The Plagiarist in the Kitchen

Jonathan Meades

A lifetime’s culinary thefts

’Jonathan Meades is the Jonathan Meades of our generation’ A.A. Gill

Best known as a provocative novelist, journalist and film-maker, Jonathan Meades has also been called ‘the best amateur chef in the world’ by Marco Pierre White. He insists that anyone who claims to have invented a dish is delusional, dishonestly contributing to the myth of culinary originality.

In this polemical but highly usable collection, he presents 125 of his favourite recipes, each one an example of the fine art of culinary plagiarism. These are dishes and methods he has hijacked, adapted, improved upon and made his own.

Without assuming any special knowledge or skill, the book is full of excellent advice. Meades tells us why the British never got the hang of garlic, that a purist would never dream of putting cheese in a gratin dauphinois, that cooking brains in brown butter cannot be improved upon, and why –despite the advice of Martin Scorsese’s mother – he insists on frying his meatballs.

In a world dominated by health fads, food vloggers and over-priced kitchen gadgets, The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is a timely reminder that, when it comes to food, it’s almost always better to borrow than to invent.

‘Witty, forthright and full of excellent recipes’ The Spectator

‘Meades is one of our most eloquent and excellent iconoclasts. Although the prose is as opinionated and elegant as you’d expect, this is a brilliant, magnificently old-fashioned cookbook’ Mail on Sunday

‘The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is hilariously grumpy, muttering at us “Don’t you bastards know anything?” You can read it purely for literary pleasure, but Jonathan Meades makes everything sound so delicious that the non-cook will be moved to cook and the bad cook will cook better’ David Hare, The Guardian

‘I adore Meades’ book . . . I want more of his rule-breaking irreverence in my kitchen’ New York Times

‘Defiant, playful, and possibly punch drunk as ever’ TLS

Paperback: 256pp

Published: Wilton Square (October 2025)

ISBN: 9781783528523