Ed Cumming

Jamie Oliver discusses his year spent developing barbecue recipes for his new book and television show, urging Britons to use barbecue lids and separate hot and cool cooking zones for greater control and smoky flavor. At a London event launching recipes with Pinterest, he also called for chewing gum to be banned because of the litter it leaves on streets.

Alasdair Gill’s memoir recounting addiction and life in professional kitchens is judged derivative and weighed down by excessive stylistic flourishes, especially in comparison with the work of his father AA Gill and the influence of Anthony Bourdain. While moments dealing with family loss and recovery show emotional depth, the narrative is dominated by repetitive depictions of drug use and lacks reflection on his upbringing or motivations. The book is considered vivid in places but ultimately exhausting, with stronger interest found in its glimpses of sobriety and impending fatherhood than its tales of excess.

A humorous guide links eight types of barbecue—from expensive Big Green Eggs and elaborate asado grills to gas, electric, charcoal, smoker, discount kamado and disposable models—with the personalities, social identities, clothing, music and food choices of their owners. The piece satirizes barbecue status-consciousness, middle-class aspirations, online cooking obsession and the trade-offs between convenience, style, environmental responsibility and culinary ambition.

Ed Cumming satirically imagines daily life under a Zack Polanski-led Green government, extrapolating from proposals such as 20mph urban speed limits, 55mph motorway limits, city-centre car bans and tighter parking controls. The imagined consequences include compulsory electric cars and cargo bikes, rewilded parking spaces, overcrowded public transport, banned taxis and air-conditioning, and economic decline. The column argues that these policies would make driving impractical and burdensome, framing them as an authoritarian “war on motorists.”

The Henderson family has become a major force in British food through Fergus and Margot Henderson’s restaurants and their children’s involvement in the family businesses. Fergus, co-founder of the influential St John, helped establish a pared-back, distinctly British style of cooking, while Margot has built Rochelle Canteen, Arnold & Henderson and The Three Horseshoes. Despite warning their children away from hospitality, Hector now leads the kitchen at Rochelle Canteen and Frances runs front of house, while Owen works as an accountant after years in the family trade. The family remains close through food and restaurants as Fergus manages Parkinson’s disease, and Margot continues to consider opening another restaurant.