Nigel Slater (born 9 April 1956) is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for ''

The Observer Magazine ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to '' The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' for over a decade and is the principal writer for the ''Observer Food Monthly'' supplement. Prior to this, Slater was a food writer for ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' for five years.

Early life

Nigel Slater was born on 9 April 1956, in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, then in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

. He was the youngest of two sons born to factory owner Cyril "Tony" Slater and housewife Kathleen Slater (''née'' Galleymore). This was his father's second marriage. His mother died of

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

in 1965. In 1971, his father remarried to Dorothy Perrens, dying in 1973. Slater attended Woodfield Avenue School in Penn, Staffordshire. He moved to

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

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 The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

subject.Nigel Slater
University of Wolverhampton, 2011; Retrieved 6 March 2011I was one of two boys who took cookery O-level at my secondary school
Times Educational Supplement, 10 October 2003; Retrieved 6 March 2011 Slater claims in his autobiography that he used food to compete with his stepmother for his father's attention.Competitive cooking: Why do we bother?
BBC News, 22 December 2010 Their biggest battle was over

lemon meringue pie Lemon meringue pie is a dessert pie consisting of a shortened pastry base filled with lemon curd and topped with meringue. History Fruit desserts covered with baked meringue were found beginning in the 18th century in France. Menon's ''pom ...

– his father's favourite. She refused to divulge her recipe, so Slater resorted to subterfuge 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." Slater gained an OND in catering at Worcester Technical College in 1976, and worked in restaurants and hotels across the UK before becoming a food writer for ''

'' magazine in 1988. He became known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes which he presented in early books such as ''The 30-Minute Cook'' (1994) and ''Real Cooking'', as well as his memoir-like columns for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' which he began in 1993.

Television and radio

In 1998, Slater hosted the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

series ''Nigel Slater's Real Food Show''. He returned to TV in 2006 to host the chat/food show ''A Taste of My Life'' for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and BBC Two. In 2009, he presented the six-part series ''Simple Suppers'' on BBC One, and a second series the following year. He appeared as a guest castaway on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'' in June 2005. In November 2013 he appeared alongside farmer Adam Henson on BBC's 'Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen', which was set on a working farm in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

and covered various aspects of food production and preparation.

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 ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' as "the sort of ragbag of choice culinary morsels that would pass the time nicely on a train journey". His book ''Tender'' is the story of his vegetable garden, how it came to be, and what grows in it. The book was published in two volumes; the first is on vegetables, which was released late in 2009 and the second is on fruit, which was 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. 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

when he was nine) and his burgeoning homosexuality. Slater has called it "the most intimate memoir that any food person has ever written".Interview with Nigel Slater (page 2)
AfterElton.com, 10 January 2005 ''Toast'' was published in Britain in October 2004Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater
Barnes & Noble and became a best-seller after it was featured on the Richard & Judy Book Club. 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

is father and stepmother, who had been the family's cleaning lady In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' ...

��and to be honest I was really very jubilant—and thereafter all I wanted to do was cook."

Adaptations

Slater's autobiographical work was adapted into 2010's '' Toast'', starring Freddie Highmore as the 15-year-old Slater and Helena Bonham Carter as his stepmother. It has been broadcast on

. In 2018, The Lowry commissioned a stage adaptation of ''Toast'' written by Henry Filloux-Bennett and directed by Jonnie Riordan with Sam Newton as Nigel Slater. After a sell-out run at the Week 53 Festival, it was announced that it would transfer to the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary p ...

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. Both productions of the show received rave reviews with critics praising it for its charm and glowing nostalgia. In 2018, it was announced that ''Toast'' would transfer to

The Other Palace The Other Palace is a theatre in London's Off West End which opened on 18 September 2012 as the St. James Theatre. It features a 312-seat main theatre and a 120-seat studio theatre. It was built on the site of the former Westminster Theatre, w ...

in London, premiering on 9 April 2019. In March 2019, it was announced that Giles Cooper would play the role of Nigel. In April 2019, it was announced that the show would embark on a UK National Tour in the autumn.

Personal life

Slater has two older brothers, Adrian (born 1944) and John. Slater's parents adopted John, a neighbour's child, before Slater was born. He also has two stepsisters, from whom he is estranged. Slater lives in the

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

area of north London, where he maintains a kitchen garden which is often featured in his column. He was open about his

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

in his autobiography ''Toast'' which is based upon his early life; the book spawned both a film and a play to which he has contributed and collaborated.

Publications and broadcasting

Cookbooks

*''The Marie Claire Cookbook'', Hamlyn, (, 1992) *''Real Fast Food'', Michael Joseph, (, 1992) or Penguin Books, (, 1993) *''Real Fast Puddings'', Michael Joseph, (, 1992) or Penguin Books, (, 1994) *''The 30-Minute Cook'', Michael Joseph, (, 1994) *''Real Good Food'', Fourth Estate (ISBN, 1995) *''Real Cooking'', Michael Joseph, (, 1997) or Penguin Books (, 1999) *''Real Food'', Fourth Estate, (, 1998) or (, 2000) *''Appetite'', Random House of Canada, (, 2000) or Fourth Estate (, 2000) *''Thirst'', Fourth Estate, (, 2002) *''The Kitchen Diaries'', Fourth Estate, (, 2005) or Gotham Books, published by Penguin (USA), (), October 2006 *''Tender'', Volume One, Fourth Estate, HarperCollins () (2009) *''Tender'', Volume Two, Fourth Estate, HarperCollins (2010) *''The Kitchen Diaries II'', Fourth Estate (2012) *''eat: The Little Book of Fast Food'', Fourth Estate (2013) *''A Year of Good Eating: The Kitchen Diaries III'', Fourth Estate () (2015) *''The Christmas Chronicles'', Fourth Estate (2017) *''Greenfeast: Spring, Summer,'' Fourth Estate () (2019) *''Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter,'' Fourth Estate () (2019) *''A Cook’s Book,'' Fourth Estate () (2021)

Autobiography

*''Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger'', Fourth Estate, (, 2003) or HarperPerennial (, 2004) *''Eating For England'', Fourth Estate, (, October 2007)

Broadcasting

*''Nigel Slater’s Real Food Show '' (1998) – host and presenter *''A Taste of My Life '' (2006-2008, 31 episodes) – host and presenter *''Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers '' (2009) – writer and presenter *''Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking '' (2011, 8 episodes) – writer and presenter *''Nigel Slater: Life is Sweets '' (2012, one-off documentary) – writer and presenter *''Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day '' (2012) – writer and presenter *''Nigel Slater’s Great British Biscuit '' (2013, one-off documentary) – writer and presenter *''Nigel and Adam’s Farm Kitchen '' (2013) – co-presenter *''Nigel Slater: Eating Together ''(2015, 4 episodes) – writer and presenter *''Nigel Slater's Middle East ''(2018, 3 episodes) - writer and presenter

Honours and 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 for''Toast'' *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 DLitt from the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

*2009 BBC Food Personality of the Year *2018

Fortnum and Mason Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just Fortnum's) is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea In Hong ...

's Food Book award for ''The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories & 100 essential recipes for midwinter'' *2020 Appointed OBE in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

for services to cookery and literature