Jack Monroe

Jack Monroe (born 17 March 1988)[2] is a British food writer, journalist and activist known for campaigning on poverty issues, particularly hunger relief. Monroe initially rose to prominence for writing a blog titled A Girl Called Jack (now renamed Cooking on a Bootstrap), and has since written for publications such as The Echo, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and The New Yorker, as well as publishing several cookbooks focusing on "austerity recipes" and meals which can be made on a tight budget.

For other uses, see Jack Monroe (disambiguation).

Jack Monroe
Born (1988-03-17) 17 March 1988
Southend-on-Sea, England, United Kingdom[1]
NationalityBritish
Occupation
  • Writer
  • journalist
  • campaigner
Years active2012–present
Children1
Websitecookingonabootstrap.com

Early life

Monroe was born in Southend-on-Sea in 1988, to David Hadjicostas MBE, and Evelyn (née Beatty) Hadjicostas, a former nurse. Her father is of Greek-Cypriot heritage; he was in the British Army for seven years and in the fire service for 30 years.[3][4][5] He was awarded an MBE in 2007 Birthday Honours for services to children and families.[6] Monroe has three siblings.[4][7]

Described as coming from a working-class background,[8] Monroe passed the 11-plus examinations and attended Westcliff High School for Girls, a grammar school in Westcliff-on-Sea, before leaving at age 16, "bullied and disillusioned",[8] with insufficient GCSEs to progress to A-level (she sat 7 and passed 4 and a half of them).[9]

Monroe left home and worked in a chip shop, before taking a job as a call handler for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. After having a child, she was unable to arrange the work around childcare responsibilities, and was unable to negotiate adjustments to her working pattern to make continued employment feasible. Monroe resigned the post after serving between 2007 and 2011. After leaving the fire service, Monroe began going by the forename Jack – being short for "Jack of all trades".[8][10] She spent the following 18 months on benefits and looking for work, and moved from relative affluence to poverty and financial hardship.[11][12][13][14]

Career

Writing

Monroe came to prominence in the media through writing the blog A Girl Called Jack, sharing cheap recipes created as a single parent with a young child, and aiming to provide family meals for less than £10 per week.[15] In December 2015, the blog was renamed as Cooking on a Bootstrap.

In 2012, Monroe became a weekly columnist for The Echo,[16] a south Essex daily newspaper, and in February 2013, was taken on by the same as a trainee reporter – the timing was fortunate, as she was having difficulty affording nursery fees. Monroe was later retained as an unpaid columnist for The Huffington Post, before signing a publishing deal with Penguin Group.[17] The book deal, reported as worth £25,000, resulted in housing benefit being cut off and Monroe came close to being evicted, which led to moving into cheaper accommodation. Despite working every day, she was unable to make ends meet.[8] By January 2014, finances had improved, and Monroe was able to move into a small two-bedroom flat with her son.[13]

Monroe formerly wrote a twice-monthly food and recipe column for The Guardian[18] and additionally contributed a number of political columns, as well as being featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Monroe has written several budget cooking recipe books.[19][20]

In April 2020 it was announced that Monroe would co-host Daily Kitchen Live on BBC One alongside Matt Tebbutt. The programme, made in response to issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, offered tips and guidance to families struggling with limited resources, and aired daily for a two week period that commenced on 14 April 2020.[21]

Campaigning and politics

Monroe has been an active campaigner for a number of causes in the UK, particularly those concerned with poverty and hunger, campaigning alongside organisations such as Unite, The Trussell Trust, Child Poverty Action Group and Oxfam.[22][23]

In 2013, Monroe appeared in a six-week advertising campaign for Sainsbury's supermarket.[24] Monroe accepted the equivalent of the living wage for the six weeks that the campaign ran and donated the remainder of the fee to charities including a food bank.[25]

Monroe is a member of the Labour Party[26] and appeared in a Labour campaign video in October 2013.[27] She had left the party in March 2015 after disagreeing with its rhetoric on immigration,[28] and became a member of the Green Party of England and Wales.[29] In April 2016, Monroe appeared online supporting the Women's Equality Party.[30]

In November 2014, Monroe said on Twitter that David Cameron "uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends".[31] The Daily Mail journalist Sarah Vine criticised Monroe for using the death of Cameron's son for political purposes and "choosing" a life of poverty. The Independent described this as a "caustic attack", and Monroe replied on Twitter that the column was "homophobic, transphobic, deadnaming [and] ignorant".[32]

In 2015, Monroe won the Women of the Future Award in the media category. Monroe was "surprised", saying "I'm not sure I'll even be a woman in the future".[33] The award was won after Monroe came out as non-binary, which created some controversy. The subsequent "gender debate" angered Monroe and she questioned the headlines of some newspapers, saying "Because of my trans identity, I'm attacked for accepting a real woman's award."[34][35]

In the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Monroe intended to stand in Southend West as a candidate for the National Health Action Party,[36] but withdrew after receiving death threats and because of health problems caused by arthritis.[37]

Speaking in 2014, Monroe described life as having "changed beyond recognition", but said that she is still affected by her experience of poverty.[19] The University of Essex announced in May 2015 that it would be awarding Monroe an honorary degree.[38]

Monroe appeared on BBC television's late night political programme This Week in June 2015[39] and again in May 2019.[40]

Personal life

Monroe came out as non-binary in October 2015,[11] and goes by they/them and she/her pronouns.[41] She has said she did not change her name to Jack while still working at the fire service, out of concern over "the potential for deadnaming and bullying in a not-particularly-tolerant organisation. Not a great place to be gay, let alone genderqueer." She also did not take part in a fire-service passing out ceremony, because protocol would have required her to wear a skirt.[42] During this period, Monroe also had a brief relationship with a close male friend which resulted in a son.[43] She also had a long-term relationship with a woman which ended shortly after Monroe told her partner she was considering a mastectomy.[42]

Monroe had previously identified as a cisgender lesbian, and prior to coming out as non-binary was careful to downplay any suggestions of gender ambiguity: in a February 2014 interview, she described herself as a "lefty, liberal, lezzer cook" who had reassured her parents that she identified as female. "I was like, no, I'm a little bit tomboyish, a little bit butch. But I have no immediate plans to transition."[13]

In 2014, it was reported that Monroe and her son were living with Monroe's then girlfriend Allegra McEvedy and McEvedy's daughter in London; the relationship ended in October 2015.[44]

In 2017, Monroe revealed she was suffering from acute arthritis, citing the affliction as a partial cause for her suspending her campaign for candidacy in the National Health Action Party. In January 2019, Monroe stated that she was recovering from alcoholism, discussing how drinking had affected her work and personal life.[45] Later that month, Monroe announced her engagement to her partner, Louisa Compton.[46]

Monroe was diagnosed with autism and ADHD as a child, though was not made aware of this until she was an adult.[47][48]

Monroe initiated legal action in 2015 after the Daily Mail claimed that "Jack" was not her "real" name,[42] and has requested that her birth name not be used by the media.[11]

In 2017, Monroe won a libel case against newspaper columnist and television personality Katie Hopkins, after Hopkins suggested on Twitter that Monroe was supportive of vandalism of a war memorial, having confused Monroe with journalist Laurie Penny. Instead of apologising, Hopkins then labelled Monroe "social anthrax". The High Court awarded Monroe £24,000 in damages plus costs.[49][50][51]

Bibliography

Cookery books
  • A Girl Called Jack: 100 delicious budget recipes (Michael Joseph, 2014) ISBN 9780718178949
  • A Year in 120 Recipes (Michael Joseph, 2014) ISBN 9780718179960
  • Cooking on a Bootstrap: Over 100 simple, budget recipes (Bluebird, 2018) ISBN 9781509831111
  • Tin Can Cook: 75 Simple Store-cupboard Recipes (Bluebird, 2019) ISBN 9781529015287
  • Vegan (ish): 100 simple, budget recipes that don't cost the earth (Bluebird, 2019) ISBN 9781529005080[52]
  • Good Food for Bad Days: What to Make When You're Feeling Blue (Bluebird, 2020) ISBN 9781529028188

See also

References
  1. Monroe, Jack (7 May 2014). "About Jack". Cooking on a Bootstrap. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  2. "Jack Monroe". Jack's personal Twitter account. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  3. Olivia Blair (19 January 2016). "Jack Monroe sues Katie Hopkins for vandalism accusation tweet". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. "ESAB Introducing...David Hadjicostas MBE – Essex County Fire & Rescue Service". The safeguarding blog. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  5. "Death threats, sexism and online abuse...three Essex women tell us of the downside to overnight success on TV". The Echo. 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  6. "No. 58358". The London Gazette. 16 June 2007. p. 17.
  7. Joanna Moorhead (September 2004). "The toughest love". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  8. Patrick Butler (23 July 2013). "Jack Monroe: the face of modern poverty". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  9. "Jack Monroe". Cooking on a bootstrap. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. Fisher, Lucy (16 February 2014). "Jack Monroe enjoys the taste of success but she won't let it go to her head". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  11. Monroe, Jack (22 October 2015). "Please don't call me A Girl Called Jack. I have something to tell you". COOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP. Archived from the original on 21 December 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  12. "Dear Richard Littlejohn – here are all the things you got wrong about me". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  13. Fisher, Lucy. "Jack Monroe enjoys the taste of success but she won't let it go to her head". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  14. Monroe, Jack (23 August 2012). "Unemployed Mum Sells Off Belongings – Essex Enquirer". A Girl Called Jack. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013 – via Wayback Machine.
  15. Monroe, Jack (20 July 2013). "How to eat on £10 a week: the shopping list and the recipes". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  16. "Jack is Essex girl at her best". The Echo. 1 November 2012. Part 1 Archived 25 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Part 2 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. Owen, Pamela (19 May 2013). "Mum who fed son on £10 a week lands book deal for her breadline recipes". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  18. Monroe, Jack. "Austerity bites". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  19. Monroe, Jack (11 September 2014). "Five recipes from Jack Monroe's new cookbook". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  20. "Jack Monroe". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  21. "BBC - BBC One daytime announces Daily Kitchen Live, to help viewers through lockdown - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  22. "Child Poverty Action Group Ambassadors – Jack Monroe". CPAG. Archived from the original on 25 April 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  23. "Oxfam Policy and Practice Blog – Jack Monroe". Oxfam. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  24. Smithers, Rebecca (15 December 2013). "Jack Monroe to front Sainsbury's ad campaign". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  25. Monroe, Jack (17 December 2013). "Why doing a Sainsbury's advert doesn't make me a sellout". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  26. Monroe, Jack. Twitter https://twitter.com/BootstrapCook/status/1349349201004687362. Retrieved 13 January 2021. For anyone who needs to hear this today, I am a fully paid up member of the Labour Party and have been for quite some time now. I voted Labour at every election except 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. Perraudin, Frances (17 March 2015). "Jack Monroe joins Green party". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  28. Roisin, O'Connor (18 March 2015). "Labour supporter Jack Monroe switches allegiance to Green Party". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  29. "Reaction to Jack Monroe Demonstrates How Women's Political Views are Still Dismissed". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  30. Jack Monroe: Give half your votes to equality on 5 May – WE think that's fair #VoteWE (Video). Women's Equality Channel. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016 – via YouTube.
  31. Selby, Jenn (24 November 2014). "Jack Monroe: David Cameron 'uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric' to legitimise NHS privatisation". Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  32. "Sarah Vine criticises lesbian mother Jack Monroe: 'If she was unsure about her sexuality, she should have taken greater precautions'". The Independent. London. 25 November 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  33. "Jack Monroe Wins Woman Of The Future Award After Coming Out As Transgender". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  34. "We're all a bit non-binary inside. So why do we segregate by gender?". The Guardian. 29 October 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  35. "Jack Monroe on coming out as transgender: 'I will always be on the girls' team'". The Standard. 9 November 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  36. "Katie Hopkins libel-win blogger Jack Monroe to stand in Southend". BBC News. 21 April 2017. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  37. "Jack Monroe abandons bid to become an MP". The Guardian. Press Association. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  38. "Honorary Graduands Announced". University of Essex. 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  39. Nelson, Sara C (26 June 2015). "Jack Monroe Clashes With Michael Portillo Over Child Poverty Amid 'Up The Duff' Benefits Row". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  40. "BBC iPlayer This Week 23/05/2019". BBC. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  41. Monroe, Jack. "Jack Monroe • ADHD RA ASD (@BootstrapCook)". Twitter. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  42. Monroe, Jack (20 October 2015). "Being non-binary: I'm not A Girl Called Jack any more, but I'm not a boy either". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  43. "Jack Monroe". 8 steps from shore. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  44. Lamont, Tom (19 October 2014). "OFM awards 2014 best food blog: Jack Monroe". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 21 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  45. Monroe, Jack. "My name is Jack Monroe, and I'm an alcoholic. But now I'm recovering…". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  46. Badkar, Aleesha (21 January 2019). "Jack Monroe announces engagement to partner Louisa Compton". GoodtoKnow. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  47. "Jack Monroe on defeating Katie Hopkins and why low-cost recipes matter". inews.co.uk. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  48. "Jack Monroe: Autism is my superpower, like Greta Thunberg". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  49. Judgment: Monroe -v- Hopkins Archived 15 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, HM Courts and Tribunal Service 2017.
  50. Kennedy, Maev (10 March 2017). "Jack Monroe wins Twitter libel case against Katie Hopkins". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  51. "Writer Jack Monroe wins £24k damages from columnist Katie Hopkins over 'war memorial' tweets". The Daily Telegraph. 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  52. "Vegan(ish) by Jack Monroe cookbook review: 'Plenty to admire from a rising star'" Archived 21 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
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