Thank you, Loyle Carner!

Eight years ago this arrived in my inbox:

“Hey Yotam, loyle carner here. So this song came about because i was on the train to the studio reading your book Jerusalem when this family across from me asked what kind of bible it was. I was moved, and realised cooking books especially yours have become a bit like bibles to me.

I have to admit I’m a rather big fan of yours, and have cooked the cod fish cakes from that book about 10 times this summer alone.”

I’ll admit I didn’t know who Loyle Carner was at the time. I do now.

He is a hip-hop artist, one of the nicest people I know, and one of the most talented. Cool and personable and real in a way that very few people are, let alone people who are so famous. He runs a cookery school for young people with ADHD - Chilli Con Carner - and he’s a wonderful father. He also loves food, and wrote a song called Ottolenghi. I managed to make my first and only music video cameo in it.

A couple of weekends ago, I went to hear him perform it at the Love Supreme festival, and watched an audience witness something genuinely special. His performance felt like a long trance and I didn’t want to be woken from it.

Thank you, Loyle, for your friendship and your art. And please keep making those cod cakes.