This week, we’re basking in the evening sunshine at Cooking the Books Live at Rockwater, Hove with Noor Murad.Her debut cookbook, Lugma is her twist on the familiar, to use an Ottolenghi term, of the food from her homeland, Bahrain.It’s the very first international cookbook of Bahraini recipes, but reflects her own experiences of growing up there, the mix of Persian and Indian flavours infused with her own half Britishness and a brash of new York where she worked before landing in the bosom of the Ottolenghi family.Click here for tickets to the next Cooking the Books Live with Gurd Loyal, and then pop over to Gilly's Substack for the fascinating Q&A with the audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re back with one of Gilly's favourite guests on Cooking the Books, Bee Wilson and her latest book, The Heart Shaped Tin.It’s a book about love and loss, and the magical thinking that so many of us transpose onto everyday objects, often found in the kitchen. As she navigates her way from the despair of a broken marriage to a gloriously happy present via the death of her mother and the inevitable life changes that happen as children grow up, she gathers stories and explores the psychology about our relationship with things – the junk and the treasure – in her most moving book so far. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Bee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we're with Malaysian Scottish chef, restaurateur and now food writer, Julie Lin and her debut cookbook, Sama SamaSama Sama meaning Same Same is all about food and identity. It’s a book that has been simmering for years as Julie explores her same-same notions of home and all the ingredients of belonging that have come together in the hashtag third culture food. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Julie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, in a special extra episode to coincide to the minute with a fascinating new way of publishing, I’m with content creation queen, Masterchef judge and co-presenter of The Food Programme, Leyla KazimLeyla’s debut Pathways is not one but two books about her massive life change to become a farmer in Portugal. It’s a memoir/manifesto/guide to living a purposeful life. Published by The Pound Project, it goes on sale for three weeks only, from 7pm on May 6th - 27th May. She’s in good company - Jess Phillips MP, Dolly Alderton, Pandora Sykes, Emma Gannon, Sebastian Faulks, Charlie Mackesy, Rita Ora, Richard and Scarlett Curtis are just some of her fellow authors. She tells us about disruption in life, the food system and publishing!You can purchase the book from the following link, which goes live at 19:00 on May 6th: https://www.poundproject.co.uk/shop/pathways Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re with Tim Siadatan, the man behind one of the most iconic restaurants in London, Padella to chat about his eponymous debut cookbook.Tim started his journey in food on an apprentice scheme at Fifteen, with the most iconic of chefs, Jamie Oliver. From there, he rocketed through the food firmament from St John with Fergus Henderson to Moro with Sam and Sam Clarke, before setting up his own restaurants, Trullo and Padella with his mate from the River Café, Jordan Frieda.With Padella on the bucket list for every tourist coming to Borough Market, it’s no surprise to find Tim’s first cookbook sub-titled ‘Iconic Pasta at Home’. Gilly asks him what iconic means to him.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Tim, and if you'd like to buy the book, head to Cooking the Books page at Bookshop.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re back with Cooking the Books favourite, Tara Wigley and the second in her brilliant series of culinary confusions, How the Cookie Crumbles.After co-writing the Ottolenghi big hitters with Yotam and other members of the Test Kitchen, she’s found her own niche in rhyme. After How to Butter Toast charmed a whole new readership, she’s back with all we wanted to know about ingredients, cooking and kitchens, but were afraid to ask.And it's that sense of anxiety, over-thinking and delightful neuroses that makes her stand out in the food writing community. Gilly chatted to her a month about that nail biting bit before publication, and asked her how she thought the cookie’s going to crumble.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Tara. And if you'd like to buy the book, head to Cooking the Books' page on Bookshop.org where you can find many of the books featured on the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week in a special extra episode, we’re live in Paris at the legendary Belleville bistrot Le Mistral with Chris Newens, the winner of the 2024 Jane Grigson Trust Award for best debut food writer for his gastronomic journey through the arrondissements of Paris, Moveable Feasts.The name of the book is a nod to Chris’ idol, Ernest Hemingway and his memoir of a struggling expat writer making his way in Paris during the 1920s. And in front of a live audience made up of many of his friends and fans who have already made that left turn and are living the expat dream, we talked about curating the bubble of Parisian gastronomy. We began with an introduction to the evening by the queen of French food, Francophile journalist and author of Amuse Bouche, how to eat your way around France, Carolyn BoydAnd you can buy Moveable Feasts and Amuse Bouche at the Cooking the Books shop on bookshop.org by clicking on the links.And then head over to my Substack for the fascinating Q&A at the Paris show on Extra Bites. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re with yet another lawyer turned chef, Malaysian restaurateur and award-winning author of Sambal Shiok and now Simply Malaysian, Mandy Yin.She’s the super-driven restaurateur who started selling satay burgers at a street stall after getting burnt out in corporate law, and who went on to be lauded by all the food critics for her London laksa bar, Sambal Shiok.As a mum of a three year old now, she’s making it easy on herself, and on the growing number of people who really really want to cook her super tasty laksas and satays in Simply Malaysian. This is about giving yourself a break – as a mum. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Mandy's Extra Bites, including some top tips for new mums! You can buy Mandy's book from the Cooking the Books shop at Bookshop.org which supports independent bookshops. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re off to the Cairngorms of Scotland with anthropologist, food journalist and woman of the wilds, Ghillie Basan.After bringing the food of Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon, The Middle East, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Kenya to an international readership hungry for different flavours and food cultures, Ghillie's latest book, Food Whisky Life focuses more on her own life. It’s a story of resilience, enterprise and whisky, getting on with it as a single mum in the wilds and pulling brilliant ideas out of the bag to make life work deliciously.You can buy Food, Whisky, Life from the Cooking the Books shop at Bookshop.org which supports independent bookshops. And head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Ghillie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we're with Channel 4 news writer, social media food influencer and nominee for the Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Award for debut food writing, Felicty Spector.Bread and War: A Ukrainian Story of Food, Bravery and Hope is an exploration of the profound role of food in wartime Ukraine. Felicity’s trips through devastated villages, bombed cities, family kitchens, and precarious bakeries meeting everyday extraordinary people showed her how food, particularly bread, has become a powerful symbol of Ukrainian identity, resistance, and hope.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Felicity. You can buy Felicity's book from the Cooking the Books shop at Bookshop.org which supports independent bookshops. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re off to the Greek Islands with chef and food historian, Carolina Doriti for a deeper dive into the stories of Greece through its food. Taking the tourist to see the traditions, the artisans and the produce of our favourite holiday islands, says Carolina, helps to connect them more with the food and the people, an essential element of sustainable travel. As she takes us through four food moments from four of her favourite islands, we learn about how to slow-cook chicken in a tserepa, why to pair Samos wine with poached peaches and how to transform rusks with lemon leaves.Head over to Gilly's Substack for a recipe from the book and for Extra Bites of Carolina. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re celebrating the food culture of Palestine with one of its most vocal champions, Sami TamimiSami’s first solo cookbook, Boustany, meaning 'my garden', is about the abundance of vegetarian recipes that make up the heart of Palestinian cooking. He and Yotam Ottolenghi, largely through their first book, Jerusalem have done more to bring the food of the Middle East to the world than anyone, and most of us will know our way around a labneh or a pomegranate molasses by now.Falastin, his cookbook co-written with Tara Wigley took him back to his homeland to begin to tell the story of Palestinian food culture, and in Boustany, he continues that mission. Gilly asks him how he feels about chatting about Sumac roasted plums with cardamom cream and pistachio when food is being weaponised in his own backyard.You can buy Boustany from the Cooking the Books shop at Bookshop.org which supports independent bookshops.https://uk.bookshop.org/a/2164/9781529916423 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re off to Bordeaux with chef, author and friend of the podcast, Emily Scott to talk about fish in her latest book, Home Shores.After the kids have left home and as she faces a big birthday, Emily’s tells us how she's changing up her life. She may have left Cornwall where she was the first woman commissioned by the UK Cabinet Office to cook for royalty and world leaders at the G7 summit dinner at the Eden Project in 2021, but she’s on a mission to make the most of life. She’s the Executive Consultant Chef and Creative Director at the Calypso Grill in the Cayman Islands, all while setting up a whole new home in France. In short, she’s living the dream.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Emily. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re back at Gilly's How to Cook Book food writing retreat at her house just outside Lewes in East Sussex with muse-in-residence, the grande dame of British food writing, Elisabeth Luard.After bringing the flavours of Spain to a British readership from the 1980s on, her Classic Spanish Recipes: 75 signature dishes is part of the Hamlyn Classic Recipes series celebrating 75 years of publishing some the most admired chefs and writers in the world for their pioneering approach to food culture - Anna del Conte on Italian food, Ken Hom on Chinese, Chetna Makan on Indian. Pop over to Gilly's Substack from Extra Bites of Elisabeth's Spain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re with British-Caribbean writer, Keshia Sakarah whose debut cookbook, Caribe was shortlisted with Irina Janakievska and Dina for the Jane Grigson Trust Award in 2023. It's a history of Caribbean cooking with 125 recipes from 23 nations - from Montserrat to Haiti, Antigua to Guadaloupe, capturing the cultures through food in what this Leicester born young writer calls 'resistance through retention'.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Keshia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, Gilly is with the British Iranian/Pakistani human rights activist and food and travel writer, Yasmin Khan to talk about her latest book, Sabzi.Sabzi, meaning greens and herbs in Persian, the language of her mother, and vegetables in Urdu, the language of her Pakistani father, is about how to reduce the amount of meat in our diet with delicious recipes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and South Asia. It’s as political and environmental as we’d expect from Yasmin, but it’s also a book about her ancestors and the food from their land – as well as a hard-won journey to motherhood. Gilly finds out why she chose vegetables to convey such a big story.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Yasmin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In extra episode from Groundswell, the Regenerative Agriculture Festival that Sheila Dillon calls 'the Glastonbury of Food and Farming', Cooking the Books Live discusses the influence of cook books and books about food on changing the way we eat and buy our foodIn front of an audience of farmers and food businesses, pioneers and innovators who are changing the way we eat, Gilly asks a panel of writers with influence, Thomasina Miers of Wahaca, Amelia Christie-Miller of Bold Bean company, Alice Robinson of British Pasture Leather and David Finlay of The Ethical Dairy what a book can do to change the story of food. Check out Gilly's Substack here and get in touch on Instagram here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re back at Rockwater in Hove for Cooking the Books Live with Gurd Loyal.Regular listeners will know that Gurd is probably the writer who Gilly think's best uses the lens of food to examine life. His first book, Mother Tongue won the Jane Grigson Trust award for Best Debut, and he has become the word on Third Culture food, prising open the liminal spaces between where we come from and who we can be. His second book, Flavour Heroes is a lighter read, a pantry book giving us technicolour ways to elevate the simplest dishes with 15 superstar ingredients. After the food world clucked around him over Mother Tongue, Diana Henry calling him boundary breaking, Felicity Cloake dubbing him the Willy Wonka wizard of flavour, Gilly asks him in front of a live audience, how he felt about the notoriously difficult second album. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of CTB Live with the Q&A Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re with Guardian columnist and author Felicity Cloake as she cycles through America in search of its food culture.Peach Street to Lobster Lane is her great American road trip – on a bike. It’s the off-road trip that’s about getting to the heart of American cuisine via a glimpse into everyday life that you just can’t get by car.The story she finds is about immigration, colonisation and enterprise, from tex mex to creole, fried chicken and real bbq, Chicago deep pan pizza, lobster rolls, clam chowder, Boston baked beans New York bagels and Coney Island hot dogs. Click here for Extra Bites of Felicity's epic adventure on Gilly's Substack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we’re exploring the story of Ukraine with its most famous defender and cultural protector, Olia Hercules in her first memoir, Strong Roots.It’s the story of Ukraine that history can never tell, through the stories of its people - and in particular, Olia’s people, through four generations of her family. Nigella calls it 'breathtaking', Caroline Eden calls it cinematic, Elisabeth Luard says: ‘Here, in all its beauty and sorrow, is the story of Ukraine as it is, and was and surely will be again.’Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Olia and her photos from the family album. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.