Event Details
Food is rarely just food. It's geography, memory, migration, politics, family – a way of reading the world. And every summer, the British Library's Food Season makes the case for that argument over three weeks of talks, tastings and conversations drawn from its vast archive of cookery books, manuscripts and food writing.
Now in its eighth year, the festival has cemented itself as a fixture of the food and drink calendar, bringing together leading chefs, writers, historians and cultural voices to dig into the past, present and future of what's on our plates. This year's line-up includes long-time friends Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver in conversation, River Café co-founder Ruthie Rogers, classicist Mary Beard on dining in ancient Pompeii, food critic Jay Rayner on the legacy of Anthony Bourdain, and actor Simon Russell Beale on the role of food in Shakespeare — alongside chefs, academics and campaigners across panels on Palestinian food, palm oil, seaweed, school dinners, women in barbecue and the global journey of curry.
The Food Season Awards also return this year, celebrating narrative cookery writing, exhibitions, new talent and the changemakers shaping the food and drink world.
The series is curated by Dr Polly Russell, Founder and Director of Food Season, with award-winning food writers Angela Clutton and Melissa Thompson as co-directors, and additional support from cultural events curator Joe Allen.
Our top picks from the 2026 programme
A Vittles Panel
Saturday 13 June, 11.15 – 12.30, Pigott Theatre
The team behind the influential food and culture newsletter Vittles open the season with a panel on how food intersects with politics, class and identity. Expect the magazine's signature sharp cultural analysis and a fresh take on the forces shaping how — and what — we eat.
The Edible Archive: Palestinian Memory and Resistance
Saturday 13 June, 13.00 – 14.00, Pigott Theatre
Chefs Fadi Kattan and Sami Tamimi join brewer Madees Khoury and seed conservationist Vivien Sansour, in conversation with writer Angela Zaher, to explore how food has sustained Palestinian culture, identity and resistance across generations.
In The Heat Together: Couples in the Kitchen
Saturday 13 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Pigott Theatre
Psychotherapist Susie Orbach chairs a frank conversation with three of London's best-known restaurant duos — Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer of Honey & Co, Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala of Café Spice Namasté, and Jess and Jo Edun of The Flygerians — on the realities of running a restaurant with the person you go home with.
Ruthie Rogers: On Kitchens, Culture and the Making of River Café
Sunday 14 June, 11.30 – 12.30, Pigott Theatre
River Café co-founder Ruthie Rogers sits down with author and restaurateur Cynthia Shanmugalingam to reflect on her career, the evolution of restaurant culture and the work of sustaining one of the UK's most influential kitchens.
From Masala to Miso: The Many Worlds of Curry
Sunday 14 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Piazza Pavilion
Chefs Tim Anderson, Ping Coombes, Maunika Gowardhan and Sham Mahabir trace curry's journey across cultures and continents, unpicking the stories of migration, adaptation and identity bound up in a dish that means something different in every kitchen it lands in.
Firepower: The Women Redefining BBQ
Sunday 14 June, 16.00 – 17.00, Piazza Pavilion
Author Helen Graves joins chefs Shauna Guinn, Genevieve Taylor and Melissa Thompson for a conversation on how women are reshaping British barbecue — pushing past the stereotypes and redrawing what live-fire cooking looks like in the UK.
Bourdain and the Myth of the Kitchen Hero
Tuesday 16 June, 19.00 – 20.30, Pigott Theatre
Food critic Jay Rayner chairs a discussion with chefs Sally Abé and Andrew Clarke and writer Zoe Williams on Anthony Bourdain's complicated legacy — from his influence on a generation of food writing to the realities of kitchen culture today.
How to Party in Pompeii
Monday 22 June, 19.00 – 20.30, Pigott Theatre and online
Classicist Mary Beard and writer Charlotte Higgins record a live episode of their history podcast Instant Classics, digging into the food culture of ancient Pompeii — what people ate, how they ate it, and what dinner looked like across the social classes of the Roman Empire.
For the full programme and tickets, head over to events.bl.uk/whats-on/food-season
