• Award winning food author, restaurant critic, columnist, & ‘MasterChef: The Professionals’ judge Tom Parker Bowles

He has written eight cookbooks and won the ‘Guild of Food Writers’ Award’ in 2010 for ‘Full English: A Journey through the British and Their Food’. He is also a respected restaurant critic for The Mail on Sunday, a monthly columnist for Country Life, the Food Editor for Esquire and a contributing editor to Conde Nast Traveler. He is a sought-after guest and judge on numerous television (TV) series of food shows, including ‘MasterChef: The Professionals’. Tom Parker Bowles is a name synonymous with food and England and his new book ‘Cooking and The Crown’ is slated to hit the shelves in September of this year (2024). He was in Sri Lanka for the Galle Literary Festival this year and on ‘Kaleidoscope’ this week, he gives an insight into his context of British food, his comfort food, and his love for Asian cuisine. 

Following are excerpts from the interview:

England’s ties with Sri Lanka go back centuries and it surely was the kingdom’s jewel in the crown. What is your impression of our tiny island?

I obviously love the beauty, the history, and the culture, but, my job and passion are the food. Your food is magnificent, wonderful. 

You started off as a publicist and then jumped into food. Was it always a dream to write about food or did it just fall on to your plate? 

Being in the food industry did fall on to my plate, but I was sacked as a publicist as I was very bad at that job. I could write and I decided to try my hand at writing about food. I ended up with the job of my dreams. 

What is it about food that draws you in and gives you that innate passion?

There are two levels of food, I think. The first is that food is a prism through which one can see everything, history, wealth, wellbeing, and everything else. The second is that I love eating.

You won an award for ‘Full English: A Journey through the British and Their Food’. How is it writing about the history of a nation?

Well, what I do is use food as a prism to look through history. When you see a plate of food, it is not just simply a plate of food. You can see invading forces, conflicting and combining cultures, religious influences, and so much more on that plate. English food does not have the best representation across the world. You would not see an English restaurant in Colombo, for instance, but English food is of very high quality, with very good ingredients and is seasonal, that is, unless we are talking about an English curry. That is a whole new story altogether.

When you were compiling the book, what were some of the learnings that you came across?

I learned all sorts of things. I wrote the book about 15 years ago, but, I remember it being about what happened to British food, what happened to England, a nation with lots of space and lots of grass, which translates to lots of livestock and lots of cows who can make all sorts of cheeses and meats, and what went wrong with our food. I tried to look into what went wrong and it was a mix of Enclosure Acts, industrialisation, and other things. There were many factors that drew us away from the land and from our country’s heritage. It is getting much better, but, in countries like Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Mexico, for example, food is taken seriously. While food is now being taken seriously in Britain, it is not universal, it does not happen everywhere.  

Do you cook? What is your favourite cuisine?

Yes, of course, I love to cook. I love chillies, so I love Thai food, stir fries and curries. I also like Mexican food, which has a bad reputation of sorts in England, but, it is a lovely country. For me, it always comes down to the chillie, so, stir fries, soups, everything really. 

Are there any misconceptions about British food that are floating around that you want to put to rest?

There are so many. People think that British food is bland, boring, that it is institutionalised, grey, and greasy. But, look around. We have some of the best produce in the world and we have some of the best chefs in the world too. There is lots of great food that Britain has to offer, but, people need to look a bit deeper. Go online and discover. Your finds will be surprising.

What is your favourite thing about being a judge on cooking shows?

It is lovely to see lots of different styles of cooking. The show I am on the most is ‘MasterChef: The Professionals’, which is a competition with chefs on a professional level. I like seeing innovation, I like seeing passion, and I like seeing things that I will remember for a long time afterwards. It is about saying ‘wow, this person can cook’. For me, it is about finding new talent. 

Have there been any like that?

‘MasterChef’ is huge in Britain and many chefs have gone on to work in and own restaurants. People think that running a restaurant is a breeze, but, having a successful restaurant is a lot of incredibly hard work and you cannot always make a lot of money as you start off. In my work as a food critic, I remember that I am not going into a restaurant to destroy it with the language that I use. Just because the language of hate garners more attention than the language of love, it does not give me an excuse to go in and disparage a restaurant. I go and celebrate what is good. My job is to find good places to eat and say ‘come here for a meal’ to my readers. 

What do you think then about Sri Lankan food? 

Sri Lankan food has always blown me away. In London, there are four centres with little pockets of Sri Lankan communities and these communities always had some really good food. This was 10 or 20 years ago. We would go to those areas if we wanted Sri Lankan food. Now, thanks to the likes of restaurants like Rambutan, Paradise, and Hoppers in particular, Sri Lankan food has become mainstream. People know about hoppers, rotis, and all of those wonderful things. What I love about Sri Lankan food is the mix of different cultures and flavours it embodies, all the while being so very unique. It is magnificent. I know very little about it, but, I am learning. It is a long learning curve, but, Galle is not at all a bad place to start.

Of all the chefs and restaurateurs out there working on TV, who is your favourite?

There are lots. There’s a chef who is out today, Jeremy James Lee. He is the most wonderful chef and a friend. There is an Australian chef who cooks Thai food named David Thompson. He lived in Thailand and his partner is Thai as well. His food intertwines Thai culture with the recipes that he gets to work with. Heston Blumenthal, Angela Maria Hartnett, and Jamie Trevor Oliver are also some of my favourites. There are very few chefs that I don’t like. Chefs are wonderful. They go around the world cooking food and experiencing global cultures. My love however, really lies with the spices. 

What is the comfort food you turn to and why?

Comfort for me is entrenched in childhood and in something your mother used to cook for you, so my mother’s roast chicken with peas and baked potato is my comfort food. Roast chicken just takes me back to my childhood. 

Would you say the British palate is now adventurous? 

Traditionally, when the British were going around the world, taking over nations, we were quite adventurous. That is why we have a diverse community in the country and thank god for that. When the Indians and Bangladeshis came over, they realised that we did not like too much of chillie, so, they adapted their food and created the British curry, which is great. I think that we are now slowly but surely beginning to embrace the wonders of chillie and of spices. If you go to supermarkets now, you can get all sorts of spices and chillies, habanero peppers, jalapenos, and various varieties, hot, sweet, and not so hot. We are not at the chillie level of Sri Lanka yet, but, we are taking small steps forward.

Your next book, ‘Cooking and the Crown’ is hotly anticipated. Any hints about what readers can expect from it?

The book starts with the time of Queen Victoria, moving on to Edward the VII, George the V, and George the VI, up to Queen Elizabeth and King Charles the III’s reign, which is when it became very close to home. It is not very sensational, I would say, as it really concentrates on the food. Edward the VII and Victoria were big eaters. They would have truffles, cream, and butter all the time and it was a wonder that they managed to stay alive for as long as they did. The food was unbelievably heavy. The book is an insight into royal eating, the royal kitchens, and the royal gardens. However, there is no special access to any part of anything. It has got beautiful illustrations and great recipes and I want it to be a cookbook that people use, rather than one that would sit on a table or a shelf and gather dust.

You represent a career in food that is not the usual chef’s journey but something a tad different?

I am not a chef. I am a cook. It would be offensive to actual chefs if I called myself one. Chefs have worked in kitchens. They have started at the bottom and made their way up through hard work and grit. I have done nothing of the sort. I don’t claim to be a chef. I am more into food writing and criticism and I am an amateur cook.

For a foodie, but not one who wants to be in a kitchen, what would be the key takeaways in choosing a career like yours?

For writing, the most important thing is to have a voice. Allow your voice to come out. Also, learn about editing. Keep things short and punchy. As a food critic, you have to be above board and clean. People like opinions. They want a view on something. There are so many ways now that you can get your voice out with social media. There are a million ways of getting into it now, so, it is more democratic now, but, with oversaturation. It is good, strong, and honest writing that sticks out, so find your voice and stick with it.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media.)