‘Hazy renderings of a restrained gastronomy’
Pierre Bonnard’s paintings of simple domesticity belie his diligent and complex method
Gillian Riley
Breaking Bread
Chardin and dough are on the menu as our resident food historian makes a welcome return
Yellow on a plate
Our resident food historian transports us to the warm south through colour, Van Gogh and a drop of absinthe
Lemongrass
A Dutch master leads our resident food historian deeper into the world of citrus
That’s amaro
Our resident food historian on how, with a bit of love and care, you can lift up the throwaways of citrus fruit – pips, pith, peel and all – to their fresh and bitter best
Full of beans
Our resident food historian on all manner of beans, from ‘glorious mush’ to a variety for the dead, and a very talented woman who painted them
The Joys of Sludge
Our resident food historian on beauty in beige, and why ordinary folks in the Middle Ages had it right with their ‘dreary but delicious’ diet
All the fun of the furlough
Our resident food historian takes us through the intrepid legionary’s enforced break, during which he keeps himself busy with sidelines in saffron and fish sauce
Susanna’s Manners
Our resident food historian on 17th-century childcare, from high chairs ‘built like battleships’ to ‘fearsome’ baby walkers
Going Ananas
Out with pine needles and in with pineapples as our resident food historian slices into the background of the tropical fruit
Souped Up
Our resident food historian boils down the benefits of a hearty chicken broth
Cornbread and other activities
Our resident food historian leads us on a journey through the maize
Peas and love
Our resident food historian in praise of the ‘delicious, disruptive, ubiquitous, versatile’ chickpea
Feast from the East
Our food historian brings us more on the Siberian and Ukrainian delights shown off at June’s Stoke Newington Literary Festival, and says farewell to a local favourite