British Library Food Season Big Weekend

The Big Weekend is the climax of the British Library Food Season. Our banquet of delights includes panels exploring food from Eastern Europe, China, the US and Mexico and the way that Latin American sweet treats are at the heart of community.

Amongst much else, we unearth the pleasures of growing food in our gardens, the joys of kitchen tools and some of the big questions about diversity in the industry, the words we use, and the future of eating itself.

Day and weekend passes are available, which will allow you to attend any relevant session.

Please note though that access to individual sessions will be subject to venue capacity, and you are advised to arrive early to the session of your choice to avoid disappointment.

Limited single session tickets are also available to book.

See below for weekend programme. To find out more about each session and the speakers please visit its event page.

Plus, enjoy a range of food and drink on the piazza, with our pop-up vendors:

• The Garden Shed – serving garden fresh salads & special treats
• Origin Coffee – hot and cold drinks and snacks
• The Original Greek Souvlaki – delicious authentic Greek foo
• Rice Guys – fresh and healthy Chinese comfort food
• Chapel Down – serving award-winning English wines
• Hackney Gelato – where Hackney meets Italy, a union made in Heaven

Weekend programme

Saturday 31 May

11.15 Pigott Theatre An A–Z of Language in Food with Jenny Lau, Olia Hercules, Salma Elsahhar and Sally Abé.

11.15 Piazza PavilionLatin American Ingredients: Connecting Communities Through Food with UK based chefs, entrepreneurs and artists Karla Zazueta (Mexico) Camila Marcías (Chile), Sara Castañeda (Ecuador) and Laura Hoyos (Colombia).

13.00 Pigott Theatre Gardening to Feed Body, Soul and Society with Jenny Linford, Leyla Kazim, Kathy Slack, Claire Ratinon and Pam Warhurst.

13.00 Piazza Pavilion From Albania to Zagreb: Eating the Balkans with Irina Janakievska, Jelena Belgrave and Aleksandar Taralezhkov in conversation with Caroline Eden.

14.30 Pigott Theatre Food and Spectacle: Medieval to Modern with experiential producer Sam Bompas, curator Calum Cockburn, “The Pie King” Calum Franklin and historian Dr Eleanor Janega.

14.30 Piazza Pavilion Fish Lives: Women in the Fishing Industrywith a special performance by Femmes de la Mer.

16.30 Piazza Pavilion Kitchen Comforts with Jimi Famurewa, Roopa Gulati, Jenny Lau and Julie Lin.

16.30 Pigott Theatre M.F.K. Fisher: Oysters, Sex and Deathwith Alastair Harper, Rebecca May Johnson, Kennedy Golden, Gurdeep Loyal and Extradition Order.

Sunday 1 June

12.30 Pigott Theatre Beyond the Burger: US Food Wave with food writer Felicity Cloake, chef Tom Zahir, writer Kayla Stewart, and comedian Desiree Burch.

12.30 Piazza Pavilion Beyond the Taco: Mexican Food Here and Nowwith Andrea Montes Renaud, Chloe-Rose Crabtree, Karla Zazueta, Santiago Lastra and Thomasina Miers.

14.00 Pigott Theatre A Few of Our Favourite (Kitchen) Things with Angela Clutton, Bee Wilson and Melek Erdal.

14.15 Piazza Pavilion Beyond the Promises with Mallika Basu, Lorraine Copes (Be Inclusive Hospitality), Aji Akokomi (Akoko, Akara), and Jackson McClarty (Black Eats).

16.00 Pigott Theatre Eat the Future: Radical Ways to Feed Ourselves and Save the Planetwith Dan Saladino, Chloë Dunnett, Daniel Tristao, Thomas Washington and Sorawut Kittibanthorn.

16.00 Piazza Pavilion Martini: Myths, Magic and Mixes with drinks columnist Alice Lascelles, Sipsmith master distiller Jared Brown and award-winning bartender Monica Berg.

Your support

The British Library is a charity. Your support helps us open up a world of knowledge and inspiration for everyone. Please consider adding a donation to your basket.