Speakers: Claudia Roden, Lucy Silver

Legendary food writer Claudia Roden, exiled from Egypt in the ’50s, was drawn to the subject of food through a desire to remember her lost heritage. Claudia has had a seismic impact on what and how we eat, and how we think about food. Her Book of Middle Eastern Food, offering over 800 recipes interwoven with evocative stories, was originally published here in 1968, before which few of us would have known how to replicate the delicate and exquisite cookery of the Middle East. BBC Radio 4 recently broadcast a 5-part dramatization of Claudia’s life, calling it A Book of Middle Eastern Food. Claudia talks about her life and work through the prism of the food and the countries she has loved.