Kay Plunkett-Hogge

Kay Plunkett-Hogge is an acclaimed food and drinks writer, and the author of Aperitivo:Drinks And Snacks For The Dolce Vita (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), Adventures Of A Terribly Greedy Girl (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), A Sherry And A Little Plate Of Tapas (Mitchell Beazley, 2016), Heat: Cooking With Chillies (Quercus, 2016) and Make Mine A Martini (Mitchell Beazley, 2014). In addition to her own books, Kay has co-authored a further six books, working with the award-winning chef Bryn Williams on his two books Bryn’s Kitchen and For The Love Of Veg, Academy Award nominated actor Stanley Tucci on his second cookbook The Tucci Table, and with the American pizza guru Chris Bianco. She also co-wrote Leon: Family and Friends with John Vincent and Cook Yourself Thin: Quick and Easy. Born and brought up in 1970s Bangkok, Kay spent her childhood between two kitchens — inside for Western food, outside for Thai — before forging an international career in the film and fashion industries. It is an experience which has given her an in-depth knowledge of cuisines from all over the world. Kay began her food career when she set up a bespoke location catering service for fashion shoots. Since then, she has worked as a food consultant for a variety of restaurants and bars, including Leon, The Formosa Café, Isola del Sole, Ma Goa, The Siam Hotel, Bangkok and The Luang Prabang Motorcycle Club. Her cult book, Make Mine A Martini, was the Financial Times’s pick for drinks book of the year, and led to her induction into the prestigious Gin Guild (in the words of Heston Blumenthal: “She shakes a damn fine cocktail.”). She has written regularly on cocktails for The Daily Telegraph and Sainsbury’s Magazine, has contributed to The Guardian, FT Weekend, and Olive Magazine, and has published recipes in The Times, The Independent, Hello and Borough Market’s Market Life magazine. She now writes a regular monthly column for Delicious Magazine entitled We Need To Talk About… She lives in London with her husband, two cats and a dog.