Q&A exclusive with Tom Parker Bowles 

Liz Nicholls

The Castle Hotel, Windsor, will welcome British food writer and critic Tom Parker Bowles for an exclusive Q&A event on 6^th March, following the release of his latest book, Cooking & The Crown. We caught up with him about our favourite subject… FOOD! 

Tom Parker Bowles will star in an intimate evening of food, drink, and storytelling on Thursday, 6th March, at The Castle Hotel, just steps from Windsor’s iconic castle. 

Following extensive research, including at the Royal Archives in Windsor, Tom has documented recipes from extravagant Victorian high teas to his mother Camilla’s simple yet delicious cooking…. 

Q. Hello Tom. Your new – ninth – cookbook Cooking & the Crown sounds fascinating. Whose eating habits did you find the most fascinating and why? “Edward VII was a world-class trencherman, and an inspiration too. It was not just the range of food he loved, from the starriest peaks of haute cuisine to great British classics like roast beef, game pie and potted shrimps. But the sheer volume of food he could eat. A vast breakfast (if he was racing or shooting, which was quite a lot), elevenses of a lobster cocktail, or flask of turtle soup; lunch ran to 14 courses, tea a mighty spread, and dinner another 14 or so courses of foie gras filled, butter and cream-soaked magnificence.” 

Q. Please could you tell us your first memories of food? “I grew up in the country, and my mother was a good cook, my father a great gardener. We ate very well. Classic British food – lamb chops, baked trout, roast chicken, shepherd’s pie in winter. Then in the summer we’d go for two weeks to the island of Ischia, just off Naples, and eat some of the most wonderful south Italian food. But despite all this lovely seasonal, local and organic eating, what my sister and me really craved was cheap white bread, Ice Magic, and Monster Munch from the Chippenham Sainsbury’s. That, for us, was the real magic.” 

Q. Do you still enjoy the simple, delicious cooking as cooked by your mother The Queen? “She no longer cooks, save occasionally scrambled eggs when we’re staying with her after Christmas. She makes very good scrambled egg.” 

Q. Which is your favourite meal of the day & why? “Lunch. As it is so full of potential and possibility. Dinner is finite, whereas lunch can lead into dinner and beyond. There is no finer meal than lunch. Brunch, on the other hand, is a horrible abomination. Urgh.” 

Q. Is there anything you don’t eat or drink, and why? “I’ve eaten pretty much everything over the past 25 years, from insects and cold blood soup to pig’s penis and dog stew. I really would not recommend that last one. But it’s goat’s cheese I really can’t bear. And it annoys me, as I love every other kind of cheese. But it tastes like licking the farmyard floor. I am, though, trying to love it. Without much success.” 

Q. Please tell us a little about your love for Windsor? “I spent five very happy years just over the bridge. I did seem to spend rather too much time in McDonald’s, as well as various pubs. The Crispin, when I was 14, was a favourite, as they would serve underage boys. It was a hell of a walk away, though. As we got older, the pubs we visited grew closer to the centre. In my final years, I loved The Two Brewers, at the entrance to the Long Walk. And The Old Trout, just over the bridge.” 

Q. Also, do you visit Oxford much, and if so what are your favourite pubs or restaurants? “Yup. Love Oxford. I was at prep school there, and university too. Brown’s is, sadly, a shadow of its former self. But Kopitiam, in Summertown does great Malaysian food. Bhoomi Kitchen in Headington does excellent Southern Indian, while Oli’s Thai [in Magdalen Road, East Oxford] is a cracking place for real Thai food. Then there’s the ever wonderful Pompette, in Summertown, for really classic French bistro cooking, And, of course, the magnificent Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, for some of the best food in the country.” 

Q. Is there a particular ingredient or foodstuff you’re borderline obsessed with? I’m thinking Pot Noodle or similar maybe..? “Hot sauce, and anything with chilli, I can’t live without it. I also love cheap ‘cheese’ slices and most brands of instant noodles, especially Indomie and Buldak 2 x Spicy.” 

Q. Who were your foodie heroes growing up? “Keith Floyd and Delia.” 

Q.  Have you ever been star struck? “Endlessly.” 

Q. What’s your essential bit of kitchen kit? “A good knife, a wooden spoon and a Netherton Foundry frying pan.” 

Q. What’s one thing about restaurant life behind the scenes you wish diners knew? “What hard work it is to run a successful restaurant. You have to do it for love, not the thought of making cash.” 

Q. If you had a magic wand what would you wish for? “My own taco stand, flown in from Mexico City. Oh, and world peace. Obvs.”