Food writer Diana Henry has just collected a James Beard Award in America for her latest book 'A Bird in the Hand'. Straight from the plane she joined Sheila Dillon at the Bristol Food Connections Festival.
In this first part of the interview Diana talks about her beginnings in Antrim and how a revelatory French exchange and a move to London opened her eyes to new styles of cooking and fascinating ingredients.
While at University she was mocked for her love of cooking - in the 80s politics was the passion of the day - but the new 'fashionability' of food is not necessarily a good thing, according to Diana.

She's selected a number of excerpts of writing about food - which she feels capture a feeling or describe a moment with beauty and explains why they stand out from others. Her choices include poetry, novels, online articles and restaurant reviews.

The podcast including both parts of this interview are available from the Monday (Part 2) edition of the programme page.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock
Readers: Rebecca Ripley and Sam Woolf. Show less