It’s been 20 years since a cookbook changed my life. Before devouring every page (and nearly every recipe) in Nigella Lawson’s Feast (2004), I didn’t give much thought to what I ate. Or perhaps I did, but not in a way that excited me. Food was sustenance and cooking a chore I wasn’t particularly good at. Moreover, fear of excess calories and not being able to fit into my jeans left little room for indulging in things like “old-fashioned chocolate cake”, “penne alla vodka” and “love buns”. Nigella transformed my relationship with food, changing it from a source of panic to one of infinite pleasure.
Leafing through the food-splattered pages of Feast, I began to think of the women who shaped my culinary upbringing. These ‘grandes dames’ of gastronomy not only influenced me profoundly with their words, recipes and unwavering passion for the art of eating, but they also left their mark in the culinary world in significant ways.

Read the full column, published in the March issue of Reader’s Digest UK, here: Culinary column