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Author

Julia Watson

Award-winning cookbook writer and blogger of “Tabled,” a weekly Substack newsletter with recipes and curious facts about ingredients and big food business.

Julia Watson is an award-winning cookbook writer whose journalistic career has taken her from London to Moscow and the United States.

She is co-author with Martin Walker of The Bruno Cookbook published by Diogenes, Zurich, which won Gourmand International’s award for World’s Best French Cookbook in 2015.

The follow-up, The Bruno Garden Cookbook, was published by Diogenes in October 2019 — and also went on to win Gourmand International’s award for World’s Best French Cookbook in 2020. It is due for U.S. publication by Knopf in 2022. Julia now writes “Tabled,” a weekly food blog.

Following several years in the book trade, she started out in journalism at the British Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times — later moving on to The Observer. She became the first Moscow correspondent for The Evening Standard, also filing for the Daily Mail and other print media, and broadcast regularly for news outlets from the BBC World Service to Australian Broadcasting.

Transferring to Washington, D.C., she wrote a weekly American lifestyle column for the UK’s Express Newspapers and filed for other UK and U.S. outlets. She joined United Press International as their Food Writer with three weekly columns — focusing on the politics of food, nutrition and food trends.

At the same time, she wrote on style, food, chefs and restaurants for The Washington Post, Gourmet magazine and other U.S. and UK outlets. Her guide to the U.S. capital’s ethnic food sources — eatWashington — was bought by The Washington Post.

Providing insider guidance on where to source and how to use unfamiliar ethnic ingredients — along with the latest trends in food, chef interviews and the politics of the industrial food business — she turned it into her website eatWashington (now closed) — which became a teaching tool at a number of New York State schools.

Julia is also the author of the novels “Russian Salad” and “American Pie,” published by Bantam. She has compiled collections of poetry for children in hardback and paperback — published by Puffin, Armada Lions, Collins and Faber — and has contributed to numerous books on interiors, house style and food.

Articles by Julia Watson

The Global History of the Peach

Peach cultivation goes back thousands of years. The story of its spread is a remarkable journey from China to India and from Spain to the Americas.

October 20, 2024

What We Are Made of: Blood, Guts — and Plastics

The packaging of the food that we consume is poisoning us with chemicals. We should move toward natural alternatives to safeguard human health and the environment.

October 12, 2024

Mr. Mussel, the Clean-Up Mollusc

Plus: A recipe for Moules Marinière.

September 7, 2024

Sowing the Seeds of Food Fear

Plus: A recipe for walnut, olive or other oil cake.

August 31, 2024

Oh Lord, Just Give Me a … Sorbet

From sorbets to gelato and ice cream, the global history of frozen desserts — Plus: A recipe for Yellow Plum Sorbet.

August 17, 2024

Food From Thin Air? The Future

Scientists all around the world are developing revolutionary food substitutes – ranging from the strange to the bizarre.

May 18, 2024

Food As “Entertainment”

The developed world is losing its culinary heritage.

April 14, 2024

Brother, Can You Spare Some Food?

Plus: A recipe for cheap Moroccan-style chickpea soup.

March 30, 2024

Eggscuse Me, Mr. Putin, We Need Them to Cook

A recipe for easy Hollandaise sauce.

February 24, 2024

In Defense of Carrots

A recipe for Chinese crispy fried beef.

December 9, 2023

Gelato Vs. Ice Cream? No Contest

A recipe for no-churn honeycomb ice cream.

August 20, 2023

Is AI Creating Your Food and Drink?

How artificial intelligence is being utilized to monitor crop production and design food and drink products – and a very refreshing recipe for Nimbu soda.

July 1, 2023

Bottled Water: How Pure Is It?

Microplastics from plastic water bottles can be found everywhere — in meat and dairy products, fish, human blood and even close to the summit of Mount Everest.

August 7, 2022

Big Food Biz Vs. the Amazon Rain Forest

How to buy meat responsibly, plus: A recipe for Ossobuco.

July 7, 2022

Why Pretend It Is Meat?

Face the facts about meat consumption and drop the replicas. Plus, A recipe for mushroom, fingerlings and goat's cheese melt.

May 28, 2022

Potatoes: Not Just Chipper Tubers

A short global history of the potato plus a recipe for an exceptional potato salad

April 9, 2022

Georgia (the Republic) on My Mind

We cannot just worry about the Baltic states, we should also consider Georgia. A very timely tribute to Tbilisi and God's "heavenly feast".

March 4, 2022

Are You Worth Your Salt? A Global Journey

Plus: A recipe for salt-baked fish and roots.

February 5, 2022

We the People: An Important New Year’s Resolution

Increased consumption of ultra-processed foods is directly linked to increased greenhouse gas emissions.

January 1, 2022

COP26, Glasgow — and Curry!

A recipe for a simple store-cupboard curry

November 13, 2021

Butter: The Good Fat With a Long Global Heritage

Butter’s history, its troubled path to the present – plus a recipe for buttery shortbread.

September 5, 2021

Anchovies – Hate Them? Love Them!

Plus: A recipe for Southeast Asian bumbu sauce

August 7, 2021

Relishing the Radish

A cultural and culinary history, plus: A recipe for radish, parsley and goat's cheese salad.

July 4, 2021

Sayonara to Foie Gras

Why not focus our wrath against the mass-producers of cheap chickens before we attack niche-market foie gras?

May 29, 2021

Crop Rotation, Increased Nutrients and Better Health

Eating locally grown, seasonal vegetables is the best health supplement.

May 1, 2021

Global Cuisine: Migraines in Beijing and Jet Lag in Thailand

How the food industry turns you into an addict.

April 4, 2021

Global Cuisine: The Art of Cooking Rice Pudding

From salt, butter and soy: Food fashion (and science) are changing.

March 20, 2021

Caught in a Net?

The perils of shrimping in Vietnam.

March 13, 2021

Restaurants and Society After COVID: A Report from London

Open restaurants will lift the spirits of society as a whole. That is especially important for the young.

February 14, 2021

Cheese and American Grand Strategy

Is the FDA's interest in banning raw cheese imports for the common good?

November 16, 2004