Olivia Potts

Olivia "Livvy" Potts is a British food writer and caterer.[1][2][3]

She grew up in Newcastle and studied English at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[4] During her time at Cambridge she was president of the Cambridge Union.[4] She then studied law at City, University of London[5] and was called to the bar in 2011, practising criminal law for five years.[1]

Food career

Soon after Potts had qualified as a barrister, her mother died suddenly aged 54. Potts found that cooking, especially baking, helped her to cope with her loss, and took this further by enrolling for a nine-month pâtisserie diploma course at Le Cordon Bleu in London. She wrote about this part of her life in a memoir, A Half Baked Idea, which was published in 2020,[6][7] and won the Debut Book section of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. She won the Guild of Food Writers award for Food Writing in 2020, for her writing in Slightly Foxed, The Guardian, Grazia, The Spectator and Glamour.[8] Her second book, Butter, a cookery book, appeared in 2022;[9][10] Nigella Lawson said of it that Potts "explains, educates, inspires, and writes like an angel with devilish wit".[11]

She writes on food for publications including The Spectator[12] and North-West England website Confidentials.com.[13]

On 27 February 2023, Potts was a guest on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity.[14] Her hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was a jar of marmalade.

Personal life

Potts lives with her husband and child in the west of Greater Manchester.[13]

Selected publications

  • Potts, Olivia (2022). Butter: a celebration. London: Headline Home. ISBN 978-1472284648.
  • Potts, Olivia (2020). A half baked idea: how grief, love and cake took me from the courtroom to Le Cordon Bleu. Penguin. ISBN 978-0241380468.

References

  1. ^ a b "Olivia Potts". United Agents. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Alumna Olivia Potts Success Story". www.cordonbleu.edu. Le Cordon Bleu London. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  3. ^ Girling, Anna (14 August 2020). "A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts book review". TLS. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b Potts, Livvy. "President of the Cambridge Union". The Pelican, Issue 17, Lent term, 2009, pp. 20-1. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  5. ^ Smith, P. D. (1 August 2019). "A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts review – from crown court to creme caramel". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  6. ^ Morris, Sophie (2 August 2019). "A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts: how baking saved writer from grief". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  7. ^ "Awards 2020 Winners: Judges' Comments". www.gfw.co.uk. Guild of Food Writers. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  8. ^ Ferrier, Morwenna (7 October 2022). "Whipped, hip and drizzled in honey: why Britain is back in love with butter". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  9. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - The Food Programme - The Food Programme's Books of 2022". BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  10. ^ Lawson, Nigella (15 September 2022). "Butter by Olivia Potts". Nigella.com. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  11. ^ "Olivia Potts". The Spectator. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  12. ^ a b "Celebrated food writer Olivia Potts joins the Confidentials.com team". Confidentials. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  13. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - The Museum of Curiosity, Series 17, Episode 2". BBC. Retrieved 21 February 2023.