The cr��me de la cr��me

 

By THEA LENARDUZZI

Every ten seconds, a TLS writer is nominated for an award somewhere in the world. Well, perhaps not quite, but the statistic can���t be that far off, and to keep track of all of our writers��� achievements would require a whole new department in JC���s basement labyrinth. (Its employees would have to be kept apart from those working on the committee of the All Must Have Prizes Prize, mingling only in the windowless canteen where they might exchange a respectful nod across their lukewarm bowls of gruel.)

Food may not be the first thing that people think of when they think of the TLS, but it will come as no surprise to many that our long-time contributor Bee Wilson should be shortlisted for a Fortnum and Mason award for her writing in the TLS. (Her pieces for the TLS include reviews of The Health Gap: The challenge of an unequal world by Michael Marmot and four books on the history of food, including Eatymologies by William Sayers and A Century of British Cooking by Marguerite Patten.) Wilson joins Tim Hayward and Xanthe Clay in competing for the annual Food Writer toque, and there are fourteen other categories, including Restaurant Writer (Giles Coren; Marina O���Loughlin;���Tracey MacLeod), Cookery Writer (Felicity Cloake; Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer; Rachel Roddy), and Radio & Podcast (Farming Today; On Your Farm; The Food Programme). Winners in each category will receive, among other things, a ���luxury hamper worth ��500��� (at which point one hopes they'll remember their greying, gruel-bloated editors . . .).The cr��me de la cr��me will be announced tomorrow ��� best of luck to all.