Beyond the Promises: Food and Drink Five Years

Aji Akokomi founded Akoko restaurant that was awarded a Michelin star in 2024. The Fitzrovia restaurant’s menu riffs on dishes from Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana, paying homage to dishes Aji grew up on and mixing those traditional foods with modern takes. He combines spices sourced across West Africa with the best of British ingredients. Aji trained at Leith’s before opening Akoko. Finding the site and attempting to secure funding demonstrated the systematic problems in the UK restaurant scene – landlords in certain parts of London found the idea of a West African fine dining restaurant too risky, as did investors. Aji self-funded the restaurant and it opened in 2020 between lockdowns. In its first year it was named one of the top 100 restaurants in Britain.

Lorraine Copes is the founder of Be Inclusive hospitality, a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to accelerate race equity and equality within hospitality food and drink. It was set up because of the lack of representation of people of colour within leadership roles, and general visibility throughout the sector, despite making up over 17% of the hospitality population. Originally from Birmingham and of Jamaican parentage, she was previously a Procurement Leader for brands including Corbin & King, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and Shake Shack. She is now a procurement consultant for quality-led hospitality organisations and is a trained life coach.

Jackson Mclarty is the founder of Black Eats LDN, the UK’s largest Black-owned food and culture platform. Mclarty has transformed the hospitality industry, generating over £5 million for Black-owned food vendors and retail businesses in 5 years, drawing more than 260,000 attendees to his festivals. Recognised as a trailblazer, McLarty was named to GUAP’s 30 Under 30 list in 2021 and has served as a judge for Condé Nast Traveller’s New Top Restaurants Awards and Deliveroo’s Cook Off. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Mclarty launched Black Eats LDN in response to only two Black-owned restaurants being reviewed by national publications between 2019 and 2020. He pioneered the first Black-owned food directory, then organised Black-owned markets in Hackney, which has now evolved into the thriving Black Eats Fest in Woolwich. Mclarty has directly supported over 500 Black-owned businesses and collaborated with prestigious festivals including Wireless and Cross the Tracks. As a result, Black food traders increased their presence at major events from 2% to 40(50%.

Mallika Basu is a writer, presenter, and adviser in food, drink, and hospitality. She is the author of two cookbooks, Miss Masala and Masala, and writes the award-nominated newsletter In Good Taste covering the link between food, people and planet, as well as recipes and stories on food and culture in other publications. During the pandemic, she developed proprietary thinking for organisations and changemakers on navigating major cultural shifts, cultural sensitivity and establishing strong foundations in diversity, equity and inclusion thinking. She has worked with Jamie Oliver Group, Waitrose, Tesco, Ocado, and Belazu, as well as food writers, publishers, and broadcasters. Mallika is committee member for diversity at the Guild of Food Writers and was board adviser to Be Inclusive Hospitality for two years.

The British Library Food Season returns for its seventh year, bringing together some of the most influential names in food, drink, hospitality, literature and science, for a series of events that highlight the stories, the politics and the people behind how and why we eat. Discover more Food Season events. 

There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, half-price tickets for students and under 26s, free entry for carers as well as a number of other concessions.

Please note that this event takes place at Pavilion Theatre on the piazza of the British Library, London.

Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.  If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk