The Food Programme: Food Memoir

Simon Parkes explores the popularity of the food memoir, which has been a growing trend in food writing in recent years. The combination of food writers' recollections and relevant recipes has proved a hit with countless readers. Simon talks to Josceline Dimbleby, who is in the middle of writing her own food memoir, and Italian food writer Anna del Conte talks about 'Risotto with Nettles', which was published earlier this year. In the studio, Kathryn Hughes, journalist, novelist, critic and biographer of Mrs Beeton and John Lanchester, discusses the genre and dissects some of the recent publications. What attracts established food writers to this literary style? How difficult is it to get right? Do the recipes get in the way of a good story, or is it the other way round?