Diana Henry

Diana Henry (born October, 1963) is a British food writer. Born in Northern Ireland, she is author of nine cookery books on subjects including books on cooking chicken, healthy eating, gastropubs, preserving and Nordic cuisine.

Life Diana Henry was born in Northern Ireland and grew up there. Interested in food from an early age, cooking meals for her friends at the age of 12 or 13, she has said that she did not fully discover cooking until she went to France aged 15 as an exchange student,

Henry has said that she "never intended to be a food writer", having planned to be an actress or a lawyer. Her early career was as a TV producer, working on food programmes such as TV Dinners presented by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Chapter headings included Fruits of Longing featuring recipes for figs, quinces, pomegranates and dates, and The Spice Trail using cardamom, chili, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, coriander, pimenton and saffron. Since then, she has published eight further cookery books. She also writes a cookery column in Stella magazine in the Sunday Telegraph, for which she was named the Fortnum and Mason cookery writer of the year (2013) and won the Guild of Food Writers Cookery Book of the Year Award (2015) and the Evelyn Rose Award for Cookery Journalist of the Year (2015). She has also spoken about food on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour, and Radio 4's The Food Programme.

Sheila Dillon said "Diana Henry is Jane Grigson's real heir" on a two-part episode of the BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme broadcast on 22 Mar 2016. Dillon also said of Henry's writing, "Her enjoyment of cooking, ingredients and eating just comes off the page". Her first book, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, was shortlisted for the Glenfiddich award. For her column in "Stella" magazine, she won the Guild of Food Writers "cookery journalist of the year" in 2007, 2009 and 2015. In 2019, she won the Fortnum & Mason Cookery Writer Award, also for her "Stella" column.