Share
Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith
Lynn Cassells: Our Wild Farming Life
Season 24, Ep. 3
•
This week, Gilly is with Lynn Cassells who with her partner Sandra Baer are two of the most inspiring women you’re likely to hear on Cooking the Books this year.
Our Wild Farming Life is their story of following a dream, moving from South East England to the Scottish Highlands to regenerate an 150 acre farm. It was more than a dream – it was a calling to reconnect with the land, to find out what role people can play in nature, and to tell their story to people who are aching to know the answer. it started with a mind map around a kitchen table. and Gilly began by asking Lynn if she looked back at it now, would she have followed the same path.
More episodes
View all episodes
8. Claire Dinhut: The Condiment Book
25:46||Season 24, Ep. 8This week, Gilly is with Claire Dinhut aka Condiment Claire. Claire is a culinary history cook and the author of The Condiment Book. A dual national of the US and France, she splits her time between LA and her family home, a mill in the French countryside where the rituals, traditions and flavours of both have inspired her till-side treasure, The Condiment Book which is bound to fly off the shelves this Christmas. Check out Gilly’s Substack for Extra Bites of Claire who’s taken us to that mill house in France to make her crème de marrons.7. Alice Robinson: Field, Fork, Fashion
40:11||Season 24, Ep. 7This 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 just left the Royal College of Art, but her work has already been featured in the V&A ‘s Food: Bigger than the Plate exhibition. Her first book Field, Fork, Fashion has had her on Radio’s 4’s Start the Week to discuss our connection with the countryside - with James Rebanks among the other guests. She is an extraordinary advocate of our connection with the land and prods us to think in a whole new way about the provenance of leather. Gilly finds out what the Fork in the title means to her story. Check out Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Alice and Bullock 374 – and Sheep 11458 - and click here for more about British Pasture Leather.6. Jon Watts: Speedy Weeknight Meals
31:35||Season 24, Ep. 6This week, Gilly's with Jon Watts, the author of the instant Sunday Times Bestseller Speedy Weeknight Meals . He's a chef with 885k followers on Instagram, but it all started when as a teenager serving a six and a half year sentence for GBH in a young offenders institution, he was given a job on day release at one of the early Jamie Oliver restaurants.Now in this mid 30s, he says that it was the Duke of Edinburgh's Award which taught him to cook in prison that changed his life - he was the first person in custody to earn all Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards. But with a new book out, prison is still his defining story, despite his dad telling him to change the record. Gilly asks him how he feels about having to keep going back there.Check Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Jon.7. Emily Roz: The World is your Dumpling
24:10||Season 24, Ep. 7This 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 Myriad Recipes. Her “Around the World in 80 Dumplings” series went viral, gaining millions of views. They caught up to talk about The World is Your Dumpling, which has over 80 recipes celebrating the diverse flavours and textures of dumplings from just about everywhere across the globe. Iasked her if writing about dumplings was a great excuse to travel the world through the lens of dumplings.Check Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Emily.5. Elliot Webb: Growing Mushrooms At Home
31:23||Season 24, Ep. 5This week, Gilly is with another changemaker, Elliot Webb, the author of Growing Mushrooms at Home: The Complete Guide to Knowing, Growing and Loving Fungi on the awesome world beneath our feet.The founder of Urban Farm It is a passionate grower and educator of alternative agriculture based in the UK. His goal is become a leader in the global movement to a more sustainable and self-sufficient society by positively disrupting current food production culture. Gilly asks him to dig deep into the history and science of mushrooms to find out why so many people so interested in them right now.Head over to her Substack for Extra Bites of Elliot in which he finds a brand new species of mushroom while foraging, and three fabulous recipes from Urban Farm It.4. Franco Fubini: In Search of The Perfect Peach
34:17||Season 24, Ep. 4This 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 founder of sustainable food distributor, Natoora. He’s also one of the judges of The Food Planet prize for innovation in food, and now, the author of In Search of the Perfect Peach.His philosophy is simple but its impact could be massive - He believes that our everyday food choices can and should make our diet healthier, tastier with a massive impact on the farmers, the soil and the entire food chain. Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Franco.3. Allegra McEvedy: Chefs Wanted
32:36||Season 24, Ep. 3This week, Gilly continues to curate the changemakers with chef, author and co-founder of Leon, Allegra McEvedyIn Chefs Wanted, she’s on a mission to teach kids not just to play with their food but to cook like the pros. It’s a must-buy for any kids who want to be properly creative in the kitchen and stretch their skills. But Allegra has a deeper purpose behind everything she does, including this book; Gilly last met her at the Conflict Café in London where she was hosting a Lebanese pop up supper club. As the tanks roll in again across Beirut, she asks her, as someone of real influence, how she feels about hope.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Allegra.2. Tim Spector: Food for Life Cookbook
33:11||Season 24, Ep. 2This 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 we think about food. And now, the Food for Life Cookbook.Since their first meeting for the delicious podcast before Covid changed the world, gut health advice is everywhere, and personalised nutrition is set to become the Next Big Thing. Gilly finds out the back story to Tim's extraordinary rise to fame and influence over the past four years, and how he thinks we can extend the trend for healthier eating to the entire population.Head to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Tim and Zoe.1. Rick Stein: Food Stories
26:57||Season 24, Ep. 1This 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 to him about his book Secret France for the delicious. podcast. This time, it’s about secret Britain, or at least the communities of Britain bursting with flavour and influencing our national diet. Rick Stein’s Food Stories, the book and the BBC show, is about all that we are in Britain and is a subject very close to Gilly's heart. She asks him, after travelling the world – Mexico, Thailand, The Mediterranean, Istanbul to name a few, to find their stories through food, what this book says about our changing nation.Head over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites from the book.