Together with numerous volunteers and collaborators, I am proud to launch a new not-for-profit platform, Hospitality Speaks, where we will be sharing stories and ideas to create conversations about industry culture. *** After over 18 months of research and interviews, I have concluded that sharing real, […]
All posts by “Victoria Stewart”
British Library: Inspiring Entrepreneurs panel (moderator)
As part of The British Library’s food series, I was really pleased to moderate an excellent panel of speakers at a recent event called Recipes For Success: Inspiring Entrepreneurs which featured founder-entrepreneurs: Guy Singh-Watson from Riverford Food, Praveen Vijn from Eat Natural and Pippa Murray from Pip […]
Boiling Point – the #metoo movement sweeping our capital’s restaurants (ES Magazine)
Boiling Point: London’s hospitality sector is finally facing up to harassment and bullying in bars and restaurants — and doing something about it. By Victoria Stewart (Illustration by Michelle Thompson) During a restaurant shift when she was younger, chef Merly Kammerling asked a manager if she could […]
Top Drawer: Meet the Maker (host / interviewer)
As part of the Meet the Maker food sessions at Top Drawer trade show, I enjoyed doing a live interview with the brilliant Ruth Holbrook, head of wholesale at the well-known London cheese purveyors, Paxton & Whitfield. This was part of its live line-up area called RetailFest, […]
AMP (A Meeting Place) digital zine
Together with writer Anna Sulan Masing and chef Romy Gill, we launched AMP (A Meeting Place), a new digital zine designed to amplify women’s voices in food and sustainability. The launch of AMP Issue #1 was in physical form – 14 experts presenting for 5 […]
The comic who cooks (Watts What Magazine)
Comedian Joe Lycett on his talent for cooking (definitely no capers involved) – and the secret of epic chicken soup (Words: Victoria Stewart. Image: Matt Crockett) If you’ve ever seen Joe Lycett perform stand-up, there’s a high chance you’ll have laughed until your sides hurt. […]
Sustainable Restaurants report (Stylus)
The restaurant and hospitality industry is beginning to think about sustainability in a wider context – from environmental impact to ethical employment practices. Staff wellbeing is having a positive impact on business growth, and consumers are demanding to know that the food they’re eating is […]
Flavours of Change: How Life Kitchen helped this couple rediscover the joy of food (Evening Standard)
Cookery classes set up for people living with cancer has helped the Masseys find happiness in the face of a devastating diagnosis. Victoria Stewart As soon as Karen Massey heard about Life Kitchen, a series of specialised cooking classes designed for people living with cancer […]
Morph: the best lifestyle concept you’ve never heard of (Off/Cuts)
This article appeared in August 2018 in the Canadian food magazine, Off/Cuts, which sadly no longer exists. Here it is re-published in full. On our virtual ‘back page,’ British writer Victoria Stewart imagines a meeting of some truly unlikable characters planning what will somehow probably […]
How a disruptive new spice shop aims to to liberate your cooking (Evening Standard)
Want to spice up your life? Rooted Spices co-founder Rachel Walker explains how…. By Victoria Stewart In front of me on a kitchen counter are what looks like tiny piles of brightly coloured dust. Some are beige or bright yellow, others are deeper, ochre yellows, […]
The Inbetweeners: breaking the work routine (Code Hospitality)
For whatever reason, breaking your work routine can make a huge difference to your life. Victoria Stewart talks to five women about what happened when they stepped away from the stove. Imagine you’ve left a highly demanding job in a kitchen, bar or restaurant with […]
Flavours of change: how a sip of coffee led to a new life for Aashifa Hussein
Coffee academy Well Grounded is helping to transform the lives of people with barriers to employment, by Victoria Stewart Aashifa Hussein was drinking hot chocolate in her favourite cafe – Store Street Espresso – when she noticed an advert pop up on her laptop screen that offered free training […]
A distillery that’s the Noma of booze (Wired Magazine)
Copenhagen-based Empirical Spirits, led by Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen, wants to bring new flavour to alcoholic drinks. (Photo: Christoffer Rydqvist) Words: Victoria Stewart In a warehouse on Refshaleøen island, Copenhagen, a chorus of clattering is being produced by hacked-together machinery. Finishing some work on a […]
Digging for Victory: an interview with Tommy Banks (Oryx Magazine)
It’s all down to Yorkshire grit and home-grown inspiration for Tommy Banks’s family-run Black Swan in the middle of Britain – recently named the world’s best restaurant by TripAdvisor. Words Victoria Stewart Photography Kat Green When Tommy Banks was asked about the best dish he’d eaten in […]
Street food panel discussion (Chair, Kerb Talks)
Kerb, the London street food community, is hosting a series of panel discussions over the coming months, to explore the issues, opportunities and trends shaping London’s food industry today. The series as a whole aims to deliver predictions on future trends for London food and begins with […]
New British Foods (Food tour leader, Sidestory)
Sidestory is a new start-up travel company that runs what it calls ‘curated, immersive experiences’ led by different experts in a particular city. After contacting me, we worked hard on the tricky task of coming up with the idea for a food-related walking tour of one part […]