Regula Ysewijn
Culinary historian, anthropologist, photographer, broadcaster and award-winning author of 6 books on food & drink culture

Because questions about her name are so plentiful:
Regula = Latin for law, rule or ruler (see Regula Benedicti) and also the female form for Regulus which means King. Origins: 3rd century Roman Switserland. The only country where Regula is a name.
Pronunciation: Re-gu-la short sounds like “regulation”, so not Reeegula or Regoela.

Ysewijn = Old East-Flemish – Germanic îsan-win ‘ijzer-vriend’ which means ‘iron friend’.
Pronunciation: Iezewin in English – Iezewijn in Dutch.

 

Regula Ysewijn is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning food writer, photographer and author of 7 books about food culture, including one for the National Trust and one for the TV show Downton Abbey. Topics are (but aren’t limited to) the history of British puddings and baking in general, the traditions of Belgian beer cafés and the history of baking in the Low Countries. She is asked to come on TV and radio regularly to talk about the various topics she writes about and writes a food history column for the magazine of Belgian heritage institution Herita.

 

Regula is one of the two judges of the Belgian version of The Great British Bake Off : Bake off Vlaanderen, in addition to being a judge for The Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards and World Cheese Awards for nearly 10 years. In 2022 Regula was one of the five judges along with Mary Berry and the royal chef Mark Flanagan, for the Queen of England’s Platinum Pudding Competition, a TV special which was broadcasted on the BBC.

 

Regula was born in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. She went to art school and worked as a Graphic Designer before becoming a writer and photographer through her award-winning English language blog Miss Foodwise (discontinued) in 2010 and her debut book in 2015.

Regula is neurodivergent. After teaching herself English as a child she discovered that she wasn’t plagued by her neurodivergence like she is in her mother language Dutch. She therefore writes her books in English. 

She travels between Britain and Belgium for her work, this can be TV appearances, talks, demos and research. Regula also hosts a sporadic podcast called Regula Culinaria (Regula is Latin for “the law” or “rule”). Regula has also curated exhibitions, her latest about historical cookery books and material culture in the Heritage Library of Antwerp (December 23- January 7 2024)

After her internationally lauded Pride and Pudding and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South, Belgian Café Culture and other books (see bibliography below), Regula Ysewijn turns her attention to the baking traditions and history of Belgium – the place of her birth with her latest book: Dark Rye and Honey Cake – Festival baking from Belgium, the heart of the Low Countries. (Van Wafel tot Koek)

In this book Regula links art of the Low Countries to the food history and festival traditions of the region. As with all of her books this is a book to read, not just to cook from as the recipes are part of the story. 

Some podcast interviews:

Olive Magazine (2020) podcast here >

Milk Street Radio (2021) Podcast Here >

Borough Market (2023) podcast here >

Welcome to the AA with Alex Agnew (in Dutch) Podcast here >

Do you have specific questions or want to get in touch? Contact me via email.

Bibliography

Pride and Pudding

the history of British Puddings (2015, Davidsfond, 2016 Murdoch Books), new English and Dutch edition in 2021-2022 (Murdoch Books and Overamstel) Italian edition (Guido Tomassi)

 
Belgian Café Culture / Authentieke Belgische Cafés

A Portrait of the iconic café –  (2016 and anniversary edition in 2021, Luster)

The National Trust Book Of Puddings

(2019, National Trust)

Oats in the North, Wheat from the South

Brits Bakboek (2019, Carrera Culinair)

British Baking (2020, Murdoch Books) US edition: The British Baking Book (2020, Weldon Owen, Taiwanese edition)

The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook

(2020, Weldon Owen US, Titan Books UK)

Dark rye and Honey cake / Van wafel tot koek

(2023, Murdoch Books UK/AUS/NZ, Weldon Owen US, Overamstel NL/BE, Taiwanese edition)

 

Awards and nominations

 

For Pride and Pudding:

André Simon Memorial Food & Drink Awards – shortlist

Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards’ shortlist

Gourmand World Book Awards – Culinary Heritage category – winner for Britain

Best books of 2016 by the BBC Radio 4 The Food Program

The Best British Cookbooks of the 2000s’ by the Great British Food Awards.

 
For Belgian Café Culture:

Gourmand World Book Awards – Culinary History category – winner for Belgium

 
For Oats in the North, Wheat from the South (‘The British Baking Book’ in the US, Brits Bakboek in NL):

Gourmand World Book Awards – Food Heritage – winner for Britain

Gouden Kookboek (The Netherlands) – Shortlist

André Simon Memorial Food & Drink Awards (UK) – Nominee

Best books of 2020 by the BBC Radio 4 The Food Program

Best books of 2020 by The New Yorker

Best books of 2020 by The Washington Post

 
For Dark rye and Honey cake / Van wafel tot koek

Gouden kookboek (NL) – Silver

Andre Simon Food & Drink awards – Longlist

Best books of 2023 by Delicious. Magazine

Best Books of 2023 by Waitrose Weekend Magazine

James Beard Award 2024 (US) – Shortlist

 

Awards for photography

Pink Lady Food Photographer Award

Shortlisted 2015: “Food for Sale”

Shortlisted 2016: “Food For Sale”
Special commendation 2016: “Food in the field” and “Politics of Food”
Shortlisted 2023 – Third place in Women photography

Appearances

Television

United Kingdom

BBC One ‘Inside the Factory’ (Season 6)

BBC One Breakfast (2016 and 2022)

BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour (2020)

BBC Radio 4 ‘The Food Programme’ (Belgian Beer, 2019)

BBC The Platinum Pudding Competition (judge) (2022)

Channel 4 Sunday Brunch (march 2023)

Challen 4 Sunday Brunch (December 2023)

United states

wgntv.com Chicago midday-news lunchbreak baking demo (2020)

The Netherlands

Tijd voor Maxx (2019) NPO 1 

Koffietijd (2021) RTL4 

Heel Vlaanderen Bakt  (judge from 2017 onwards) NPO 1 

Heel Vlaanderen bakt kids (judge from 2020 onwards) NPO 1 

Belgium

Bake Off Flanders (judge from 2017 onwards) Play4

Junior Bake Off Flanders (judge from 2020 onwards) Play4

De ideale wereld (2023 VRT)

Winteruur (2023 VRT)

In print

The Guardian, the Telegraph, the Independent, former Jamie magazine, Delicious. magazine, BBC History, Flow, Knack, Knack Weekend, De Standaard magazine, De Morgen, Foodies, Food and Travel and more…