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

Food, farming and the future of mankind

This week Gilly is with one of the most important voices in food right now, sheep farmer and award winning author, James Rebanks.&nbsp;&nbsp;His books The Shepherd’s Life and English Pastoral beautifully and powerfully remind us of the connection between what we eat, where it comes from and the relationship between humans, nature and climate change in a way that will make you punch the sky and cry your heart out. Here he gives us his four food moments from this year's Fortnum and Mason Food Book of the year award, English Pastoral.

James Rebanks: English Pastoral

When life gives you lemons...

This week, we're staying in the Mediterranean as Gilly sniffs the lemons of the Amalfi coast with everyone’s favourite Italian, Gennaro Contaldo. Since Gilly first met Gennaro, the conversation about food has changed: veganism, eating less but better to save the planet, regenerative farming for soil health, it’s a whole new language. But, as Gennaro shows us in his latest book, Limoni, it’s actually the very essence of the Mediterranean Diet.&nbsp;

Gennaro Contaldo: Limoni

The delicious science behind the healthiest diet in the world 

This week, Gilly is with&nbsp;GP, Dr Simon Poole whose latest book The Real Mediterranean Diet shares the latest science behind the world’s oldest and healthiest diet.

Dr Simon Poole: The Real Mediterranean diet

How to find happiness in a jam jar

This week, Gilly is with&nbsp;Kylee Newton&nbsp;whose fermenting and pickling masterclasses were featured in the Guardian and The Times.&nbsp;&nbsp;Formerly a fine purveyor of presrves and pickles, her brand Newton &amp; Pott has morphed from production to media as Kylee’s latest book The Modern Preserver hits the shelves.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A serial entrepreneur and all-round creative, her story of making it up as you go along will be familiar to many listeners who’ve always wanted to turn their hobby into their world.

Kylee Newton: The Modern Preserver

The Science of Beautiful Food

This week, Gilly Smith talks to scientist, Guardian food writer and finalist for a James Beard food photography award, Nik Sharma. He argues that his Flavour Equation is about the&nbsp;emotion, sight, sound, mouthfeel, aroma and taste&nbsp;of food which add up to the only way to eat.

Nik Sharma: The Flavour Equation

On influencing the British food renaissance, creating trends and the role of the food writer in creating waste

This week, Gilly talks to&nbsp;Orlando Murrin, former editor of BBC Good Food magazine, founder of Olive magazine, Waitrose columnist and president of the Guild of Food Writers about his role in creating modern British food culture back in the 90s and 2000s. And as a seasoned trendsetter, he tells us how his new book Two’s Company tackles the issue of waste.

Orlando Murrin: Two's Company

Food writers, Bee Farrell interviews Gilly on her award winning book about the influence of TV chefs

This week, we’re on a bit of a summer special when Gilly is in the hot seat for a change. Food writer Bee Farrell chats about her book, Taste and the TV Chef, which recently won a clutch of awards including the International Impact Award. Bee is currently doing a PhD in the anthropology of food in the C21st and is fascinated with the rituals and performance surrounding eating, regenerative gastronomy and food storytelling, and asks Gilly if influencers really can save the planet

Gilly Smith: Taste and the TV Chef

An Adventure in Italian Living

This week, Gilly is off to Puglia to catch up with adventuress-in-chief and legendary food writer, Sophie Grigson two years after she upped sticks and left the UK for a brand new post-kids adventure in Italy. Her new book, A Curious Absence of Chickens is an immersion into the heart of her new world, and a set of goals for anyone who wants a taste of a more delicious way to live.

Sophie Grigson: A Curious Absence of Chickens

A magical trip from the food and stories of the Baltic

This week, we’re off to the Baltic with Polish food writer, Zuza Zak whose latest book Amber and Rye takes us to Estonia, Lativia and Lithuania, an arty new Europe where food has so much to say.&nbsp; Zuza tells Gilly how her trip to the Baltic cities of Vilnius, Tallinn and Riga was a journey back through her childhood memories to a place made magical through separation and storytelling.&nbsp; Through Lithuanian and Greek mythology, traditional dishes and a renaissance in food culture, we go deep into this magical world and find something rather precious.

Zuza Zak: Amber and Rye

Where food IS the story

Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith&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 A-lister food writers have changed the conversation about food as Gilly talks through their four chosen food moments from their latest books. As she joins the dots between stories from the old country and food identity, plant-based recipes and climate change she shows how a deeper connection with food really could save the planet. Listen to all your favourite food writers from Yotam Ottolenghi, Tom Kerridge, Anna Jones, Gill Meller, Olia Hercules to Dan Barber as Gilly&nbsp;finds what's cooking in the minds of our food writing stars. Do support the podcast by subscribing, and PLEASE leave a review. You can do this by clicking <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cooking-the-books-with-gilly-smith/id1499255116" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HERE</a> for the link to Apple Podcasts, click on Listen on Apple Podcasts under the show title and then click on Rating and Reviews! Thank you so much. 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 is rated in the top 5% of global podcasts by<a href="https://www.listennotes.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> ListenNotes</a> and in the top 40 of food podcasts globally by <a href="https://blog.feedspot.com/cookbook_podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FeedSpot</a> Theme music by Willy Zygier Gilly Smith is also the presenter of the delicious. podcast and Leon's How to Eat to Save the Planet which was highly commended in the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2021. She won the Investigative Food Work Award for Right2Food podcast for The Food Foundation in the same awards. She also produces The Big Table for Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, and is the multi-award winning author of Taste and the TV Chef: how storytelling can save the planet (Intellect Books 2020)

Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

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Christine Smallwood: The World Vegetarian - Italy

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Gennaro Contaldo: Limoni

Dr Simon Poole: The Real Mediterranean diet

Kylee Newton: The Modern Preserver