I am a psychologist who is curious about the two things that are crucial for human survival: food and relationships. My work involves having conversations and writing words about these different areas, and joining up the dots between them. I do this academically, clinically and, more recently, gastronomically. As a cook, I trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine. As a psychologist, I research, teach and practice: I am a psychotherapist and it is in this capacity that I have started to connect food and therapy in recent years. My blog Cupboard Love (https://cupboard-love.co.uk/blog) brings together the psychotherapist and cook parts of me to create recipes and writing inspired by the conversations I have with my clients and the food memories, associations and stories they bring to our sessions.
Psychology, Psychotherapy, Mental Health
English, Greek
My regular work is all within the remit of academia; my research is funded by my academic post at Middlesex University where I am paid to study/write about attachment, relationships and food as part of my research remit – research is a contractual requirement. My regular work is psychological, for example, this month I have been invited to contribute to a book on the psychology of veganism, which is being funded by the UK Council for Psychotherapy. My own regular work also includes my website and blog Cupboard Love (https://cupboard-love.co.uk/blog) brings together the psychotherapist and cook parts of me to create recipes and writing inspired by clients, where each post goes from therapy couch to kitchen.
I was shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers 2022 Investigative Award. I am an associate member of the SOAS (University of London) Food Studies Centre. I was also shortlisted for Moniack Mhor’s Emerging Writer of the Year 2022 Award. I wrote a chapter for ‘Attachment, Relationships and Food: From Cradle to Kitchen’, which made Karnac’s top 10 books of 2021.
My commercial interests lie in writing abut the psychology and meaning of food in an accessible, jargon-free way, for example for outlets such as Waitrose Food.
