The FoodTalk Show

Jamie Oliver described Calum Franklin as "The king of pies", we think he produces the best looking pies in the UK and probably the world. He is Executive Head Chef at The Pie Room at Holborn Dining Room - a treasure trove of savoury delicacies, and somewhere for every food-lover to swing by and take away one of the beautifully intricate pastry creations including the humble sausage roll. Calum dis...

Part 2 of our favourite cookbooks. What better present for your loved one on Valentine's Day than a cookbook? Forget the flowers and chocolates and get them something beautiful and useful. Jane Peyton our resident beer sommelier and expert on cider, discusses the best books about drink including Noble Rot  and The Brewmasters Table. We are also honoured to have  Charlotte Pike  in the studio. Char...

What better present for your loved one on Valentine's Day than a cookbook? Forget the flowers and chocolates and get them something beautiful and useful. Jane Peyton our resident beer sommelier and expert on cider, discusses the best books about drink including Noble Rot and The Brewmasters Table. We are also honoured to have Charlotte Pike in the studio. Charlotte is not only a chef, award winnin...

Sue and Jane are great fans of bees, those beautiful pollinators that keep our flowers and plants alive. They are mysterious creatures though, so they are joined by Michael Bispham of North Downs Bees to explain what goes on inside those hives. After that, they get to taste some mead probably the oldest drink in the world. Tom Gosnell of  Gosnell's Meadery  brings along his innovative canned and s...

Our host Sue Nelson is beyond excited for this very special edition of The FoodTalk Show. She’s joined by legendary food journalist, Sheila Dillon, who has been presenting BBC Radio 4’s  The Food Programme  for over 20 years. Once they’ve finished sampling some tasty treats from Sheila’s native Lancashire, the pair get talking about Sheila’s remarkable life in food and the media. After starting ou...

The FoodTalk Show is delighted to welcome Asma Khan into the studio to tell us her incredible story.  The first and only British chef to feature in Netflix’s ‘Chefs Table’, Asma has earned huge plaudits in the cooking world thanks to her amazing Asian cooking skills. She's even been voted the no.1 Coolest Person in Food and Drink by Business Insider. If you’ve ever visited the hugely popular Darje...

After seeing in the New Year, Sue and Jane decide they should do a non-alcoholic beer tasting for all their listeners who are embarking on Dry January. As Jane is an accredited beer sommelier and author on numerous books on beer, who better to judge the non-alcoholic offerings against the real stuff. Sue is not as knowledgeable but knows what she likes. They have ordered 16 bottles and cans from D...

Especially for New Year's Eve, we're discussing the world's most popular cocktails and what makes the top ten list. Sue is flabbergasted that her favourite Negroni doesn't make it but sangria does?! and Jane highly recommends the 'theatre' of cocktail making when your guests arrive. They're joined by Karl Wozney and Laura Taylor in a make-shift studio bar where they make their own version of an Es...

WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE - Listen to Sue get her recording buttons in a twist

Sue visits the Cheesemakers of Canterbury to see how cheese is made and arrives at the studio with some lovely samples. Meanwhile Robin Betts, the International Cheese Award Winner, explains what makes the perfect cheeseboard and does a thorough tasting from soft to semi-hard cheese. Jane then explains what to drink with cheese - no, not red wine but cider! and Sue gives a top tip on how to keep y...

The studio is full of potatoes today – different varieties, recipes and even a lemon drizzle cake made from the stuff. Sue admits to being a complete potato head and Jane eulogises at the sheer versatility of this humble tuber. As someone once said, “potatoes make chips, mash, dauphinoise, crisps and vodka. It’s like the other vegetables aren’t even trying”.

Jane is in her element this week, talking about the topic closest to her heart . . . beer. She gives Sue a lesson in hops, brewing and tasting along with the experts from Cellar Head and Gadd’s. Want to know the difference between IPA, pale ale, lager and stout? What food pairings work well with beer and the difference between Kentish hops and the American kind? Listen in.

Sue admits that she just adores pigs but has to balance that with her love of charcuterie. Luckily, we have Chloe Wilcock of Oink and Udder who explains how she raises happy pigs in a stress-free environment, to ensure they make the best dried meats, bacon and sausages. Needless to say, after that Jane and Sue go on a marathon charcuterie tasting session.

Vegan chocolate? Is it a thing? It certainly is. Sue and Jane are bowled over by two producers who’ve been making vegan products for decades, well before ‘plant-based’ went mainstream. Apparently, milk chocolate (and some dark chocolate) contains milk powder which means they’re unsuitable for vegans. Not these delicious bites though.

The studio smells wonderful today – the lovely aroma of freshly ground and brewed coffee being prepared by two experts wafting around the microphones. We are joined by the founders of Garage Coffee and Cold Blow Coffee who share their knowledge and expertise on the subject.

A packed studio today with 3 guests from Kent vineyards. It’s an all female line-up from Terlingham Vineyard, Gusbourne and Wayfarer Wines. Jane explains how you should open a bottle of fizz and what glass you should use for serving – flutes are out apparently. Meanwhile Sue is very unkind about French champagne.  

Sue and Jane rediscover the joys of milk. Proper milk that's been pasteurised and not homogenised like the supermarket stuff. It’s a revelation taking them both back to their childhood when doorstep deliveries in glass bottles was the norm and you got to drink a small bottle of free milk a day at school.

Talking cider with Julian Barnes and Jane Peyton. We’re back and we’re feeling good! The first all new FoodTalk Show kicks off with Sue Nelson as usual and her co-presenter Jane Peyton, one of the UK’s leading experts on beer and cider.

Have a listen again to our podcast from 2019 and marvel at how things have changed!! Asma Khan, founder of Darjeeling Express, joins us to discuss her story and foodie trends of 2019. Chocolate? Expiring Turkey trimmings? Cheese? Crisps? What’s filling up the bins outside your property as we head into a brand new year with bleary eyes and a sincere fear of going to work? Don’t worry, we know that...

What does 2020 have in store for our two exciting guests? Well none of us would have ever guessed it would have panned out quite how it did! Listen again to our podcast from January this year when life was much simpler. It’s a brand new year and we’d like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2020. To kick off the year, Ollie and Sue have invited two brilliant guests who are both at exciting...

Listen again to our podcast from September 2019. Food writing is the topic for this show – which book will be our flavour of the month? Ollie is absent from the studio this week – off on one of his “hippy jaunts”, as Sue so delicately puts it – but the delightful Holly Shackleton is here and ready to talk all things food. As an added bonus, the pair are joined by an absolutely fabulous guest prese...

Listen again to our podcast from June 2019. This week Sue and Ollie have got guests from both ends of the flavour spectrum: sweet chocolate and savoury noodles. The one thing they have in common is that both producers love to experiment with exotic flavours. Master chocolatier Paul A Young makes a very welcome return to the show and he’s brought more of his incredible treats for Sue and Ollie to t...

We’re talking meat and fish with two of the best in the food industry. Listen again to our podcast of August last year.  Robin Moxon of Moxon’s Fishmongers knows pretty much all there is to know about fish and the buying habits of the Great British public. Surprisingly, it seems that Brits are more adventurous with fishy flavours than Sue had realised – you’ll never guess the subject of Great Brit...

Listen again to our podcast of April 2019 to cheer us up in 2021. Who ate all the pies? Not Sue, Holly or Ollie, because Calum forgot to bring any with him. The extraordinarily talented pie maestro, who is the Executive Chef at the Holborn Dining Room, breezed into the radio studios to talk all things pastry covered. The star of the short film The Geometry of Pie has opened the Pie Room at Holborn...

Listen again to our Boxing Day podcast from last year.  Only Sue and Ollie have managed to struggle into the studio today, with straining stomachs after the usual Christmas excess. However, they’re never too full to enjoy some fresh flavours, so they’re delighted to extend a festive welcome to three fascinating guests. Charlie Holland from Gusbourne Estate in Kent has brought in some of their fant...