21 Reasons To Be Cheerful

How Britain’s food community came out fighting in a tumultuous year for the hospitality industry

- Tony Naylor

This is Olive’s tribute to the fortitude, energy and ingenuity shown by the many individuals working hard in the world of food, against the odds, in what has been a troubled year.

1 Global talent

Immigration is essential to British food’s vibrancy, and kitchens offer vital work to many new arrivals. Stories like that of Modou Diagne, sleeping rough when he arrived from Senegal via Spain but this year named chef-owner at Glasgow’s 111 (111bymodou.co.uk), or refugee Imad Alarnab, who is working to open Soho’s part-crowdfunded Syrian Kitchen (imadssyriankitchen.co.uk), gladden Olive’s hearts. Hopefully yours, too.

2 Dream dishes

This year’s hot restaurant topics (household mixing rules, hand sanitiser quality) have put food in the shade. But chefs are still creating fun, clever dishes that’ll make you swoon: the oxtail madras pasty at Manchester’s Higher Ground (highergroundmcr.co); Noto’s fried chicken katsu sando (notoedinburgh.co.uk); or Chuku’s caramel and peanut kuli-kuli-spiced chicken wings (chukuslondon.co.uk).

3 Boxing clever

Did you ‘Heat Your Greens’ from Leeds’ Eat Your Greens (eatyourgreensleeds.co.uk)? How was Elite Bistros (elitebistros.com)? Should we splurge on Tommy Banks’ Signature Box (tommybanks.co.uk)? So ran the lockdown video chat among foodies as restaurants started boxing up part-prepared meals for nationwide delivery. Many schemes are still active to sate this new appetite for experiencing our best restaurants remotely.