Festival feast for lovers of good food

Lovers of good food are well catered for at this year’s Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival with appearances by leading chefs and TV personalities including Madhur Jaffrey, pictured left, Atul Kochhar and Hardeep Singh Kohli.

Jaffrey, an award-winning actress and world authority on Indian food, and the Nearly Naked Chef Singh Kohli, a TV reporter who was runner-up on BBC’s Masterchef,  join forces for what should be a throughly entertaining look at Indian food in all its guises.

Kochhar, pictured right, is one of the first two Indian chefs to be awarded a Michelin star. He features in the BBC’s Great British Menu series and is a regular on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen. Kochhar will be talking about his latest book, Atul’s Curries of the World, and, later the same day, will prepare a dinner at an event to mark the inaugural award of the £7,500 Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing.

This year’s closing festival dinner in the magnificent surroundings of Christ Church Great Hall features historian and travel writer William Dalrymple talking about Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, his first travel book in a decade. Tickets are also available for the festival opening dinner in the Bodleian Divinity School, which will mark the launch of a new festival programme on American literature and culture.

Indulge in some gourmet specialities

Festival-goers have the chance to try some of the finest tea, coffee and chocolate at a series of events organised with our partners at The East India Company.

Tea master Lalith Lenadora will guide you through a selection of the finest teas from India, China, Sri Lanka, Japan, and beyond, explain the difference between a white, green and black tea, and demonstrate the best way to brew a truly bewitching cup.

At the chocolate tasting you will explore the flavour profiles of one of the world’s most-loved indulgences, and discover how its unique taste complexities are created. The Story of Coffee considers how coffee spread around the globe and explores the differences between coffee varieties from Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Visit the London flagship store of the East India Company in Conduit Street with a print-out of this website page to receive The East India Company Book of Tea with any purchase before June 30, 2013.