Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

This week, Gilly is talking about Italy through the stories of its Pasta Grannies with Vicky Bennison Vicky won a James Beard award in 2020 for her first Pasta Grannies book based on the super homey Youtube series which has won the hearts of millions of viewers. Her work in international development in countries like Russia, South Africa, and Kazhakstan has given  her an anthropolog...

This week, Gilly is at the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen in North London. This is the hub where the Ottolenghi books and recipes are born to talk, and Gilly's here to talk about Extra Good Things , the latest book after Shelf Love from the OTK stable. Gilly chats to Noor Murad and the team of international chefs and writers who make the magic happen: Gitai Fisher, Verena Lochmuller, Chaya Pugh, Jens Fer...

This week Gilly is with Urvashi Roe whose journey from Gujerat through London’s estates to Bake Off and her first book, Biting Biting celebrating the snacking culture of her Gujerati family is a fascinating story of modern Britain.  And don't forget that Leiths Online is offering a discount for Cooking the Books listeners. To get 10% off the Essentials online course that Gilly is on, go...

This week, Gilly puts Jamie Oliver’s new book One: Simple One-Pot Wonders to the test with 20 year old Food Foundation food ambassadors, Rabiya and Jani who work with her on the Right2Food podcast .  Rabiya and Jani are part of a team of young people from across the country who report for the Food Foundation’ s podcast from the front line of food insecurity, having grown up in Huddersfield of...

This week, Gilly is talking about Spice , the latest book from award winning food writer and Cooking the Books regular, Mark Diacono . In a series of four food moments, Mark introduces us to spices from cultures which we may yet have discovered, and explains how an explosion of flavours as a child led to an endless appetite for new culinary adventures.  And don't forget that Leiths Online is...

This week, Gilly is in reflective mood with Sam and Sam Clark, the husband and wife chef team who have given us 25 years of Moorish cooking at Moro to talk about the publication of their latest book, Moro Easy , and the legacy and influence of cook books  Sam and Sam   are among the most influential chefs in modern British cuisine, bringing delicious, rustic Moorish cooking to Brita...

This week, we’re eating to save the Planet with Philip Lymbery , global CEO of Compassion in World Farming . Philip is one of the most important campaigners against factory farms where the animals whose meat most people eat are confined and never see the light of day. He and Gilly have worked together on his podcasts Stop the Machine and the Big Table and he’s appeared on the delicious podcast and...

This week, we’re talking about cooking in schools again. But this time, we’re travelling back in time to the early 1970s when a young Jenny Ridgwell , clad in mini skirts, knee high boots and tank tops was teaching an unruly bunch of London kids to cook. Jenny has since written many cookery text books and founded The Nutrition Program , an online analyst of recipes and meals, but her memoir, I Tau...

Just before we dive back into  a new series of food after the summer break, we’re back at WOMAD’s World of Words tent where Gilly chatted to  Wellcome prize winning neurologist , Suzanne  o'Sullivan about her astonishing book The Sleeping Beauties . It’s her investigation of mystery illnesses, a wave of ‘mass hysteria’ in communities across the world. Terrifyingly, it’s af...

This week, Gilly is with Gelf Alderson, executive chef at River Cottage and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstal l’s main man to talk his new book Great Salads . You know you’re going to get quality food chat when it comes from River Cottage, and after playing captain’s mate there for the last 10 years, Gelf is still pulling rabbits out of the bag. Literally. Gilly asks him what makes a River Cottage c...

This week, Gilly is with Amber Guinness whose book A House Party in Tuscany captures the spirit of her parents who lovingly restored Arniano ,a  humble ruin of a farmhouse they found back in 1989 and where they raised their daughters. But this was no ordinary restoration; Tatler lists it among the ‘interior’ wonders of the world, which Amber has now turned into a retreat for ar...

This week, Cooking the Books is off to South West France to hang out with Debora Robertson whose latest book Notes from a Small Kitchen Island is a celebration of hosting, of feeding friends and living life beautifully.   Debora is the Telegraph columnist who shows us how it’s done. She’s the 'how to' guru, the doyenne of the declutter , the dog mother of canine cuisine and queen of cook...

This week, Gilly chats about the Great British breakfast with Guardian writer , author and culinary detective, Felicity Cloake . Her latest book Red Sauce, Brown Sauce is her second foray into food-as-national-identity by bike; she toured France for her last book One More Croissant for the Road and found much more than a tasty bite in both. After years of Brexit, Covid conspiracies and partygate,...

This week, Gilly digs deep into the roots of Jamaican food culture with Riaz Phillips , winner of this year's Jane Grigson Trust Award for West Winds, recipes, history and tales from Jamaica . Riaz was a Young British Foodie award winner in 2017 for his self-published book Belly Full, a guide and history of the Caribbean eateries which have shaped the landscape of food in the UK since the Fif...

This week, Gilly is with Olia Hercules , the award-winning food writer who put the food of her home country of Ukraine on the map, and has since found herself fighting to keep its stories in the headlines as Russia razes it to the ground. With her Russian food writer friend, Alissa Timoshkina , she has raised millions through their #cookforukraine campaign. It has inspired thousands of pop ups all...

This week, Gilly is with early food blogger and publisher of Pit Magazine, Helen Graves whose book Live Fire is about so much more than a summer BBQ. in her homage to live fire traditions, Helen takes us through her London, and the wonderfully diverse cultures which cook over open fire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gilly is celebrating the poetry and timelessness of the great outdoors with award winning author and chef, Gill Meller .  Outside is Gill's latest cook book which takes us to the elemental beauty of his home on the Jurassic coast on the Dorset and Devon border, just down the road from River Cottage where he has worked as a chef and tutor. His previous books Gather , Time and Root,...

This week, Gilly is with the winner of Channel 4’s Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver , Dominique Woolf . She’s a publisher’s dream – a busy mum juggling three young kids in the kitchen and cross platform ideas sizzling away on every burner, a Thai mum and aunty whizzing up sauces that really do transform every dish and a new book packed with super easy Pan Asian cook hacks. This is a woma...

This week, in a special extended episode, Gilly is on stage at the British Library in London whose  Food Season has been tantalising food fans with a whole month of talks inspired by the cookbooks, recipes and culinary stories in its collection. Speakers have included Jessica Harris , Angela Hartnett , Dan Saladino , Alice Waters , Felicity Cloake , Frances Moore Lappé and Henry Dimbleby...

This week, Gilly is with Joe Woodhouse to talk about cookery courses, food photography and launching your very first book in the middle of a war when your wife is Ukrainian food writer, Olia Hercules . His book Your Daily Veg has been lauded by Nigella , Anna Jones and Cooking the Books favourite, Rachel Roddy , and is packed with recipes inspired his career to date styling and photographing...

This week, Gilly is with the woman who made Cooking the Books happen in the first place! When Melissa Hemsley said yes to her invitation to be on a brand new indie podcast two years ago and before they'd even met, the rest of the A-listers flooded in. And that’s because she’s not just the best-selling green queen of Eat Happy and Eat Green , but one of the most generous, genuine and well-respected...

This week, Gilly's talking about The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger . Like her first book, Midnight Chicken  and other recipes worth living for , it’s part memoir, part recipe book and reads like a novel. And despite not meaning to be a book about grief, it’s soaked in it. In a good way.  Ella describes grief 'like an anvil crashing through the floor revealing a whole new...

This week, is all about The Food Programme , the Radio 4’s mighty series which has been examining our food, its culture and its politics for 43 years, and its first BBC book by Alex Renton taking us through 13 Foods that Shape our World . Sheila Dillon , presenter of The Food Programme for much of that time has written the foreword. Gilly first met her back in 2017 for the delicious. podcast when...

This week, Gilly meets the judges of this year's Fortnum and Mason Awards (who shortlisted Cooking the Books for Best Podcast!) to discuss the food books nominated for these Oscars of the food world. The judges this year are three brilliant food writers, all of whom have been on Cooking the Books and were the pick of the best in 2021; Mark Diacono whose book Herb was on the shortlist, Georgina Hay...

This week Gilly is with Al and Kitty Tait , the dad and daughter team behind The Orange Bakery . Kitty was just 14 years old when crippling depression didn’t just change her life but her family’s too. Baking bread was just one of the many things they tried to get her back, but it worked. And some…Just three years later The Orange Bakery is already a thriving business run by Kitty and her dad, Al ,...