Jack Monroe

We are what we eat, as the saying goes. Meals and recipes and grocery store receipts tell little stories of who we are and where we’ve been. You can paint a portrait of someone out of these little morsels and crumbs of information, food and identity are intrinsically wrapped up in one another. Which brings us to the Bootstrap Cook, also known as Jack Monroe.  

I don’t remember how I first discovered Jack. I like to think I was carefully meal planning, but in reality I was probably clutching two cans of kidney beans and panicking about how to make them into dinner.

Jack first burst into the public eye while blogging from a small shared flat about their struggles to feed their young son while living on benefits. And then as one of the first British public figures to come out as non-binary, when they came out as transgender in 2015. 

As a queer non-binary voice in food, a culture typically made up of the white-middle class-male-Michelin-trained-elite who can’t relate to a box of dried pasta and half a bag of frozen peas, Jack has stood up for years as a voice against those who have never had to worry about where their next meal will come from. As a food writer, journalist, and activist they use food as a way to tell stories, to challenge societal norms, and to make sense of what little you might have in your fridge. 

Food — much like identity — has become a battleground in the age of Instagram nutritionists, economic depressions, and our increasingly online lives. Jack has jumped into it with both feet. Their equal parts gutsy and caring online persona has led to head-to-heads with politicians who know nothing of poverty and don’t understand why people can’t buy fresh potatoes every day. All while sharing buttery pasta recipes to brighten up bad days, and tirelessly fighting for transgender rights. 

What you eat is so personal. It’s how you’re feeling, it’s long lost memories, it’s your beliefs. 

Much like being queer. And Jack Monroe stands up for all of it.