Chitra Ramaswamy shares the meals that made her with Canongate
Canongate has acquired Bread and Butter... And Other Dishes That Made Me by author and journalist Chitra Ramaswamy. Publisher-at-large Francis Bickmore acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Sophie Lambert at C&W Agency, with publication scheduled for April 2027.
The blurb reads: “What do a lime pickle sandwich eaten in a 1980s school canteen in London, a lasagne sent in the post and a mango stone chased by a dog have in common? They are all dishes that have made Chitra Ramaswamy who she is. In this lyrical exploration of the joys of breaking bread, one of Britain’s most original writers and brilliant restaurant critics traces twelve meals that have shaped her.
“Bread and Butter takes us from a family takeaway in a McDonald’s drive-through car park to a Michelin-starred tasting menu eaten alone. From the historic Bangalore tiffin room where a daughter glimpses her mother’s younger self over masala dosas, to a Glasgow cafe where a chance encounter over liquorice sticks sets in motion the everyday miracle of a child’s birth. Through her desert island dishes Ramaswamy celebrates the extraordinary power of the table: to collapse time, repair what is broken, and deliver, in a single bite, an appetite for life itself.”
Ramaswamy is a writer, journalist and critic. Homelands (Canongate), a book about her friendship with a German Jewish refugee called Henry Wuga, won the Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022. Her first book, Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy (Saraband), won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the Polari Prize and was reissued in spring 2024.
She has contributed essays to several collections and judged literary prizes including the Baillie Gifford prize for Non-Fiction, the Gordon Burn Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize.
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Her latest book, a collection of micro-essays called Rich Things for the Alasdair Gray Archive, was published in spring 2026. She is the restaurant critic for the Times Scotland, for which she has won Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards for four consecutive years and been shortlisted twice for Restaurant Writer of the Year at the Guild of Food Writers.
Ramaswamy said: “I’m thrilled that Canongate is publishing Bread and Butter... And Other Dishes That Made Me. And I’m especially delighted to be working with the same thoughtful, talented – and hungry! – team as I did for my last book, Homelands. To have one of the leading and most respected independent publishers in the land champion my writing over time means the world. This memoir, and all the food, love and life it contains, is so precious to me. I could not be in better hands.”
Bickmore described the book as a “mouth-watering treat”. “Chitra Ramaswamy is one of the UK’s best food writers, and this book of the ‘dishes that made her’ deserves to sit alongside classics like Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking, Nora Ephron’s Heartburn and Stanley Tucci’s Taste.
“From the food of her third-culture childhood growing up in south London to what James Baldwin can teach us about McDonalds, this is always on point, capturing what makes particular meals so memorable, from haute cuisine to the perfect slice of bread and butter. Napkins at the ready!”
Lambert added: “In Bread and Butter, Chitra offers up some of the most memorable and profound descriptions of the impact of preparing and sharing meals that I have read. These are acts of love, care, celebration, triumph and comfort. Chitra is an exceptionally skilled writer and I can’t wait to press this book into many, many hands.”
