Diana Henry

'A table is where we eat and talk, where we connect...What and how we eat remains a source of constant fascination to me, as is how particular ingredients spread across the world. I want to make links and trace patterns. Food is about history, geography, our habits, imagination and how we relate to each other.' Diana Henry

For Diana's many admirers, her evocative writing about places, people and food brings just as much pleasure as her delicious recipes. Around the Table is a beautiful collection of some of Diana's very best essays, handpicked from more than two decades of her beloved cookbooks.

Moving, funny and incisive, together these pieces form a memoir through food.

52 Essays on Food & Life

Around the Table

Cassandra Tang

Food is about history, geography, our habits, imagination, and how we related to each other. 

With food, you don't have to buy an airline ticket or don a backpack; the magic of the unfamiliar is there, right beside the everyday, for you to bring into your kitchen.

A meal is always about more than the dishes served. Food isn't just physical sustenance, it's also about pleasure and about people. The table is just as important as the oven or the hob. Having friends over is a performance of sorts.

It's difficult to resist the temptation to offer lots of choice, afterall it seems generous. But with Sunday lunch, with as so many things, less is more, Keep it simple. 

There is poetry in menus. They can transport you to the Breton coast, or to a Saturday night in Manhattan, they are short stories.

Around the Table quotes

Join the club