Award-winning food writer, grower, photographer and cook, Mark Diacono champions home-grown produce and seasonal cooking.

 

You have several award-winning books under your belt and your latest is Abundance – what is it about?

“I woke one day with the whole, complete and compelling idea that I should write weekly about what was happening in my kitchen, garden, wider landscape and the connections my mind was making with it. The name for it – Abundance – was there in my sleepy head, and I knew it had to be written live, once a week. I think the reason everything came to me so clearly was because I needed a reason to pay attention to everything a little more, to be in my life a little better, and to allow myself to be here, now, better than I often do. I started writing it on Substack, here, publishers came in for it, and while some of it became a book, I continue writing it every week.”

Is there a relationship between what we grow and what we eat – and does it matter?

“Much of my early writing especially was about the pleasure of growing even a little of what you eat – half a dozen herbs in pots growing by the kitchen door can change every meal you eat – but it is so much more fundamental than that. If you have the opportunity of getting to know those who grow some of your food, it turns what can be a casual experience of supermarket shopping to a deeper connection to the reality of food. It matters because the shorter the chain between grower and eater the fresher and usually more nutritious the produce is, and the more of your money goes to grower, and how we choose to spend our food money, and on what, is the biggest driver of what kind of countryside we see around us and how rich in biodiversity and character it is.”

You’ve been a River Cottage head gardener, a grower of unusual edible plants, an award-winning cookbook author, and a food and gardening columnist. If you had to choose just one of these, which would it be?

“I could not be without writing: it is how I better understand the world, how I discover what I think and feel about anything, and how I make some small sense of what and why I am on the planet.”

How did you find stepping in as Chair of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards judging panel in Angela Hartnett’s absence?

“Having been a judge for the F&M Awards, I knew the process – rigorous, huge fun, and a proper privilege to be part of – and I loved stepping in for Angela when she couldn’t make the final judging. She’s a brilliant Chair of judges – interjecting, stirring up, simplifying, and (when needed) chivvying – and hers were big shoes to fill but, having been a judge, I knew the score and hope I did the awards, and her, justice.”

 

Buy Mark’s latest book: Abundance: Eating and living with the seasons
Visit his website: diacono.co.uk
Follow Mark on Instagram: @mark_diacono