Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater (born 9 April 1958 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands)^[1] is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for over a decade and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was food writer for Marie Claire for five years. He also serves as art director for his books.

Life and career

Food is, for me, for everybody, a very sexual thing and I think I realised that quite early on. I still cannot exaggerate how just putting a meal in front of somebody is really more of a buzz for me than anything. And I mean anything. Maybe that goes back to trying to please my dad, I don't know. It's like parenting in a way I suppose.

“

”

Nigel Slater, The Guardian^[2]

Young Nigel Slater attended Woodfield Avenue School, Penn, West Midlands. He moved to Worcestershire as a teenager and attended Chantry High School where he enjoyed writing essays and was one of only two boys to take cookery as an O-Level subject.^[3][4] He used food to compete with his stepmother - the former cleaning lady - for his father's attention.^[5] Their biggest battle was over lemon meringue pie - his father's favourite. His stepmother refused to divulge her recipe, so Slater resorted to subterfuge in order to turn out his own version. "I'd count the egg-shells in the bin, to see how many eggs she'd used and write them down. I'd come in at different times, when I knew she was making it. I'd just catch her when she was doing some meringue, building up that recipe slowly over a matter of months, if not years."^[5]

He gained an OND in catering at Worcester Technical College in 1976. He then worked in restaurants and hotels in the UK, before becoming a food writer for Marie Claire magazine in 1988.^[4] He became best known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes presented in early bestselling books such as The 30-Minute Cook (1994) and Real Cooking, as well as his engaging, memoir-like columns for The Observer which he began in 1993.

In 1998 Slater hosted the Channel 4 series Nigel Slater's Real Food Show. He returned to TV in 2006 hosting the chat/food show A Taste of My Life for BBC One and BBC Two.^[6] In 2009 he presented the six part series Simple Suppers on BBC One,^[7] and a second series the following year.^[8]

Writing

Slater's book, Eating for England: The Delights & Eccentricities of the British at Table (Fourth Estate), is devoted to British food and cookery. It was published in October 2007 and was described in The Sunday Times as "the sort of ragbag of choice culinary morsels that would pass the time nicely on a train journey".^[9] His book Tender is the story of his vegetable garden, how it came to be and what grows in it. The book is to published in two volumes - the first on vegetables was released late in 2009, the second on fruit released in 2010. Tender is described as a memoir, a study of fifty of our favourite vegetables, fruits and nuts and a collection of over five hundred recipes.

I think the really interesting bits of my story was growing up with this terribly dominating dad and a mum who I loved to bits but obviously I lost very early on; and then having to fight with the woman who replaced her.... I kind of think that in a way that that was partly what attracted me to working in the food service industry, was that I finally had a family.

“

”

Nigel Slater ^[10]

Slater became known to a wider audience with the publication of Toast: The Story of A Boy's Hunger, a moving and award-winning autobiography focused on his love of food, his childhood, his family relationships (his mother died of asthma when he was nine) and his burgeoning sexuality. Slater has called it "the most intimate memoir that any food person has ever written".^[11] Toast was published in Britain in October 2004^[12] and became a bestseller after it was featured on the Richard & Judy Book Club.^[13] As he told The Observer, "The last bit of the book is very foody. But that is how it was. Towards the end I finally get rid of these two people in my life I did not like [his father and stepmother, who had been the family's cleaning lady]—and to be honest I was really very jubilant—and thereafter all I wanted to do was cook." A film based on the book also called Toast, starring Freddie Highmore as the 15-year-old Slater and Helena Bonham Carter as his stepmother, has been broadcast on BBC One.^[2][14]

Personal life

Slater has two older brothers, Adrian and John. John was the child of a neighbour and was adopted by Slater's parents before he was born.^[12] He lives in the Highbury area of North London, where he maintains a kitchen garden which often features in his column. He was a guest "castaway" on the BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in June 2005.^[15]

Publications

Cookbooks

• The Marie Claire Cookbook, Hamlyn, (ISBN 0-7064-2573-1, 1992)
• Real Fast Food, Michael Joseph Ltd, (ISBN 0-7181-3577-6, 1992) or Penguin Books Ltd, (ISBN 0-14-046949-4, 1993)
• Real Fast Puddings, Michael Joseph Ltd, (ISBN 0-7181-3577-6, 1992) or Penguin Books Ltd, (ISBN 0-14-023283-4, 1994)
• The 30-Minute Cook, Michael Joseph Ltd (ISBN 0-7181-3752-3, 1994)
• Real Cooking, Michael Joseph Ltd, (ISBN 0-7181-4090-7, 1997) or Penguin Books Ltd (ISBN 0-14-025277-0, 1999)
• Real Food, Fourth Estate Ltd, (ISBN 1-85702-971-2, 1998) or (ISBN 1-84115-144-0, 2000)
• Appetite, Random House of Canada Ltd, (ISBN 0-679-31212-9, [2000) or Fourth Estate Ltd (ISBN 1-84115-470-9, 2000)
• Thirst, Fourth Estate Ltd, (ISBN 1-84115-768-6, 2002)
• The Kitchen Diaries, Fourth Estate Ltd, (ISBN 0-00-719948-1, 2005) or Gotham Books, published by Penguin (USA) Inc., (ISBN 1-592-40234-8), October 2006^[16][17]
• Tender, Volume One, Fourth Estate Ltd, Harper Collins (ISBN13 978-0-00-724849-0) (2009)
• Tender, Volume Two, Fourth Estate Ltd, Harper Collins (2010)

Autobiography

• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, Fourth Estate Ltd, (ISBN 1-84115-289-7, 2003) or HarperPerennial (ISBN 0-7011-7287-8, 2004)^[18][19]
• Eating For England, Fourth Estate Ltd, (ISBN 0-00-719946-5, October 2007)^[9]

Awards

• 1995 Glenfiddich Cookery Writer of the Year Award
• 1995 Glenfiddich Trophy
• 1995 Glendfiddich Award for Best Visual Work for The Observer
• 1996 Media Personality of the Year Award (Good Food Awards)
• 1999 Glenfiddich Award for Best Visual Work for Real Food
• 1999 Best Newspaper Cookery Journalist Award
• 2000 André Simon Award for Cookbook of the Year for Appetite
• 2004 André Simon Award for Toast
• 2004 Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year forToast
• 2004 British Biography of the Year Award for Toast
• 2004 Observer Food Monthly Book of the Year Award for Toast
• 2004 WH Smith People's Choice Award for "Toast"
• 2006 British Book Award for The Kitchen Diaries
• 2007 Specialist Writer of the Year, PPA Awards
• 2009 Honorary M.Litt. from the University of Wolverhampton
• 2009 BBC Food Personality of the Year^[20]

References

1. ^ "Nigel Slater". Waterstones.com. http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?pPageID=200000240. Retrieved 14 October 2007. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Adams, Tim (14 September 2003). "While other boys in his class were reading Shoot! Nigel subscribed to Cordon Bleu magazine". The Observer. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1040953,00.html. Retrieved 20 May 2010. 
3. ^ http://www.wlv.ac.uk/default.aspx?page=21354 Nigel Slater at the University of Wolverhampton. Retrieved 6 March 2011
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=385102 Interview in the Times Educational Supplement,10 October 2003. Retrieved 6 March 2011
5. ^ ^{a b} Competitive cooking: Why do we bother? BBC News, 22 December 2010
6. ^ A Taste of My Life BBC Programmes
7. ^ Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers recipes BBC - Food
8. ^ Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers: Series 2 BBC One
9. ^ ^{a b} Wilson, Bee (7 October 2007). "Dipping into our culinary history". Times Online. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/history/article2583923.ece. Retrieved 20 May 2010. 
10. ^ Interview with Nigel Slater AfterElton.com, 10 January 2005
11. ^ Interview with Nigel Slater (page 2) AfterElton.com, 10 January 2005
12. ^ ^{a b} Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater Barnes & Noble
13. ^ Richard & Judy^{[dead link]} Channel 4
14. ^ New BBC One drama, Helena Bonham Carter and Freddie Highmore star in Toast BBC Press Office, 21 May 2010
15. ^ Nigel Slater Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 5 June 2005
16. ^ The Kitchen Diaries Harper Collins
17. ^ William Leith Not roquette science - Review: The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater The Guardian, 29 October 2005
18. ^ Lynne Truss Toast by Nigel Slater and My Autobiography by Antony Worrall Thompson Times Online, 5 October 2003
19. ^ Matthew Fort Slater's raw honesty has a delicious flavour - Review: Toast by Nigel Slater The Observer, 19 October 2003
20. ^ Food & Farming Awards - Winners & Finalists BBC Radio 4, 2009

External links

• Official site
• Nigel Slater 5th Estate
• Nigel Slater interview^{[dead link]} The Comment Tree
• Nigel Slater columns and recipes The Observer
• Nigel Slater: the interview The Observer, 14 September 2003
• Tamasin Day-Lewis 1998 The Real Cook Waitrose
• Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers BBC One

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Name	Slater, Nigel
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Date of birth	9 April 1958
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