https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews daily 0.75 2022-03-28 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/gurd-loyal monthly 0.5 2021-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615811460987-LBT4RYVBLH8FKW1R6V9B/whitney+.jpg Interviews - Gurd Loyal Is there anything you would like to share with our community? There is an incredible LGBT run Indian restaurant in Acton called Chapati Club (@chapaticlub). They are awesome and I love their food. They have a 90s R’n’B and hip hop playlist on Spotify. It’s what they play in the restaurant so it's things like De la Soul, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, it's a really fun playlist and I listen to it all the time! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615131785862-GU1M3GZPXL9CMR8YEXFL/Vespitine+3.jpg Interviews - Gurd Loyal - What’s the best meal you have ever had, where was it, who was it with? The most memorable meal I've ever had was at a restaurant called Vespertine in LA (a concept restaurant that sees ‘dining as art’ and creates a ‘gastronomical experience’). I was there on a work trip. It’s the most unbelievable fully immersive experience of my life. It's a complete sensory takeover basically it's a five-hour dining experience, I will never forget that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615131877257-ANBM4ZTJMPLFYOQWI1RZ/Beyonce_Knowles_with_necklaces.jpg Interviews - Gurd Loyal - Favourite banger to play in the kitchen? I'm obsessed with Beyonce, so it'd probably be any upbeat camp Beyonce song. When I'm cooking I listen to quite a lot of old-school disco like Donna Summer or Chaka Khan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1614618328067-JPGVA7XI6FQA4JFRK6V2/GL+2.JPG Interviews - Gurd Loyal Gurd Loyal is a Food, Drink & Hospitality Consultant based in Hackney, East London. He has worked with brands such as Harrods, M&S and Innocent Smoothies. He is also a food writer and speaker on the topic of cultural appropriation and food, as well as the curator of the online platform Mother Tongue TV which celebrates food stories of migration, race, (in)authenticity and the second generation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615132145333-VUHSWCJJ7Q9GS2IABSII/kfc+sign.jpg Interviews - Gurd Loyal - What is your guilty pleasure? I'm not embarrassed about this - about once every month I love a KFC. It's delicious! Also I love a Cadbury’s Twirl. https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/kirtsy-tinkler monthly 0.5 2021-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615201077900-T89U79MFQ6HLS4J2RBTG/Kirsty+in+shop.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler Kirsty Tinkler owns and runs Weino BIB in Dalston, and lives in North London. Weino BIB is a natural wine shop, deli, bar and taproom which started business in 2015. They are leaders in the industry for their pioneering work selling natural bag-in-box wines, and focus on improving sustainability without compromising on quality. They work with small farmers and producers who ‘tread lightly on the earth’. Kirsty runs Weino BIB with her partner in crime Zee and a small team of staff. Kirsty is also an artist specialising in sculpture. She has worked in hospitality for over 30 years. She speaks to QFAB about the stark difference between hospitality work in Sydney and London, realising she loved the industry she’d spent years trying to get out of, and what’s next for her growing business. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615201737319-80MO716UCTUEXARSOZ14/yellow+door.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler - What is the best meal you've ever had? Where was it? What was it? Who was it with? I was in Hong Kong with my then girlfriend. It was called The Yellow Door, and you had to go into an apartment building in Kowloon and go to the floor and find the yellow door. And then you knocked on the door and, instead of an apartment, it was a little mini restaurant with a degustation menu. It was something like 13 courses, but the first four were just little dishes of things. And I was actually vegetarian at the time, but I ate everything! I didn't know what else to do. It was just the whole experience of going on an adventure and the food was sublime. Then to finish the night there was the blue door downstairs exactly below and it was the chef's dad who had a jazz club, and there was live jazz. It was like a New York style little bar in the middle of a tower block. It was pretty good! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615829838571-GS539V7FREHL2LVVQA1Y/McDonald%27s_Filet-O-Fish_sandwich_%282%29.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler What is your guilty food pleasure? I have to admit to you, I think after years of going to restaurants I actually don't enjoy going to big fancy restaurants that much, I find it feels like work. I just sit watching what the staff are all doing. I do have a Fillet of fish every now and again! But I suppose something when I was managing restaurants 10 o’clock every night I would grab a beer, go out the back and neck it, go back in and everything is right with the world. That was a little guilty pleasure, I could smile at everyone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615829096400-C1CHEAAVYEL1INC29BZ1/weinobib-72.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615201505599-BYQAFBIS5KG6RE2KDYQX/weino+bib+2.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615829653042-2FL9MVE2UB2UIGUZE9UD/weinobib-163.jpg Interviews - Kirsty Tinkler https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/fernando-berry monthly 0.5 2021-04-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617816157382-Y9B2ECEIQAUTR2MEJETH/bronski+beat.jpg Interviews - Fernando Berry - What is your gift for the community? I have curated a STUNNING playlist for you all here https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617812587192-THINX468OUTV6A20PIJ7/Fern+Berry+profile.jpg Interviews - Fernando Berry - Fernando Berry is the founder of Otros Vinos, a London based wine importer and online shop selling natural wines by small artisan growers. Fernando spent much of his life working in hospitality in Australia and London. He began importing wine alongside full time front of house work, before finally being able to go full time with his own business. Fernando speaks to QFAB about the highs and lows of the industry, the gift of being queer, and why everyone who told him not to get into wine importing was probably right (but he still loves it). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617815285189-EKQGYJV1B3YKESK4BIB3/tempImageRJvzHI.gif Interviews - Fernando Berry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617815701481-31RTLKBPOX2U391GU8KP/chicken+cottage.jpg Interviews - Fernando Berry - What is your guilty food pleasure? Chicken cottage but I’m not guilty! Cheap fried chicken but not KFC. For me, it has to be like Chicken Cottage or PFC or whatever, just be one of the regular scabby high street ones. And it has to be midnight, or afterwards. And then it just tastes delicious! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617815246957-WDELF541TI5PVGD7K42X/otros+vinos.jpg Interviews - Fernando Berry https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/zoe-adjonyoh monthly 0.5 2021-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616777777067-PYRZ701AT690CLU8EWQN/22162193365_fef90d984d_b.jpg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh - What's your favourite banger to play in the kitchen? It depends on the type of service. These days I'm probably cooking at home more often so it's probably gonna be Angie Stone Mahogany Soul or something like that, or Jill Scott, Leon Bridges. Something soulful that's for home cooking or the Zoe Ghana Kitchen playlist on Spotify. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616782403657-ONL4BOIO2EAMEK54DDAR/Image.jpeg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh - Have you got anything you would like to share with the community? I have a Jollof risotto recipe that’s not been published yet that I would love to share. Click here for full recipe https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616777535037-E7IAT3Z4EPRV7BNPEF5J/ZOE+AUGUST+2020+%40lateef.photography-58+%281%29.jpg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh Photo Credit - Lateef Okunnu https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616776023794-633X3MN41RVLHB5UQM15/ZOE+AUGUST+2020+%40lateef.photography-60.jpg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh - Zoe Adjonyoh is a chef, a writer and a public speaker. She is founder of Zoe's Ghana Kitchen, a West African food brand and cookbook by the same name. As well as the co-founder of Black Book, a platform for promoting inclusivity for BIPOC people in the food world. Zoe speaks to QFAB about the lack of acknowledgement of intersectional identities in the Food and Beverage Industry and not just being a ‘woman chef’, the long running pioneering of queer and Black communities in food, and why she’s building her own table. Plus how quickly she can eat a packet of dark chocolate digestive biscuits (spoiler: it’s fast), and more of the amazing queer food accounts you should be following. Photo credit - Lateef Okunnu https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616778612554-8XVMLAGMHM9QL2EAZDW9/ZOE+AUGUST+2020+%40lateef.photography-23.jpg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh - What is next for you, have you got any new projects you want to talk about? The cookbook has been re-released in the UK, so please go and peruse. Signed copies available in my shop and otherwise retailing at all good bookstores and Amazon as well. Then there is a lot that isn't necessarily set in stone so I'm not sure how much I can say about all of it, but there are a lot of exciting plans this year. Including that I am launching a new brand which might be of interest to the queer community, I hope. It's a new e-commerce platform around health and wellness but with an African lens. So you can think of an African group meets an African whole-foods online, it's kind of that. It's going to have wellness practitioners and wellness services from breath workshops to meditation to yoga, it's amazing as well as lifestyle stuff on there and some homeware. It’s centred around Black and BIPOC people, but also the queer community as well because I really want to emphasise all the alternatives to this heteronormative wellness thing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616777246607-UC5SCGTV649CTJH5LKRY/ZOE+AUGUST+2020+%40lateef.photography-76.jpg Interviews - Zoe Adjonyoh Photo Credit - Lateef Okunnu https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/melissa-thompson monthly 0.5 2021-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615897600294-D1T05LAXV3KUB7D0UXRE/jerk+maureen.jpeg Interviews - Melissa Thompson - Top three places to eat and drink? 1. Maureen and Verna, in between Brixton and Herne Hill (Montego Close, off Railton Road). It’s a yard with loads of drum barbecues, it’s their house and they do catering and lunches. For £6 you just get this plate of absolute joy. It tastes so good. (They have got an Instagram profile but they don't ever use it, it’s got like two posts on it.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615897722104-0MEXJL19CSNU552ZP3ZR/fugees.jpg Interviews - Melissa Thompson - What's your favourite banger to play in the kitchen? In lockdown I got really back into 90’s and early 00’s music, so really into The Fugees, Cranberries, and then Rihanna, Beyonce, and I’ve started to get into Nicky Minaj recently. I have quite obvious taste when it comes to music. I'm not into obscure shit! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615968920254-QQDB1URYQ2UWFJIQDVCH/melissa%2Bat%2Bthe%2Bpass.jpg Interviews - Melissa Thompson https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615898062226-A6YVI3UH9C1OEYJ5XVEY/melissa+family.jpg Interviews - Melissa Thompson - What is the best meal you have ever had? What was it? Who was it with? I used to live in Hong Kong when I was very little, and we went back when I was 14 or 15. There was this dish of little chicken bits on the bone, I think maybe in turmeric and other things. I remember that being amazing! When I was pregnant in my first three months, I hated all food. Like I remember Kate [her partner] always trying to say, “Listen let me make you some baked salmon with vegetables” and I was like “no get me chips, just give me chips and put loads of vinegar on them!” I hated life. It was awful. But one day I came home from work and Kate had made me bangers and mash with onion gravy and it was just perfect! I hadn't had bangers and mash in the whole three months. If you'd offered it to me, I probably would have said no, but everything about it was perfect. It felt more nutritious than anything I’d had in weeks. It was made with love and it’s just the best thing I've ever had. Photo credit - Samer Moukarzel (@samermoukarzelphotography) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615894799376-GES26ZBCXMJDBJPPKRIQ/Melissa%2BPatricia%2BNiven.jpg Interviews - Melissa Thompson - Melissa Thompson runs Fowl Mouths (@fowlmouthsfood), a food and recipe project. She is also a food writer and columnist for BBC Good Food, and creator of the podcast Get Back in the Kitchen which focuses on women in food. Melissa lives in South East London with her partner Kate and young daughter. She has a background in journalism and love of food. On a whim she created the hugely successful Fowl Mouths food pop up, which has helped take her to where she is in the industry today. Photo credit Patricia Niven (@patricianiven) https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/ella-risbridger monthly 0.5 2021-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617105400679-2376FRL8U6OCOPO90IHT/LOG+BOOKS.jpg Interviews - Ella Risbridger - Anything you would like to share with the QFAB community? Tell you what has absolutely blown my mind is a podcast called The Logbooks which is by Switchboard, the LGBT helpline. It's the literal logbooks from their history and they just read them out. It gives me such joy and I’m such a sucker for people being gay in the past! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617108554391-MTH459FLLBI0VN8UY8YC/SMILES.jpg Interviews - Ella Risbridger - What is your guilty pleasure? Biscoff spread with a spoon. We've also been really getting into potato smiles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617104829526-9YASZIU2YAYL7YTC19M2/ella.jpg Interviews - Ella Risbridger - Ella Risbridger is a food writer. Her debut cookbook ‘Midnight Chicken & other recipes worth living for’ came out in 2019 and was loved by Nigella Lawson herself. Based in Lewisham, Ella also writes articles, poetry, and her children’s novel, The Secret Detectives, is out in June. Ella got into food by simply cooking, eating and writing about it. She speaks to QFAB about accidentally becoming a food writer, how everyone assumes she's straight, and her frustrations around the domesticity assigned to women in food. She shares advice on food writing, particularly for women, and her story of a forbidden scotch egg. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617105119169-BO458W4GYKEFSEGWRYCJ/a05030_07feb408337842a899b845b1ba539674%7Emv2_d_1798_2560_s_2.jpg Interviews - Ella Risbridger https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1617105285392-9ZNRWH55DFXYU4FXOG19/The-Secret-Detectives-24980-1.jpg Interviews - Ella Risbridger - What is next for you? I have got a children's book coming out in June, called The Secret Detectives which is a murder mystery prequel to The Secret Garden about colonialism, which is exciting. It was a choice to write a book about racism for nine year olds, but I think we've done it. It was a real labour of love and I got to talk to some amazing people. It's about power. The idea that we have to stop giving children beautiful books about the Victorians and we have to talk to them critically about what it is and who suffered and who got ignored. We have to talk about all the complex power structures. And I've got a poetry anthology coming out in October, also for kids. And then hopefully, sometime soon, maybe a new cookbook! https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/laurie-belgrave monthly 0.5 2021-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018151070-XIHEJ67N95HEZEODCRSQ/Coco+Patron+and+Portia.JPG Interviews - Laurie Belgrave https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619016183846-DKYTLKY2TUP2SEL98L7C/Laurie+Belgrave+by+Tim+Boddy.jpg Interviews - Laurie Belgrave - Laurie Belgrave is the founder and director of the beloved South London queer bar and performance collective, The Chateau, where the QFAB founder has spent many a night watching the best queer performers and drag queens/ kings/ artists, before getting sweaty and topless dancing among beautiful fellow queers. (One year into the pandemic, this sounds even more like a perfect dream come true.) He speaks to QFAB about going from running underage night clubs, to working in big corporate events, to knocking on many many doors for help to create The Chateau. From the good bits like the intangible feeling of a really really good night out in a queer space full of energy. To the hard bits like working out systems and profit margins, and the mental toll it takes working late nights all weekend. Then, like so many people in this industry, finding a healthier rhythm during the pandemic, and considering how to find balance in future. Plus, what’s next for The Chateau as things begin to open up. Photo Credit - Tim Boddy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018344007-F0N8G5QMHF3C5GJ6VW2W/Crowd+Photo.JPG Interviews - Laurie Belgrave https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018471012-HH34YRIW9TFFJSSZVP7S/Freida+Slaves+at+The+Chateau.JPG Interviews - Laurie Belgrave https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018568060-TQKXR795UFNC38IN5WMW/Boursin.jpg Interviews - Laurie Belgrave - What is your guilty food pleasure? I love Boursin cheese on a cracker thickly spread! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018722051-3FMRFFPS7IIQVP4SLN5Z/fluid.jpg Interviews - Laurie Belgrave - Is there anything you would like to share with our community? Yes! It’s a podcast from an ex staff member at The Chateau called Nic, who used to do the door! An incredible, queer person who is a huge part of the Chateau story. Nic has done a podcast recently called Fluid, it's been supported by the Roundhouse. One of the real pleasures in my life now is seeing what people who were involved in the Chateau are doing and also the connections that people made within that space, and how those are continuing to breathe more life into our community, even though the space itself is not open. So I would encourage everyone who's reading this interview to listen to that podcast. It's really interesting, it covers loads of areas, queer history, queer spaces, what it means. And Nic is an absolute angel! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1619018407836-JVV9VIKEDWIUB22LECV3/Coco+Patron+by+Louisa+Tratalos.JPG Interviews - Laurie Belgrave https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/holly-middleton-joseph monthly 0.5 2021-05-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620748931349-FHLXNVRYSF9M5SMPLRVN/IMG_20210217_122749_241.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620749017713-5W5V5927XOSIMBP55VIX/20201107_172305.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620749206573-OHEJNTWDMW2N3QEPRGZ7/Product_Hash-browns-triangle_0.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph - What is your trashy food pleasure? Super crispy hash browns. And I've got so much time for crisps, I like all crisps! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621060117911-ZEVRTE7HQGVLKU4ERLTG/159709406_110665360991120_4225437464129652843_n.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620752895055-HT25ZYNHOW2F5MY35KGM/20210319_093945.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph - Holly very kindly contributed this recipe of delicious chocolate GUINNESS fudge to our community Click here for FULL recipe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620749302085-178MHVQJGM0QTKMSDSX0/20200828_173237.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620748886683-HJK0TKUD08QTX4XBY577/Photo+from+Holly+Mj.jpg Interviews - Holly Middleton Joseph - Holly Middleton Joseph is an experienced chef working in various venues in South East London, including Frank’s, The Camberwell Arms and now Mike’s. Holly talks to QFAB about dramatically ditching her first kitchen job, starting out as a chef, the freshest crab she’s ever eaten, and why you need to ‘back yourself’. She is soon to be the Head Chef of Catering by The Camberwell Arms. She is a ridiculously talented chef and she is always cooking up a storm on her Instagram @hollymjblahh https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/sal-dhalla monthly 0.5 2021-05-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620125992697-5IVDEULNT0UXYA9ODN2L/IMG_5654.jpg Interviews - Sal Dhalla https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620126194067-T39LVNUHOAZO7NKRLJV7/maltesers.jpg Interviews - Sal Dhalla - What is your trashy food pleasure? My current one, which I'm trying not to eat because they have probably got loads of palm oil in them, is the Malteser Biscuit. It's a new thing, which is like a Malteser inspired biscuit. I'm all for guilty pleasures. I think they bring us so much joy that we should reclaim them and refrain from assigning relative moral virtue to food! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620127252468-34QASFKPOQGAUZ3AK2SQ/Cookies.jpeg Interviews - Sal Dhalla - Sal very kindly contributed this recipe to our community of THe only cookies you will ever need Click here for FULL recipe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620139444998-TWXL0E0QTYDZN5J7RWNO/IMG_0225+SMALL+FILE.jpg Interviews - Sal Dhalla https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620125300788-JX0PMKD86JMBFBNKT376/IMG_2242.jpeg Interviews - Sal Dhalla https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620139694710-DV57CZ7KL8LCY1GMMQ3Y/tempImageo0KFBI.jpg Interviews - Sal Dhalla https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620138655754-AZME3T8Z1ADAO6X33K67/IMG_1548.jpeg Interviews - Sal Dhalla https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620125182090-7SGB1Z7KFMXPDPGQ923J/headshot+sq.png Interviews - Sal Dhalla - Sal Dhalla is a chef and founder of The Food Witch. She has almost ten years of experience working with food. She describes her cooking as intuitive, creating meals for joy and self care, particularly seasonally led vegan and vegetarian food for retreats and events. Since the pandemic, she’s also been teaching cookery classes online. Sal speaks to QFAB about going from the corporate world to the food world, and the challenges of both. Finding her own way of working with food, away from the industry’s limitations, and finding a truer connection to herself and her passions. And she discusses the intersections of colonialism and food culture, and finding your identity as a chef beyond people’s expectations from what you look like and where your family are from. https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/patricia-niven monthly 0.5 2022-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621959016159-4JQ1HCZKWV9SPMVNCSKY/Baking_with_Chardin_Peach_Diptych_Patricia_Niven.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621958734459-2F2SJ5FPV6IRO85IRS6B/20180818_Brocante_Olivia_Bennett_Fish_044_Patricia_Niven_v1.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1622461677118-JNICF2YHK79V07IP0SIA/zanele+muholi.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven - Anything you would like to share with our community? Yes! The incredible, powerful visual activist/artist Zanele Muholi, (currently on show at Tate Modern until 31st May) but look for their work online if you’re not familiar with it. And ‘High on the Hog’ an amazing series on Netflix about how African American cuisine has transformed America. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621958951199-H6XD2BGM7XGOQC20PJKS/20180825_Tim_Walker_gowns_orange_065_v2.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1622460622180-GS8XIFMVBHOTNN3UJQIA/20180818_Brocante_Olivia_Bennett_Tomatoes_029_Patricia_Niven_v1.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621958691676-ZDETQQK9YAM0IBHGR7GF/Patricia_Niven_by_TifHunter.jpg Interviews - Patricia Niven - Patricia Niven is a creative photographer, who focuses on food and the people and processes surrounding it. As well as editorial & advertising work, she’s worked on a range of cook books including four with Honey & Co. as well as other prominent chefs and food writers. Patricia lives with her partner Sarah in London and is currently working on her biggest project, “growing a baby”. She talks to QFAB about finding her spark in photography, the simple secret to capturing food well, and a fancy night dining in Paris in the early days with her partner of 20 years. Photo Credit Tif Hunter https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/kate-young monthly 0.5 2022-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/c9e1145e-d3a0-477f-ac72-5af002f3c3ee/Queer+book.jpg Interviews - Kate Young - Is there anything you would like to share with our community? I’m going to recommend a book called Queer: A collection of LGBTQ writing from ancient time to yesterday. It’s short stories, poetry and all sorts of pieces of writing excerpted from larger works, a perfect compendium of Queer writing. It gave me the most amazing reading list of queer writers to explore! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/6d7b3b58-edf5-4f63-952f-74929dfce174/Kate+young+pav+photo+credit+Lean+Timms.jpg Interviews - Kate Young Photo credit - Lean Timms https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/2666016c-3c31-4507-aaf3-39bc52df6426/Kate+young+headshot.jpg Interviews - Kate Young - Kate Young is a food writer who connects recipes with literature in her award winning Little Library cookbooks, which grew from a successful blog. She has written about food in a variety of publications, including the Guardian and Stylist. And she does events catering on the side too. Kate speaks to QFAB about finding and opening up about her queer identity (despite warnings), writing and cooking for the pure joy of it, and staving off loneliness by finding your ‘collegues’ and friends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/8369ef73-bb7a-4a7d-936e-0db016ad0d6c/Schitts+creek.jpg Interviews - Kate Young Do you have a queer icon? I wrote an essay a while ago about contemporary representation in pop culture and the lack of representation when I was a teenager. And so I am going to pick Dan Levy, who wrote Schitt’s Creek. The show came to me at exactly the right point in my life, just as I was coming out. It was incredibly important for me to watch something featuring queer people in a small community who fell in love and weren’t challenged or questioned or threatened. I’d become so used to seeing homophobia that it had become a default to accept the possibility of it, the reality of it. The world is still deeply heteronormative, often homophobic, and deeply transphobic. There are 69 countries in the world where homosexuality remains a crime. One in five people in the UK has experienced a hate crime in the past twelve months, and that figure rises to two in five amongst the trans community. Watching a half-hour comedy programme that showcased a world that could exist, where homophobia isn’t just challenged but is utterly absent, felt groundbreaking. And in researching the piece I wrote I read so many stories of how many minds have been changed by the show, so many families having conversations that they wouldn’t otherwise have had, so many people feeling safer to come out, knowing there is a community to stand with them. That’s extraordinary. It’s a view of the world that’s worthy of conversation and of aspiring to. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/ea8ba63c-a9a0-4636-9018-04eb43301e10/Kate+young+blogging.jpg Interviews - Kate Young https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/6e8e28d6-1fb5-4356-8866-71477056786a/Kate+young+clam.jpg Interviews - Kate Young - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/2d1c230b-02ee-46b2-a184-373fcf17da53/wheel+of+parmesan.jpg Interviews - Kate Young What is the best meal you have ever had? I think it might have been at my friends Alex and Kristen’s wedding in Italy. Most of the weddings I've been to I've had a job to do - I've either done the cake or been a bridesmaid or catered some part of it. For this wedding I flew out to Italy and had four days utterly chilling out. By the time we got to the day of the wedding, I had nothing to do but eat and have a really great time. Immediately after the ceremony there was this enormous wheel of parmesan with little knives and somebody was handing out fizzy wine. We just stood there having photos and bustling around, hacking bits off this massive wheel of cheese. I think about it all the time. Then we ate a five course Italian buffet, where somebody was cutting meat off a leg of cured ham and somebody was slicing cheese and somebody was portioning up an amazing parmigiana. I can't even remember what I ate. It was probably close to 90 things! It was so extraordinary. The generosity was so amazing and we were just so jolly and drunk and chuffed to be there. It was magical. https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Travel monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Relationships monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Health monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Interviews monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Culture monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/interviews/category/Sports monthly 0.5 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/blog daily 0.75 2022-02-05 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/blog/welcome-to-the-qfab-club monthly 0.5 2022-02-05 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/blog/its-been-a-hot-minute monthly 0.5 2022-02-05 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/events daily 0.75 2021-03-15 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/reviews daily 0.75 2021-05-08 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/reviews/arissy monthly 0.5 2021-05-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620461546447-ZQOJ9LYVXMGH8CJAILLR/arissy%2Bchoc.jpg Reviews - Arissy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620461014336-0BUPW385LGQB10U96WMY/aubergine.jpg Reviews - Arissy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620461049030-KQR9E5SAK107MYPUQHO3/chicken+wings.jpg Reviews - Arissy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620461057938-VXTAMBVZ9OE301KCD075/lamb.jpg Reviews - Arissy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620460568986-MPW92M1CBL0WSFRQEXRI/tempImageKVCqhR.gif Reviews - Arissy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620461204717-UQ3IIIZQ24ZJCLUF5URO/greek+salad+.jpg Reviews - Arissy - Next came the Greek Salad with charred lemons, sweet peppers, and what I would describe as the ideal amount of feta - a generous slab. Everyone, please take note! Soon followed by roast aubergine with feta yoghurt, pistachio & mint. This dish was served cold which was a welcome surprise. The aubergine was cooked to perfection and the deep fried mint leaves were a nice touch. The sobrasada and potato croquettes with aioli were out of this world! As a big croquette fan I can safely say these fall into a joint top two with my favourite tapas restaurant in Valencia. I assure you this is HIGH praise. The filling was soft and rich, the exterior deep fried to perfection, and the drizzle of honey a stroke of genius! A deeply satisfying small plate. The only thing I’d change would be ordering a whole portion just for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620460762218-ICE8EJV80LSVR88LJA5D/ari+and+issy.jpeg Reviews - Arissy https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/articles daily 0.75 2022-02-26 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/articles/lgbtq-history-month monthly 0.5 2022-02-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/e326f610-90b7-4477-97bf-517ac0673fea/First+out.jpg Articles - LGBTQ+ History Month: Memories from our loved and lost spaces - Jenny Greenhalgh: First Out, WC2, London (Closed) Growing up in a tiny Northern town I didn't have the chance to be myself and discover who I was going to be until moved to London aged 19 in 1999. I've never been into clubs or drugs so I sought out smaller quieter places and only a few days after arriving in London I discovered First Out via Time Out magazine. I have to confess the £1 spirit and mixer happy hour in the downstairs bar helped draw me in the first time but I stayed for the people and the atmosphere. I'd never seen so many queers in one place. I remember enviously eyeing the style of the masc bartender in her braces and boots. I still hadn't found my confidence and it fed my growing spirit to be there. I found a flat by pulling a number off a handwritten note on the wall and using the pay phone by the toilets.I had first and last dates. I grew. I fell in love and was consoled by drunken mates. Most of all I remember the warm feeling of the upstairs cafe, where I read books quietly. The cosy community of it. I met straight and queer friends alike there. Gathered over delicious veggie food and smoothies, looking out at the bustle outside from the window. It was the very first gay venue with a daytime space and I still yearn for it. No other space has ever quite captured its magic. First and always the best. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/f1fdbd51-0857-4734-a22b-da036dac1cfc/The+glory.png Articles - LGBTQ+ History Month: Memories from our loved and lost spaces - Sebastian Pasinetti: The Glory, E2, London The Glory was imperative to forming my identity as a queer person in London. Having arrived from Melbourne three years ago as a angsty millennial queer, I had an incredibly monolithic view of what queer identity looked like. I stepped foot into The Glory on my 2nd day in London, and I was instantly met with an array of queer people that broke down all my pre conceived ideas of what a queer person should look like. I fell in love with the venue's aesthetic, giving a nostalgia of bars I had only ever imagined, having grown up as one of the only Queer People of Colour in a very white straight suburb. I screamed “It’s Raining Men” at full volume and drank my weight in cocktails. I arranged a date there the very next day. The Glory hosted that date smashingly and became the site of the first kiss that I had ever had with another man in a public space. The guests and staff applauded when we kissed and it is now cemented in my own queer history. Crowd at The Glory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/9abfaec9-6f67-42c5-9c63-5e5a8d85b172/Freida+Slaves+at+The+Chateau.JPG Articles - LGBTQ+ History Month: Memories from our loved and lost spaces - Make it stand out Freida Slaves performs at The Chateau https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/producers daily 0.75 2022-03-28 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/producers/frog-bakery monthly 0.5 2022-03-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/5c4d6994-ed0f-4c72-bb50-0e08c0ebacb3/PXL_20210719_112649774.jpg Producers - Frog Bakery - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/54c7f73e-c5ae-4615-b8b1-e3435c70cf4d/Screenshot_20220111-102150.jpg Producers - Frog Bakery - Make it stand out Oliver Costello and Rebecca Spaven pictured at their pop up at The Platform Cafe last summer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/59b143e5-60bd-4e00-a4d3-f0b0729ae5ef/PXL_20210913_100858840.jpg Producers - Frog Bakery - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/lgbtqi-history-month daily 0.75 2022-02-18 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-02-21 https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/about daily 1.0 2022-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615127455414-S3U8UZRX8CB3GUXCH91M/unsplash-image-YaajxnfGeCk.jpg About Queers in food & Beverage (QFAB) is a network & platform celebrating and promoting queer people working across the food & beverage industry, with a focus on the Uk. It was founded by london based QUEER CHEF Rachel Rumbol, to build community & create a platforM for positive representation of LGBTQI+ people within the industry. As well as creating a place where members can learn about, connect with, and support each other. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615812597827-07N1LOMR1EGXWWFVRMKU/QFAB+WITH+SUBTITLE+TRANSPARENT.png About - QFAB AIMS To lift up stories and HIGHLIGHT experiences and issues faced by the LGBTQI+ community To give a platform to groups within our community who have often been overlooked To connect, promote & boost the visibility of LGBTQI+ people within the food and beverage industry To be a force for positive change https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1615803882725-M681IPPAB6MRJDC7UMCB/dough+web.png About - Are you a Queer owned business/ Chef/ PRODUCER working in the food & Beverage industry? qfab would love to hear from you. Get in touch https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1613413340872-ZMX5QRMRB33FUH5ZEYFR/PHOTO-2020-05-27-18-09-57.jpg About - About the founder My name is Rachel Rumbol (She/Her). I was born and raised in South East London. I have been working in the industry for over 10 years. I have had many different roles as a waiter, bar person, oyster shucker and have been a chef since 2016, working in restaurant and catering kitchens. I co-own a catering company called Butch Salads. My passions are eating, drinking, laughing and dancing to shit pop music. https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/zoes-jollof-risotto-recipe daily 0.75 2021-03-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1616782565373-EW6JMHPEDRYNA8Z7Y2UG/Jollof+Risotto+One+document+.jpg Zoes' Jollof Risotto recipe https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/hollys-chocolate-guinness-fudge-recipe daily 0.75 2021-05-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1621268383902-Y20R06B5XB18PMSYGOE7/20210319_093945.jpg Holly's Chocolate Guinness Fudge recipe https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/sals-cookie-recipe daily 0.75 2021-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602ab03a117bd25f81ad5633/1620324711176-H9LHL8OTIG8NP8T3MP38/Cookies.jpeg Sal's Cookie Recipe https://www.queersinfoodandbeverage.com/map-submission-form daily 0.75 2023-04-11