- British Library’s Food Season 2026 runs from 13 June – 2 July
- Opening the season, the Food Season Big Weekend (13 – 14 June) is a two-day celebration of food through talks, tastings and live events
- A full roster of events will bring together influential names in food, drink, hospitality, literature and history, including Mary Beard on how to party like you're in Pompei, Jay Rayner on the legacy of Anthony Bourdain and an event in collaboration with Vittles magazine on the evolution of food photography
- The British Library Food Season Awards will also be returning, celebrating narrative cookery writing, exhibitions, new talent and the changemakers across the world of food and drink.
The British Library’s Food Season returns this summer, running from 13 June to 2 July. The three-week events programme will bring leading chefs, food writers, historians and cultural voices together to explore the past, present and future of food.
Now in its eighth year, the festival has established itself as a key moment in the food and drink calendar, offering audiences a mix of live talks, panel discussions and special events inspired by the Library’s extensive collection of cookery books and food writing.
This year’s programme opens with the Food Season Big Weekend (13 – 14 June), a two-day series of conversations, tastings and performances. Highlight appearances from across the season include long-time friends Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver on the role food has played in their lives, River Café co-founder Ruthie Rogers on her experiences running a beloved culinary icon and actor Simon Russell Beale on the role of food in Shakespeare, alongside a wide-ranging line-up of chefs, writers, academics and campaigners.
Themes explored across the festival will include food and identity, sustainability, history, politics and creativity, as well as the global journeys of ingredients and the future of food systems. As in previous years, the season draws on the British Library’s unique archive of cookery books, manuscripts and food writing, connecting history with contemporary conversations.
Food Season 2026 has been developed by Head of Eccles Institute for the Americas at the British Library and Founder and Director of Food season, Dr Polly Russell, with award-winning food writers Angela Clutton and Melissa Thompson as co-directors. Also, with additional support from cultural events curator and facilitator Joe Allen.
Polly Russell, Founder and Director of Food Season, said: ‘We're thrilled to welcome Food Season back for its eighth year. Food is one of the most powerful lenses we have for understanding the world around us – from history to culture to identity to politics, to geography, to health. Drawing inspiration from the British Library’s extraordinary collections, Food Season brings together writers, chefs and thinkers for a series of unexpected, thought‑provoking conversations, including; an appraisal of culinary legends like Edna Lewis and Anthony Bourdain, an exploration of curry around the world, the dishes of Ancient Pompeii, Irish food culture and seaweed as a sustainable ingredient of the future. It’s a rich, electric programme that crackles with energy and we can’t wait to share it.’
The British Library’s Food Season 2026 runs from 13 June to 2 July. Please find the full events schedule below:
Big Weekend Saturday
A Vittles Panel
Saturday 13 June, 11.15 – 12.30, Pigott Theatre
A curated conversation from the team behind the influential food and culture newsletter Vittles. Bringing together contributors and editors, this session will explore how food intersects with politics, class and identity, offering sharp cultural analysis and fresh perspectives on what forces shape how we eat.
At the Irish Table
Saturday 13 June, 11.15 – 12.15, Piazza Pavilion
Chef and broadcaster Paula McIntyre will lead a celebration of Ireland’s food heritage, joined by chef and author Cherie Denham, food historian Regina Sexton and photographer Andrew Montgomery. Together they will explore how agriculture, tradition and storytelling have shaped Irish food culture.
The Edible Archive: Palestinian Memory and Resistance
Saturday 13 June, 13.00 – 14.00, Pigott Theatre
Chefs Fadi Kattan and Sami Tamimi, brewer Madees Khoury and seed conservationist Vivien Sansour will join writer and event chair Angela Zaher to explore how food has sustained Palestinian culture, identity and resistance across generations.
Kitchen Counter Cultures: Rethinking Women’s Culinary Worlds
Saturday 13 June, 13.00 – 14.00, Piazza Pavilion
Authors Francesca Wade, Eli Davies, Michèle Roberts and Rebecca May Johnson will come together for a discussion on women’s culinary lives, examining the kitchen as a space of creativity, resistance and intellectual life.
In The Heat Together: Couples in the Kitchen
Saturday 13 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Pigott Theatre
Chaired by psychotherapist Susie Orbach, this conversation will bring together chef duos Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer of Honey & Co, Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala of Café Spice Namasté and Jess and Jo Edun of The Flygerians, to explore the realities of running a restaurant with family.
From Food Lovers to Change Makers
Saturday 13 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Piazza Pavilion
Author and food systems activistMallika Basu will be joined by Huel founder James Collier, Executive Director of the Food Foundation, Anna Taylor and Director of Product Development & Innovation at Sainsbury’s, Claire Hughes to discuss how individual food choices are connected to sustainability, public health, inequality and industry change.
Much Ado About Cooking
Saturday 13 June, 16.00 – 17.00, Pigott Theatre
What did people actually eat in Shakespearian England and how does the language of food play into performance today? Actor Simon Russell Beale will join food historian Sam Bilton, Director of the World Shakespeare Project, Prof Sheila T. Cavanagh and Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe, Dr Will Tosh to explore food in Shakespeare’s world, from the dining culture of the period to the role of food in language and performance.
Please Sir, I Want Some More: Revolutionising What Kids Eat
Saturday 13 June, 16.00 – 17.00, Piazza Pavilion
School food innovator Maisie McBagley will join chef Chantelle Nicholson and psychologist Kimberley Wilson to discuss how cooks and campaigners are rethinking school catering, from working with tight budgets to the impact of ultra-processed foods and what healthier, more nutritious school dinners could taste like in the future.
Big Weekend Sunday
Ruthie Rogers: On Kitchens, Culture and the Making of River Café
Sunday 14 June, 11.30 – 12.30, Pigott Theatre
Ruthie Rogers, co-founder of the River Café, will join author and restaurateur Cynthia Shanmugalingam to reflect on her career, the evolution of restaurant culture and the challenges of sustaining one of the UK’s most influential kitchens.
Palm Oil: The Crisis of a Contested Food
Sunday 14 June, 11.30 – 12.30, Piazza Pavilion
Chefs Maria Bradford, Aji Akokomi and Camila Vargas will join writer and panel chair Dr Anna Sulan Masing to examine the environmental, cultural and economic tensions surrounding the use of palm oil in cooking, discussing how a balance can be struck between sustainability and culinary heritage.
Silk Roads and Ottoman Routes: How Ingredients and Tastes Came to Europe
Sunday 14 June, 13.00 – 14.00, Pigott Theatre
Authors Anna Ansari, Özlem Warren and Caroline Eden will join Head of Middle East and Central Asian Collections at the British Library, Dr Michael Erdman to explore how ingredients travel across continents, reshape cuisines and challenge familiar narratives of global food history.
Seaweed
Sunday 14 June, 13.00 – 14.00, Piazza Pavilion
A panel of chefs, growers and food experts will explore seaweed’s long history as an ingredient in cooking and its growing role in sustainable diets as interest in alternative food sources increases.
The Legacy of Edna Lewis
Sunday 14 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Pigott Theatre
Chef Andi Oliver joins writers Felicity Cloake, Deb Freeman and Nina Williams-Mbengue to celebrate the life and legacy of chef Edna Lewis, examining her lasting influence on American and global food culture.
From Masala to Miso: The Many Worlds of Curry
Sunday 14 June, 14.30 – 15.30, Piazza Pavilion
Chefs Tim Anderson, Ping Coombes, Maunika Gowardhan and Sham Mahabir will explore how curry as a dish moves through cultures; tracing stories of migration, adaptation and identity across communities.
From Fork to Fiction: Food and Drink Writers Turned Novelists
Sunday 14 June, 16.00 – 17.00, Pigott Theatre
Broadcaster and wine expert Olly Smith will be joined by writers Felicity Cloake, Catherine Kurtz, Gurdeep Loyal and Orlando Murrin to discuss the move from food writing into fiction and how food shapes storytelling.
Firepower: The Women Redefining BBQ
Sunday 14 June, 16.00 – 17.00, Piazza Pavilion
Author Helen Graves andchefs Shauna Guinn, Genevieve Taylor and Melissa Thompson will explore how women are reshaping British barbecue culture, pushing boundaries and redefining the cuisine’s future.
Further events
Bourdain and the Myth of the Kitchen Hero
Tuesday 16 June, 19.00 – 20.30, Pigott Theatre
Food critic Jay Rayner will chair a discussion with chefs Sally Abé, Andrew Clarke and writer Zoe Williams to examine chef and documentarian Anthony Bourdain’s legacy, from his influence on food writing to the realities of kitchen culture today.
How to Party in Pompeii
Monday 22 June, 19.00 – 20.30, Pigott Theatre and online
Classicist Mary Beard and writer Charlotte Higgins will explore the food culture of ancient Pompeii in a live recording of their popular history podcast, Instant Classics, uncovering how people ate across social classes in the Roman Empire.
Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver In Conversation
Thursday 2 July, Pigott Theatre
Long-time friends, collaborators and cultural icons Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver will reflect on four decades of shared life across music, food and family. From their early days in Rip Rig + Panic to their parallel careers in broadcasting, writing and cooking, they will discuss the role food has played throughout their lives, from cooking on a shoestring budget to exploring the cuisines of Sweden, West Africa, Jamaica, Britain and the US. Join them for a personal and wide-ranging conversation about creativity, identity and connection.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
You can view the full programme and buy tickets. Tickets range from £2.50 online to up to £25 for weekend passes, with concessions available. There are 10% discounts for groups over 10 when booked in advance.
Further information about the Food Season Awards.
For further information, interviews and image requests, please contact: Fiona Smith at Smith and Baxter. Tel: +44 7831 193250 or email: fiona@smithandbaxter.co.uk. To request press tickets for events please contact: press@bl.uk.
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