Slow Food Wisdom

The Queen celebrates sixty years on the throne with her Diamond Jubilee next year. To mark this, Slow Food UK will be collecting food memories and wisdom from people of all ages covering the period 1952 to 2012.

We want to showcase these memories as a way of capturing British food culture old and new. The resulting bank of knowledge has the potential to be a great social document, and we would be very grateful for your contribution online. This could range from a short paragraph, to a photograph and caption.

We are looking for your food recollections, whether they be recent, or from long ago; the more varied the better. For example, we’d love to hear about special meals you’ve enjoyed, street parties, food shortages, everyday eating and food shopping, lost skills in preserving and preparing food, amongst many others. Surprise us!

Most importantly, this project aims to record and celebrate our changing food traditions. Therefore we are also collecting together expert opinions in the form of articles and interviews on the topic. We hope to have shopkeepers, restaurateurs, chefs and food historians share their unique insight into our changing food habits.

We have already started collecting food memories and also have some great contributions to our bank of expert knowledge. Indian restaurants are a touchstone for the shift in British food tastes over the last sixty years, so that is where we started. Our first two pieces come from Indian restaurateurs from different ends of the country, both with their own unique story to tell. Read them here:

Interview- With Mr Ali from Shish Mahal, Glasgow. Well known for their development of the Chicken Tikka Masala.

Comment- With Sital Singh Maan from Punjub, Covent Garden, London. London’s oldest north Indian restaurant.