Melissa Thompson

Melissa Thompson runs Fowl Mouths (@fowlmouthsfood), a food and recipe  project. She is also a food writer and columnist for BBC Good Food, and  creator of the podcast Get Back in the Kitchen which focuses on women in  food. 

Melissa lives in South East London with her partner Kate and young  daughter. She has a background in journalism and love of food. On a whim  she created the hugely successful Fowl Mouths food pop up, which has  helped take her to where she is in the industry today.  

Photo credit Patricia Niven (@patricianiven)

“The best thing (about the industry) is about food. I think you can learn so much through food, it’s amazing! I think it’s such a good vehicle for culture and for learning. It’s such a good inlet for so many things. ”

Melissa talks to QFAB about becoming disillusioned with journalism, then getting  back into writing about what she enjoyed the most - food! As well as top tips  on how to get into food writing, why challenging racism and hierarchy in the  food industry matters, and some stories about a horrific chef tattoo and the perfect plate of bangers and mash.

Introduce yourself. 

My name is Melissa Thompson and I run @fowlmouthsfood, which is a food  and recipe project. Fowl Mouths began as a pop up specialising in Japanese  comfort food and karaage chicken (Japanese fried chicken). It was initially a supper club I ran whilst working as a journalist.  

I've been working as a journalist since my early 20s. I did a bit of food writing  in my early days, and then I ended up on a national newspaper when I moved  back to London. I had tried to get into food writing, but going from a local regional paper to proper London based food magazines was a bit of a leap! 

I ended up writing general features, doing a lot of interviews and stuff like  that, but I became quite disillusioned with it. In 2014 I started this supper club  on a bit of a whim, I guess for a bit of escapism! It gave me that same buzz  and thrill I got with journalism in the early days. I was getting that from food,  and it just lasted a lot longer, and then it grew.  

I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, I was a bit all over the place.  Then in 2018, I got pregnant. By then I'd given up journalism and I was doing Fowl Mouths pop ups full time, which was really tough. So I ended up taking a  month off and I never went back to it.  

Now I do a lot of different things: recipe writing, a lot of brand work, then also trying to do a bit more about representation and trying to champion diversity in food in many respects, mainly around race. 

How do you identify and what are your pronouns? 

I identify as queer, sometimes just gay. Occasionally, as lesbian. I like to self  identify as lesbian. But I don't like it when my sexuality becomes my entire identity. My pronouns are she/her. 

Where in the world are you? Where else have you lived and worked? 

I'm in South East London, in Honor Oak and I've lived in various  different places in London. Me and my partner settled here because it was  convenient for both of us, and I love it! I've worked in Weymouth, where I grew up, on a local paper there. I was doing quite a lot of food stuff there and just going off in my car to deepest darkest West Dorset and speaking to  different people. It was amazing! 

What is your job vocation/ job role/ title? 

Primarily a food writer but in its widest definition, everything that food  represents; culture and nationality and history. 

What does your average day look like? 

I normally take my daughter to nursery. Then I could be working on recipes. I try to get any cooking done really early, especially in winter, so I can take nice photos of it in natural light. Or I might just be writing or doing stuff on my website. I do lots of different things. No day looks the same, it’s quite  nice. I also try to spend a lot of time barbecuing in the garden. 

What has your experience been of being queer in this industry? 

I was already very comfortable with it as I came to the food industry a bit later. I was always my own boss. It was interesting when I got pregnant I always  got really funny comments. I had a chef working for me who was quite young. I had to tell him before the three months because I just couldn't do it, I  couldn't taste anything because I felt sick all the time. And he was like, ‘Oh,  are you gonna keep it?’ and then I was like ‘Yeah, like, it's quite hard to get pregnant’ (as a lesbian!). A friend of mine, her ex husband, who's also a chef was like, ‘oh, my god has Melissa had an affair?!’.  

But my experience being queer in this industry has always been fine. I know quite a few other queer people in the industry and there always seems to be quite good representation. Never enough, obviously. But I do worry about  younger queer people and the experiences they might have in kitchens  because there is such a macho attitude. 

There was a chef, I went to eat his food about two years ago and thought he  was a very nice guy. Then I saw he had this tattoo done and he posted a picture on Instagram. Honestly, the thought of it makes me feel sick. It was  him, I guess as a chef, with a young woman over his knees and him going to spank her and her shouting ‘oui chef’. It really made me feel sick! If I was a young woman working in his kitchen, and he had that tattoo as the Executive  Chef, I think that sends such a horrible message!  

“ Sometimes people think so much about what to say and what to put out there. And it’s like, well, what are you interested in? What are your passions? Just say that! If you care about something, then the chances are another person is going to care about it, and maybe a lot of people are going to care about it. So what you’re saying is going to resonate. ”

What was your earliest experience in the industry? Did you expect to  stay in this industry when you started out? 

My first ever job was in a delicatessen in Dorchester. That was quite pivotal  actually because I hated cheese and then suddenly I was surrounded by so  much of it. It really gave me an appreciation for proper food and artisanal  produce. 

What advice would you give anyone who’s trying to get into food  writing? How did you get into it? 

I think, just do it! It needs to come from a place of you loving it, without seeing  it as a means to an end. Just doing whatever you're doing in the moment  because you love it, and you can't not do it.  

I never planned to be here, what I was doing led me here. When I was in my  early 20s, I ended up writing about food working at a local newspaper, just throwing my all into it and going above and beyond. Then they were starting a  food column and because I expressed an interest and enthusiasm in food they got me to do it. Then that column grew.  

I needed to come back to London, so I ended up working a few awful jobs and working on the national newspapers where there was a lot of biting of tongues and some of the attitudes are horrendous. When I left journalism to do food a lot of my friends were saying ‘would you ever write again?’ and I  really didn't think I was going to, I thought that that ship had sailed! I was so pissed off with journalism. 

Now there's this massive growth with online zines, which are doing amazing  work. But five years ago they were very much in their infancy so I didn't really see where there was a space for me. I'd already applied for food magazines. I  started off my Instagram just purely to promote my supper clubs, but I've  always loved eating so I'd celebrate and talk about other people's food too. Then that ended up becoming a bit of a thing where I would get invited to go and eat, which is really nice. But sometimes I think when people go into something just because they get free food, or because they like being invited, that isn't great. I think it comes across in what people put out. When you're  doing something for the love of it, then it just reads a lot truer.  

With everything that happened last year, with COVID, then with the murder of George Floyd, and me just getting a bit pissed off - I guess whether that’s because I'm a woman, or because I am queer, but mostly because I'm Black in a very White world - and all of that frustration just came bursting out of me unexpectedly and speaking out has brought a lot of opportunities. 

I think that there's a really important lesson there. Sometimes people think so much about what to say and what to put out there. And it's like, well, what are you interested in? What are your passions? Just say that! If you care about  something, then the chances are another person is going to care about it, and  maybe a lot of people are going to care about it. So what you're saying is going to resonate. And that's why people get interested in what you have to say, and your platform will grow and you get to say it to more and more people.  

“My queerness is so important to me and I really love that, that feeling of community. It creates safe spaces to be able to be yourself and to not have to worry about how you come across, or have to come out to people or just slip in that your partner is the same sex as you.”

What are the best and worst things about this industry? 

The best thing is about food. I think you can learn so much through food, it's  amazing! I think it's such a good vehicle for culture and for learning. It's such  a good inlet for so many things.  

Like understanding the protests in Burma at the moment. I think five years ago that might have been off my radar, but I happen to know some brilliant Burmese chefs like MiMi Aye (@meemalee) and The Ragoon Sisters (@ragoonsisters) and David Jay Paw (@thedavidjaypaw) who share lots of lots of things. It’s important and for me that is the best thing.  

And obviously getting to eat the food. I love eating and I love eating something new that I haven't had before. It’s always evolving, it's so exciting.  

Then the worst thing - the egos are huge in food. They're fucking huge. As a result of that you get the people who think they're untouchable. I had a lot of this in the wake of the whole Black Lives Matter resurgence in 2020. I was so  angry and a bit full on in some of my interactions. I remember trying to call out people like Marina O’Loughlin and Jay Rayner, to try and basically get Giles Coren sacked. I was like, “Why are you not saying more about this?” So that hierarchy, the egos, I think are the worst things about  the industry. The food industry is like a microcosm, these things are not exclusive to food. But because it's such a small world and people value their platforms so much, they want to protect them by never saying things out of  turn, and that can be a bit problematic.  

What is the best meal you have ever had? What was it? Who was it  with? 

I used to live in Hong Kong when I was very little, and we went back when I  was 14 or 15. There was this dish of little chicken bits on the bone, I think maybe in turmeric and other things. I remember that being amazing! 

When I was pregnant in my first three months, I hated all food. Like I  remember Kate [her partner] always trying to say, “Listen let me make you  some baked salmon with vegetables” and I was like “no get me chips, just  give me chips and put loads of vinegar on them!” I hated life. It was awful.

But one day I came home from work and Kate had made me bangers and  mash with onion gravy and it was just perfect! I hadn't had bangers and mash  in the whole three months. If you'd offered it to me, I probably would have  said no, but everything about it was perfect. It felt more nutritious than anything I’d had in weeks. It was made with love and it’s just the best thing I've ever had. 

Photo credit - Samer Moukarzel (@samermoukarzelphotography)

What is your guilty food pleasure? 

I try not to associate food with guilt, because we should just be able to enjoy  everything! Some things in moderation, but just enjoy it and go for it. But I'm gonna say Chipsticks! 

Top three places to eat and drink? 

1. Maureen and Verna, in between Brixton and Herne Hill (Montego Close, off Railton Road). It’s a yard with loads of drum barbecues, it’s their house and they do catering and lunches. For £6 you just get this plate of absolute joy. It tastes so good. (They have got an Instagram profile but they don't ever use it,  it’s got like two posts on it.) 

2. Chishuru (@Chishuru), run by Adejoké ‘Joké’ Bakare, who’s a  Nigerian chef in Brixton. It’s basically food from Nigeria, which I'm quite unfamiliar with. She brings the food out and tells you about it, how she used to have it and what she's done to the dish, the whole story. 

3. Grounds & Grapes in Honor Oak .They do weekend brunch, then sometimes they do pop ups in the evening and it's a wine bar by night. Their brunch is really really good. Everything's really well executed and the coffee is amazing. And it's just nice. It's always really chilled. 

What's your favourite banger to play in the kitchen? 

In lockdown I got really back into 90’s and early 00’s music, so really into The Fugees, Cranberries, and then Rihanna, Beyonce, and I’ve started to get into Nicky Minaj recently. I  have quite obvious taste when it comes to music. I'm not into obscure shit! 

What advice would you give to your younger baby queer self? 

Probably “stop thinking about it so much, Melissa!”. I spent a lot of time navel-gazing about my sexual identity. Not  really because I had massive issues about it, I always knew my family would be alright about it. But I’ve always been quite careful when it comes to matters of the heart. 

Do you feel it is important for the LGBTQI+ community within the food  and beverage industry to have a network? And if so, why?

Absolutely. I think if you identify as anything that is outside of the majority or mainstream, it's really important for you to feel that you're not alone. Isolation, whether it’s in your head or it's physically there because you don’t have people you identify with around you, can be quite damaging. Then you end up internalising a lot of the things that you struggle with. 

My queerness is so important to me and I really love that, that feeling of  community. It creates safe spaces to be able to be yourself and to not have to worry about how you come across, or have to come out to people or just slip  in that your partner is the same sex as you. 

What are your top queer food and beverage related accounts on  Instagram? 

• Zoe Adjonyoh (@zoeadjonyoh), she’s awesome, she’s just been grafting away for a long time trying to fight for increased representation and diversity. She's a powerhouse and her food is great too. 

• Patricia Niven (@patricianiven), queer food photographer. She is really fucking talented and whenever I see her images they just do something to me.

• Zan Kaufaman (@zankaufman) (@bleeckerburger). Bleecker Burger is one of the coolest brands out there and Zan is on a mission to make that place as diverse as possible. 

• Michael Twitty (@thecookinggene), Black queer Jewish author of the book The Cooking Gene. He writes about his cultural food heritage and the intersection of his identity. 

• Terri Mercieca (@terrimercieca), founder of Happy Endings (@happyendings) ice cream. She's just amazing and she’s half Maltese like me!

• Sal Dhalla - she runs (@foodwitchsal) which is about intuitive eating. She also does a doorstep food drag show, The Amused Bouche, with her cousin Crayola the Queen. Sal does the food and Crayola sings - it’s great.

• Selina Kiazim - she is a chef and author (@selinakiazim) and owns Oklava (@oklava_ldn)

What is next for you? 

I've got one exciting project but annoyingly I can't talk about it. Hopefully I'll be able to announce it soon!  

Last year I started collating BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) in food to increase representation, because there's so many amazing people out there who just don't get the recognition. So I'm still working on that. 

You can follow Melissa @fowlmouthsfood on instagram or check out  her brand new website www.fowlmouths.co.uk