Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith
Episodes
Shivi Ramoutar: Recipes from the Rum Islands
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with the queen of modern Caribbean cooking, Shivi Ramoutar.It’s 10 years since her debut cookbook, Caribbean Modern: Re...
Madeeha Qureshi : The Red Sea
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re exploring the cuisine of Saudi Arabia in Madeeha Qureshi's debut cookbook, The Red Sea.Madeeha who spent her first 18 years in...
Cooking the Books Live: Ali Honour
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re in Brighton for Cooking the Books live with bean queen, Ali Honour. The author of Beans describes herself as a chef and food sy...
The Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Awards Shortlist
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re discussing the shortlist for the Jane Grigson Trust–Sous Chef Award 2026 with two of the judges, Nicola Lando and ...
Ilhan Abdi: The Ramadan Kitchen
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week as millions of people all over the world are celebrating Ramadan, we’re with London-based Somali-Egyptian food writer, Ilhan Abdi to ...
Pary Baban: Nandên
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re exploring the food and culture of Kurdistan with author of Nandên: Recipes from My Kurdish Kitchen, Pary BabanBorn in Southern Kurd...
BOSH! More Plants
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re back with BOSH!, the recipe developing duo who have changed the conversation about plant-based diets. Gilly has followed their...
Tamar Adler: Feast on Your Life
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are LIVE in Brighton with James Beard award-winning New York food writer, Tamar Adler to learn how to Feast On Your Life.Her latest book ...
Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees: You&Me&You&Me&You&Me
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with husband and wife novelists, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees to celebrate Publication Day of their new time travelling ro...
Rowley Leigh: The Andre Simons Awards
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Rowley Leigh, chef, food writer and the food books assessor for the 2025 André Simon Food &...
Clare Coghill: Cafe Cuil
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re on The Isle of Skye with the author of Café Cuil, Clare Coghill.This is so much more than a recipe book celebrating the best of Hi...
Ozoz Sokoh: Chop Chop
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re diving into Nigerian food culture with culinary anthropologist, food historian and now author of Chop Chop, Co...
Jeffrey Boadi: Plant Fuel
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
To kick off a brand new year, we’re diving straight into the power of protein with Jeffrey Boadi, author of Plant Fuel. As a former semi-p...
Alison Roman: Something from Nothing
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re creating Something from Nothing with Alison Roman.The former chef, food columnist for the New York Times, senior food editor at Bon...
Emiko Davies: The Japanese Pantry
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Christmas Day, we’re combining all the things that Cooking the Books is about – identity, belonging, food cultures and vicarious travel thorugh...
Skye McAlpine: The Christmas Companion
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with the Spirit of Christmas herself, Skye McAlpine and The Christmas CompanionAmong all the talk of the pressures, the aspirationa...
Cherie Denham: The Irish Kitchen
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Northern Irish food writer Cherie Denham and photographer Andrew Montgomery in The Irish Kitchen If you’ve listene...
Nat Thaipun: Thai - Everywhere and Anywhere
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we're with Masterchef winner and the hottest name in Thai food, Nat Thaipun.Her book THAI: Anywhere and Everywhere is packed with glor...
Evie Harbury: My Bohemian Kitchen
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to the Bohemian Kitchen of Brit-Czech writer, Evie HarburyMy Bohemian Kitchen is a nostalgic trip through the memories of a pla...
Cooking the Books LIVE: Mark Diacono
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with one of our favourite CTB pals, Mark Diacono in front of a live audience at Patio, the buzziest yet somehow most intimate bar i...
Amber Guinness: Winter in Tuscany
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we're with Amber Guinness whose latest book, Winter in Tuscany takes us into her own home to rifle through her pantry and cook what she coo...
Stephen Harris: The Sportsman at Home
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re celebrating 25 years of great British cooking with chef patron of The Sportsman and former punk, Stephen Harris. He’s ...
Cooking the Books LIVE: Anna Ansari
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Anna Ansari, the American-Iranian author of Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing.We meet at Hel...
Sarah Bentley: We Cook Plants
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Sarah Bentley, the brains behind Made in Hackney, and its brand new cookbook We Cook Plants.Made in Hackney is a charity found...
Karen Newby: The Natural Menopause Method Cookbook
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re revisiting The Natural Menopause Method with nutritionist, Karen NewbyWe first met Karen last year when she explained how to a...
Amelia Christie-Miller: Full of Beans
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we are all about the bean - again. It’s Publication Day for Full of Beans, the second cookbook from Amelia Christie-Miller, founder of Bo...
Tamara Schiopu: My Vegan Farm Food
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to a farm just outside London but which feels like it’s on a different planet, with Tamara Schiopu in My Vegan Farm Food.&nbs...
Ixta Belfrage: Fusao
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to Brazil with food writer and former Ottolenghi chef, Ixta BelfrageHer latest book, Fusao meaning fusion, is about more than t...
Tim Siadatan: Padella
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Tim Siadatan, the man behind one of the most iconic restaurants in London, Padella to chat about his eponymous debut cookbook....
Tara Wigley: How The Cookie Crumbles
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re back with Cooking the Books favourite, Tara Wigley and the second in her brilliant series of culinary confusions, How the Cook...
Chris Newens: Cooking the Books Live from Paris
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week in a special extra episode, we’re live in Paris at the legendary Belleville bistrot Le Mistral with Chris Newens, the winner of the 2024 J...
Mandy Yin: Simply Malaysian
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with yet another lawyer turned chef, Malaysian restaurateur and award-winning author of Sambal Shiok and now Simply Malaysian, Mand...
Ghillie Basan: Food Whisky Life
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to the Cairngorms of Scotland with anthropologist, food journalist and woman of the wilds, Ghillie Basan.After bringing the foo...
Felicity Spector: Bread and War
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we're with Channel 4 news writer, social media food influencer and nominee for the Jane Grigson Trust Sous Chef Award for debut food writin...
Carolina Doriti: The Greek Islands Cookbook
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to the Greek Islands with chef and food historian, Carolina Doriti for a deeper dive into the stories of Greece throu...
Sami Tamimi: Boustany
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re celebrating the food culture of Palestine with one of its most vocal champions, Sami TamimiSami’s first solo cookbook, Boustany, ...
Emily Scott: Home Shores
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re off to Bordeaux with chef, author and friend of the podcast, Emily Scott to talk about fish in her latest book, Home Shores.After t...
Elisabeth Luard: Classic Spanish Recipes
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re back at Gilly's How to Cook Book food writing retreat at her house just outside Lewes in East Sussex with muse-in-residence, the gr...
Keshia Sakarah: Caribe
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with British-Caribbean writer, Keshia Sakarah whose debut cookbook, Caribe was shortlisted with Irina Janakievska and Din...
Yasmin Khan: Sabzi
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly is with the British Iranian/Pakistani human rights activist and food and travel writer, Yasmin Khan to talk about her latest book, Sa...
Cooking the Books Live from Groundswell
05 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In extra episode from Groundswell, the Regenerative Agriculture Festival that Sheila Dillon calls 'the Glastonbury of Food and Farming', Cooking the B...
Gurd Loyal: Flavour Heroes
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re back at Rockwater in Hove for Cooking the Books Live with Gurd Loyal.Regular listeners will know that Gurd is probably the writer w...
Felicity Cloake: Peach Street to Lobster Lane
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Guardian columnist and author Felicity Cloake as she cycles through America in search of its food culture.Peach Street to...
Olia Hercules: Strong Roots
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re exploring the story of Ukraine with its most famous defender and cultural protector, Olia Hercules in her first memoir, Strong Root...
Andrea Oskis: The Kitchen Shrink
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 se...
Tom Kerridge: The BBQ Book
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Mi...
Bee Wilson: The Heart-Shaped Tin
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Noor Murad At Cooking the Books Live: Lugma
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 twis...
Julie Lin: Sama Sama
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we're with Malaysian Scottish chef, restaurateur and now food writer, Julie Lin and her debut cookbook, Sama SamaSama Sama meaning Same Sam...
Rosie Kellett: In For Dinner
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Leyla Kazim: Pathways
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, Masterche...
Stuart Gillespie: Food Fight
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Poppy Okotcha: A Wilder Way
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Caroline Eden: Green Mountains
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wa...
Rachel de Thample: Bees and Honey
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 prac...
Irina Georgescu: Danube
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Da...
Roopa Gulati: Indian Kitchens
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re visiting the kitchens of everyday India to find the food behind closed doors with chef, food writer and broadcaster, Roopa Gul...
Cooking the Books LIVE with Lucy Brazier
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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&...
Laurie Woolever: Care and Feeding, A Memoir
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
Alissa Timoshkina: Kapusta
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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-founde...
Saliha Mahmood Ahmed: The 20 Minute Gut Health Fix
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Samantha Dormehl: The Wanderlust Kitchen
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 explor...
Cooking the Books Live with Claire Thomson
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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.Th...
Kathy Slack: Rough Patch
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 livi...
Niloufer Mavalvala: The Route to Parsi Cooking
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly's with Niloufer Mavalvala to discover the food of the Zorastrians in the fourth of her compendium, The Route to Parsi ...
Philip Khoury: A New Way to Bake
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Cooking the Books Live with Josie Lloyd: Miss Beeton's Murder Agency
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Abby Allen: The Pipers Farm Sustainable Meat Cookbook
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 l...
Julian Baggini: How the World Eats
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Kate Hall: The Full Freezer Method
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Richard Hart: Bread
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly is with Richard Hart, former head baker of iconic bakery, Tartine in San Francisco, the Londoner whose bakeries across...
Irina Janakievska: The Balkan Kitchen
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Claire Dinhut: The Condiment Book
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly is with Claire Dinhut aka Condiment Claire. Claire is a culinary history cook and the author of The Condiment Bo...
Alice Robinson: Field, Fork, Fashion
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Jon Watts: Speedy Weeknight Meals
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly's with Jon Watts, the author of the instant Sunday Times Bestseller Speedy Weeknight Meals . He's a chef with 885k fo...
Emily Roz: The World is your Dumpling
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 M...
Elliot Webb: Growing Mushrooms At Home
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly is with another changemaker, Elliot Webb, the author of Growing Mushrooms at Home: The Complete Guide to Knowing, Growing and Loving ...
Franco Fubini: In Search of The Perfect Peach
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Allegra McEvedy: Chefs Wanted
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Tim Spector: Food for Life Cookbook
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Rick Stein: Food Stories
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Tom Parker Bowles: Cooking and the Crown
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Gilly is with food royalty, the restaurant critic, writer, and son of Queen Camilla, Tom Parker Bowles. Royal Food has always bee...
Pam Brunton: Between Two Waters
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Claire Thomson: The Veggie Family Cookbook
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Ottolenghi: Comfort
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Danny McCubbin: The Good Kitchen
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, Da...
Ben Tish: Mediterra
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Med...
Meera Sodha: Dinner
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Foo...
Melissa Hemsley: Real Healthy
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re back at Rockwater, Hove talking LIVE with Melissa Hemsley, food writer of six best-selling cook books, including her latest, t...
Diana Henry: Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 y...
Rachel Roddy: Five Quarters
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Carolyn Boyd: Amuse Bouche
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Su Scott: Pocha
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: How to Eat 30 Plants A Week
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 H...
Chris Van Tulleken: Ultra Processed People
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
Giulia Crouch: The Happiest Diet in the World
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Giulia Crouch to look at the diet of the Blue Zones that will make us not only live long and healthy lives, but is the Happies...
Anna Haugh: Cooking with Anna
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re with Irish chef, Anna Haugh to talk about her first cookbook, Cooking with Anna.Anna is a massive part of the story of British food...
Mark Diacono: Vegetables
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re talking to friend of the show, Mark Diacono about his latest book, Vegetables.This is a book packed with ideas about how to get mor...
The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special extra episode on the morning after the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024, we leaf through some of the best food writing of the year in...
Fuchsia Dunlop: Invitation to a Banquet
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’ve been invited to a Chinese Banquet with the word on Chinese food, Fuchsia Dunlop.Her multi award winning book, Invitation to a Banqu...