International Food & Drink Event 2025 - Part 1
Plus Banana Tiramisu and some books to order and preorder
Normally I start writing these soon after I hit send on the last one, but this past week I’ve been at IFE most of Monday to Wednesday, joined
at the Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Award on Tuesday night (more on this shortly), hosted a Substack live last Friday, have been beavering away on some things including the refresh of this logo (yay!), and have been woken up every single one of the last five nights, multiple times by my dear child. Yesterday I felt like I could have fallen asleep whilst walking.Whenever I’m tired I just want to snack all day, so at least I’ve been able to make the most of the biggest food and drink trade show of the year!
I shared some of the most interesting brands I saw on the first two days of IFE on LinkedIn yesterday morning, so I’m elaborating on what I thought of these ones further down and I will come back and share the rest of them in a future newsletter. I’ve previously shared summaries of the most interesting things I found in 2022 (podcast), 2023 and 2024.
On Sunday we had a family lunch at Pastaio in Soho, home to beautiful pasta and a special collaboration Banana Pudding Tiramisu created with
. It gave banoffee vibes. Somehow I imagined “banana pudding” to be like Angel Delight, but it is based on the American dessert and was real banana, custard, cream and savioardi biscuits. I was told there was rum in there too, but didn’t detect it. It’s only on untl the end of the month so if you love the sound of it, go soon!
Kids get a choice of three pasta options (beef, tomato, or butter and parmesan), plus a few crudites and a scoop of ice cream for £6, making it such an easy and excellent choice for families. Don’t miss the starters and sides though. I loved the squash caponata and the chard with chilli and garlic.
The menu is in the carousel in case you also have a “London Restaurants” folder of saved posts and you’d like to add it. But in case you don’t use Instagram, here’s the menu and a pic of the caponata:
📌 19 Ganton St, Carnaby, London W1F 9BN
🚆 Oxford Circus
Food Books!
The Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Award celebrates a book by a debut food & drink author that is usually a memoir or food book that “advances the public undertsanding of food, its cultural and nutritional aspects, and the art of its preparation”.
Past winners include brilliant Riaz Phillips’ West Winds, Dina Macki’s Bahari and Chris Newens’ Moveable feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals.
On Tuesday night my friend
was nominated for her upcoming book about resistance through food in Ukraine, called, Bread and War: A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bread and Hope, alongside NHS Psychiatrist and writer Aaron Vallance for Friday Night Chicken: Stories of Food, Family and Tradition (not due for publication until 2027) and Poppy Okotcha for A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us.Poppy was awarded the prize, but honestly to be shortlisted would be such an honour!
More Food Books
I met Samuel Goldsmith at the Danish Embassy event and he invited me to the launch of his second book all about Frozen Peas - 100 recipes with frozen peas! So clever. His first was called Tinned Tomatoes.
Incredible
has written another book which is part memoir, sharing the stories of her Ukranian ancestors, alongside the wider history of Ukraine. It’s called: Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story through War, Exile and Hope. There is so much I don’t know about the history of the world. So much that was left absent from our education because it didn’t fit the narrative or just not deemed important enough. I find it so much easier to learn about the awful things that occurred when they’re shared through the lens of individuals, so I’m really looking forward to reading this. You can preorder it through the link above.Also available to preorder:
’s American cycle journey called Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of Real American Cuisine and ‘s second cook book Flavour Heroes: 15 Modern Pantry Ingredients to Amplify Your Cooking. I can’t wait to read them both.(All of the links are affiliate links but don’t change the price you pay. All link to independents except one.)
Last week’s Substack Live
Thank you so much to those of you who came to watch! It was far more than I expected and I loved getting questions and I can’t wait to make and edit some more episodes of Things You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know About Chocolate. I think it recorded and so I’ll check and share it next week, hopefully along with some more news. 👀
Please check you have the Chocolate Market on Saturday 29th March at Toklas Bakery in your diary! Just over a week to go! It’s going to be full of delicious things!
Some of the most interesting things I saw at IFE - International Food & Drink Event 2025
This is Part 1, some of the things I saw on Monday and Tuesday, I have more to add. Here’s the list with links to their LinkedIn pages. Below the paywall I’ve shared images and more information.
Nopal
Il Nutino - walnuts with flavour
DI Marco Corrado S.r.l. | Top quality Italian artisanal Pinsa & flours - the original pinsa
Chilli Chans - hand cut noodles and sauces
All The Aunties Paneer
SUCSEED seed mixes
Honey Berries
Otelia Premium legume spaghetti
Bolle Drinks non alcoholic wine
Too much sugar / Too Many Nuts shortbread, nuts, dukkah
Araw Ice Cream
GLASTRY FARM ICE CREAM LIMITED
McNeill Conserves
JARA HONEY
And here’s more detail:
Di Marco Corrado S.r.l. | Top quality Italian artisanal Pinsa & flours - the original pinsa
The original “Pinsa”.
What is Pinsa?
A flatbread dough native that apparently dates to Ancient Rome. It’s similar to pizza but the dough is a combination of wheat, rice and soy flours and slowly fermented with a sourdough starter. This slow fermentation and blend of flours makes it lower in gluten and easier for most people to digest.
It has a crispy outside and should have a light and airy centre, and is usually formed into ovals, rather than circles.
I really enjoyed the flavour of the dough and the texture of the bite. I feel like I have had pizzas with a similar dough, where the makers have riffed on traditon. It’s nice to know with a Pinsa exactly the type of dough you’ll be getting.
Di Marco are the orignal Pinsa "brand” and they’ve just launched in the UK but are export to more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, USA and Australia. It comes as a ready made flatbread that you finish off in the oven - topping with sweet or savoury ingredients either before or after.
Nopal
As a nutrition nerd, this product was particularly intriguing.