Food writing is about so much more than recipes - it's about memory, identity, belonging and the way a single dish can hold an entire world. Two of the most exciting voices in contemporary food writing come together in this rich, delicious conversation about the ever-evolving relationship between author and reader and the responsibilities, challenges and pleasures inherent in writing about food and culture- whether your own, or someone else’s. 
MiMi Aye, whose wonderful cookbook, Mandalay, brought Burmese (aka Myanmar) cuisine to a UK audience, joins Tim Anderson, the charismatic author of multiple cookbooks about the food of Japan including his latest, Japan Easy Kitchen, in a conversation moderated by local food writer Nic Miller. 
 
Format: Conversation & Q&A
Themes: Non-Fiction, Adults, Young People, Food
Access: Live Captioning
 
MiMi Aye Books: Mandalay, Noodle!
MiMi Aye is a food and culture writer whose award-winning book ‘MANDALAY: Recipes & Tales from a Burmese Kitchen’ was chosen by The Observer, The FT, and The Mail on Sunday as one of their Best Books of the year. MANDALAY has been described by Nigella Lawson as 'a really loving and hungry-making introduction to a fascinating cuisine' and by Tom Parker-Bowles as 'a glorious revelation … autobiography, history and recipes all rolled into one magnificent whole … a brilliant, beguiling book’. Named as one of the ‘coolest women in food’ by Stylist magazine, MiMi also writes about anti-racism and politics, with bylines in TIME and the i newspaper. She has been raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar since the military coup in 2021, including fronting an Amnesty International campaign. MiMi was also the host of food and culture podcast The MSG Pod and supperclub and online community Burmese Food & Beyond. She is on social media as @meemalee.
 
Tim Anderson Books: JapanEasy Kitchen, Hokkaido, Your Home Izakaya, Japaneasy, Ramen Forever, JapanEasy Bowls & Bento, Vegan JapanEasy, Tokyo Stories
Tim Anderson is a Wisconsin-born writer now resident in London specialising in Japanese cookery. In 2011 he won MasterChef and went on to  run the much-loved restaurant Nanban between 2015 and 2021. He has published ten books, including Your Home Izakaya, Hokkaido, and the JapanEasy series of which JapanEasy Kitchen is the latest.
Nigella Lawson has described him as someone who “seems to know exactly what I want to be eating even before I do!... I return to his books again and again; his recipes have become part of my life”, and described his book Vegan JapanEasy as “a ravishingly beautiful book … and a primer on flavour, pointing the home cook towards one taste sensation after another.”
Tim’s writing has appeared in Newsweek, Vittles, National Geographic Traveller Food, Pellicle, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Pit Magazine, Olive, and Delicious. He is also a longtime regular panellist on The Kitchen Cabinet and a veteran podcast presenter. In addition, he writes about Midwestern American food culture in his newsletter, 24 Hour Pancake People.
 
Nic Miller
Nicola is a Bury St Edmunds–based food, travel and culture writer and broadcaster. She won the Guild of Food Writers Best Online Writer award in 2020 for her newsletter Tales From Topographic Kitchens, and was named Fortnum & Mason Cookery Writer of the Year in 2022 for her monthly print and digital column in Suffolk News.
Nicola writes for publications including OFM, The Guardian, and Waitrose Food, co-hosts a lunchtime show on Suffolk Sound radio and regularly chairs live events. In 2025, she chaired her first event for the Bury Literature Festival, interviewing Olia Hercules and Felicity Spector, and she previously served on the committee for the festival’s inaugural year in 2017.