Sunday Sessions

Sunday in The Pop-Up Market will revolve around a blissful array of panels hosted by award-winning writer and author, Clare Finney, Social Pantry’s, Alex Head, Wilderness favourite Ben Quinn and more to be announced. Joined by a raft of guest chefs, authors, journalists and more, they’ll be discussing all manner of things food and drink. What better way to while away your Sunday? Taster of the line-up and everything on offer below...

All Fired Up - Ben Quinn - Sun 6th 10:00 - 10:45

Cooking over fire has surged in popularity, reinstating the world’s oldest cooking method of grilling over a woodfire as one of the hottest, trendiest ways to cook and dine. Chefs and diners alike prize natural ingredients and age-old techniques and culinary traditions more than ever, taking pride and pleasure in the incredible flavours and results, as well as the history and culture fire cooking keeps alive. A new generation of chefs and diners are providing a modern spin on this time-old technique – bringing the outside inside by developing new appliances and adapting recipes for the domestic kitchen; providing guidance on urban foraging and building supplier networks and sourcing systems that mean we can eat wild produce in the city; and giving wood-fired cooking a new, more plant-focused identity.

Food of Love - Clare Finney - Sun 6th 11:00 - 11:45

With Bre Graham, Patrick Wilson, Robin Gill & Alex Head

What is the food of love? Is it oysters and chocolate strawberries? Or is it, really, the garlic-sauce-smothered chips devoured on a bench after a night out? Is it first dates at cheap Italians, 25th-anniversary dinners at the Wolsey, or the numbers 12, 18, and 21 you order together every Friday from your local Chinese? Clare Finney presents a panel around the ever-present, ever-shifting role food and drink plays in love, and why it matters.

A Taste Of Life From Behind Bars - Alex Head - Sun 6th 12:00 - 12:45

With Kimberley Wilson, Max Dubiel & Liz Elliot

How can we inspire people serving time in prison and prepare them for life on the outside? What conditions need to be created inside and outside of jail to help ex-offenders choose a different path? What forms of nourishment - physical, emotional, social, professional - have they missed out on, what role has this played in their journey, and crucially, how do we address these deficiencies so they can thrive? This panel, chaired by Alex Head, Social Pantry founder and leading ex-offender employer in hospitality, explores the intersection of food and incarceration, criminality and second chances.

Table Power - Clare Finney - Sun 6th 14:00 - 14:45

With Ed Templeton, Anthony Demetre, Bre Graham & Sabrina Gidda

Whether it’s a plywood number in your rented flat or the head table at a wedding, the table assumes a significance that belies its humble appearance. In the family home, it is the site of laughter, tears, strife, triumph and failure. Sometimes it’s beautifully set; sometimes strewn with bags, letters and newspapers. Everyone has their favourite seat, which they defend to the death. Yet even outside the home the table matters. Think of the care taken over design, seating arrangements and table setting. Clare Finney explores what makes tables work, what makes them fail, the significance of their design, setting and seating.

A Lot On Her Plate - Molly Codyre (Foodism) - Sun 6th 15:00 - 15:45

The relationship between women and hunger has always been rife with complexities. Women have predominantly taken the role of ‘feeder’ in our society. Paradoxically, the narrative around how women should be fed is far less encouraging. The idea is that you should eat enough to keep you alive, but not so much that you transcend the boundaries of an ‘acceptable’ body type, and you certainly shouldn’t desire food. Probably the worst thing a woman can be in our society is hungry. Not just for food, but for all aspects of life: sex, success, joy, adventure, because it directly goes against the idea that women should both literally and metaphorically take up as little space as possible. How do women who have made hunger central to their career grapple with this complex relationship? And what does it mean to be insatiable in this day and age? This panel speaks to some key women from all areas of the industry to try and answer those very questions.

Small Plates - Clare Finney - Sun 6th 16:00 - 16:45

With Francesca Strange, Imogen Davies, Nicola Pisani & Sabrina Gidda

For years chefs have been obsessed with the role childhood plays in our experience of food, seeking to harness old memories, unlock old feelings and inspire new ones via riffs on childhood favourites. Why is our childhood so formative in food? How does this manifest itself, for better and for worse? How do chefs tap into that – and what can parents and cooks learn from power to ensure their children’s indelible sensory memories are as positive as possible?