Joy is Patisserie, with Alexina Anatole

Honey & Co: The Food Sessions is back for season 11 with a brand new theme: JOY.

In times like these, when the world can feel a little overwhelming, it’s more important than ever to seek out and savour the joy wherever we can find it. Working in restaurants, we have three moments in a day to bring joy: breakfast, lunch and dinner, but what about the moments in between? This question is at the heart of the latest season of The Food Sessions which sees us sit down with brilliant people from all walks of life: chefs, broadcasters, comedians and fashion designers to not only talk about what they do day-to-day, but also to explore the passions that enrich their lives.

In this episode we talk to London-based chef, presenter and writer, Alexina Anatole. Alexina is of mixed heritage: the granddaughter of chicken farmers from Cambridgeshire and Saint Lucian grandparents. She worked in finance for a decade before deciding to apply for MasterChef in 2021. After reaching the final, she made a brave career change from the trading floor to the food world. Alexina has written two cookbooks – Bitter and Sweet, with more on the way – and she also writes Small Wins, a Substack newsletter that enhances your cooking and your life in small, manageable ways. We talked about the joy of growing up in Paris, of picking blackberries with her grandparents and working in a fishmongers as a teen, all things that fed into her love affair food. We talked about the simple pleasures of working away to perfect a meringue recipe and the excitement of exploring new places to eat, plus the turning point at which she felt ready to make the switch from finance to the food world and finding her place within it.

This season is sponsored by Square, the point of sale system that we use in all our restaurants. You can use their software and hardware for payments, sales, inventory, bookings, orders, reports and more. Square are currently offering £4,000 worth of free hardware to eligible businesses, so if you're ready to get your business in better shape, head to square.com to learn more and book a demo with the team.

Hosts: Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich

Producer: Miranda Hinkley

Sound Engineer: Melis Uslu

Sound Mixer: Paul Brogden

Theme Song: Daniel Winshall

Honey & Co Team: Louisa Cornford & Winnie Thomas

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