A taste of London with food talks

London must probably be the most colorful capital of Europe in terms of diversity in gastronomy. Every country's cuisine is represented here in some way or the other, whether it be high-end establishments, family-owned small eateries or street food and markets.

But London is not only about what you eat, it is also about events with captivating talks and in-depth writings about it. The intellectual dimension of food and drink is as important as what you eat. Even the supermarket magazines are packed with information, and full of ideas tucked into recipe headnotes. It is common to get interesting talks on TV, but also live discussions at various events scattered around the year. One of these events is held at The British Library in London, featuring the most engaging food talks and panels, where the library becomes the venue that food writers and enthusiasts head every year. As part of the sixth British Library Food Season that was held last weekend, May 25-26th, I was lucky to attend to one of the most stimulating panels which was titled "The Golden Age of Restaurant Writing" which focused on the once legendary food pages of Time Out London.

London made a gastronomic breakthrough in the 1990s and in the same years, writing restaurant reviews came to the fore in parallel. Lead by editor and critic Guy Dimond and his team of talented writers, Time Out London food pages soon became the essential guide for Londoners, featuring the most-trusted authoritative restaurant reviews of the time. They were informative, well-written and most importantly, not biased and totally independent. The guide was paying for the meals in restaurants and the critics were always in disguise. Guy Dimond was known as the faceless restaurant critic, which sometimes led to funny...