Xanthe Clay

After studying Japanese and English Language at university, Xanthe  backpacked through China, Arabia and South America before settling into a more conventional life as a cookery bookseller in London. Already passionate to the point of obsession with food, she found herself in the city at a time when it was emerging as the world’s gastronomic mecca. She worked her way from book launch to book launch sampling the canapés from the best restaurants in the capital.When this came to an end Xanthe signed up to train at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, and discovered that there were other people who, like her, were happy to talk all day and all night about food.

Starting at a pub in a Wiltshire pub, she went on to become the only chef at a trendy wine bar in Bath where speed and fresh ingredients were paramount. Meanwhile, Xanthe also offered private catering for dinner parties and functions. Watching the British eat, from pub to party, restaurant to dining room, made Xanthe wonder how relevant contemporary food writing really was to the home cook. In 1999 Xanthe contacted the Daily Telegraph, proposing that readers send in recipes for a new column. The idea was a success and she was asked to test the recipes and write features.