🖤 I don’t know how to bear 2025, except I now know how much I am loved, and so that is how. To know is an extraordinary and awful privilege, and every day it rebuilds me. I am scaffolded by kindness. Take photos. Send selfies. Tell people, all the time. Also, I’m earnest and sentimental now, so that is another thing to deal with. Ok, love you.
Some news, made official. Now the food editor of The Observer. Took the acting off the bio but otherwise carrying on as usual, focused on @moshakis ’s vision for a brilliant new Observer Magazine. More food, more specials, more noodles, more @nigelslater , more more more.
In the food section of today’s Observer Magazine, @nigelslater has written a chocolate panna cotta and imagine how good your long weekend will be when you make it. We have an extract from @georginahayden ’s new book and you will learn that niçoise salad is better in a baguette (with crisps) and you can make a lasagne in one pan. One pan! True. Plus, @kf.morris11 went to Welling for Kazakh food, David Williams on why you should buy wine from an indie merchant, I write about essential nonessentials, and @hannahcrosb says we’re in the season of the paloma. Excellent times. Also, v good features. V good issue.
New look Observer mag. More pages, more stories, more food! This week @nigelslater brings the spring, @tomos_pp makes mackerel, jersey royals and radishes, plus burnt cream, @rlnicholson is unlucky in Hull, @hannahcrosb has impure martini thoughts, all @laurajgood wants to do is eat dates and peanut butter, and @foodstories talks us through stainless steel. Plus many terrific features that aren’t even food. New mag! Weightier mag! Beautiful mag! From the same little excellent crew 🌞
Been noodling around with something for @obsmagazine — a food special, out today. Noodles are delicious, hugely diverse, having a huge moment in the UK. @angelahuii wonders how we became so noodle literate, @millerstale seeks out the world’s greatest dishes, Observer writers share their favourite bowls in the UK; for home consumption, there’s a pantry guide and @fuchsiadunlop@emikodavies@tonytan53 have recipes for street-food classics, family favourites and new inventions, for which David Williams has wine pairings, while @hannahcrosb explores the versatility of the instant ramen flavour sachet. United by @kennethlam____ photos. Buy a newspaper, read it over a bowl of asam laksa — way more fun than a Sunday roast.
In this Sunday’s Observer Magazine: for our special food issue, have your chopsticks at the ready as @angelahuii explores why we’ve all gone loopy for noodles 🍜
Plus, we find the best places to eat them in the UK, tell you which types are essential to have in your store cupboard – and there are brilliant recipes from @fuchsiadunlop , @emikodavies and @tonytan53 .
Pick up a copy of the paper on Sunday or read online.
Issue edited by The Observer’s Food Editor @honeilly
Art director @joannacochrane
Photography by: @kennethlam____
Animation: @blythe.ws
I love today’s @obsmagazine cover and corresponding feature by @killianfox0 . For a little while, I’ve been asking chefs where they really want to go on their evenings off. Who inspires them, whose approach do they want to understand, whose food do they want to eat on repeat? One name was notable in its frequency: @sebastianfmyers . Myers is an Australian chef in an east London restaurant, cooking what he calls contemporary French and what his peers say has no definition other than “Seb Myers food”. Killian spends some time with Myers and finds a thoughtful and publicity averse chef whose food warrants greater attention.
Elsewhere from @obsfood in print this week, @nigelslater is still away but @georgia_levy_@thepostgradchef@mexicanfoodmemories step in with store cupboard inspiration and I can’t stop thinking about glass noodles, and @timhayward is on review duty (food and film?!) at Dover Street Counter.
All in the mag, with today’s Observer
When we talk about a restaurant’s influence it’s often in regard to the food; we don’t always talk about its essence. Perhaps more than any other chef, @edjwilson has shaped London restaurant culture in recent times. He was at the forefront of the small-plates-low-intervention-wine movement with Terroirs, and @brawn49 , which he runs with @josephinestead , has been an education for dozens of chefs, sommeliers and front-of-house staff, and the blueprint for a new wave of neighbourhood restaurants. Respect and love for produce is key, the approach to wine and service uncompromising — “It’s the Brawn DNA!” Read @timlewiswriter ’s cover feature about Brawn’s legacy in today’s @obsmagazine . Shout-out to @alicemarygrier who got what we wanted to do immediately and went into overdrive, getting people around the country (and further) on board and together for a big shoot at the busiest time of year.
Today’s Obsmag @obsfood also has brand new recipes — fresh winter salads from @gloriosa_glasgow@thisisrosiehealey and comfort cooking from @georginahayden — cabbage and taleggio lasagne with a radicchio and orange salad could be in your immediate future, if you buy today’s Observer.
Today’s (final) Food Monthly! Forget the roast, these are the actual best bits of Christmas ✨ @nigelslater is cooking for the sheer joy of it, making cakes and biscuits as presents for friends ✨ @foodstories weaves her flavour magic and turns a cheeseboard into a party centrepiece ✨ Marvellous chefs @sambalshiok@ppowellchef@philkhoury@imadalarnab@kai_galway suggest winter brunches for those lovely, lazy in-between days — tahini mousse pancakes and brussels sprout pakoras, yes? ✨ We pick our favourite books this year, ones we know we’ll be returning to, including @helen_goh_bakes@sami_tamimi@camillawynne@sakarah_@sportsmankent@noorishbynoor ✨ @hayleymyers asks some of our favourite and fun food writers how to win at festive party food ✨ Plus, @michaelhogan100 tells us the story of the Christmas sandwich, and @rlnicholson remembers foods we’ve loved and lost ✨ This is the last issue of OFM. Look out for more, new, excellent food content every week in the Observer magazine.
It’s time…. Observer Food Monthly time, out today, with the paper. Reasons to buy a copy include this glorious cover by @romasfoord , illustrating @georginahayden ’s feature on how to keep your cool this Christmas — what to make ahead, what to buy in, what helps make the meal go further if you’re cooking for loads of people, and three ways with sprouts. @nigelslater shares his very favourite Christmas recipes — his Christmas cake is the only one I will make. If you’re not a fan of trad Christmas pudding, we got some ideas from brilliant chefs @jeremyleeqv@ravneeteats@josephtrivelli@thisisrosiehealey@cookhouse_anna — some lighter, some you can make ahead, all are worth your attention. There’s a brilliant guide guide for food lovers, a mammoth task to bring together, brilliantly assembled by @hayleymyers . Plus, @giorgiolocatelli1 on cooking pasta for Sinatra, and @rlnicholson on the joys of small restaurants. Today. Now. With the Observer. @obsfood
