Oxford Cultural Collective Annual Dinner in honour of the BBc Radio 4 Food Programme
Saturday, March 17 2018, 7.15pm - 11pm, at St Cross College, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LZ
Serving as Opening Dinner of the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival
Prepared by Angela Hartnett, Jeremy Lee, Margot Henderson and Fergus Henderson, with speakers Bee Wilson and Sheila Dillon.
Tickets cost £120 per guest, to include drinks and canapes reception, and dinner with wine. To book, follow this link.
Held in partnership with BaxterStorey and the Oxford School of Hospitality Management.
Founded by Derek Cooper in 1979, the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme has been praised by the Prince of Wales as a ‘national institution’. Known for being consistently informative and objective, The Food Programme explores the place of food in society. Its broad scope encompasses topical and sometimes controversial issues, the stories of renowned food personalities and exploration of locations with distinctive culinary cultures. Since 2000 the Food Programme has hosted the prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards to honour those who have done most to improve Britain’s food culture and promote the cause of good food.
At this special celebratory dinner, acclaimed food writer Bee Wilson will deliver an address in honour of the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme. Sheila Dillon, the programme’s presenter, will reflect on its contribution over nearly 40 years.
Dinner will be a British feast prepared by four of the UK’s most respected chefs: Angela Hartnett of Murano, Jeremy Lee of Quo Vadis, Margot Henderson of Rochelle Canteen and Fergus Henderson of St John Smithfield.
The evening will be hosted by The Oxford Cultural Collective.
Tickets cost £120 per guest, to include drinks and canapes reception and dinner with wine. To book, follow this link.
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Angela Hartnett MBE is one of the UK’s best loved chefs and restaurateurs. After starting out in the kitchens at Aubergine, Zafferano, L’Oranger and Petrus, she went on the launch Amaryllis in Scotland, Verre in Dubai, Menu and The Grill Room at the Connaught Hotel, all with Gordon Ramsay. In 2007 Angela was awarded an MBE for services to hospitality and the following year she opened Murano in Mayfair. In 2012 Angela opened Hartnett Holder & Co and in 2013 she launched the critically acclaimed Merchants Tavern in Shoreditch, in collaboration with Neil Borthwick. In Semptember of that she she opening the much admired Café Murano. Angela has two cookbooks to her name, Cucina (2007) and Angela’s Kitchen (2011) and is known to a wide audience through her regular television appearances.
Jeremy Lee joined Sam & Eddie Hart at Quo Vadis in Soho in early 2012, becoming Chef Proprietor of this venerable restaurant. Jeremy had previously manned the stoves of Blueprint Café on the first floor of the Design Museum. This singular cook has worked with such distinguished restaurateurs as Simon Hopkinson and Alastair Little, who all played a considerable part in the great resurgence in British Cooking.
In 2012 Jeremy and Quo Vadis won the Catey for Best Restaurant Menu of the Year and in 2013 they won the Tatler Award for Best kitchen. He writes for numerous newspapers and periodicals including The Guardian and has appeared on television in The Great British Menu and Could You Eat an Elephant?
Fergus Henderson MBE is widely recognised for his leading role in the resurgence in British cooking. The son of two architects – father a keen diner, mother a keen cook, Fergus originally studied architecture before his thoughts turned to cooking.
With occasional stints at The Globe in Notting Hill under his belt, Fergus along with his wife Margot took over the dining room at The French House pub in Soho where they quickly earned a loyal following and critical praise.
Fergus was introduced to Trevor Gulliver over supper and, having found the abandoned smoke house on the edge of the city district, and along with the French House Dining Room’s manager – Jon Spiteri, the trio opened St. JOHN. IN 2004 he published his critically acclaimed Nose to Tail Eating: A kind of British Cooking.
Margot Henderson is a chef, food writer and caterer. She is the Chef Proprietor of the renowned Rochelle Canteen, located in a converted bike shed of a school in Clerkenwell. Originally from New Zealand, she moved to the UK aged 20 and her career has included periods at 192, First Floor, the Quality Chop House and The Eagle. With her business partner Melanie Arnold she owns the catering firm Arnold & Henderson, which they established in 1995 while Margot was running the French House Dining Room in Soho, with her husband Fergus. In 2017 Arnold and Henderson took over the catering at the Institute for Contemporary Arts on The Mall.