Tom Parker Bowles is a man whose palate is as sharp as his pen. With a career spanning over two decades, the award-winning food writer, critic and broadcaster has tasted his way from Britain’s grandest dining rooms to the smoky backstreets of Bangkok. In this lively podcast, Tom Parker Bowles sits down with Samuel Goldsmith to talk about his latest book, culinary nostalgia and why a cheap cheese slice can be just as satisfying as a Michelin-starred meal.
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From Wiltshire to the world
Parker Bowles’ love of food began at home, in what he describes as a “classic, comfortable English upbringing” in Wiltshire. “My mother’s a great cook — a natural,” he recalls, though the family table in the seventies and eighties was a world away from today’s global larder. Spices were rare, and the most exotic thing in the cupboard was a tin of curry powder, reserved for the occasional coronation chicken.
Despite this traditional start, travel soon expanded his horizons. Family holidays to Ischia, off the coast of Naples, introduced him to the joys of southern Italian food, while a teenage encounter with curry was a revelation. “It was like that moment in The Wizard of Oz, when everything turns to technicolour,” he laughs. “This is food that kicks back”.
The notebook of a culinary explorer
His latest book, Let’s Eat: Recipes From My Kitchen Notebook, is a re-release of a personal favourite — a collection of recipes and stories gathered from years of travel. “It’s all my favourite food,” he says. “Everything from roast chicken to tacos, ragù bolognese to prawn cocktail”. Each recipe comes with a story, reflecting his belief that the best cookbooks offer more than just instructions — they give context, history and a sense of voice.
Parker Bowles’ culinary adventures have taken him across the globe, but his heart belongs especially to the food of Mexico and Thailand. “You get straight into the belly of any culture through their food,” he muses. “You can rub your tummy and you’re welcomed in — it’s an easy way to connect”.
Transport yourself around the globe from the comfort of your kitchen with our Mexican recipes and Italian recipes.
Comfort food and culinary confessions
Despite his globetrotting, Parker Bowles is a creature of habit at home. His go-to supper is a simple stir fry of noodles with marinated prawns or chicken, and for lunch, he’s partial to tinned sardines with raw onion, chillies and lime juice — or lentils topped with a poached egg. When it comes to comfort food, though, nothing beats a well-made cottage pie. “The key is a crisp crust and those juices bubbling up and caramelising at the edges,” he enthuses. “Lots of Worcester sauce, lots of Tabasco, peas on the side — that’s my favourite dish”.
His culinary confessions are refreshingly relatable. He admits to a fondness for cheap cheese slices — “not posh ones, but the proper gooey ones you put on burgers” — and cold baked beans straight from the tin with Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. “I have no guilt with food,” he insists. “There should be no shame in anything that you eat”.
On being a restaurant critic and supporting British food
Parker Bowles’ approach to restaurant criticism is shaped by empathy as much as expertise. “I’ve always felt myself on the side of the chef and the food people,” he explains. He is wary of giving a harsh review to a small family-run restaurant, reserving his sharper words for big, complacent chains. For him, the worst sin is mediocrity — he’d rather encounter something truly bad than something forgettable.
He’s also passionate about supporting British farmers, butchers and cheesemakers, echoing the ethos championed by the King long before sustainability became fashionable. “We should be supporting British farmers, eating British where possible,” he says. “It’s about knowing where your food comes from — not in a finger-wagging way, but because it matters”.
Food as community and joy
For Parker Bowles, food is about much more than sustenance. “Good food means happiness, satisfaction, joy, community,” he reflects. “It’s about bringing people together — the glue of our society”. Whether it’s a royal banquet or a bowl of peas eaten straight from the pod at a farmers’ market, what matters most is the pleasure and connection food brings.
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