Every week, we’re turning to a trusted tastemaker and Talking Taste in all its forms. From favorite meals to must-have music for eating, drinking, and making things happen, we want to know what makes creators and influencers tick—don’t you?
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Illustration by Paige Vickers
Justine Delaney, known to probably hundreds of thousands of partygoers as Justine D., is responsible for keeping the good times going at the Soho Grand, and has done the same while spinning at the New Dream Hotel and other hot spots. Delaney is obviously drawn to circular objects that make people smile, because when she’s not spinning, she’s a freelance pastry chef (with a degree in classic pastry arts from the French Culinary Institute, no less). We caught up with her in between cakes and gigs to talk about British snacks, art books, and the dreamiest Barcelona meal she’s ever had.
Name: Justine D.
Age: 39
Day job: DJ and cake maker
What you’d do if you weren’t doing your day job: I’m pretty happy with my career so I’m sticking with it.
One food or drink you couldn’t live without: Earl grey tea and buttered toast with marmite.
What do you have great taste in? Records.
Who, to you, is an influential tastemaker, and why? I never cite just one person as an influential tastemaker, but checking the Instagram feeds of certain lifestyle brands and people can always be a source of inspiration for me.
How do you expand and refine your sense of taste? I tend to revisit old art books in my collection, record covers, all types of cookbooks, graphic design books with loads of stylized fonts. Anything visual is a tool to expand taste.
What is the best-tasting thing you’ve ever eaten? Roast chicken and potatoes my first time to Barcelona 17 years ago. A very simple dish. I can’t remember the restaurant or where it was but since then, I’ve attempted to duplicate that dish. It never turns out as good as I remember it.
What does taste mean to you? Taste is perception.
The self-proclaimed “rock and roll baker” gave us some jams worth baking to:
