Scones with Sri. Spent the morning having tea with author @sri.owen & husband Roger, getting them tasting different recipes for me. Scones with @GiddyGrocer hedgerow damson jam, @yawatahama_marmalade_festival @MarmaladeAwards #kawachibankan preserve I made in May (shown here), & @veritaspanis
raspberry preserve (that I continued to eat more of for afternoon tea in our garden).
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Sri Owen is a major reason we have such diverse rice varieties available in Britain. Sri encouraged editors & grocers to be encouraging & imaginative. You may either remember or not know that 1980s supermarket rice “Pre-Sri” was little more than long-grain rice, brown rice & pudding rice, not the vast range we see today in Britain.
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As Bee Wilson @KitchenBee wrote in the @obsfood , Sri “writes with such an infectious passion for rice that suddenly my fears seemed absurd”. That’s Sri’s magic: a tantalising way of breathing familiarity into techniques that otherwise perplex us.
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But, parallel & supporting Sri’s work on food is the deep bond she has with her partner Roger, a love built on respect & affection for each other. There’s a beautiful essay by the brilliant @mayukh.sen on @Food52 where Sri & Roger’s life together is celebrated.
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There’s now good news about Sri’s #AndreSimonAward winning “The Rice Book”: the mighty @bloomsburycooks are planning to print a revised edition, giving the work and Sri a fresh start and new audience.
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