17/05/2026
The British Library Food Season 2026 Events featuring Women In The Food Industry
The British Library Food Season is in the 8th year of their highly popular talks on food, all inspired by their extensive food-related collections. The season is a must-attend event for food lovers, industry professionals, and academics alike. Whether you’re passionate about food history, keen to learn from culinary pioneers, or simply eager to indulge in new tastes and trends, there’s something for everyone. The events run from 13 June to 2 July 2026. Here we highlight some of our favourite events.
Polly Russell, Founder and Director of Food Season, said: ‘We’re thrilled to welcome Food Season back for its eighth year. Food is one of the most powerful lenses we have for understanding the world around us – from history to culture to identity to politics, to geography, to health. Drawing inspiration from the British Library’s extraordinary collections, Food Season brings together writers, chefs and thinkers for a series of unexpected, thought–provoking conversations, including; an appraisal of culinary legends like Edna Lewis and Anthony Bourdain, an exploration of curry around the world, the dishes of Ancient Pompeii, Irish food culture and seaweed as a sustainable ingredient of the future. It’s a rich, electric programme that crackles with energy and we can’t wait to share it.’
In the Heat Together: Couples in the Kitchen – Saturday 13 June 14:30
This session brings together celebrated chef‑couples and siblings: The Flygerians – Jess and Jo, Itamar Srulovich & Sarit Packer and Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala in conversation about what it means to share both a kitchen and a life. Chaired by renowned psychotherapist Susie Orbach, they explore the psychology of collaboration under pressure, the unique dynamics of affection and rivalry, the balancing of creative vision with commercial survival, and the emotional labour required to keep relationships – and restaurants – thriving.
Kitchen Counter Cultures : Rethinking Women’s Culinary World – Saturday 13 June 13:00
Biographer Francesca Wade, writer Eli Davies, and celebrated novelist and cookery writer Michèle Roberts come together with critic and author Rebecca May Johnson to consider how domestic work, culinary practice and creative life can become acts of resistance.
Moving between literary history, lived experience, and contemporary feminist thought, the panel will ask what it means to inhabit domesticity on one’s own terms. Together, they explore the kitchen as a site of constraint and creativity, intimacy and rebellion, revealing how everyday acts of cooking can remake both private life and public culture.
At the Irish Table: Saturday 13 June 11:00
Irish stew Credit: Photo by Andrew Montgomery
Ireland’s food traditions have been shaped by history, migration, music, community and a deep sense of place. Many traditional Irish foods are inseparable from the stories of its land and people and many once associated with hardship and necessity, are now being rediscovered as powerful expressions of regional identity, resilience and shared culture.
Chef, writer and broadcaster Paula McIntyre leads this celebration of Ireland’s rich food heritage using the beloved staple of soda bread – which carries memories of both celebration and survival – to explore its culinary diversity. From Ireland’s grains and farming landscapes to the buttermilk and butter of its dairy traditions, and the turf fires that once defined the rhythms of rural kitchens.
Joined by chef and author Cherie Denham, Irish culinary historian Regina Sexton and photographer Andrew Montgomery – alongside producers, craftspeople and musicians from across Ireland – the event brings together food, folklore and lived experience.
Please Sir, I want some more : Revolutionising what kids eat – Saturday 13 June 16:00
For too long school dinners have been the butt of jokes about their bland, unhealthy and questionable content. Schools across the UK have tiny budgets to feed children, and with a daily budget of as little as £2.53 per child, the pressure on schools has grown as costs have increased amid what The Lancet calls the growing ‘seismic threat’ of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A 2022 report found that almost two-thirds of calories in school meals came from UPFs.
Many schools choose to outsource their meals services to catering companies who, some argue, prioritise profits over nutrition. Yet an increasingly vocal group of chefs, cooks and organisations are fighting back and ensuring the growing minds are nourished to maximise their potential. From sneaking chicken livers into ragu, whole-carcass butchery and using only coconut sugar, the dishes sound more like restaurant menus than state school sustenance – but this is only just the beginning.
With school food innovator and cook Maisie McBagley, award-winning chef and sustainability driven restaurateur Chantelle Nicholson and psychologist, author and broadcaster Kimberley Wilson.
Ruthie Rodgers: On Kitchen Culture & River Cafe – Sunday 14 June 11.30
From left to right: Ruthie Rogers, Cynthia Shanmugalingam. Credit: Ruthie Rogers photo by David Bailey / Cynthia Shanmugalingam photo by Matt Russell.
Ruthie Rogers has helped redefine restaurant culture over more than three decades as co-founder of the iconic River Café. She has championed ingredient-led cooking, nurtured generations of chefs and created one of the most influential and enduring dining institutions in the country.
In this special in-conversation event, Ruthie reflects on her remarkable career from founding the River Café and building its distinctive philosophy, to navigating the challenges of running a restaurant and the realities of leadership in a demanding industry. She discusses how restaurant culture has evolved, the people and moments that have defined the River Café’s story, and what it takes to sustain creativity, excellence and passion.
She is joined by author and restaurateur Cynthia Shanmugalingam for a candid and wide-ranging discussion about resilience, hospitality and the drive that keeps a great restaurant – and its founder – going.
Firepower – The Women Redefining BBQ – Sunday 14 June 16:15
For decades, British barbecue had a reputation for charred sausages, sad burgers, and damp disappointment and it was almost always dominated by men. But over the last twenty years, something remarkable has happened: British BBQ has been transformed into one of the most inventive, flavour‑driven food scenes around – and women have been at the heart of that revolution.
While early British barbecue often borrowed heavily from American styles, and longstanding traditions like Jamaican jerk or Nigerian suya remained proudly distinct, a new, uniquely British approach has emerged. Women grillers have pushed boundaries and broadened the palate, championing veg‑forward grilling, spotlighting seafood and reimagining meat cookery with bold creativity. This event celebrates the cooks Helen Graves, Shauna Guinn, Genevieve Taylor and Melissa Thompson, who are redefining what barbecue in Britain can be.
From Fork to Fiction: Food & Drink Writers Turned Novellists & Society – Sunday 14 June 16.15
Clockwise: Felicity Cloake, Olly Smith, Catherine Kurtz and Orlando Murrin. Credit: Olly Smith photo by Alun Callender
Not content with feeding us dinner or pouring the perfect glass, some of our favourite food and drink writers are now serving up murder, mystery and mayhem. Swapping the kitchen and corkscrew for plot twists, and proving that a sharp palate can make for sharp storytelling.
Part literary salon, part lively conversation, this event gathers writers who have ventured beyond food and drink writing into new creative worlds. With broadcaster and wine expert Olly Smith appearing just days before the publication of his debut murder mystery Death by Noir; food writer turned crime novelist Orlando Murrin; Guardian favourite Felicity Cloake ahead of her debut novel The Underdog; and Catherine Kurtz, who moved from professional chocolate tasting into historical fiction. Her debut novel Feast is published on 4th June.
Through readings, conversation and plenty of humour, they reflect on why so many food writers are crossing genres, how food and drink help shape character and atmosphere, and what it takes to write beyond expectations.
Neneh and Andi : 45 Years of Friendship Family & Food – Thursday July 2 19:00
Best friends, collaborators and confidantes, broadcaster, chef and author Andi Oliver and singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry share their memories of lives lived side by side. Friends since 1981, the pair became instantly close as members of their band, Rip, Rig & Panic, and over the course of four decades they have been through the good and the terrible together – from the births of each other’s children to the death of Andi’s brother Sean, their former bandmate and a close friend of Neneh’s.
Coming from very different backgrounds – Neneh grew up in Sweden and travelled the world with her musician and artist parents, while Andi grew up in Suffolk – the pair instantly connected, and their friendship has remained an anchor ever since.
Throughout it all, there was food. Cooking together when they had little money to buy ingredients yet making enough for everyone; food as a means to connect to their heritages that span Sweden, West Africa, Jamaica, Britain and the US.
The pair come together to discuss friendship, family and food in an intimate discussion chaired by Food Season co-director Melissa Thompson.
The British Library Food Season runs from 13 June until 2 July 2026 with a mixture of online and in person events. Tickets range from £2.50 for online tickets and up to £25 for weekend passes, with concessions available. There are 10% discounts for groups over 10 when booked in advance.
You may also like Great Women on Great British Menu 2026, and Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2026 Shortlist Announced.
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