Inside Tom Parker-Bowles’ friendship with Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt

Tom Parker Bowles and Matt Tebbutt may seem an unlikely pair, but their shared love of food has sparked a decade-long friendship.

Bowles, a renowned food writer with a royal connection as the son of Queen Camilla, has long been a respected voice in the culinary world, with several books to his name. Meanwhile, Tebbutt is both a talented chef and popular TV presenter, known for fronting shows including

However royal food critic Tom is no stranger to the Saturday Kitchen studio, where he’s often shared lighthearted laughs with the host. Just last month, the pair came together again to host the Abergavenny Food Festival, their first appearance on stage since 2008.

Matt shared a throwback photo from that time alongside recent snapshots, joking that while they may not look the same, “their banter is still going strong.”

The star posted on : “Yes ok, we look a bit different now, but the banter is still just as good! I will be on stage once more with the rather well-connected Tom Parker Bowles. (Sunday 2pm, Borough Theatre) It’s been a while since we last teamed up at Abergavenny Food Festival (2008). We’ve collaborated over the years – right back to our early days co-hosting UKTV’s Market Kitchen – expect a lively and informal chat at Abergavenny’s Borough Theatre – Sunday 22 September. Go to @afoodfestival for the @boroughtheatre ticket link. See you there! @tompbowles.”

Bowles recently revealed that his mother, Camilla, was quite ‘strict’ about the food she allowed her children to eat. In an article for You magazine, he shared some of her favourite family recipes and reminisced about the foods he wasn’t permitted to enjoy as a child due to her disapproval.

He fondly remembered: “She is a naturally good cook, everything from roast chicken and pork chops to tarragon chicken, smoked sausages in cream, and asparagus drenched in butter. As well as serious scrambled eggs and a mean cheese omelette. We had vegetables from the garden, game shot by my father and fish that he had caught. The fridge was always full of good snacks.”

Tom also reflected on his father, Andrew Parker Bowles, and his cooking skills, admitting: “My father’s one involved steak being cooked in a wire toast rack on the top of the Aga. The room would fill with smoke, and the top was coated in burnt fat. But it did taste very good indeed. My mother, who had to clean it up, was less impressed and it was soon banned.”

Speaking about his childhood food experiences, he went on to reminisce: ” We grew up eating locally, seasonally and organically,way before they became the overused buzzwords they are today my mother shopped in the butcher, fishmonger, bakery and greengrocer. But when Sainsbury’s opened in Chippenham at the start of the 80s it was like that moment in The Wizard of Oz where it moves from monochrome to technicolour.”

“Ice Magic! Birds Eye Chicken Pies! Butterscotch Angel Delight and huge variety packs of Monster Munch! We wanted it all, although my mother was fairly strict in what we were allowed.”

Tom has penned five well-regarded food books, including Fortnum & Mason: The Cook Book, The Year of Eating Dangerously, and Let’s Eat: Recipes From My Kitchen Notebook.