10 Year Anniversary Edition

BRYONY GORDON

“I’ve been struggling with the closure of my local book shop during this time, but it has at least given me a chance to read the huge pile of books that had been piling up by my bed without adding to them (I would spend hours lurking in book shops before lockdown - don’t judge me!)

I’ve been diving into memoir. Untamed by Glennan Doyle is a book I am going to be pushing into people’s hands as soon as I am allowed to (and it won’t spread too many germs.) I cannot stop quoting it and thinking about it.

I have loved My Wild and Sleepless Nights by Clover Stroud - a must read for all parents. Through the Leopard’s Gaze is the incredibly inspiring tale of comedian Njamba McGrath growing up in Kenya - she is just brilliant. And I have not been able to put down The Consequences of Love by Gavanndra Hodge, which is all about grief and addiction.”

JUNE SARPONG

“The twenty teens will most likely be remembered as the decade of great divides, which culminated in our all-consuming Brexit divorce. After three Prime Ministers two general elections, and one never ending not so civil war between Brexiteers and Remainers, it felt more like we were breaking up with ourselves rather than Europe. Then in 2020, enter stage right a mysterious deadly virus that cared nothing for your political opinions, economic value or social status.

The disproportionate impact of Covid on ethnic communities coupled with the circulation across social and traditional media of the horrific and inhumane death of George Floyd an unarmed Black man at the hands of police officers in the US has meant that people of all races across the world have been exposed to the brutality of racism. Views of the severity of racism will usually depend on proximity and exposure. Generally white people in majority white countries will have limited exposure to racism which will in turn give them a more ambivalent view on the topic of race than people of colour. However witnessing the same incident through the same mobile phone lens meant that the racism experienced by Black people globally suddenly became a visual reality for everyone. A reality those with privilege no longer have the luxury of ignorance.

As Director of Creative Diversity at the BBC, I’m incredibly proud of the role the BBC has played in helping to inform and educate the nation through this pivotal moment, whether it’s our “1Xtra” programming on BBC Sounds, I would also urge everyone reading this to listen to Clara Amfo’s powerful speech on the Radio1 app. Or our breathtaking Windrush film “Sitting In Limbo” which shines a light on the injustice of how many of our most cherished generations were treated by the UK their country of citizenship. There’s so much we can all together and here is where actions speak louder that words.”

CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN

“This month I’m supporting the brilliant Cook 19. They are an extraordinary operation delivering delicious meals and thank you letters to so many hospitals across London and they’re now adding mental health centres to their list. Have a look and support in any way that you can. My daughter and I bake and my 8 year old writes endless notes to the nurses who receive the care packages. Not very useful but something… Info is below if you want to follow on Insta or help out. They are always in need of cooks and anyone who wants to deliver.

The extraordinary Rald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity needs our help. This wonderful charity makes sure that children overcome life’s hardest challenges. There are specialist Roald Dahl nurses working across the country looking after children who need the most help. They’ve obviously been hit by Covid 19 and are doing everything they can to still help the children who need them the most. If you can donate, amazing, and if you can’t please just have a look at what they do?

And of course the incomparable Charlie Mackesy created a wonderful Love Wins t-shirt and all proceeds are split between Children in Need and Comic Relief. Not only are they brilliant causes but the t-shirt is knockout beautiful. If you’re not in love with that one then go to choose.love.com and buy a Katherine Hamnett Choose Our NHS t-shirt. There are brilliant charity t-shirts on offer and all the money goes to NHS charities and the most vulnerable in society. Wearing a plain t-shirt in this time is no longer an option. Thank you.”

www.cook-19.co.uk | donatecook19@gmail.com | @donate_cook_19

GILES COREN

“Restaurants are my life. Were my life. I should be missing them like crazy, like all the other people I know who are howling for “just one glass of rosé at a table outside the River Café!”, begging to be allowed into their local trattoria for a stroke of the giant pepper grinder they never found amusing before but suddenly find themselves dreaming about, and have now resorted to dressing their children as waiters, to hover over their shoulders at supper in the kitchen, explaining the concept of the menu and intermittently enquiring if everything is satisfactory.

But I don’t. I’ve eaten in restaurants ten times a week for the last 25 years, and I realise now that I had had enough. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been forced to stop, and I would never have stopped of my own accord. But now that I have, I just can’t get over the… stillness. Like when the guy next door finally turns off his lawnmower on a Sunday afternoon in June and the world becomes… calm.

No more wondering where to go, what’s new, who’s been, who’s there now, and who is going to go. No more booking stress, dashes through evening traffic, supercilious doormen and thick receptionists, un-liftable wine-lists and lazy waiters, fancy platefuls, whopping bills, rancid hangovers and then having to form that dreaded opinion. Not just because I’m a critic, and paid to have one, but because one simply has to have one, doesn’t one? Who do you know who doesn’t have a great big boring opinion on every bloody bistro, burger joint, chicken shop and two-bit hole-in-the-wall tacqueria that opens?

I can’t stand it. Won’t stand it. Couldn’t take it anymore but couldn’t get out until now. So, thank you, Covid-19, for giving me a break. Letting me eat in peace for a couple of months, at home, just for the calories, just to stay alive, without the opinions and the stress and all the nonsensical flummery. And thank you for helping me realise that restaurants really shouldn’t be my life. Or anybody’s life. They’re a luxury. A silly little something to make a change from cooking once in a while. Thank you for allowing me to chill.

And now, if you please, I’m ready one or two of my favourites to open up again. Soutine, St John, Singapore Garden, Clove Club, Scott’s, Endo at Rotunda, maybe the River Café, after all. Table for two, 8pm. We’ll start with a glass of champagne, please. Rosé, if you can…”

JIM CHAPMAN

“This has been a strange few months for everyone as we navigate being inside more and finding a ’new normal’. Usually I spend the summer months with family, out in London’s parks or having drinks al fresco. That said, I’ve enjoyed the slower pace of things and found new activities to do at home and places to visit nearby. Even being able to go for a stroll to get a takeaway coffee and enjoy the glorious London sunshine has made a big difference.

With restaurants being among of the worst hit businesses, some amazing London spots are creating ‘at home’ kits to cook along and recreate from your own kitchen. Patty & Bun do the most incredible burgers, and now so do I. They send you everything you need and teach you how to do it. It’s like a takeaway but you get to be really proud of yourself for cooking it yourself. More generally, I’ve really enjoyed getting into more cooking recently and haven even branched out to some ingredients I’d never heard of before lockdown. The other day I used Sambal Oelek.

I moved house at the end of the last summer, and before I knew it (after doing all the DIY I could manage) it was wet and cold. As the weather picks up, I’ve really loved walking the streets to find what my new area has to offer. It turns out, I live in a super cool spot. I found myself in Abney Park in Stoke Newington a few days ago - It's the perfect balance of peaceful park and creepy graveyard, but also just really beautiful for an afternoon stroll. Stoke Newington itself is full on independent coffee shops, bakeries, food joints and flowers shops. I can’t wait for them to open again. Walking the other direction I end up in Highbury fields. I love how London goes from big city, to cute stores, to edgy spots, to bouji streets and big green areas without any warning. It’s just a mismatch of everything and that has made discovering my new area a real joy.”

ANYA HINDMARCH

“Having panicked about going into lockdown with all the uncertainty and fear it entailed (and having Covid at the time), I have now become institutionalised and am quite fearful of going back to ‘real’ life. Of course there are no silver linings to the huge loss suffered, and to the hardship that we will all encounter as we come out of this and face the toughest economic reality ahead. But I hope that I can take at least 20% of the learnings from this period with me as we transition back to post Covid life. It has left me with so many questions. Why was I so slow to embrace home working? Why did we all travel to work at exactly the same time each day? Why did I fill my diary with so many meetings and draining travel when there are many clever ways to communicate without the drain to personal well-being, pocket and planet? Would we/will we make the same sacrifices for the health of the incredible Earth we live on as we have for Covid-19 which is a much less significant threat to human life albeit a more immediate one? If we come out of this as we went in, we have missed the point. Never waste a good crisis they say. There is nothing good about Covid-19 but we mustn’t waste this important moment to re-set.

Please may I ask you to buy a Holdster for £10 for an NHS Intensive Team Member? I had a call from Prof Hugh Montgomery (Chair of Intensive Care at UCL) at the beginning of April asking for my help to realise an idea he had had for something to hold all the kit the teams need in ICU for this Covid period. It was mainly glasses, pens, torch, coffee coins, passes etc all stuff that fall out of pockets in scrubs. But it was also for their phones. For the ICU teams to be able to safely carry their phones with them means they too can quickly check in on their own families; their kids home-schooling and a goodnight kiss, their parents who were worried about them at work rather than have to schlep to their lockers to retrieve their phones. This makes a considerable difference to their well-being on their long and often stressful shifts. Everyone worked hard to turn these around quickly working with infection control to achieve the safest outcome for both patient and professional. We have delivered several thousand Holdsters to frontline ICU workers across the UK and are fundraising to deliver as many as we can. These will help now and beyond but also are bringing a smile at the end of a very tough time.”

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/anya-hindmarch-holdster