"If I’m putting food into the world, I want it to reflect my passion"

A chat with Xanthe Ross on becoming a cook, fresh vegetables, and never compromising on quality.

The second last time I saw Xanthe was in 2018. We were walking out of a photo shoot we’d just done together and she told me that she was leaving London and heading back to Wales to learn to cook and grow her own food. The last time I saw her was not long afterwards, at her very first supper club in Notting Hill. And since then, she hasn’t really stopped. 

Witnessing her journey from afar over Instagram, I’ve watched her share her passion for fresh ingredients and the food system, and make quite a name for herself as an advocate of eating well and looking after yourself. 

In this chat, we walk through her journey from junior photographer to being her own boss and doing what she truly loves — something she always wanted for herself. We talk about my very favourite thing (vegetables) and why even though she’s back in London now, she’s uncompromising about using the best quality produce from trusted farms and suppliers.

She tells me about the community that has inadvertently blossomed around her supper clubs, her exciting plans for the future, and for paid subscribers, gives a few great recommendations at the end.  

I really loved this conversation and I hope you do too. 

---

I usually start by asking people who they are, but without saying what they do for a job first so that we can get to the essence of who you are before going into how you make money.

Nice! I’m Xanthe, I currently live in London. I grew up in rural Scotland, moved to London when I was a teenager and then moved to Wales. I feel like I find identity in lots of different places, but I have moved back to London in the last six months and have really been enjoying the pace of life here and the way that I’m able to control my pace of life. I got married about six months ago, I have two dogs. That’s kind of me, I guess. 

Ok, now you can say what you do. 

It’s weirdly hard to introduce yourself without your job. It’s important to remember who you are without being defined by that. But I would say I’m a cook, recipe writer, and supper club host. So, I’m a victim of the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none trope, but I would say that cooking is at the core of what I do. I run supper clubs — ticketed events but also for brands and press events.

I think the jack-of-all-trades title is more happily claimed by people in our generation. I feel so defined by that as well, so you’re not alone! As we were saying before I started recording, the last time we saw each other, you were a photographer and we were doing an editorial project together. We were walking down the street and you said, “I think I’m going to leave London and go to Wales and get into cooking and growing my own food.” And now here you are all these years later and you have totally redefined yourself as a cook. How did that transition start and how did you find your way? 

I guess, the photography thing is really interesting because I always wanted to be a photographer and it’s part of my journey that I don’t really talk about — not for any reason other than I never felt like I got far enough with it to have it on my CV. I guess photography and my interest in photography is really important for where my career is now because when I moved back to Wales, I decided to start an Instagram page to document all of that. 

My interest and skill in photography and storytelling helped me to reimagine what my life is now and what my career is. That has been really central to my success — I’m not very good at saying success — because I was able to be like, ok, I’m going to move back to Wales, grow my own veg, something I was so passionate about and still am, learn how to bake bread properly, learn to cook, come back to London to throw supper clubs and see where it all goes, but I am going to take the anxiety of what people will think out and post on Instagram and tell this story. It has allowed me to go so much further, six years later, with my career. 

Instagram has been really central to all the opportunities that I’ve gotten and building a community that is interested in coming to my supper clubs, so I guess it was a pivot but also now I look at it, it makes sense. I look back and I was just so passionate about so many things and I was also just so driven to be my own boss and do my own thing, and I would look at people who were probably my age now who were doing similar things and be like, that’s exactly what I want to do. So it’s nice to reflect back on that time in my life and think that I would be really proud of myself for where I am now. 

That’s so nice to hear. I also feel like things seem random when you look at them in individual blocks, but actually when you look at how everything flows together it actually makes perfect sense, how life works out. I have loved watching your journey of developing your skills and becoming this amazing cook and gardener and farmer. Where did that passion for fresh food, growing your own vegetables, doing everything from scratch come from? It’s something that I am extremely passionate about as well, I am basically a vegetable fanatic, I have pictures of tomatoes on my wall.

I think it was very much instilled in me as a child, I was very lucky to grow up in a household where my mum was making everything from scratch, cooking some of her own veg, always making bread, and we would always have pizza and she would make the dough. Obviously, at the time you think it’s normal, but now I’ve realised how lucky that was, and that instilled the initial foundation in me of how I saw food. 

Then at uni, obviously I was just in the cycle of uni life but because I went to university in Edinburgh and it’s such a nature-focused city, you could travel 20 minutes and be in the middle of nowhere or swimming in the sea, and there were so many cool people doing cool things with food. I would be getting my vegetable box and all my friends would be like, what is she doing? I had the local organic farm that would deliver the vegetable box every week, so it was starting to grow there I guess. 

After uni I had that classic thing, working in food marketing, doing photography — I was doing a lot of different things just trying to figure it out, but also in that time I was obsessively reading, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts about soil health, growing food, the food system in general, and basically becoming very interested in it. I was interested in food, that was first and foremost what I was interested in, but life was so different then in terms of the career opportunities within food, and being in social media wasn’t even really a thing. I was like, how the hell am I even going to get it to a stage where I can make money? 

Also, it was a time when my anxiety and mental health was really bad and I kind of related that to being in London. I didn’t want to get on the tube to go see my friends who live on the other side of London, sit in the pub and drink loads, go out on the weekends — that just wasn’t doing it for me. I wanted to be in nature, I already had a dog by then so I was already walking a lot, and I just really wanted to learn to grow my own veg. So I did and moved to Wales, and I guess the passion continues as you start actually doing and you realise, wow, this is actually really rewarding and addictive. 

From that period in Wales, which would have been such a huge learning curve, are you able to carry on doing your veggies in London? 

No, I guess that’s the hard part, there is always a sacrifice, there are always pros and cons to every decision that you make and I guess that that side of my life is on hold at the moment. That’s how I see it. It’s not like I have forgotten about it, I’m just not in a space in my life right now when I can grow vegetables. I will one day have the same set up that I had in Wales, if not hopefully more abundant, and in the next place that I live in London, maybe I’ll have a little garden where I can grow some stuff, but I feel like I’m just as in tune with it as I was before. I don’t get that satisfaction of going to get eggs from my hens and picking vegetables and herbs and seeing what I can forage on my walks. I don’t have that and I do miss it, but I’m not sad about it because I know that there will be a time in my life when I have that all again, if I’m lucky. London isn’t forever for me, for sure. 

No, and I feel like, on the other hand, this is a really amazing opportunity for community development and hosting your dinners and working with brands. You’re giving some time to the other part of your work. 

Yeah, exactly! And the suppliers that I work with — I spend so much more money than I need to be spending on my ingredients because I’m not willing to compromise on the quality. I don’t talk about that a huge amount, I talk about it a bit, that I’m using seasonal vegetables, but I don’t think people quite realise that I do not get my stuff from any old supplier. I mainly use a supplier called Shrub who work with small farmers around the UK. If I do need to use an online platform like Ocado then I will always use organic, especially dairy and eggs.  If I am using meat, which is quite rare, it will always be organic and free range, so I feel like because I don’t have access to the ingredients that I’m growing myself, I really have to never cut corners when I’m getting the food. Even if I’m like, “oh my god, it’s 50p there but £1.50 from this organic supplier.” I will still pay the extra because what’s the point if I’m just dropping it all? So that’s still very central, if not more central to my work and events now. 

It is interesting because I think a lot of the time the price is reflected in the flavour though. I work with a collection of restaurants in Brussels, helping them with their communications about all the amazing things they do, using all local, organic ingredients from a biodynamic farm in the Belgian countryside, and you can taste the difference. If you spend 50p on a shitty leek it’s not going to be as flavourful or as satisfying in any way as the £1.50 leek. 

Yeah, and the whole conversation on this in terms of the consumer is really difficult because obviously the majority of people can’t afford to spend that extra, but I think if I’m putting food out into the world, then I want it to be able to reflect my passion and value and support these independent farms who are using biodynamic or regenerative or organic methods. It’s good for the planet and good for us. That’s my small part but I am never trying to be like, “you must eat this way.” It’s more just about what message I can give through my food. 

It’s really inspiring, especially in economic times like these it’s always very inspiring to see someone hold such integrity, I guess. Is that the main thing that you want to communicate through your supper clubs? Or is it more of a community, bringing people together over food thing? I feel like there are all these different layers to what you do that have different meanings but fit together really nicely. 

Yeah, I didn’t really intend for it to be about community but it has become about community because, for example, I did a supper club on Monday and four girls came alone. It was actually outside London so they all got the train out of London alone, then they sat together and got the train home together. Hopefully they will keep in touch! That has become such a passion of mine now, I think. 

There are dating apps and things that make dating slightly easier, although I don’t doubt that it’s very difficult, but there aren’t many ways to meet new friends that are like-minded. It’s so interesting because the people I attract are so like-minded, so interested, a similar age, into the same clothing brands, and I love to see that. I love to see the friendships that have formed as a result of these events. Also, people coming alone is always something I’ve really put out there, saying, “Guys please come alone!” We will always make it as welcoming a space as we possibly can, we will sit people who have also come alone together so they don’t feel like they are intruding on someone else. 

I’ve done one community event this year and am planning a few more where I work with a brand, hosting it in their shop. There wasn’t really any point in the event apart from all these people meeting to talk and ask me questions about how to host their own supper clubs or how to get into social media, all that stuff. I have always been very open, I’m always very happy to give people advice as much as I possibly can. So I’ve got two more of those community events in the works and working with other brands to bring them into new spaces. 

I think also the mental health side of things has become quite a big passion of mine, getting people outside, getting people moving, doing things that make them feel good. The community has definitely spiked my interest, which I didn’t necessarily expect. 

It’s so essential at the moment, you know, levels of loneliness are at an all time high, people are so isolated, and actually having an opportunity to get together like that is so vital to people. Have you got any upcoming things that are really exciting you? 

I’m always reflecting and planning and I really feel like the supper clubs have gotten to the stage where I can take them up a level and make them feel a bit more sophisticated without taking away their casualness, in a way. I grow and develop so much as a cook all the time — I’m so, so, so far from knowing it all and being at my peak as a cook, so I’m really excited to continue to learn. Sometimes you look back at yourself a year ago and you’re like, what was I thinking? But that’s a good thing because you’re getting better, you’re getting more competent, and it would be weird if I was at the same level I was at last year. 

In an aim to continue to learn and put myself into situations that take me out of my comfort zone, I’m working in a bakery in London for a month in July as a stage which will be really, really good for me. Especially when you work for yourself, you can kind of just get stuck in your comfort zone. I guess the supper clubs and events that I do for brands always throw me out of my comfort zone but I think this will be really good for me. I’ve done it before where I go into restaurants to work for a month-long period and always learn so much. 

I’m really into pastry and bread. Bread was always a thing for me, but I worked at the Pig Hotel in the pastry section and that really instilled a fascination for all that in me, so I’m really excited to take that further and work in a bakery for a month. It’s so inspiring. 

Also, just continuing events and YouTube as well. I started a YouTube last year which I’m really passionate about. It’s a slow burner but I feel like it gives people the opportunity to get to know you better and also to share a bit more of the stuff that helps people feel less alone — the mental health stuff, recommendations. I’m just trying to make sure I keep my social media a positive space where people are inspired rather than seeing comparisons. I never want to cause anyone any anxiety, that’s the opposite of my intentions, so always checking back on what I am sharing and making sure it’s doing that. 

---

Xanthe’s pics and recs