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My guest today is Bee Wilson. In all honesty, Bee is one of the most interesting and thought provoking food writers and historians we’ve ever known. She is the author of 8 books about food and eating. Her books have won multiple awards, and she’s won 5 Guild of food writers awards for her journalism. After over 20 years of food writing, this year she released her first cookbook, The Secret of Cooking, something she says she’s dreamt of doing since the age of 8. She has been described by Yotam Ottolenghi as "the ultimate food scholar" and writes brilliantly about all aspects of our current food culture.She counts Nigella and Diana Henry as friends (and fans) and I so enjoyed getting to chat to her and hear her Desert Island Dishes. I hope you enjoy this one and thank you so much for listening. A huge thank you to our sponsor HG Walter for bringing the podcast to you this month - visit them at www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Zena Kamgaing on The Dream Dinner Party. I love bringing you Desert Island dishes but I also selfishly do love the dream dinner party – it’s a just a little bit of fun, I love how everyone of the guests have really embraced the theme and taken it seriously – in a very unserious way. Zena was no exception – I love the sound of her dream dinner party – there is a part in this where she gets me to play one of the games she likes to play but we cut out the actual game part as I would have given away the answers and potentially ruined your fun. Hope you enjoy listening to the dream dinner party as much as I enjoy bringing it to you and I always want to hear from you the listener about who you would be inviting and what you would be serving! Thank you to our sponsor for this month – the brilliant family run butcher HG Walter. www.hgwalter.com So there we have it Gennaro’s dream dinner party is over, the food has been eaten and the guests have gone home. I do hope you enjoyed todays episode and make sure you’re subscribed to catch all episodes of The Dream Dinner Party and Desert lsland Dishes. Thank you so much for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is the world famous photographer David Loftus. David is one of the most influential photographers of all time often fondly referred to as Lord Loftus. Award-winning and internationally acclaimed, David has done the photography for the books of Jamie Oliver, Rachel Khoo, Gennaro Contaldo, Elizabeth David and April Bloomfield. For over 20 years, David has photographed over 150 books including all but one of Jamie Oliver’s international best-sellers. His work with Jamie Oliver alone has resulted in book sales of over 30 million copies. You will have looked a David’s photographs even if you were unaware of it at the time.  Thank you so much to HG Walter for sponsoring this month of Desert Island Dishes. Head to www.hgwalter.com for nationwide delivery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi I’m Margie Nomura and welcome to another episode of our side side dish: The Dream Dinner Party. This is the mini episode where we invite a guest to tell us all about their dream dinner party. And this week we have the one and only Rick Stein – I know so many of you loved his episode of Desert Island Dishes so I’m thrilled he also joined us to share his Dream Dinner Party. I think Rick would be a popular choice on lots of people Dream Dinner Party guest list so it was so interesting to hear who he would pick. Love that Ricks dinner parties all include a lot of dancing and also some very good tips about the actual art of hosting in this one – ensuring you don’t run out of time and that you don’t want to be still cooking when people are there, which I very much agree with.  Thank you to our sponsor for this month – the brilliant family run butcher HG Walter. www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back! For a short mini series but back nonetheless! I missed you! And I'm very excited that today my guest today is Claudia Roden. Described as the food writer who never goes out of fashion. She began collecting recipes in 1956, while a student in London. The Suez crisis of that year turned many people from Egypt into refugees: preserving the food culture of the Jewish community was as much practical as it was emotional.  These recipes led to her debut masterpiece A Book of Middle Eastern Food which really cemented Claudia’s future as one of the greatest food writers we’ve ever known. Her book revolutionised Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East. Her books have been loved by not only home cooks but also have laid the foundation for many of the most ambitious professional kitchens, and heavily influenced some of the most well known chefs working today, from the River Café, to Ottolenghi, Alistair Little and Moro to name just a few. Claudia’s talent for mixing up the scholarly with the practical is what really has set her apart. Often described as an anthropologist as well as a historian, essayist and poet - her books are as much about culture an anthropology as they are about recipes. But she says she doesn’t follow scholarly rules, and didn’t go to university, she is a food writer through and through who simply finds a dish and wants to learn all about it.  What is clear is that she is the Master of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavours and a hero for the industry and people who love food.  Thank you so much to our sponsor HG Walter for helping us to bring the show to you. Find them here: https://www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Rick Stein. A highly requested guest, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did recording it. Rick is, of course, a chef, restaurateur, cook book author and television presenter. He has written over 25 cookery books, a memoir and made over 30 television programmes. His latest cookbook, Simple Suppers is out now. It has been nearly 50 years since he first opened The Fish Restaurant in Padstow, an area of Cornwall he fell in love with at a young age and has made his home.  Despite his successes, Rick describes himself as an accidental restaurateur – who never planned on a career in food. And yet how lucky we are that his dreams of running a nightclub were quashed by the local authorities and led instead to the Stein restaurant empire we know today.  He is the man who could pretty much entirely be credited with bringing an appreciation of fish to the UK masses, something he says he didn’t set out to do intentionally, it just made sense at the time. Despite his obvious success, Rick has said, “I’ve definitely got a sense of not being very good at stuff. It’s sort of absurd because, you know, I’ve done really quite well for myself, but I still really doubt myself. It’s just the way I am.” Simple Suppers is out now, available at all good bookstores. And don't forget if you want to enter our Fortnum and Mason giveaway with the chance to win one of their Magic of Christmas Hampers worth £300 sign up for the newsletter via the website www.desertislanddishes.co and I will be sending out more information. Thank you to Georgie my producer for all her hard work and thank you for listening! xx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Donna Hay on the mini episode The Dream Dinner Party. Donna is the much loved and respected queen of cooking in Australia – she’s got a new cookbook out Even More Basics to Brilliance – which is the follow up to her first of this series. I was honoured to host Donna's supperclub at Fortnum and Mason a few weeks ago where we talked about the new book and then were served the most delicious food all from the book. Donna is extremely fun and she did not disappoint with her Dream Dinner Party which i think I describe as amazing many times in this but I just couldn’t get over how – well amazing (!) sounded.  I do hope you enjoyed today’s episode and make sure you’re subscribed to catch all episodes of The Dream Dinner Party and Desert Island Dishes. Thank you so much for listening bye! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Zena Kamgaing. Zena describes herself as a passionate home-chef, recipe creator and food enthusiast. Before going full time as a freelance recipe creator, She worked for a charity and ran their anti human trafficking initiative, worked for a food media company as head of ops before working at Mob kitchen – the food media platform. Zena burst onto the food creator scene when she appeared on Jamie Oliver’s Cook Book Challenge and since then her career has gone from strength to strength. She has since appeared on Lorraine, has garnered a huge online following and this seems to be just the start. Thank you very much to our sponsor for today's episode, Nestlé Carnation. Head to their website for a whole load of recipe inspiration: https://www.carnation.co.uk Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter Dinner Tonight - you can sign up via the website www.DesertIslandDishes.co and find me on instagram @desertislanddishes.co And thank you to my brilliant producer Georgie for all your help as always. https://www.rutherfordproductions.co.uk Thank you for listening! Margie x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Clodagh McKenna on our mini episode: The Dream Dinner Party. Clodagh is so much fun. She makes the most delicious food but she also makes the setting and everything look so beautiful. You’ll have seen her cooking on ITVs this morning, as well as her brilliant instagram videos she did during lockdown that brought a lot of cheer to people. I think she is one of the only dream dinner party hosts where I have actually been to a dinner party she hosted and it was so much fun. A lot of dancing, mainly to Tina Turner and so I knew her dream dinner party would be very special. Clodagh has just announced that her Irish Tea Brack has launched - you can order it from her website www.clodaghmckenna.com and it will be delivered 24 hours after it comes out of the oven! Delicious!! Don't forget to leave a review if you havent already. And sign up for the newsletter at www.desertislanddishes.co - there are now over 12,000 of you on the newsletter which is so so exciting to me. THANK YOU! And a huge thanks to my amazing producer Georgie - find her at www.rutherfordproductions.co.uk. She's the best and I'm so grateful for all her help with bringing this to you each week. See you next time for more Desert Island Dishes x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Ed Gamble Ed is a comedian, an actor, host of the Off Menu podcast amongst others, and judge on the Great British Menu. He can now also add author to his bio of credentials as his debut book Glutton has just been published. His career in comedy began at Durham university performing with the Durham revue before heading to the Edinburgh fringe for the first time in 2011  His stand-up comedy is largely observational comedy, often aimed at himself, including discussion of his diabetes, which he was diagnosed with as a teenager. He says his humour was honed by a fixation with all things sitcoms and stand up.  Ed has been a regular panellist on the BBC panel show Mock the Week , has acted for shows on the BBC and hosted several radio shows. The Off Menu podcast which he hosts with James Acaster has been a phenomenal success which has seen him become somewhat of a household name.  When asked what made him get into comedy, Ed replied, The perfect mix of a terrifying ego and an astonishing lack of self-esteem. I can’t tell day to day whether I’m arrogant or I hate myself, but I think somewhere in-between is absolutely ideal for a comedian. Do hope you enjoy today's episode. Come and find me on Instagram @desertislanddishes and don't forget to sign up to the newsletter Dinner Tonight by going to the website www.desertislanddishes.co Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Rachel Belle Rachel is an award winning journalist with over 20 years of experience. She lives in Seattle and is the creator & host of Your Last Meal, a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast,  Her food writing has been published in places like Lucky Peach, Eater and The Stranger, she has appeared on The Cooking Channel (as a taco expert!) Rachel says she loves traveling the world, hiking through wildflowers, campfire cooking, and trying as many dumplings and pizzas as possible. On her website Rachel says her relatives invented both the bagel dog and the tube top which are both equally intriguing! To find more of Rachel be sure to check out her podcast Your Last Meal wherever you get your podcasts. And find us at www.desertislanddishes.co and on Instagram @desertislanddishes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Russell Norman  Known as The Restaurant Man. He is a writer, broadcaster and award winning founder of celebrated restaurants with first THE POLPO restaurant group and now BRUTTO.  Hailed as “London’s coolest restaurateur” and having been described as the man who saved restaurants after the financial crash, Russell is a restaurateur with over 20 years experience in London restaurants – he worked his way up from bartender, to waiter, maître d, general manager and operations director at Caprice Holdings before opening his first restaurant Polpo.  Never one to follow trends, in fact he sets them…it was Russell that started our love affair with small plates, sharing platters and a move away from the fussiness of fine dining. It was also Russell that started the strict no reservation policy that spread like wild fire.  Russell has said, "A lot of people fantasise about opening their own restaurant, thinking it is going to be a bit like a dinner party but with a till, but it’s a fallacy” The reality is 18 hour days and they would be tired and miserable”. And yet he says for him, the feeling of running a restaurant is as though “someone’s plugged into the mains”. Hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget Russell's beautiful book Brutto is out now. Thank you very much to Nestlé Carnation for sponsoring this weeks episode. Head to their website www.carnation.co.uk for lots of recipe inspiration and there’s even a free downloadable recipe book waiting for you there too. You can find me @desertislanddishes and the website at www.desertislanddishes.co Thank you for listening! Margie x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.