A foodie guide to the best of vegetarian Italy

This week, Italian food expert, Christine Smallwood takes Gilly Smith through the markets and osterias of Puglia to the cool new restaurants of Milan and childhood memories of Ischia as she discusses the place of the vegetable in Italian cuisine. This season is sponsored by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.odysea.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Odysea</a>&nbsp;whose range of Mediterranean foods are just what we need to get through a COVID winter. This week, home mixologist and Bake Off star, Tom Gilliford talks us through why molasses are a delicious alternative to refined sugar in your cocktails this Christmas. Music by Willy Zygier

Christine Smallwood: The World Vegetarian - Italy

The philosophy of change

This week, Gilly is with Ollie Hunter, activist chef and hyper local champion whose restaurant The Wheatsheaf near Hungerford won the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Business of the Year award in 2019. A former Masterchef finalist, he’s a philosopher. an alchemist&nbsp;and a revolutionary, and his latest book Join the Greener Revolution is his manifesto to eat to save the planet.

Ollie Hunter: Join the Greener Revolution

The sweet spot of Tuscan cuisine

This week, Gilly's in Florence with Australian-Japanese food writer, Emiko Davies who has made Tuscany her home. In her latest book, Torte della Nonna, she digs deep into the culinary and family history of Florentine sweets to find a tradition sticking deliciously to what it does best.

Emiko Davies: Torta della Nonna

Stories and recipes from her Afghan kitchen

This week, Gilly is with Durkhanai Ayubi whose book Parwana tells the story of her family’s memories and recipes from her native Afghanistan set against a sweeping history of a country ravaged by power plays and unwelcome international interference.&nbsp; To access the recipes from Parwana as well as a curated collection of hundreds of the world's greatest cookbooks with over 87,000 recipes,<a href="https://app.ckbk.com/?code=cookingthebooks&amp;aff=41" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> CKBK</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;is offering listeners a&nbsp;25% discount if you use the code cookingthebooks on checkout.

Durkhanai Ayubi: Parwana

How to save your own life by cutting the carbs

This week, Gilly is with food writer, Katie Caldesi who wrote The 30 Minute Diabetes Cookbook with her husband, the Italian chef Giancarlo Caldesi after he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. With a foreword by Dr David Unwin, the pioneering low carb GP whose diabetic patients have seen astonsihign results, and expert nutrition advice from Jenny Philips, it’s a must read for anyone with a tell-tale big belly.&nbsp;

Katie Caldesi: The 30 Minute Diabetes Cookbook

Memories of Italy that inspired the book

This week,&nbsp;we hop into the back seat of chef Theo Randall’s parent’s car and head through&nbsp;1970s Italy, stopping at markets and stalls, delis and trattoria to find the inspiration behind some of the best food in London and Theo’s Italian Deli Cookbook.&nbsp;

Theo Randall: The Italian Deli Cookbook

Rave culture to Michelin star man

This week, Gilly is virtually in Birmingham with chef Brad Carter whose book Staff tells the story of his journey through DJing and all-night raves to his Michelin starred restaurant, Carter’s of Moseley.&nbsp;

Brad Carter: Staff

The activist chef on how to keep perspective in a pandemic

This week, Gilly is with JP McMahon, chef patron at Michelin-starred Aniar and the brains behind Galway’s food symposium, Food on the Edge. His activist influence is vast, and even in a pandemic he’s doing his bit with a new book, Lessons from Lockdown, an anthology of thought-provoking letters to an imaginary young chef from his vast network of brilliant chefs around the world.

JP McMahon: Food on the Edge and Lessons from Lockdown

A culinary manifesto from one of the world's greatest chefs

This week, Gilly is at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, chef Dan Barber's restaurant deep in the countryside of New York. &nbsp;In his 2014 book, The Third Plate, Dan wrote a new manifesto in food, taking us right back to its roots to tell a story which has changed the way many chefs all over the globe are thinking about the way we eat. And this month at the top of the show, &nbsp;we’re finding out about <a href="https://www.superlooperlife.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">SuperLooper</a>, the children’s clothing rental business that could save the planet.

Dan Barber: The Third Plate

Etiquette and faux pas in British food culture

This week Gilly Smith talks British food and class with food historian, Pen Vogler in a romp through etiquette and faux pas, dysfunction and obsession around food in her new book, Scoff.

Pen Vogler: Scoff

Where food IS the story

Cooking the Books&nbsp;is for foodie book lovers who want to hear something more profound about the way we live,&nbsp;making the link between delicious food and the impact of food production on the land - through cookbooks. Hear how food writers have changed the conversation about food. As Gilly Smith talks through four food moments with A-lister food writers, she joins the dots between stories from the old country and food identity, plant-based recipes and climate change, and shows how a deeper connection with food really could save the planet. Listen to all your favourite food writers from Yotam Ottolenghi, Tom Kerridge, Gill Meller, Olia Hercules and William Sitwell as Gilly&nbsp;finds what's cooking in the minds of our food writing stars. Gilly Smith is also the presenter of the delicious. podcast and Leon's How to Eat to Save the Planet, and produces Right2Food podcast for The Food Foundation and The Big Table for Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming. Do support the podcast by subscribing, reviewing on iTunes and you can even buy me a drink now <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user?u=37399119" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">via Patreon!</a> You can buy all the books at a discount from Cooking the Books' own shop at <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/cooking-the-books-with-gilly-smith" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bookshop</a> For more information and to join the mailing list, visit <a href="http://gillysmith.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gilly Smith</a>

Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

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Christine Smallwood: The World Vegetarian - Italy

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Emiko Davies: Torta della Nonna

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Katie Caldesi: The 30 Minute Diabetes Cookbook