Desert Island Dishes

My guest today is Rachel Khoo Rachel is a British cook, writer and broadcaster. She rose to fame in 2012 when she published The Little Paris Kitchen. Later, The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo, was commissioned as her first TV series with the BBC. The book became a best seller, millions of people watched her on TV and the rest as they say, is history. Rachel has gone on to write man...

My  guest today is Laura Freeman. Laura is an art critic, a writer and an author. Her book which came out earlier this year called The Reading Cure is a very brave and thoughtful memoir about how reading about food helped her on her road to recovery from anorexia. Laura is a truly excellent writer – having gained a double first from Cambridge and her book has had an amazing reaction. A review in t...

Today’s guest is Jenny Dawson Costa Jenny founded Rubies in the Rubble back in 2011 which started out as a stall in Borough Market and now her products are stocked in Waitrose, Selfridges, Harrods and many many more places. Jenny studied maths at university before working for a hedge fund in the City for two years. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her degree, but knew she wanted to start...

My guest today is Anna Jones Anna is a cook, a food writer and a food stylist. She decided to quit her day job after reading an article about following your passion in the newspaper. Within weeks, she was signed up on Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen apprentice programme. She went on to be part of Jamie’s food team has cooked for royalty and politicians. She has written not one, not two but three best selli...

My guest today is Annabel Karmel, Annabel is the best-selling children's food author and television personality She has written a whopping 41 books which have sold millions of copies worldwide. She has also created supermarket food ranges, weaning equipment and smartphone apps. With her app being the number 1 food app in Britain. Annabel was awarded an MBE in June 2006 in the Queen's Birthday Hono...

My guest today is Martha Ortiz Martha is a chef and cookbook author who is famous for her imaginative approach to food and her historical research into Mexican food traditions. Having written 8 cookbooks she is passionate about food that shows Mexico’s spirit and sense of identity. She recently opened her restaurant Ella Canta in London after the success of her restaurant in Mexico City which is r...

My guest today is Melissa Hemsley Melissa is described as a kitchen pioneer, and she is one half of Hemsley and Hemsley – the bestselling cookbook authors who had their own TV series on Channel 4 and have their own café in London’s Selfridges.  She has released her first solo cookbook this year, Eat Happy, which focuses on 30 minute feel-good food.   Melissa is a proud supporter of lots of differe...

My guest today is Ruth Rogers. Ruth is the Chef and co founder of the River Café . She is without doubt, one of the most respected and celebrated chefs in the world. In 1987, Ruth, along with her friend and business partner, Rose Grey opened the River Café in what was then a fairly unfashionable part of London in what used to be a warehouse on the bank of the River Thames. The pair became famous f...

*This was recorded back in December but it's one of my favourites so I wanted to share it with you again for anyone that missed it. Forgive the Christmassey references at the beginning, I hope it doesnt make you feel too discombobulated but Levi is a superstar, and I didnt want you to have missed out by not hearing it. My castaway this week is Levi Roots. Levi was born Keith Valentine Graham in Ja...

My guests today are The Hairy Bikers, whose real names are Dave Myers and Simon King. Dave previously worked as a make-up artist, for the BBC where he specialised in prosthetics. Si worked for many years as an Assistant Director and Locations Manager for film and television, including the Harry Potter films. The pair met on the set of a TV drama 23 years ago and discovered that they found they sha...

My guest today is Bettina Campolucci Bordi Bettina is a qualified vegan raw chef having trained at the Matthew Kenny Culinary Institute over in Los Angeles. She was born with a passion for food and cooking she says has remained a constant pleasure in her life. Brought up by a Norwegian father and a Danish-Bulgarian mother Bettina’s food is inspired by the countries she’s lived in. She’s worked in...

My guest today is Naomi Smart Niomi is a lifestyle blogger and Youtube sensation who aims to help her audience to look, live and feel better. Niomi has garnered a very impressive audience of more than 1.7 million followers on her YouTube channel and 1.8 million followers on her Instagram. She inspired millions of youtube videos with her popular video series ‘What I Eat In A Day’ which in turn insp...

My guest today is Jo Elvin Jo was the Editor of Glamour of Magazine for 17 years. With Jo at the helm, Glamour sold more copies in its sector than any other in Europe. Jo has recently become the editor of the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine. Throughout her career, Jo has won many awards including being voted one of the 100 most powerful women in Britain and Jo has been awarded ‘Editor of the Year’ n...

My guest today is Lucy Williams Lucy is one of the UK’s most successful bloggers. She is a fashion journalist turned style blogger, writer and stylist. She lives in London but travels the world and shares her adventures through her blog Fashion me now. Lucy started out as a fashion assistant at places such as Sheerluxe.com and Instyle Magazine, before working as a assistant fashion editor for Styl...

My guest today is Skye McAlpine Skye is a Venice based food writer, blogger and photographer. She is the author of the successful blog “From my Dining table” and has written for many of the big named publications like The Sunday Times, vanity fair and The Guardian. She spends most of her time in Venice, where she writes, teaches cookery workshops and practices her photography. She has called Venic...

My guest today is Clemmie Hooper Otherwise known as Mother of Daughters, Clemmie is the brains behind the extremely popular blog Gas and Air. She is a trained NHS midwife and her first book, “How to grow a baby and push it out” was unbelievably successful with 3 reprints before it was even published. With it Clemmie has helped thousands of women around the world. She has just released her 2nd book...

My guest today is Tommy Banks Tommy is a Michelin-starred chef and Great British Menu champion. He is the head chef at his family restaurant – the black swan, in 0ldstead North Yorkshire. He started cooking at the age of 17 and at just 24 he became the youngest chef in Britain at the time to win a Michelin star. Last year Tommy's restaurant The Black Swan was voted #1 Restaurant in the World by Tr...

My guest today is Tim Anderson. Tim, at the age of just 26 was the youngest ever winner of Masterchef. Since winning back in 2011, Tim has carved out a very impressive career in food working as a chef, a consultant and a food writer. He is, much to my enormous envy and admiration a staple of the Radio 4 food panel show The Kitchen Cabinet. Tim has said his proudest career moment has to be the laun...

My guest today is Liz Earle MBE Liz is many things. She is a serial entrepreneur – having founded and built the hugely successful company Liz Earle Beauty. More than that she is an author – having written no less than 36 books to date. She is also a TV presenter and a wellness entrepreneur. She is the founder of Liz Earle Wellbeing - a wellness website, You Tube channel, podcast and quarterly maga...

My guest today is Uyen Luu. Uyen Luu is a writer, cook, photographer and food stylist. She runs supper clubs and the UK’s only dedicated Vietnamese cooking classes in her Hackney studio. She writes and blogs about food, recipes and travel. She’s worked with a whole host of amazing people including Raymond Blanc and Jamie Oliver to name just a few. Her cookbook, My Vietnamese Kitchen was a roaring...

My guest today is Thomasina Miers In 2005 Thomasina was the first winner of the revamped masterchef. She is now a Chef and food writer. She is also the owner of Wahaca, the seriously successful chain of Mexican restaurants. She has written 7 books to date, has a regular column in The Guardian, has opened another restaurant called DF MEXICO. In total she employs around 1500 people, she has three yo...

My guest today is Rosie Birkett Rosie is a food writer, food stylist and author. She has written 3 cookbooks and has been writing about chefs, restaurants, and food since 2008. Rosie’s recipes and food styling have appeared on the cover of BBC Good Food Magazine Olive Magazine, and been featured in The Telegraph, Red magazine , Grazia, In Style and Guardian Cook. Of her brilliant book : a lot on h...

My guest today is Simon Rimmer Simon is probably best known as the co-presenter of Channel 4's Sunday Brunch. Simon has presented a whole host of different TV programmes over the years, and he’s also written five very successful books and he regularly writes for food magazines. He is a chef/owner of nine restaurants in the north west of England and one in Dubai. Many people may not know that Simon...

This week's guest is Ed Kimber You may well know him by his pen name: The Boy Who Bakes. Ed Won the first ever season of GBBO Way back in 2010. He has gone on to do all manner of exciting things since then. He’s written 3 cookery books, he’s worked in the pastry section at Le Manoir under Raymond Blanc and has created recipes for dozens of the countries best loved magazines. He’s taught cooking to...

My guest today is Ben Ebbrell Ben is one quarter of the youtube cooking sensation that is sorted food. Sorted food are the world’s most influential social media cooking brand and have over 1.6 million YouTube subscribers and 11 million views a month. They have been dubbed the inbetweeners of food. Chef Ben is passionate about food and all the possibilities it offers. He is the trained chef of the...