Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

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 living the dream in Adland... until it became a nightmare. Burn out gave way to clinical depression and a very dark place indeed. Ultimately hers is a story about nature, dogs and how growing veg saved her, but she doesn’t pull any punches, and trigger warning, she and Gilly do talk about how depression can lead to suicidal thoughts, although thankfully not in her case.Pop over to Substack for Extra Bites of Kathy, including the recipe from that Pitstop Tart.And if you or someone you know needs to talk about suicide, here are some useful numbers:Samaritans 📞 116123Papyrus- for under 35s 📞 08000684141And to learn how to have compassionate, courageous conversation that could save a life, click here to Start the Conversation

This week, Gilly's with Niloufer Mavalvala to discover the food of the Zorastrians in the fourth of her compendium, The Route to Parsi Cooking.This is about food without borders, a cuisine which is under threat as so many are when their people are displaced. But as we hear so often on this show, they can also become the roots to a culture. With only about 200k Zoroastrians living around the world, Niloufer tells Gilly why she has  taken it upon herself to revive this ancient cuisine.Click here for Extra Bites of Niloufer on Gilly's Substack

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 won the debut cookbook award last year at the Fortnum and Masons. But his day job as head pastry chef at Harrods has given him an opportunity to turn up the dial on veganism at the top end of London’s food scene. Check into Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Philip.

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 life, Gilly talks sustainable meat with Pipers Farm’s Abby Allen.The Pipers Farm Sustainable Meat Cookbook came out in 2022 but is one of Gilly's favourite reads and recipe resources. It’s a manifesto for the role of family farms in climate change and a reminder of all the principles that guide Gilly's world, with some of the most delicious ways to enjoy the food that comes from them. Abby and her husband Will took over his father, Peter Greig’s vision of how farming can be 14 years ago, and have continued to raise his bar, stimulating a conversation about sustainable meat that has made them important changemakers as we rethink food and farming.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Pipers Farm with recipes of Abby's food moments.

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 that had Dan Saladino of BBC's The Food Programme voting How the World Eats, a Global Food Philosphy his best book of 2024.Gilly finds out what a philosopher can do to help us out of the mess of our global food system.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Julian.

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 all over morning telly and the nationals as the Freezer Queen giving tips from her fantastically useful book which really could help us save waste; as she points out, 70% of global food waste comes from the home.But this isn’t just about batch cooking and having an endless supply of ready meals; this is a whole new way of thinking about how to use your freezer. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Kate.

This week, Gilly is with Richard Hart, former head baker of iconic bakery, Tartine in San Francisco, the Londoner whose bakeries across Copenhagen began with a test kitchen at Noma, and the man who taught Marcus from the Bear how to bake.  His book, Richard Hart Bread: Intuitive Sourdough Baking is more of a love letter to bread than an instruction manual. It’s a read that makes your heart rate drop, the descriptions of dough making a metaphor for all that is wonderful in life. You can hear the collaboration with his wife, Henrietta Lovell, aka the Rare Tea Lady, in his words. This is about falling in love as much as it about baking bread. Richard says it’s the same thing. Head to Gilly’s Substack for Extra Bites including his playlist to bake to.

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 kitchen before becoming a runner up for the prestigious Jane Grigson Trust award for her debut cookbook, The Balkan Kitchen. It’s massive book reaching deep into the history, peoples and geo-politics of the Balkans, but also into her own family story and her exploration of her own identity through recipes from all Balkan kitchens. Most of all, it’s a love letter to Balkan cuisine – one of the most under-explored gastronomies in the world, and overshadowed by conflict.Head to Gilly’s Substack to hear Irina read the poem that inspired the book cover, and for her recipe for Slatko, one of her four food moments.