Those Oxford dinners

Reuters fellows who remember the dinner seminars will remember the man who cooked them. I really don’t think this could happen to a nicer person.

Just after the College kitchen had been refurbished Jim took me to have a look. I was astonished to see the ceiling in the main kitchen and said ‘you’ve got a hammer beam roof Jim’

‘1437’ said Jim with a nonchalant pride before pointing out to me a picture of the definitely unrefurbed kitchen in about 1750 with the hunks of meat spit-roasting in the great fireplace where now a sophisticated range and extractor system were in place. Call me sentimental but I loved the fact of cooks producing food in that kitchen for over half a millennium. And I doubt it has always been as good as the food they enjoy now. I’m so glad that the current chef will be a permanent part of the history of the College.