Honey And Co: The Food Talks

We can’t think of anything better than cooking up a feast with Sabrina Ghayour, the queen of simple and flavourful Middle-Eastern cooking! She joined us to talk about her new book, Feasts, which features tailored menus and dozens of recipes for celebrations and occasions with family and friends. We learn all about her debut £2.50 supper club, boil-in-the-bag rice memories and what it's like to be a crisp aficionado... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Reem Kassis left Jerusalem for the US at the age of 17, gained four graduate degrees and set her sights firmly on a stellar business career. She promised herself she would never end up in the kitchen like previous generations of women in her family, yet Reem found herself appreciating the simple pleasures of cooking for and feeding the people you love. She came to talk to us about her debut cookbook The Palestinian Table, how to define Palestinian food and how to make the best Baba Ghanouj. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A favourite restaurant of ours, The River Café has championed simple, good quality Italian cooking since 1987. We are so happy to have Joseph come and talk to us about 30 years of the River Cafe, what makes a restaurant ride high in the London food scene for so long, his unique experience working with the Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, and of course a cherished subject of ours – Italian food. The new cookbook River Cafe 30 marks three decades of memories and good food at the restaurant. The team revisited and updated the best dishes from the first blue cookbook and introduce 30 new favourites from the menus today – panzanella, ravioli with ricotta, raw tomato and basil, risotto with porcini and girolles and the outstanding chocolate nemesis. We can’t wait to cook and share with you some of these recipes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most of us want to forget that back-to-school feeling by kicking off our shoes and hunkering down with a soul-soaring supper – one that can be eaten with friends at the table, with book in hand by the fire, or in front of the TV. In The Sunday Night Book Rosie shares how to make Sunday night the best evening of the week, by perfecting the last, lazy meal of the weekend. All the recipes in the book are simple and make clever use of store cupboard staples and leftovers. Rosie came to talk to us about cooking in small, high-stakes, destination restaurants in the British countryside with the likes of Joyce Molyneux, how she ended up recipe testing for Delia Smith and why it’s ok to drink cocktails on a Sunday night.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Roï Hendel is based in Paris but travels the world in search of extraordinary spices… a dream job, in our eyes! Working exclusively with organic small scale farms and wild harvests around the world, Shira Spices aims to introduce the concept of terroir to the spice world. By working directly with farmers and NGOs, the hope is to ensure a fair income to all of their partners. We chatted to Roï about the life of a modern day spice trader and sampled his spices under expert guidance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Killian Fox is a food writer who regularly contributes to The Observer Food Monthly and many other publications and he is the co-founder of The Gannet: an online magazine that explores people’s lives through the food they cook and eat. Killian gave us an insight into the world of food writing, tell us about the realities of having such a dream job, and we heard about his new book The Gannet’s Gastronomic Miscellany, which collects together interesting stories and facts about food – covering everything from radioactive bananas to 5,000-year-old bog butter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rachel McCormack is a broadcaster and writer, known mostly as a panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. The proud daughter of a Macallan drinker, Rachel was introduced to whisky via flu-alleviating hot toddies from an alarmingly early age and has never looked back. In her first book Chasing The Dram, Finding The Spirit of Whisky Rachel sets out to discover why Scotland had no tradition of cooking or eating with whisky. Rachel visited us at Honey & Spice to impart her newfound wisdom on the subject. We tried some whisky and heard all about her year-long adventure across Scotland in search for the spirit of whisky. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fuchsia Dunlop is a cook, food-writer, broadcaster and author of some of our favourite books, specialising in Chinese cuisine. Fuchsia visited us at Honey & Spice where we talked about her latest book, Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China which is full of beautiful recipes from the Jiangnan province in eastern China, where she likes to eat in Chinatown and the best tools and ingredients for cooking authentic Chinese food in your own kitchen.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We’ve been following Mark Ogus and Owen Barratt of Monty’s Deli across London for the last few years now – from their Maltby Street market stall to their place under the railway arch and now to their long-awaited bricks and mortar place in Hoxton – all for the joy of their bagels. One of the few places to make their own salt beef and pastrami, the guys have also perfected their own bagel recipe, pickles, house mustard and of course chicken soup, all inspired by the food of Mark’s Jewish grandfather, Monty. Mark joined us to chat pickles, crowdfunding and Jewish soul food.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nasrin Rooghani is a chef with Mazi Mas, the social enterprise that hires female immigrant chefs in the UK to be part of a roaming restaurant. Born in the north of Iran next to Azerbaijan, she later moved to Tehran, so grew up eating and learning about Azeri and Iranian cuisines. Taking influence from her mother and grandmother’s cooking, she taught herself to cook as a teenager. Nasrin explains the impact of war on her childhood, how it feels to belong to two countries, and shares her secret saffron tips. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ed Smith from the hugely influential blog Rocket & Squash joined us in our deli, Honey & Spice, to talk about life in the food blogosphere and about his excellent new cookbook, On The Side, a book that puts side dishes centre stage. Ever since we got this book we wanted to cook a meal consisting of side dishes only, as the selection in this book is so good it really doesn’t need a main course. Listen to hear about Ed's best hangover cure, how he transitioned from lawyer to food writer and how the programme 'Ready Steady Cook' influenced his career.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Olia Hercules was born in the south of Ukraine. After studying and working as a journalist in the UK, she retrained as a chef at Leiths. Olia visited us earlier this year talk about her first book Mamushka, a personal journey that celebrates her family recipes from Ukraine and across eastern Europe. This time she visited us to chat about her new cookbook Kaukasis - a culinary journey through Georgia, Azerbaijan and beyond. Olia explains how the Soviet Union affected the cuisine of the region, her eventful research trip and how to cook this food at home.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Angela Frenda is the Food Editor of the prestigious Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Angela has been at the forefront of the relatively new world of food writing in Italy. She has also written two cookbooks, Racconti di cucina (Cooking Stories) and La Cucina Felice (The Happy Kitchen). Angela tells us about her transition from political journalism to food, why food writing is still new to Italians, and even shares her favourite places to eat in Italy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dr. Annie Gray is a food historian, cook, broadcaster and author. She often appears on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet as their resident food historian. She came to Honey & Spice to tell us all about her latest book, The Greedy Queen, part culinary-biography, part-gastronomic exploration of Queen Victoria. Annie tells us all about her deliciously varied career, Queen Victoria's complex relationship with food and the most extravagant dishes eaten at the monarch's famous banquets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chetna Makan was a semi-finalist on series 5 of The Great British Bake Off, wowing the judges and the audience with her advance techniques and use of complex flavours. Since the Bake Off she has been extremely busy. She came to Honey & Spice to talk about her newest book Chai, Chaat & Chutney, a journey through the street foods of India. Chetna talks to us about the differences between the street food of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai, how she has taken inspiration from the dishes and created delicious recipes and what it was like to be a contestant on the country's favourite baking show. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rachel Roddy is a multi award-winning Guardian food columnist and author based in Rome and Sicily. She speaks to us about her new cookbook Two Kitchens: Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome. Her book celebrates the simple, everyday dishes from her two distant but connected kitchens. We hear all about her favourite ingredients and recipes from tomato and salted ricotta salad, caponata and baked Sicilian pasta to lemon crumble. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re joined by the dynamic duo, Laura Jackson and Alice Levine. The TV and radio presenters met at a jumble sale a few years ago. They really hit it off and started running supper clubs together. Their events quickly became London’s hottest dinner party. The girls have written the rulebook to end all rulebooks on entertaining in your own home, Round to Ours. Listen if you want to know the ultimate tips for having people ‘round to yours’, how to keep an eclectic mix of guests dining long into the night and what happens when you put the dirty dancing soundtrack on at a dinner party… See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Allan Jenkins, Editor of the Observer Food Monthly, came to Honey and Spice to tell us about his new book, Plot 29: A Memoir. The book is an engaging, special and very personal account of Allan’s childhood in 1960s Plymouth when he and his brother were rescued from their care home and fostered by an elderly couple. Allan is interviewed by our own Sarit Packer about how he came to write this memoir, why he grows plants from seed and the joy to be found in sharing food and flowers with people you love. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re joined by the fascinating Kristen Schnepp of the Gringa Dairy in Peckham, London. Kristen left a corporate banking life, to follow her passion and make Mexican cheese. The Gringa Dairy started in April 2013 and she’s never looked back! Kristen is interviewed by our own Elizabeth Hallet about how she made a drastic career change, what it’s like to work under a railway arch and much more. Visit the Gringa Dairy website to find out more: http://gringadairy.com/ Produced by Hester Cant with recording assistance from Hannah-Phoebe Bowen. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bee Wilson is one of the most interesting and engaging people writing about food today. Bee came over to talk to us about how our food habits are created – what makes us like or dislike certain foods, how we use food to set ourselves apart or come together – and most importantly how can we control and change these habits. Bee Wilson First Bite, How we Learn to Eat See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.