Bee Wilson – författare

Bee Wilson is the food writer and historian who writes as the 'Kitchen Thinker' in the Sunday Telegraph, and is the author of Swindled!. Her charming and original new book, Consider the Fork, explores how the implements we use in the kitchen have shaped the way we cook and live. This is the story of how we have tamed fire and ice, wielded whisks, spoons, graters, mashers, pestles and mortars, all in the name of feeding ourselves. Bee Wilson takes us on an enchanting culinary journey through the incredible creations, inventions and obsessions that have shaped how and what we cook. From huge Tudor open fires to sous-vide machines, the birth of the fork to Roman gadgets, Consider the Fork is the previously unsung history of our kitchens.Bee Wilson writes a weekly food column, 'The Kitchen Thinker' in The Sunday Telegraph, for which she has three times been named the Guild of Food Writers Food Journalist of the Year. Her previous books include The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us and Swindled!. Before she became a food writer, she was a Research Fellow in History at St John's College, Cambridge. She has also been a semi-finalist on Masterchef. Her favourite kitchen implement is currently the potato ricer.'A cracking good read, as enjoyable as it is enlightening' Raymond Blanc, Chef-Patron 'Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons''Wonderful ... Witty, scholarly, utterly absorbing and fired by infectious curiosity' Lucy Lethbridge, Observer'[A] delightfully informative history of cooking and eating from the prehistoric discovery of fire to twenty-first-century high-tech, low-temp soud-vide-style cookery' ELLE magazine'A graceful study' Steven Poole, Guardian

Ever since men first hunted for honeycomb in rocks and daubed pictures of it on cave walls, the honeybee has been seen as one of the wonders of nature: social, industrious, beautiful, terrifying. No other creature has inspired in humans an identification so passionate, persistent or fantastical. In this gem of a book, award-winning writer Bee Wilson explores the magical world of the honeybee. From the hive to honey, from beekeepers to honeymooners, via Aristotle, Shakespeare, Napoleon and Sherlock Holmes, here is a book that delights and surprises at every turn. And there is even a recipe or two.

Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the Year 2016We are not born knowing what to eat; we each have to figure it out for ourselves. From childhood onwards, we learn how big a portion is and how sweet is too sweet. The way we learn to eat holds the key to why food has gone so disastrously wrong for so many people. But how does this happen? And can we ever change our food habits for the better?An exploration of the extraordinary and surprising origins of our taste and eating habits, in First Bite award-winning food writer Bee Wilson explains how we can change our palates to lead healthier, happier lives.

‘This book can’t give you a six-pack in seven days or the skin of a supermodel. But I can promise that if you make even a few of these adjustments, your eating life will alter for the better in ways that you can sustain.’ This Is Not A Diet Book is a collection of calm, practical tips and ideas on healthier, happier eating from award-winning food writer Bee Wilson.From unsweetening your palate to rethinking the lunchtime sandwich, This Is Not A Diet Book gathers together some of the wisest, most constructive advice for feeding you and your family.

Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the Year 2020 ‘Addresses the paradox of our age: why as we become progressively wealthier, our diets become ever poorer . . . the villains of the piece are familiar and plentiful and Wilson lays them bare’ The Times A riveting exploration of the hidden forces behind what we eat, The Way We Eat Now explains how modern food has transformed our lives and our world. To re-establish eating as something that gives us both joy and health, we need to find out where we are right now, how we got here and where we're going.'My Ultra-Processed journey began when someone sent me [Bee Wilson's] article in the Guardian – it remains the definitive work in my view and her writing continues to inspire so much of what I do' Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People‘As she wrestles with how and what we eat Bee Wilson is fearless, rigorous, compassionate and totally readable. Thank God we have her’ Diana Henry

WINNER OF A GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARD 2024 for BEST GENERAL COOKBOOK A TIMES and GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 NIGELLA LAWSON'S COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Notes from a lifetime of reading, thinking, cooking and eating’ Diana Henry The Secret of Cooking is packed with solutions for how to make life in the kitchen work better for you, whether you are cooking for yourself or for a crowd. Bee shows you how to get a meal on the table when you’re tired and stretched for time, how to season properly, cook onions (or not) and what equipment really helps.The 140 recipes are doable and delicious, filled with ideas for cooking ahead or cooking alone and the kind of unfussy food that makes everyday life taste better.‘A lifetime of kitchen wisdom here’ Nigel Slater‘A truly remarkable cookbook that will change lives' Rachel Roddy‘It’s not often that a genuinely game-changing cook book comes out, but this accomplished, approachable and helpful book – its writing as nourishing as the recipes – is most definitely it. Quite frankly, there’s not a kitchen that should be without a copy of The Secret of Cooking’ Nigella Lawson‘There is wisdom, and notes from a lifetime of reading, thinking, cooking and eating here. And it’s not just about food but about how we live, and how we look after ourselves and each other’ Diana Henry

Winner of the André Simon Food Book Award Shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason Food Book Award ‘Extraordinary’ TELEGRAPH ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Delightful' GUARDIAN 'Bee Wilson is one of my favourite writers and this may be her best book' CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN This strikingly original account from award-winning food writer Bee Wilson charts how everyday objects take on deeply personal meanings in all our lives. One ordinary day, the tin in which Bee Wilson baked her wedding cake fell to the ground at her feet. This should have been unremarkable, except that her marriage had just ended.Unsettled by her own feelings about the heart-shaped tin, Wilson begins a search for others who have attached strong and even magical meanings to kitchen objects. She meets people who deal with grief or pain by projecting emotions onto certain objects, whether it is a beloved parent’s salt shaker, a cracked pasta bowl or an inherited china dinner service. Remembering her own mother, a dementia sufferer, she explores the ways that both of them have been haunted by deciding which kitchen utensils to hold on to and which to get rid of when you think you are losing your mind.Looking to different continents, cultures and civilisations to investigate the full scope of this phenomenon, Wilson blends her own experiences with a series of touching personal stories that reflect the irrational and fundamentally human urge to keep mementos. Why would a man trapped in a concentration camp decide to make a spoon for himself? Why do some people hoard? What do gifts mean? How do we decide what is junk and what is treasure? We see firsthand how objects can contain hidden symbols, keep the past alive and even become powerful symbols of identity and resistance; from a child’s first plate to a refugee’s rescued vegetable corers.Thoughtful, tender and beautifully written, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a moving examination of love, loss, broken cups and the legacy of things we all leave behind.‘With candour and intelligence, Wilson highlights how the props of domestic life become markers of the progress of our lives, but more movingly she probes that it’s possible to recover from heartache with gusto’ The Times & Sunday Times Books of the Year 2025‘Fascinating and also tender’ Diana Henry‘This beautifully written book about the deep significance of certain objects in our kitchen – is nothing less than an intense, compassionate expression of the human condition … Both intimate and expansive, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a book I know I’ll give, urgently and importantly, to those I love’ Nigella Lawson‘Very few food writers can do what Bee does. It made me think again – and with more tenderness – about the kitchen objects that I ordinarily take for granted. These are the human stories embedded in our material culture, and Bee brings them effortlessly to life’ Ruby Tandoh'Heart-wrenching and heart-warming in equal measure. No one is so good at capturing the everyday magic of kitchens, cooking and life as Bee Wilson' Letitia Clark‘Bee Wilson has changed the landscape of the kitchen by breathing life into ordinary objects. Through this remarkable book you will find yourself discovering meaning in plates, sadness in spoons, love in a measuring cup. I want to give this book to every cook I know’ Ruth Reichl'A moving and fascinating exploration of the vital role played by household objects in our love of home and family' Sophie Hannah

Winner of the André Simon Food Book Award Shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason Food Book Award ‘Extraordinary’ TELEGRAPH ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Delightful' GUARDIAN 'Bee Wilson is one of my favourite writers and this may be her best book' CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN This strikingly original account from award-winning food writer Bee Wilson charts how everyday objects take on deeply personal meanings in all our lives. One ordinary day, the tin in which Bee Wilson baked her wedding cake fell to the ground at her feet. This should have been unremarkable, except that her marriage had just ended.Unsettled by her own feelings about the heart-shaped tin, Wilson begins a search for others who have attached strong and even magical meanings to kitchen objects. She meets people who deal with grief or pain by projecting emotions onto certain objects, whether it is a beloved parent’s salt shaker, a cracked pasta bowl or an inherited china dinner service. Remembering her own mother, a dementia sufferer, she explores the ways that both of them have been haunted by deciding which kitchen utensils to hold on to and which to get rid of when you think you are losing your mind.Looking to different continents, cultures and civilisations to investigate the full scope of this phenomenon, Wilson blends her own experiences with a series of touching personal stories that reflect the irrational and fundamentally human urge to keep mementos. Why would a man trapped in a concentration camp decide to make a spoon for himself? Why do some people hoard? What do gifts mean? How do we decide what is junk and what is treasure? We see firsthand how objects can contain hidden symbols, keep the past alive and even become powerful symbols of identity and resistance; from a child’s first plate to a refugee’s rescued vegetable corers.Thoughtful, tender and beautifully written, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a moving examination of love, loss, broken cups and the legacy of things we all leave behind.‘With candour and intelligence, Wilson highlights how the props of domestic life become markers of the progress of our lives, but more movingly she probes that it’s possible to recover from heartache with gusto’ The Times & Sunday Times Books of the Year 2025‘Fascinating and also tender’ Diana Henry‘This beautifully written book about the deep significance of certain objects in our kitchen – is nothing less than an intense, compassionate expression of the human condition … Both intimate and expansive, The Heart-Shaped Tin is a book I know I’ll give, urgently and importantly, to those I love’ Nigella Lawson‘Very few food writers can do what Bee does. It made me think again – and with more tenderness – about the kitchen objects that I ordinarily take for granted. These are the human stories embedded in our material culture, and Bee brings them effortlessly to life’ Ruby Tandoh'Heart-wrenching and heart-warming in equal measure. No one is so good at capturing the everyday magic of kitchens, cooking and life as Bee Wilson' Letitia Clark‘Bee Wilson has changed the landscape of the kitchen by breathing life into ordinary objects. Through this remarkable book you will find yourself discovering meaning in plates, sadness in spoons, love in a measuring cup. I want to give this book to every cook I know’ Ruth Reichl'A moving and fascinating exploration of the vital role played by household objects in our love of home and family' Sophie Hannah

Salmonella . . . toxins . . . additives . . . food scares . . . Have you ever wondered how our food has become so untrustworthy? Have we ever been able to trust what we eat? Via a fascinating mix of food politics, history and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many methods by which swindlers have tampered with our food throughout history.From the leaded wine of ancient Rome to the food piracy of the twenty-first century we see the extraordinary ways food has been padded, poisoned, spiked, coloured, substituted, faked and mislabelled everywhere it has been sold.Bee Wilson reveals the strong historical currents which enable the fraudsters to flourish; the battle of the science of deception against the science of detection; the struggle to establish reliable standards. She also suggests some small ways in which we can all protect ourselves from swindles and learn to trust what we eat again.