Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

This week, we're with award-winning psychologist, and graduate of Gilly's How to Cook a Book food writing retreat, Andrea Oskis.Her first book is a series of tales from her clinic exploring how the food we eat reveals who we are – and how we love. Its title? The Kitchen Shrink. Genius.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Andrea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is confronting her biggest summertime phobia with Tom Kerridge and his latest book, The Barbecue Book.He's the man with the Midas touch – he turned the Hand and Flowers from a rundown pub in Buckinghamshire into the first and only 2 star Michelin pub in the world. He's the chef who lost a stack of weight and turned his diet story into books and telly which helped millions of others do the same. He's the boy who grew up on free school meals who launched Full Time Meals with Marcus Rashford in 2021 and campaigns for free school meals for all children in the UK. He's the Michelin star chef whose books elevate the simplest of dishes. But is he the man who can teach Gilly how to love a barbie?Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites 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 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 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, Gilly is with the queen of communal living an icon of bohemian anti-capitalism, Rosie Kellett.An actress, a baker with Meringue Girls and Claire Ptak's assistant at Violet Cakes – which included working on Harry and Meghan's wedding cake, it was moving into a Carpet Warehouse in London that shot her to fame on Instagram. The idea of sharing the cost of living with her ware-housemates, cooking and eating communally – as well as the supper clubs with Italian housemate, Virginia - hit home to so many that publishers were queuing up to sign her. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Rosie and a recipe from the book. 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 talking about the dirty rotten scoundrels who run our global food industry with Dr Stuart GillespieStuart's book Food Fight: From Plunder and Profit to People and Planet gives us the back story of a food system driven by greed and exploitation. But it suggests how to transform it into a food system fit for the future which prioritises global health and justice. And it starts with really understanding that the food system isn't broken—it's functioning exactly as designed.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Stuart, and for her recent posts on what Food Fight has inspired her to do with Cooking the Books. Click here for The Dark Side of the Plate, the report that Stuart mentions in the episode that he contributed to for The Food Foundation. And click here for the Food Foundation's Pod Bites. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're digging deep – culturally and politically - into our connection with the land in Poppy Okotcha's A Wilder Way, how gardens grow us.Poppy is this year's winner of the Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Award for New Food Writers for her memoir – and very practical handbook – about putting down roots and growing a garden while reconnecting with Mother Earth's infinite power to restore life.Her beautiful book is a wonderful wake up call to remind us of what's under our feet, threaded through with fables and folklore from her Nigerian Igbo and British cultures. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Poppy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're walking the Green Mountains of Armenia and Georgia with food and travel writer, Caroline EdenThe last time we met on CTB, it was to talk about Cold Kitchens, her dream of journeys past during Lockdown, as she tried to make sense of a changing world. This time, she's putting one foot in front of the other to process the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on this still largely unknown part of the world, her signature edible postcards a wake up call to the sensory adventures of the Caucasus in the last in her colour trilogy after Black Sea and Red Sands.Head to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Caroline. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're back at River Cottage with bee queen, Rachel de Thample River Cottage Handbook No 19: Bees and Honey is the latest in the practical guides to everything we need to know to live a sustainable life. Rachel and Steve Minshall take us through everything from caring for bees to honey recipes for soothing and healing, but as a former chef, commissioning Editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated and Head of Food for the organic box scheme Abel & Cole, Rachel has carved a niche as a writer who is all about the role of nature and climate change in food. Gilly asks her to trace that journey to River Cottage.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Rachel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're off on our travels again through Eastern Europe, this time with Irina Georgescu as our guide along the lesser known banks of the Danube.Irina has become the word on Romanian food, and from her home in Wales, she's committed to exploring her homeland through its food history. Her last book, Tava: Eastern European Baking and Desserts from Romania and Beyond won a James Beard Foundation award in 2023. In Danube, she finds publishing gold in everyday recipes from a part of the world most of us still haven't discovered. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Irina and recipes from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're visiting the kitchens of everyday India to find the food behind closed doors with chef, food writer and broadcaster, Roopa Gulati,Brought up in Cumbria, Roopa spent 20 years as a chef in Delhi before she came home to advise on Rick Stein's India series for BBC2. She's a woman who knows how to find the story in everyday food, and Indian Kitchens is an extraordinary story behind the recipes of 12 different communities to find the food that makes up a nation. Bee Wilson raves about it, Tom Parker Bowles calls it a modern classic, Diana Henry says, 'The recipes are pure gold.' Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Roopa and the recipe for the lamb in ginger and orange from her food moments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're back at Rockwater, Hove with River Cottage writer, Lucy Brazier telling a live audience about her memoir, The Honesty Box.It's a highly moving and very funny diary about healing a broken marriage and growing enough vegetables to fill her new distraction, an honesty box. But the rickety old receptable outside her garden gate is also a metaphor for the treasure trove she finds as she lifts the lid on the mental health crisis her husband – and the rest of the family – have been living with.We begin with a question from the audience about the title, and if it was always meant to have such a brilliant double meaning. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Lucy and the audience Q&A at Cooking the Books Live. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laurie Woolever is back on the pod, four years since we last met her to talk about the last book she wrote with the late, great Anthony Bourdain. This time she's telling her own story in Care and Feeding: A Memoir which paints a vivid picture of a bright, sensitive woman beset with anxiety trying to find her way into food writing in a world of celebrity chefs and toxic masculinity in turn of the century New York.Her work as a food writer for chef, Mario Batali and at Art Culinaire, the glossy magazine about chefs for chefs, gave her a unique point of view on the food scene of the time, and as personal assistant to Bourdain as well as his ghost writer, she's seen a lot of life.This memoir feels like a claim on her own story in a narrative that has been haunted by her much-missed boss long after he died in 2018, and Gilly finds out where and who she is without him.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Laurie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as Trump tramples over the future of Eastern Europe – and indeed the rest of Europe, we're with Siberian-born food writer and co-founder of #CookforUkraine, Alissa Timoshkina.Her latest book, Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe is a celebration of the humble cabbage (and four other vegetables) in the everyday kitchens of Eastern Europe. Her co-founder of CookforUkraine, Olia Hercules calls it ‘A rare cookbook that engages our thinking and delights our senses' and Nigella has already propped it up in her Cookbook Corner. In a world that is in such turmoil at the moment, a book about the rich history of Eastern European food and its peoples can do much to remind us all of the taste and flavour of a part of the world eclipsed by the headlines of war. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Alissa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're back with our favourite doctor, Saliha Mahmood Ahmed and her latest book, The 20 Minute Gut Health Fix. Saliha is a specialist registrar in gastroenterology with a Masters in Nutrition,an award winning food writer and the 2017 winner of MasterChef. She's been on this show to talk about Foodology and The Kitchen Prescription, but since we last met, beans have made it back into the mainstream. Gilly finds out if we're on our way to gut health.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Saliha including a recipe from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly puts her pack on her back and heads to Thailand, Baja California, Sri Lanka and Mexico with holistic chef Samantha Dormehl to explore her Wanderlust Kichen.The book is a spiritual guide to healing recipes from around the world, and the result of years of travelling, eating with locals, cooking in their kitchens and slowing right down to experience the wonders of the world through eating together. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Sam, and a recipe from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're celebrating CTB's fifth birthday with another in our series of Live events at Rockwater in Hove, this time with Claire Thomson.The Five o clock Apron, as she's more commonly known was with us to talk about her latest book One Pan Beans, the 10th in her series of how to cook books. In front of an audience of super-fans, she told us how to elevate the simplest of ingredients - beans, chickpeas and lentils - into fabulous weekday meals and weekend feasts.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for the Q&A which has masses of tips from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly finds out what happens when life falls apart, and grows again, with Kathy Slack's Rough PatchKathy was a high flying executive living the dream in Adland... until it became a nightmare. Burn out gave way to clinical depression and a very dark place indeed. Ultimately hers is a story about nature, dogs and how growing veg saved her, but she doesn't pull any punches, and trigger warning, she and Gilly do talk about how depression can lead to suicidal thoughts, although thankfully not in her case.Pop over to Substack for Extra Bites of Kathy, including the recipe from that Pitstop Tart.And if you or someone you know needs to talk about suicide, here are some useful numbers:Samaritans

This week, Gilly's with Niloufer Mavalvala to discover the food of the Zorastrians in the fourth of her compendium, The Route to Parsi Cooking.This is about food without borders, a cuisine which is under threat as so many are when their people are displaced. But as we hear so often on this show, they can also become the roots to a culture. With only about 200k Zoroastrians living around the world, Niloufer tells Gilly why she has taken it upon herself to revive this ancient cuisine.Click here for Extra Bites of Niloufer on Gilly's Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is talking vegan baking with Philip Khoury. His book, A New Way to Bake reimagined recipes for plant based cakes, bakes and desserts won the debut cookbook award last year at the Fortnum and Masons. But his day job as head pastry chef at Harrods has given him an opportunity to turn up the dial on veganism at the top end of London's food scene. Check into Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Philip. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Cooking the Books Live is back at Rockwater, Hove in the first of a series of second Tuesdays and a rather fabulous food book club. And who better to start with but Brighton's favourite novelist, Josie Lloyd and the inspiration for her latest murder mystery, Mrs Isabella Beeton.Miss Beeton's Murder Agency is a classic whodunnit, but it's the protagonist, Alice Beeton's distant ancestor who haunts the story with recipes from her 1861 masterpiece Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management peppering the plot. Click here for Extra Bites of Josie, including the Q&A from the evening on Gilly's Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the Oxford Farming Conference and the Oxford Real Farming Conference open their doors to discuss the role of farming in modern British life, Gilly talks sustainable meat with Pipers Farm's Abby Allen.The Pipers Farm Sustainable Meat Cookbook came out in 2022 but is one of Gilly's favourite reads and recipe resources. It's a manifesto for the role of family farms in climate change and a reminder of all the principles that guide Gilly's world, with some of the most delicious ways to enjoy the food that comes from them. Abby and her husband Will took over his father, Peter Greig's vision of how farming can be 14 years ago, and have continued to raise his bar, stimulating a conversation about sustainable meat that has made them important changemakers as we rethink food and farming.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Pipers Farm with recipes of Abby's food moments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Julian Baggini, the author of over 20 books about philosophy for a general audience. But it's what he says about food that had Dan Saladino of BBC's The Food Programme voting How the World Eats, a Global Food Philosphy his best book of 2024.Gilly finds out what a philosopher can do to help us out of the mess of our global food system.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Julian. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Kate Hall, the author of The Full Freezer Method: Five Steps to Transform How You Shop, Cook and Live. She's all over morning telly and the nationals as the Freezer Queen giving tips from her fantastically useful book which really could help us save waste; as she points out, 70% of global food waste comes from the home.But this isn't just about batch cooking and having an endless supply of ready meals; this is a whole new way of thinking about how to use your freezer. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Kate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Richard Hart, former head baker of iconic bakery, Tartine in San Francisco, the Londoner whose bakeries across Copenhagen began with a test kitchen at Noma, and the man who taught Marcus from the Bear how to bake. His book, Richard Hart Bread: Intuitive Sourdough Baking is more of a love letter to bread than an instruction manual. It's a read that makes your heart rate drop, the descriptions of dough making a metaphor for all that is wonderful in life. You can hear the collaboration with his wife, Henrietta Lovell, aka the Rare Tea Lady, in his words. This is about falling in love as much as it about baking bread. Richard says it's the same thing. Head to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites including his playlist to bake to. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Irina Janakievska, a North Macedonian born former lawyer turned chef who trained at Leiths and worked in the Ottolenghi test kitchen before becoming a runner up for the prestigious Jane Grigson Trust award for her debut cookbook, The Balkan Kitchen. It's massive book reaching deep into the history, peoples and geo-politics of the Balkans, but also into her own family story and her exploration of her own identity through recipes from all Balkan kitchens. Most of all, it's a love letter to Balkan cuisine – one of the most under-explored gastronomies in the world, and overshadowed by conflict.Head to Gilly's Substack to hear Irina read the poem that inspired the book cover, and for her recipe for Slatko, one of her four food moments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Claire Dinhut aka Condiment Claire. Claire is a culinary history cook and the author of The Condiment Book. A dual national of the US and France, she splits her time between LA and her family home, a mill in the French countryside where the rituals, traditions and flavours of both have inspired her till-side treasure, The Condiment Book which is bound to fly off the shelves this Christmas. Check out Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Claire who's taken us to that mill house in France to make her crème de marrons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, you may be surprised to find a fashion designer on the show. But Alice Robinson is not what you might imagine. She's only just left the Royal College of Art, but her work has already been featured in the V&A ‘s Food: Bigger than the Plate exhibition. Her first book Field, Fork, Fashion has had her on Radio's 4's Start the Week to discuss our connection with the countryside - with James Rebanks among the other guests. She is an extraordinary advocate of our connection with the land and prods us to think in a whole new way about the provenance of leather. Gilly finds out what the Fork in the title means to her story. Check out Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Alice and Bullock 374 – and Sheep 11458 - and click here for more about British Pasture Leather. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly's with Jon Watts, the author of the instant Sunday Times Bestseller Speedy Weeknight Meals . He's a chef with 885k followers on Instagram, but it all started when as a teenager serving a six and a half year sentence for GBH in a young offenders institution, he was given a job on day release at one of the early Jamie Oliver restaurants.Now in this mid 30s, he says that it was the Duke of Edinburgh's Award which taught him to cook in prison that changed his life - he was the first person in custody to earn all Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards. But with a new book out, prison is still his defining story, despite his dad telling him to change the record. Gilly asks him how he feels about having to keep going back there.Check Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Jon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with new kid on the block in cookbookland, Emily Roz.Emily is a trained chef, a recipe developer, and the content creator behind Myriad Recipes. Her “Around the World in 80 Dumplings” series went viral, gaining millions of views. They caught up to talk about The World is Your Dumpling, which has over 80 recipes celebrating the diverse flavours and textures of dumplings from just about everywhere across the globe. Iasked her if writing about dumplings was a great excuse to travel the world through the lens of dumplings.Check Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Emily. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with another changemaker, Elliot Webb, the author of Growing Mushrooms at Home: The Complete Guide to Knowing, Growing and Loving Fungi on the awesome world beneath our feet.The founder of Urban Farm It is a passionate grower and educator of alternative agriculture based in the UK. His goal is become a leader in the global movement to a more sustainable and self-sufficient society by positively disrupting current food production culture. Gilly asks him to dig deep into the history and science of mushrooms to find out why so many people so interested in them right now.Head over to her Substack for Extra Bites of Elliot in which he finds a brand new species of mushroom while foraging, and three fabulous recipes from Urban Farm It. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly's with the man who's on a mission to put flavour in the heart of a revolution in the food system. Franco Fubini is the CEO and founder of sustainable food distributor, Natoora. He's also one of the judges of The Food Planet prize for innovation in food, and now, the author of In Search of the Perfect Peach.His philosophy is simple but its impact could be massive - He believes that our everyday food choices can and should make our diet healthier, tastier with a massive impact on the farmers, the soil and the entire food chain. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Franco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly continues to curate the changemakers with chef, author and co-founder of Leon, Allegra McEvedyIn Chefs Wanted, she's on a mission to teach kids not just to play with their food but to cook like the pros. It's a must-buy for any kids who want to be properly creative in the kitchen and stretch their skills. But Allegra has a deeper purpose behind everything she does, including this book; Gilly last met her at the Conflict Café in London where she was hosting a Lebanese pop up supper club. As the tanks roll in again across Beirut, she asks her, as someone of real influence, how she feels about hope.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Allegra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Tim Spector, geneticist, author of Food For Life and founder of Zoe, the personalised nutrition app that has changed the way we think about food. And now, the Food for Life Cookbook.Since their first meeting for the delicious podcast before Covid changed the world, gut health advice is everywhere, and personalised nutrition is set to become the Next Big Thing. Gilly finds out the back story to Tim's extraordinary rise to fame and influence over the past four years, and how he thinks we can extend the trend for healthier eating to the entire population.Head to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Tim and Zoe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with one of the old skool TV chefs who taught Britain how to eat, Rick SteinThey last met over lunch when she was chatting to him about his book Secret France for the delicious. podcast. This time, it's about secret Britain, or at least the communities of Britain bursting with flavour and influencing our national diet. Rick Stein's Food Stories, the book and the BBC show, is about all that we are in Britain and is a subject very close to Gilly's heart. She asks him, after travelling the world – Mexico, Thailand, The Mediterranean, Istanbul to name a few, to find their stories through food, what this book says about our changing nation.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with food royalty, the restaurant critic, writer, and son of Queen Camilla, Tom Parker Bowles. Royal Food has always been about impressing the most powerful people in the world, and in his book Cooking and the Crown, he tells how it has set trends for centuries, from Victoria to his stepfather, King Charles 3rd. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Tom Parker Bowles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gilly is with Pam Brunton, chef/owner at Inver restaurant on Argyll and Bute, author, philosopher and star of Rick Stein's Food Stories on BBC1.Her book, Between Two Waters: Heritage, landscape and the modern cook is a deep dive into everything that we need to know about food - the philosophy, the politics and the provenance of what we eat. It's part memoir, part manifesto on the future of feeding the world, as well as a sharp, feminist critique of the power of the global food economy, and has been heralded as a fiercely original work of narrative non-fiction, from one of the world's most exciting thinkers about food, sustainability and landscape. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Pam. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Saturday Kitchen regular and author of nine cook books, Claire Thomson, aka Five o Clock apron. Her latest book, Veggie Family Cook Book is, like Claire, what it says on the cover – genuine, real, easy-going, with 120 recipes to make life more interesting. Gilly finds what makes her so appealing - and enduring - in the plentiful world of cookbooks.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Claire and a recipe for Spanakopita. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly has her hands on on the brand new, much awaited book from Ottolenghi, Comfort. Written by the 'four hungries', Yotam, his original co-writer Tara Wigley, Helen Goh and Verena Lochmuller, these are the foods that provide a comfort blanket for them, and mark a departure from the big Ottolenghi books of the past. In a deliciously raw, often indiscreet chat with three of the 'hungries' while Yotam is out of the Zoom room, we learn what makes Ottolenghi Ottolenghi, the connected nostalgia of their favourite comfort foods and Yotam's guilty pleasure when no-one else is looking. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of the Ottolenghi crew, and a recipe from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, in the last of our summer holiday specials, we head to the Good Kitchen in Sicily with community chef and adventurer in all things good, Danny McCubbin.His story is one of a leap of faith, driven by a sense of purpose coursing through his veins and cultivated by his 17 years working with Jamie Oliver, including mentoring chefs at Fifteen who had come from challenging backgrounds. Gilly first met Danny at San Patrignano, an extraordinary rehabilitation community committed to building a better society on a beautiful farm in Northern Italy. He spoke very little Italian then, but Gilly watched in awe how he communicated through something much more primal, a massive heart, and of course, food. You can listen to that interview for the delicious podcast here.He's done the same, against all odds, in Mussomeli, Sicily, and his book, The Good Kitchen, Love and connection Through Food, tells that story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's we're off to the Med – yup, all of it - with chef, Ben Tish.Ben's latest book Mediterra follows his deep dive into bits of the Mediterranean; Moorish looked at the influence of the moors over hundreds of years on food of the Med, while his book Sicilia was a visceral guide to the street and home food of Sicily. This time, he covers the whole Mediterranean – north, south, east, west to bring us the flavours that Greece has in common with France, Lebanon with Spain, Turkey with Egypt. Head over to Gilly's Substack for more of Ben, including a recipe from the book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is with Meera Sodha, author of Made In India The Times' book of the year in 2014, Fresh India, which won the 2017 Observer Food Monthly's Best New Cookbook Award, East which drew from her Guardian's New Vegan column, and now Dinner, with a rather different story.This is about the food that helped her recovery from burn out, scribbled in her orange notebooks which, after three years of not being able to cook at all, she would cook only for pleasure. She talked to her just after a piece she wrote about her breakdown for the Guardian prompted an outpouring of love, support and sharing and asked if she felt that she had inadvertently touched a nerve.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites from Meera including original recipes from her orange notebooks side by side with the finished product in a rather beautiful meditation on process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're back at Rockwater, Hove talking LIVE with Melissa Hemsley, food writer of six best-selling cook books, including her latest, the Sunday Times bestseller, Real Healthy.A delicious reminder of how to unprocess our diet with easy, everyday recipes, the book is an antidote to ultra processed foods. Gilly chats to Melissa about everyday activism, elevating the simplest of flavours and the recipe for joy.Click here for Extra Bites on Gilly's Substack including a recipe from the book as well as the Q&A from the evening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're going back to London, 2002, a time before pomegranate molasses, when Nigella and Jamie were first on the telly and Ottolenghi had yet to chuck his flavour bombs into the salad bowl of British cuisine, to the publication of the very first Diana Henry book, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons.Click here for Gilly's previous chats with Diana about How to Eat a Peach and Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, but this time, we're going back to a time when they were both TV producers, intoxicated by the smells and eating habits of an increasingly diverse and exotic capital. Click here for Gilly's Substack and Extra BItes of Diana. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, in the very first Cooking the Books LIVE at Rockwater in Hove, an audience with Guardian Feast columnist, Rachel Roddy.Rachel is the author of three books about her life in Italy including the multi award winning Five Quarters: Recipes and Notes from a Kitchen in Rome which was first published in 2015 and now reissued in 2024.It's the story of a 32 year old woman from Harpenden who turned up in Rome with little more than a travel toothbrush and a phone, planning to stay a month, maybe, before heading south and on in search of who knows what. What she found in Testaccio, the tiny corner of Rome where she put her bag down, launched a career as a mutli award winning food writer. In front of an audience of fans, food writers and foodies, Gilly finds out what that was.Click here for more from the Q&A on Gilly's Substack and here for the further reading Rachel mentions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the schools get ready for the long summer holidays, Gilly is with the woman everyone needs to pop in their suitcase if they're heading to France, Carolyn Boyd, author of Amuse Bouche, How to Eat Your Way around France. Carolyn has guided Gilly through the best food destinations – and therefore THE best destinations in France for the last couple of years though her articles in The Guardian, The Times, National Geographic Traveller Food and BBC Good Food. And that includes a recent trip to Hauts de France, a part of the country most of us scoot past en route to more exotic destinations. But Carolyn argues that food opens a door to some hidden gems - if you know where to find it. Click here to read Gilly's adventures, inspired by Carolyn's Amuse BoucheAnd stay on Substack for Extra Bites from Carolyn, including a mini guide for your summer drive through France. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're off to Seoul with British-Korean writer, Su Scott.Su has lived in Britain longer than she lived in Korea where she grew up, and has raised her own daughter in London. But her latest book, Pocha tells the story of the country she left behind, her family and the food they shared, often in the pochas, the covered markets and food stalls which are about so much more than food. Click here for Extra Bites of Su on Gilly's Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the UK (and France) go to the polls, Gilly chats to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall about the best way to support the NHS, his latest book How to Eat 30 Plants a Week.Last time we met to talk about the River Cottage's Good Comfort, his message was to swap out the less healthy ingredients for more, eating healthily not by taking stuff out of them, but by putting more in. This time, he's upped his game and using the best of the latest science, he's showing us how to eat 30 different plants a week. Click here for Extra Bites of Hugh and here for the Food Foundation's Manifesto on how to put your own pressure on the next government to create a healthier nation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week in an extra episode in the run up to the UK General Election to remind everyone why we must get the next government to fix the food system, Gilly meets Chris Van Tulleken, TV, radio and infectious diseases doctor who catapulted the term ultra processed food into the public consciousness in 2023 with his book Ultra Processed People.Now out in paperback, Gilly asks him about power, politics and the ultra processing food industry. Click here for Extra Bites of Chris on Gilly's Substack, and here for more information on the various parties' takes on food policy from the Food Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.