Lost In The Larder

When I signed up to attend the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery I imagined staying in an old boarding house with little wooden beds and a musty aroma filling the grand halls of the school. I pictured something a little like the school in Dead Poets Society and a lot like Harry Potter. These thoughts were dashed upon arrival to Oxford’s St. Catz, a modern collection of concrete and brick buildings full of straight lines and sharp angles. I collected the key to my room from reception and made my way to one of the accommodation buildings where I was met with a digital entry system. This really wasn’t shaping up to match my Oxbridge expectations.

The theme for the Oxford Symposium this year was ‘wrapped & stuffed’ and speakers ranged from David Thompson talking about religious ceremonial foods in Thailand, to Fuchsia Dunlop who delivered a paper on dumplings across the silk road. My favourite talk from the weekend was from Laura Shapiro. Her history of the Pilsbury Bake-off was engaging, fascinating and funny. In a sea of highly academic presentations, which at times bordered on the uninspiring, Laura’s paper was one of the most detailed and lively, it made me want to go back through the archives of her work. Another presentation of interest was given by Benedict Reade, Head of Culinary Research and Development at The Nordic Food Lab. Ben had brought along some bog butter, the subject of his presented paper, which is butter wrapped in moss and tree bark then buried in a peat bog for several months. The flavour that the butter takes on is, well, interesting. It divided the room, but I found it earthy and mysterious, I wanted more, but couldn’t quite place the flavours. On toast, certainly not, but with game and powerful meats, hell yes.

Of course, some of the highlights of the symposium, were the meals all of which have incredibly cool menus made and designed by Jake Tilson. I actually first became aware of the symposium from one of Jake’s books. His latest, In at The Deep End is fascinating and I urge you to buy a copy. He not only wrote the book, but produced all the pictures and actually designed and laid out the whole thing himself.

The Friday night’s meal was prepared by Rowley Leigh, which included a wonderful saddle of lamb wellington and a massive summer pudding. There was also a ‘sausage fest’ lunch organised by Ursula Heinzelmann which featured several different German sausages, potato salad and plenty of sauerkraut. I particularly liked the Distel Spezial beer from Taubertal, but after so much meat and potato, topped up with beer, I was left feeling pretty sleepy all afternoon. The Saturday’s dinner was a Gaizentep Turkish feast organised by Anissa Helou, full of stuffed vegetables and things wrapped in vine leaves.

So although, it wasn’t quite Harry Potter, my short time in Oxford for the Symposium was an enjoyable one. I met some really interesting people and discussed American barbecue at length with Raymond Sokolov, the coolest food editor The New York Times ever had. I also chatted with Charles Perry, but that wasn’t about food, it was about his tie which had that awesome picture of dogs playing poker on it. I still don’t know where he bought it, but I want one, for the handful of times in my life that I actually wear a tie. Funerals, weddings, I’m sure it’s appropriate for both.