Delia Smith, Mary Berry, winners, losers and a river of gin
A peek behind the scenes of the Guild of Food of Writers Awards and an absolutely cracking cucumber and crab salad, perfect for a hot day ... or anytime.
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“I keep entering the awards just to let them know I’m still alive,” laughed one veteran food writer, wiping sweat from her brow with her scarf as she scooched past us in the crowd.
The evening was blistering, the air thick with the kind of weighty heat that melts mascara and is good for nothing, really, except repose in a darkened room. Even my hair was sweating. And yet, there we were, crowding the book-lined salons and expansive hallways of the grand Royal Institution in London (circa 1799) for the annual Guild of Food Writers Awards.