MasterChef 2025 runner-up, Claire Syrenne is a writer, cook and podcaster who champions the hard-working home cook. She will take to the stage at the Festival of Food and Drink at Thoresby Park on Saturday 19th September.
Claire’s cooking is rooted in the generous sharing dishes she ate growing up in Yorkshire, flavours from her time living on the west coast of Canada and sweet treats from her Danish relatives.
We get to know her better with our five quick questions…
What can people expect to see from you at the Festival of Food and Drink?
Firstly, they can expect a very excited cook, because this event is one of my personal favourites. I’m delighted to be cooking and not just eating this year! I hope that all the home cooks who come to watch my demo will leave feeling extra confident because I’m all about championing the enormous effort we home cooks make. They can also expect to leave with a couple of simple and delicious recipes up their sleeves that they can try out in their kitchens too. As a busy mum of two, my recipes tend to be colourful, comforting and fuss free so that I still have my sanity intact when we sit down to eat.
Eating out or cooking at home?
I love eating out, but I feel a deep sense of happiness when I’m cooking for friends and family, so I’d have to say that our dining table is my favourite restaurant. Plus, the wine waiter is rather handsome at my house!
The internet says Nottinghamshire is renowned for pork pies, Stilton cheese and the Bramley apple. Which of these is your favourite and why?
I could go on about all three for ages! Bramley apples are the best friend to pork (grate some Bramley over pork and leave for 15 minutes to tenderise it), pork pies are a thing of joy served with wedges of tomato and pickle, but I suppose my dairy heart has to say Stilton cheese. There is always a moment at Christmas when it’s quiet and my husband and I share crackers and Stilton and soak up the happiness in our house. For the rest of the year, I use Stilton in pastas, tarts and sandwiches. It’s sublime.
Food often brings communities together — why do you think that is?
Food is the great leveller. No matter who you are, or where you’re from, you have to eat and that act bonds us as people. When we eat alone it can be quite a passive act, but as soon as you get two or more people together, eating becomes as much about feeding your sense of belonging as it does about the taste. Your favourite restaurant probably doesn’t just serve great food, it makes you feel something too – happy, welcomed, relaxed – it’s these shared emotions that keep bringing us back to dinner tables across the globe.
How do you ensure traditional recipes remain current amongst growing food trends?
I’m not a great one for food trends because by their very nature they come and go. I try to reinvigorate our love and appreciation of ingredients and meals that will endure long after the most recent trend is forgotten. We tend to overlook the beauty and versatility of trusted home meals but once you realise how many meals you can make with leftover mash or how many countries you can cook your way around via a roast chicken, you unlock the joy of classic home cooking techniques.
Taking place over two days at Thoresby Park on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September, the Festival of Food and Drink promises a weekend of fabulous foodie fun, including pop up bars, street food, live music, BBQ demos, Taste and Talk sessions, and plenty of children’s activities.
This year’s guest chef line-up includes John Torode and Lisa Faulkner with more of their Weeknight Meals, TV chefs Dean Edwards and Matt Tebbutt, local MasterChef finalist Claire Syrenne and Bake Off winner Jasmine Mitchell. Find out more at www.festivaloffoodanddrink.com.