Regula Ysewijn MBE
Culinary historian, anthropologist, photographer, broadcaster and James Beard award-winning author.
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In August 2024, Regula was appointed an honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), a British chivalry order. This prestigious honour, conferred by His Majesty King Charles, recognizes Regula’s outstanding contributions to British food and culture in both Belgium and the UK. She now proudly carries the MBE title.
Regula Ysewijn MBE is a James Beard Award-winning writer, culinary historian, and photographer from Belgium. She is the author of 7 books about food & drink culture. She focuses on the food and social history of Britain and the Low Countries, traveling between Belgium and London for her work. Regula has also been a judge for the Belgian version of the Great British Bake Off TV series (Bake Off Vlaanderen) and Junior Bake Off since 2017. She has been a judge for the Great Taste Awards and World Cheese Awards for the Guild of Fine Food for over ten years. Additionally, she has appeared as a guest on BBC programs such as Inside the Factory and as a judge alongside Mary Berry on The Platinum Pudding: 70 Years in the Making, a TV show that was launched to find a new pudding dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II as part of that year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Regula also collaborates with and consults for museums and other institutions on culinary history projects and regularly gives lectures. Inspired by her own books she has been commissioned to create books with historical recipes for the National Trust of England and the historical TV series Downton Abbey and Bridgerton.
Her books
Regula’s personal books are unique in that she not only writes them herself in English and Dutch, she does all of her own historical research, layouts the book, creates the photography which has won awards and her husband creates the cover art and illustrations. No ghostwriters or design teams. This is why creating her books takes time and the result is deeply personal.
Back to Belgium
With her latest book ‘Dark Rye and Honey Cake’ (Van wafel tot koek) she is turning her interest towards her home country Belgium. Her next book on the subject will explore Belgian food history and culture even more, unearthing long forgotten customs and recipes. For that work Knack Weekend elected her and one of 2025’s ‘Food heroes’.
Regula is the author of 7 books on food and drink culture:
Pride and Pudding
The History of British Puddings, Savoury and Sweet (2016)
Belgian Café Culture
A portrait of the iconic Belgian beer café (2016 and 2021)
Authentieke Belgische Cafés in Dutch
Oats in the North, Wheat from the South
British Baking, Savoury and Sweet(2020)
The British Baking Book (US)
Brits Bakboek
New Edition: Van Scone tot Teacake
Dark Rye and Honey Cake
Festival Baking from Belgium – The Heart of the Low Countries (2023)
Van Wafel tot Koek
Regula’s books are available in other languages too, for example: Italian, German and Chinese.
Commissioned Books:
The National Trust Book of Puddings (2019)
The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook (2020)
The Official Bridgerton Cookbook (2024)
Background
Regula was born in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. She went to art school, studied graphic design, fashion design and ancient printing techniques. She worked as a Graphic Designer for almost 10 years before becoming a writer and photographer through her award-winning English language blog Miss Foodwise (discontinued) in 2010 and her debut book in 2015.
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Regula is proudly neurodivergent. After teaching herself English as a child she discovered that she wasn’t plagued by her dyslexia like she is in her mother language Dutch. She therefore writes her books in English. In fact more of her books are available in English than in Dutch, her native language.
Activism
Regula has strong feelings when it comes to injustice and doesn’t shy away from speaking up for causes like the discrimination in women’s healthcare, bullying, war and politics. To stay silent is to be complicit. She has worked with Oxfam, Amnesty International and women’s organisations Femma and Ferm.
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Because questions about her name are so plentiful:
Regula = Latin for law, rule or ruler (see Regula Benedicti) and also Queen as the female form for Regulus. Origins: 3rd century Roman Switserland. The only country where Regula is a name.
Pronunciation: Re-gu-la short sounds like “regulation”, so not Rééégula or Regoela.
Ysewijn = Old East-Flemish – Germanic îsan-win ‘ijzer-vriend’ which means ‘iron friend’.
Pronunciation: Iezewin in English – Iezewijn in Dutch.
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Some podcast interviews with Regula:
Olive Magazine (2020) podcast here >
Milk Street Radio (2021) Podcast Here >
Borough Market (2023) podcast here >
Welcome to the AA with Alex Agnew (2023-in Dutch) Podcast here >
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Exhibitions
Regula has created exhibitions with or contributed to museums and heritage institutions
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Van Wafel tot Koek (Belgium)
(From Waffle to Honeycake)
A unique chance to see centuries old historical cookery books and material culture (waffle irons, gingerbread moulds) from the Low Countries with a special focus on Belgium in the beautiful Nottebohmzaal
Heritage Library of Antwerp
December 23- January 7 2024
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Cafébazinnen en Zagemannen (Belgium)
Photo expo about Belgian café culture with photos by Regula from her book ‘Belgian café culture / Authentieke Belgische Cafés
Museum of Jenever /Jenevermuseum Hasselt
May to september 2024
Galerie ‘In den Bouw’
8 september – 6 october 2024
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The Waffle Baker (Spain)
The exhibition ‘On egin’ (enjoy your meal in Basque) was part of the World Press Photo expo at Centro Cultural Montehermoso in the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz and showed Regula’s award winning photo and self-portrait “The Waffle Baker”
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
Joop Witteveenprijs (NL) Shortlist
James Beard Award 2024 (US) – Winner
Awards for photography
World Photography Awards
(previously 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
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Bibliography
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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)
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Belgian Café Culture / Authentieke Belgische Cafés
A Portrait of the iconic café – (2016 and anniversary edition in 2021, Luster)
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The National Trust Book Of Puddings
(2019, National Trust)
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Oats in the North, Wheat from the South
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UK, NZ, AUS edition (2020, Murdoch Books)
US edition: The British Baking Book (2020, Weldon Owen
Taiwanese edition, German edition
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Dutch Edition: Brits Bakboek
(2019, Carrera Culinair) NEW EDITION 2024:
Van Scone tot Teacake
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The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook
(2020, Weldon Owen US, Titan Books UK)
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Dark rye and Honey cake / Van wafel tot koek
(2023, Murdoch Books UK/AUS/NZ, Weldon Owen US, Overamstel NL/BE, Taiwanese edition)
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The Official Bridgerton Cookbook
(2024, Penguin, Netflix)
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)
Ze Zeggen Dat (2025 VTM)
WinWin (2025-2026 VRT)
De Rugzak (2025-2026 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…
