September 24, 2018

Disorder

13 minutes

Joanna Robertson's earliest childhood memory is that of the baker calling at noon each day, with a basket full of fragrant buns, cakes and bread. It was the first indication of what was to develop into a lifelong love affair with food.

For Joanna, food has never just been about nourishment. It has shaped her life in highly personal as well as professional ways, with surprising, funny or poignant results.

So much so, that telling her food stories in these Essays amounts to sharing an intimate and revealing autobiography, with deeply personal insights into her life, the places she’s lived and worked in, and the people she's met through food.

In the third programme, Joanna is still living in London as a twenty-something. A passionate love affair ends so badly, that Joanna feels food is no longer for her, and she slides into a severe eating disorder. Brought back from the brink, she then designs her own recovery programme: training as a chef, and life-modelling for painters and sculptors.

Joanna Robertson is a journalist who has lived in several countries and is now based in Paris.

Produced by Arlene Gregorius.

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By BBC Radio 3

4.2