - she would borrow my mother’s 1940s/1950s cookbooks (never returned) and pass recipes off as her own in her Evening Standard column…. Grigson and plagiarism in one post - do I win a prize?!
Outrageous behaviour! You win a six month subscription so you can read all the paid-only posts.
Lovely. I keep meaning to dig out Gill’s piece about how we should celebrate food from all over the world and that ‘local produce’ is a load of bollocks.
He's not the only one. In an essay on taste in the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik cites the example of the poet Lucien in Balzac’s novel Lost Illusions who is forced by lack of funds to eat in a restaurant that “has only local and seasonal produce.” He goes on to describe: “the shame and suffering that the diners feel in having to eat in so peasant like a manner right in the middle of Paris.”
Good assessment, great review.
Thank you Fiona!
Jonathan Meades is that rare breed. A true iconoclast and polymath. No wonder he now chooses to live in Marseille.
I often rewatch his tv programmes (on YouTube). They were real eye opener -for me- on a way to look at the world. Certainly a one off.
As AA Gill said, “Jonathan Meades is the Jonathan Meades of our generation.” He really is a one-off.
Hard to argue with that one.
Reading this was pure bliss. I love Meades beyond measure. Subscribed.
Had to look up the meaning of autodidact.Would make a good crossword answer.I shall use it to impress.Thanks.
One of my favourite cookbooks! Also was lucky enough to attend the book launch - Meades is an absolute treasure (if a little scary!)
Lucky you. Or perhaps no. I'd be terrified to meet Meades.
I also sat next to him a lunch a few years ago - I could hardly speak through the fear of saying something he disagreed with.
And giving you the Meadesian look of disdain.