Cookbook Club in person event: Wednesday 10th July, 6.30pm - 8.45pm
at Divertimenti Cookery School in central London
A real-life, in-person meet-up - where everyone coming brings something they have cooked - so we can share together food and thoughts from Sardine and Frontières by Alex Jackson
Wednesday 10th July, 6.30pm - 8.45pm BST
at Divertimenti Cookery School in central London
Our recent Cookbook Club theme for The Kitchen Bookshelf has been: cookbooks to travel by. So for this IRL meet-up we have two brilliant such cookbooks to focus on: Sardine and Frontières, both by Alex Jackson.
Tickets are £25 per person (plus Eventbrite’s fees) and only available to paid subscribers to The Kitchen Bookshelf. A glass (maybe two) of wine is included in the ticket.
About the event
The idea is that everyone attending the event chooses a recipe from the selected book(s) to cook in advance and bring along on the night to share. We'll then talk together about what we all think of the books and the recipes.
Over a couple of hours together, we'll celebrate good food (of which there will be plenty!), good cookbooks and good conversation.
We all eat and discuss each others' food through the course of the event but this is in no way a competition! Please just come willing to talk about what you made and what you think of the book(s).
About the books
These two books by chef Alex Jackson celebrate the French food that we perhaps all dream of encountering when we travel there: simple, humble, delicious, rustique.
Frontières - The Food of France's Borderlands has just won the International cookbook category of the Guild of Food Writers Awards. It was publisjed in 2023 and is not just a love letter to French cuisine but also an exploration of the influence its neighbouring regions have. Included in Frontières are dishes whose heart lies across North Africa, the Riviera, the Alps, Alsace ands the south-west of France. It is a beautiful, delicious, fascinating cookbook.
Sardine - Simple seasonal Provençal cooking was published in 2019 and celebrates everything there is to love about the food of Provence. And there is a lot to love! While Provence is the book's central focus it is also here a prism for the sun-drenched cooking of the whole Mediterranean Sea. Think sun-kissed veg, fresh herbs, good olive oil, and an attitude which centres aroiund sharing and enjoying food.
Alex Jackson is the author of both these books. He started his cooking career at Stevie Parle’s acclaimed Dock Kitchen, where he worked as head chef for a number of years before staging at April Bloomfield’s Tosca and Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in the San Francisco Bay Area. He returned to London as the head chef of Stevie’s second restaurant, Rotorino, and spent a period as a cheesemonger before opening his own restaurant, Sardine, in the summer of 2016. Sardine sadly closed in 2020, and Alex is now head chef at the glorious Noble Rot Soho.
What an amazing evening! Angela is a truly gifted host and encouraged a stimulating debate! It was lovely to share thoughts with other ‘foodies’ who were open and honest and friendly and keen to exchange information …………. and cooked delicious dishes to share 😊