Leon: Family & Friends

John is co-founder of LEON, which now has 69 restaurants (including in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Oslo). He wrote LEON Naturally Fast Food with Henry Dimbleby, LEON Family & Friends with Kay Plunkett-Hogge, LEON Happy Salads and LEON Fast & Free with Jane Baxter and LEON Happy Soups, LEON Happy One-pot Cooking, LEON Fast Vegan, LEON Happy Curries and LEON Happy Fast Food with Rebecca Seal. He thinks that our relationship with food should be positive and joyous and that we need to listen more carefully to our gut, eat more good fats and less sugar. Kay Plunkett-Hogge is an acclaimed food and drinks writer, and the author of Aperitivo (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), Adventures Of A Terribly Greedy Girl (Mitchell Beazley, 2017), A Sherry & 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 that 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, and in addition to her writing, she has worked as a food consultant for a variety of restaurants and bars, including Leon, The Formosa Café, Isola del Sole, Ma Goa 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, led to her induction into the Gin Guild (in the words of Heston Blumenthal: 'She shakes a damn fine cocktail.') and her writing regularly on cocktails for The Daily Telegraph and Sainsbury's Magazine. She has also written for the FT Weekend and Olive, and has published recipes in The Times, Hello and Borough Market's Market Life magazine.
Kay currently writes a monthly column for Delicious. She lives in London with her husband, two cats and a dog.