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A Thousand Feasts: a new memoir on how to find joy in food, travel and gardening
Not yet published
Expected 1 Sep 27- GenresNonfiction
384 pages, Paperback
Expected publication September 1, 2027
23 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Slater
83 books430 followersNigel Slater is a British food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for seventeen years and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was food writer for Marie Claire for five years. He also serves as art director for his books.
Although best known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes presented in early bestselling books such as The 30-Minute Cook and Real Cooking, as well as his engaging, memoir-like columns for The Observer, Slater became known to a wider audience with the publication of Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, a moving and award-winning autobiography focused on his love of food, his childhood, his family relationships (his mother died of asthma when he was nine), and his burgeoning sexuality.
Slater has called it "the most intimate memoir that any food person has ever written". Toast was published in Britain in October 2004 and became a bestseller after it was featured on the Richard and Judy Book Club.
"I think the really interesting bits of my story was growing up with this terribly dominating dad and a mum who I loved to bits but obviously I lost very early on; and then having to fight with the woman who replaced her ... I kind of think that in a way that that was partly what attracted me to working in the food service industry, was that I finally had a family." As he told The Observer, "The last bit of the book is very foody. But that is how it was. Towards the end I finally get rid of these two people in my life I did not like [his father and stepmother, who had been the family's cleaning lady] - and to be honest I was really very jubilant - and thereafter all I wanted to do was cook."
In 1998 Slater hosted the Channel 4 series Nigel Slater's Real Food Show. He returned to TV in 2006 hosting the chat/food show A Taste of My Life for BBC One.
Slater has two elder brothers, Adrian and John. John was the child of a neighbour, and was adopted by Slater's parents before the writer was born.
He lives in the Highbury area of North London, where he maintains a kitchen garden which often features in his column.
Although best known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes presented in early bestselling books such as The 30-Minute Cook and Real Cooking, as well as his engaging, memoir-like columns for The Observer, Slater became known to a wider audience with the publication of Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, a moving and award-winning autobiography focused on his love of food, his childhood, his family relationships (his mother died of asthma when he was nine), and his burgeoning sexuality.
Slater has called it "the most intimate memoir that any food person has ever written". Toast was published in Britain in October 2004 and became a bestseller after it was featured on the Richard and Judy Book Club.
"I think the really interesting bits of my story was growing up with this terribly dominating dad and a mum who I loved to bits but obviously I lost very early on; and then having to fight with the woman who replaced her ... I kind of think that in a way that that was partly what attracted me to working in the food service industry, was that I finally had a family." As he told The Observer, "The last bit of the book is very foody. But that is how it was. Towards the end I finally get rid of these two people in my life I did not like [his father and stepmother, who had been the family's cleaning lady] - and to be honest I was really very jubilant - and thereafter all I wanted to do was cook."
In 1998 Slater hosted the Channel 4 series Nigel Slater's Real Food Show. He returned to TV in 2006 hosting the chat/food show A Taste of My Life for BBC One.
Slater has two elder brothers, Adrian and John. John was the child of a neighbour, and was adopted by Slater's parents before the writer was born.
He lives in the Highbury area of North London, where he maintains a kitchen garden which often features in his column.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy
A great gift. This book is perfect for bedside or kitchen table reading. Pick it up when you want light reading and soft snippets of the joy in gardening, food, and home. It helps you slow down and savor the present. I was told he’s like the Charles Dickens of cooking, and I wholeheartedly agree 💚💭⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(forgot to add, do not read when hungry)
(forgot to add, do not read when hungry)
January 12, 2026
This book is a collection of short - a sentence to a few hundred words - thoughts or memories on a range of topics from travel to food and home.
I struggled to understand what the author was trying to achieve. I never really understood why he felt we should care about what he had to say. At one level the snippets were too short and seemingly haphazard to develop an idea or theme. At another whilst his writing is pleasant I don't think you read this for how he weaves language together. At one point he mentions Robert Macfarlane but this has none of Macfarlane's mastery of words, ideas and structure.
For me it started off on a bad footing - a collection of articles about his pleasure eating various foods. It felt like the written equivalent of a social media feed of photos of other people's food. I came close to abandoning. Fortunately the section where he describes his cooking, and to some degree his kitchen is more successful. Those sections raised it to a 2 star.
At the end I realised that the social media analogy is possibly the best I can think of. The whole book is like scrolling through some algorithmic feed and maybe if this is what you like then it will appeal. Personally I avoid this aspect of modern life and therefore a book which tries to mirror it was always going to be a huge disappointment.
On the plus side the writing is easy and there's a lot of white space so the book only took a few hours to read.
I struggled to understand what the author was trying to achieve. I never really understood why he felt we should care about what he had to say. At one level the snippets were too short and seemingly haphazard to develop an idea or theme. At another whilst his writing is pleasant I don't think you read this for how he weaves language together. At one point he mentions Robert Macfarlane but this has none of Macfarlane's mastery of words, ideas and structure.
For me it started off on a bad footing - a collection of articles about his pleasure eating various foods. It felt like the written equivalent of a social media feed of photos of other people's food. I came close to abandoning. Fortunately the section where he describes his cooking, and to some degree his kitchen is more successful. Those sections raised it to a 2 star.
At the end I realised that the social media analogy is possibly the best I can think of. The whole book is like scrolling through some algorithmic feed and maybe if this is what you like then it will appeal. Personally I avoid this aspect of modern life and therefore a book which tries to mirror it was always going to be a huge disappointment.
On the plus side the writing is easy and there's a lot of white space so the book only took a few hours to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews