Post by Big Issue North

⁠"The thing that would surprise the 16-year-old Jay the most would be that he became a restaurant critic. It had never been my intention – having been editor of the Leeds Uni newspaper I wanted to be a news reporter. He might be disappointed by that. I think he would have thought being a restaurant critic was a rather light and fluffy and unserious job for a person with loftier ambition. But he’d be wrong, because one of the brilliant things about food is it feeds into every element of life. It’s not just about how things taste. It’s about emotion and memory and sex and politics – it’s about everything."⁠ In this week's issue, restaurant critic Jay Rayner writes a letter to his younger self.⁠ We have made the difficult decision to temporarily cease the sale of Big Issue North on the street for the safety of our vendors and customers. However, each issue will go on sale in Sainsbury's, McColl's, Co-Op, Asda, One Stop, Morrisons, Waitrose and Booths stores across the north each Thursday, or you can buy a digital issue for just £2, with £1 going directly to our vendor hardship fund: http://orlo.uk/9YJj8