Comfort food – be it cheese on toast, spag bol or three packets of Monster Munch eaten back-to-back – is vital always, not just in the midst of a pandemic.

Sometimes your brain needs as much culinary escape as your tastebuds though, and that’s when it’s time to pore over a cookbook, pull up a deep-dive article on a particular cuisine, or thoroughly investigate a food writer’s Instagram feed.

These are just a few writers we look to for just that…

1. Nigella Lawson

Turn to any random page in Nigella’s seminal How To Eat, and things will suddenly feel a little better. Soothing, encouraging and brooking no unnecessary faff, Nigella – who has faced so much strife and loss in her own life – knows how to take hunger and put it to good use.

2. Samin Nosrat

Chef and star of Netflix documentary series Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, no one in the food world is as effervescent and heartening as Iranian-American writer, Samin Nosrat. Pick up her cookbook or plug into her podcast Home Cooking and feel instantly buoyed. You can totally see why she’s involved in Michelle Obama’s new kids’ cookery show, Waffles + Mochi.

3. Helen Rosner

Whether she’s discussing the drudgery of lockdown cooking, or the simple joy of chicken tenders, New Yorker food writer Helen Rosner always taps into the food feeling of the moment, and nails our changing relationships with trends and the worlds of our kitchens.

4. Javier Cabral

Javier Cabral, aka ‘The Glutster’ knows almost everything there is to know about tacos. The LA-based writer is a cookbook author, associate producer of Taco Chronicles on Netflix, and editor of news and food website, L.A. TACO. Most of all though, he draws you into the delicious intricacies and cultural nuances of taco making and eating. It’s really transporting stuff.

5. Rachel Roddy

Rachel Roddy’s words are just so calm and reassuring, whether she’s describing an out-of-print cookbook she’s unearthed, or a tangle of cherry tomato pasta. A British cook in Rome, her recipes are absorbing stories rather than instructions for dinner – and we’re very excited about her latest cookbook, An A To Z Of Pasta, out in July.

6. Soleil Ho

American podcaster, graphic novel writer and prestigious San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho will make you think and challenge your thoughts on food, from where it originates, to who’s cooking it. Plus, every dish she tries, you’ll want eat too.