Join Ottolenghi COMFORT co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller, and Tara Wigley in conversation with food writer Molly Tait-Hyland to discuss all things Ottolenghi including their joyful new cookbook.
Mac ’n’ cheese, ramen, schnitzel, sausages and mash, chicken noodle soup, lentils, rice, dhal, dumplings… there is no one comfort-food-fits-all. In Ottolenghi Comfort, the team explore the four elements of comfort: ‘Who we eat with’; ‘Why we eat’; ‘What we eat’ and finally ‘How we eat’ - all things as important as what we are eating in the first place. At Thyme this November, the Ottolenghi team dive into the creation of their reassuring and revelatory new book, share their own journeys into cooking, and relay what it is like to work with Yotam himself.
Included in the ticket price is a welcome refreshment. Following the talk there will be time for an audience Q&A and a book signing with Helen, Verena and Tara of Ottolenghi COMFORT.
10-10.30am - Guest Arrival
10.30-11.30am - Talk
11.30am - Audience Q&A and Book Signing
*Talk only ticket (£15) includes access to the talk and a welcome refreshment
*Talk and lunch ticket (£35) includes access to the talk, welcome refreshment and a two-course lunch in the Ox Barn
Helen Goh
Helen was born in Malaysia and migrated with her family to Australia at the age of ten. After studying psychology, she combined psychotherapy practice with a cooking career, becoming head pasty chef at a landmark Melbourne restaurant before moving to London, and joining Ottolenghi. Co-author with Yotam, of the best-selling baking book SWEET, she has worked closely with him in recipe development for over 10 years, drawing widely on Asian, Western and Middle Eastern influences in her cooking. Helen is also a successful food columnist whose recipes appear in the Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian and Observer. She lives in London with her husband and two sons. instagram.com/helen_goh_bakes
Verena Lochmuller
Verena is a recipe and product developer. She was born in Germany, grew up in Scotland and studied pastry and baking arts in New York City. She has been at Ottolenghi since 2015 and is now the Head of Food Quality Product Development at the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. She has created sweet and savoury products that have become staples at Ottolenghi delis, and curated dessert menus for the group’s restaurants. Verena has contributed her recipes to two Ottolenghi Test Kitchen books: Shelf Love and Extra Good Things, as well as other online Ottolenghi publications. Verena brings a playful touch to familiar, comforting recipes by using unexpected ingredients and techniques. She firmly believes that a good pastry recipe is a secret weapon in every kitchen. instagram.com/verenalochmuller
Tara Wigley
Tara worked in publishing for the best part of a decade before switching to food and writing in 2010. She trained at the Ballymaloe cookery school, in Ireland, before starting to work with Yotam Ottolenghi in 2011. Initially testing recipes, she soon became Yotam’s writing collaborator on his columns in the Guardian magazine and the New York Times as well as the cookbooks PLENTY MORE, NOPI, SWEET and FLAVOUR. Tara coauthored Ottolenghi SIMPLE and FALASTIN. Her first solo book, How to Butter Toast - a collection of rhymes about recipes - was published in 2023. instagram.com/tara.wigley
Molly Tait-Hyland
Molly is a writer and editor. For eight years, she worked as contributing editor on the Observer Food Monthly, writing, editing and commissioning. She has also contributed to publications such as Guardian Feast and the Observer Magazine, and is part way through a Master's in Food Policy at City University. Molly is married to Charlie Hibbert, chef Patron of Thyme, and presently spends her days looking after their baby, Florence.
Ottolenghi COMFORT
Ottolenghi COMFORT is Yotam Ottolenghi and his team’s celebration of food and home; of the connections we make and pass on as we cook, from place to place and from generation to generation. The new book is the work of ‘four hungries’ – Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley – and they all bring their own memories, childhoods, and travels with them to explore what comfort food means to them.
Food and words have the incredible power to connect. Their hope is that their new recipes become for you what they are for them: reassuring but revelatory. Ottolenghi cookbooks are published in 23 languages, and worldwide sales now exceed 11 million copies.
Yotam Ottolenghi says:
“This book is full of dishes which feel familiar yet fresh. It is also very much about our personal journeys, and all the stories these journeys contain. Food and words have an incredible power to connect. Our hope is that these recipes become for you what they are for us: reassuring on the one hand and eye-opening on the other."