Welcome to our 250th issue! Much has happened since that first magazine, but we continue to celebrate good eating and all that goes hand in hand with it – the people, places and stories, the campaigners and superstars, the fishers and farmers, and those who quietly continue to grow, harvest and work with great food.
We take a sneak peek inside the test kitchens of three very different food businesses, from the ideas factory for a Michelin-starred chef in the Lake District and the test kitchen of the Ottolenghi empire to a family of taco-testing super-nerds in Wales.
David Williams points us in the direction of some of his favourite under-rated wines such as “a crisp, fresh, nutty, yeasty and salty match for seafood” from Sanlúcar and a deliciously steely, fruity high street riesling.
We have lunch with Simon Amstell, take a look at Annie Macmanus’s Life on a Plate and Jay Rayner mourns the sad departure of the melba toast and the cutlet frill.
For some this might be their first Observer Food Monthly (and to them we say welcome); others may have been with us since that very first issue (we really cannot thank you enough).
Whether you are on your first or your 250th, we sincerely hope you will carry on enjoying us in the years to come. Together we can continue to celebrate the joys of the table.