James Middleton is not the only royal-adjacent failson shilling a book these days. Tom Parker Bowles is also promoting his book, and it’s endlessly funny to me that James and Tom are promoting their books at the same time and that the British media has absolutely no criticisms to make of all of this tackiness. Even funnier is that James Middleton is getting much more attention than the queen’s son. Ouch. Not that I want to defend Tom Parker Bowles, but the man has always written about food. That’s his thing, that’s his career, he’s a food writer, so writing a book about food isn’t going to damage the monarchy. The thing is, his new book is Cooking & The Crown, and it’s all about royal food throughout Britain’s history. Well, Tom wrote a piece in the Mail about royal food: “What the Queen, Charles and Camilla really eat, reveals TOM PARKER BOWLES – and the surprising foods that are always off the menu.” Tacky. An excerpt from his Mail piece:
As I discovered while researching my new book, Cooking And The Crown, royal dining isn’t all roast cygnet, turtle soup and songbirds stuffed with foie gras. Far from it. Although those two monarchs were prodigious eaters, their descendants, from George V to King Charles, were (and are) rather more abstemious in their appetites.
While the book is packed with royal edible history, it’s a cookbook first and foremost, a distillation of all the best of eating in palaces and castles over the years, and one I hope will become stained and battered with constant use. You’ll find everything from fish goujons and chicken salad, through Irish stew, pasta with mushrooms and martinis to shortbread, Queen Mary’s chocolate cake and creme brulee.
Today, though, with the exception of state banquets and official dinners, The King and Queen eat simple, healthy and resolutely seasonal food, whether they’re at Buckingham Palace, Sandringham or Balmoral. Their chefs, under the expert control of Royal Chef Mark Flanagan, travel with them.
The King and Queen really know their food. There is no man who knows more about food and farming, from the best of British cheeses, through rare breeds of sheep and cow, to heritage varieties of plum, apple and pear, than the King.
Charles is a true food hero, and he very much practices what he preaches. The King has long talked about the importance of sustainable agriculture, and there is no waste at his table. Just like the sovereigns before him, his kitchens are filled with the seasonal bounty of the royal estates and gardens, from game, beef and lamb, to peas, strawberries, raspberries and chard. That, along with state banquets, and the importance of tea as a mid-afternoon meal, is a tradition that has endured through the ages.
Food is cooked and prepared in the cavernous kitchens of Windsor Castle, 750 years old, with soaring, arched ceilings, and two fireplaces at each end, large enough to roast an entire ox. Or at Buckingham Palace, where the original kitchens, designed by George IV, were a sweaty, torrid hellhole, with sewage leaking through the floors and the air thick with coal smoke and curses. It was Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, who decided to move the kitchen to the other side of the palace in 1851, making it cooler, cleaner and altogether more civilised. It remains there to this day, complete with old fireplace and the rotisserie, which is operated by a complex system of weights and pulleys.
One of the things I learned about covering QEII’s eating and drinking habits is that while she wanted all seasonal dishes, she did not like any kind of seasoning, so palace food was usually very bland. I don’t think she even really liked salt. But she was usually pickled, consuming martinis and aperitifs throughout the day. I think King Charles is the same way with preferring unseasoned food, and Camilla is the same way about being constantly drunk or buzzed. While there’s much to appreciate in Charles’s passion for farming, I’ve never gotten the impression that he actually enjoys food or appreciates a good meal or a good dish. All of that money and access and private chefs, and he just munches granola and berries throughout the day.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Well, that description of the old BP kitchen put me off. Ewww. And Charles’ chefs travel with him wherever he goes? I just figured there was a different chef at each place. Interesting.
I wonder how much he gets paid? My guess is not enough.
I gotta admit I’m seriously considering getting this book… at least at the library. Not so much for the current royal diets but the history and the historical recipes sound pretty interesting. I have a cookbook I got at the British museum years ago by Clarissa Dixon Wright about the history of English cooking, and it’d be cool to see what the very upper crusty types were doing.
I have always loved history and although I am far from being fondof this generation of British royals, i’m curious about what they eat, their ancient recipes, what they like to eat. And love to see if I can make the same recipes at home. I am sure charles knows a lot about farm food and loves to eat organic from his gardens, but 💯 this king doesnt eat bland and traveling his chef around is proof that he not only knows what he wants but is also very specific. Also trusts that this one wont poison him with a wrong mushroom? 🍄
If the history is of interest, you may enjoy the article below. One of the ways scientists determined those bones from the parking lot in Leicester were likely Richard III (in addition to the DNA tests) was by doing chemical analysis of the bones and teeth to determine what he ate and drank, when (before and after taking the throne), and where he was likely living at different points (comparing it to the historical record).
Unless you have ready access to peacocks and swans, however, you’ll be out of luck trying to recreate any recipes…
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/richard-iii-really-ate-and-drank-like-a-king/
When they were trying to do dating the period was “off” initially because it didn’t account for changes wrought by his “rich guy” diet which included a very high protein diet and many more and varied ocean fishes on “fast days”. (Which apparently increased even more in the last years of his life, when he was King and mostly based in London rather than the North.)
There were a lot of “fish days” in the late-medieval Roman Catholic calendar but the gen pop mostly had salt cod for those.
Well I don’t care what they eat but they should be careful not to choke on it.
What about Charles, the soft-boiled egg expert who literally would reject dozens of poached eggs that were deemed inedible by his expert palate?
That kind of goes against that nothing wasted Bs then. Unless, he makes someone else eat them.
Maybe KC & QCC could donate $$ and equally good quality food to “The People” instead pf continuing to be wealth hoarding clowns.
I swear now that QEIi & Phil are gone they should have closed up The Firm.
All the details are so, so outdated and foolish.
Look at that pic with Cam, Tom, some guy and the cake cutting, stop all of that nonsense and 99% of the Earths population would not even notice.
Royal work? Garbage. Grifters. Fools.
Isn’t this book a breach of the Royal Family’s privacy? Where’s the outrage?
The outrage is at the same place where it was when it came out Charlie boy paying Cowmillas children security before their marriage, or when he put up a trustfund for them or when he payd for a house for them. Nowhere this women has Charlies balls in her hand and he would not do anything that made her angry or unhappy, a former staffmember said that Charlie does not care for anything or anyone else but when it comes to someone going after his beloved horseface wife he turns into a monster. That would explane how could he turn his back to his own child and grandchildren, Harry never accepted that bi.. and Charlie choose her over his child
I would argue that Cluck chose Cloppy over his own country. It’s falling to pieces and he literally dgaf.
Fresh granola and berries certainly have their place, and in a recipe less can very often be more! But I remain baffled that someone with a private chef and the resources to get any ingredient in the world would would want such a simple and what sounds like very repetitive diet, if that were me I’d be eating from a different cuisine every night.
So they eat aggressively unseasoned food?
My in laws are also like this, and from the north east (I’m from south Texas and thought unseasoned food was a myth). Supposedly it’s because my husband’s grandfather lived in a Catholic orphanage in the 193s for several years (he had 9 older siblings/half siblings and it took years for one to come get him). They apparently didn’t waste salt on Catholic orphans, so he didn’t like seasoning and everyone else had just gone along with that. For 3+ generations now. The food is horrible, it’s like eating baby food. I can’t imagine being rich, having a private chef, and eating pre purreed baby food. Nothing sounds worse
I have a relative from Iowa (no offense to Iowans) who is aggressively bland in her cooking. Her idea of spaghetti is boiled noodles, not pasta, with Campbell’s tomato soup poured over it. She is never asked to cook for family get togethers.
I couldn’t care less what these people eat and it is absolutely cynical to sell such a snobbish book at a time of hardship and poverty in the UK. Meghan’s book contains recipes that can feed communities and are tasty and inexpensive. Proceeds from the sale of Meghan’s cookery book, which continues to do well, will benefit these communities. The proceeds and benefits of this son’s cookbook go to him and his mother. That’s the difference between noble and cheap. In an ethical sense.
Very well said Lavendel.
And the women who contributed to Meghan’s book likely had relatives who developed the recipes themselves. This is the royals, as usual, co-opting other people’s work and research. Why shouldn’t some of the actual chefs be allowed to publish this type book instead of amarried-in relative of the RF?
I have Meghan’s cookbook – I like it a lot, love the stories and the recipes, but I wouldn’t say they’re inexpensive to make. There are a lot of spices and other ingredients that aren’t always easy to get and might not be useful for everyday cooking – of course, that depends on one’s culture. Oddly, it seems that the resolutely plain food of the royals might be the least expensive – it’s the team of traveling chefs that makes it costly.
I too have the recipe book and I find the ingredients not in supermarkets where they might be expensive but in the shops owned by and for the more ethnic communities we have in my area… in these shops these items are cheap, and the shop owners are lovely and helpful when I ask what things are – that I have maybe only seen processed in a spice jar. I have learned a lot and am now considered a regular in one shop ! The white blonde slightly mad English lady is welcomed and they encourage me to try new things. So much better and a much happier place than a supermarket. And I don’t live in London!
“…with sewage leaking through the floors…”
😳
I read that and lost whatever appetite I had 🥴🤢..
Another of those what Charles and Camilla are “really like” books. And what they like to eat. Can he plug these books without name dropping?
Will Tom get space in People Magazine next?
No, THR will write a “professional article” about him and his mum’s porridge.
Do you mean like this?
https://people.com/queen-camilla-reunites-ex-husband-andrew-parker-bowles-son-tom-book-launch-8707527
James got a feature in the print edition. Was this TPB article also in print or just online. At least APB gets some mention here.
I travel with my tin of Old Bay and bottle of Crystal hot sauce, but I’m a city-dwelling American, and rarely have access to truly fresh food — like herbs from my nonexistent garden, truly fresh fish and shellfish, or corn, or anything really really fresh and not, at some point, wrapped up in plastic. So maybe when the quality and freshness of the food go up, the need for seasoning and embellishments go down?
I live in coastal Northern California and tend to “eat seasonal” myself as I am old enough to remember when out of season was impossible to find or expensive. We have a really good variety available to us which is nice because I grew up in the middle of all those farms and I am picky about produce. I get a CSA farm box which is super fresh but we have farmer’s markets and some indy grocers that get sparkling fresh produce.
It doesn’t say much about “seasoning” in the article – not sure about the book – but I do tend to keep it simple myself. I do season my meat/veg (salt, pepper, butter/olive oil, garlic, herbs). (I don’t do hot sauce myself because it makes me hiccup, but Old Bay is awesome. I also have a selection of Penzey’s blends.)
One thing I will say for Charles is that he was ahead of his time with the “local, seasonal, organic” food thing. He was regarded as a crank back in the day.
One of the first overseas trips he and Camilla took as a married couple was to Northern California Foodie Paradise and he definitely hit a lot of the local foodie high spots. Ostensibly he was Guest of Honor at the reopening of the DeYoung Museum in SF but he had fun on the tour.
Maybe Charles wasn’t taken seriously with his “local” deal because his “local” changes so much and by taking private jets.
I’m just trying to picture how you resolutely season food 🤣 Boldly? Strongly? Relentlessly?
Or just a little s +p with an attitude?
Is this a word that has a different meaning in Britain?
It’s “resolutely seasonAL food.” Seasoning is not mentioned because I doubt they know what that is. Charles seems to have a very mild palate and the only flavor Camilla likes is the juniper in her gin.
I caught that on a reread (as opposed to a glance in the drs office). But I’m sticking with my mental image of a chef making an odd expression as he prepares the dish! 😂
‘There is no man who knows more about food and farming.” Suck-up much? Maybe those, say, who actually DO these things for a living know more?
I’ll take a look at it when it gets to my library.
The part of this excerpt I find puzzling is, “…and there is no waste at his table. Just like the sovereigns before him, his kitchens are filled with the seasonal bounty of the royal estates and gardens, from game, beef and lamb, to peas, strawberries, raspberries and chard.” Who is being fed from all of this bounty? If it’s just two abstemious septuagenarians, there’ll be plenty of waste.
I’m just surprised that Camilla still hasn’t tried to give a knighthood to her son (we don’t hear much about her daughter so maybe she doesn’t care as much, like Thatcher did with her daughter).
This article about the kitchens and the food… it is vulgar. It is infuriating.
People are hungry, poverty line is going up, the crown is costing the country 500,000,000 (half a billion) per annum, they keep the windfalls from farms leasing seabed instead of going into the government and people can’t afford to heat their homes while the new government is finding so many financial black holes the UK is going to be fucked for generations to come if it ever comes out of it.
Shame on them.