This week, we are live in Brighton on the hottest day of the year so far with Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer, aka Honey and Co. to talk about their new book, Honey and Co.Daily.

Against the sound of a massive fan at Patio Wine Bar, we talked about the huge dollop of love that the Honeys have made their brand, and how a warm hug of hospitality has not only saved their business but reminded us all of what people really want from a restaurant.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Cooking the Books Live at Patio, Brighton, plus a recipe from Honey and Co. Daily, and from the Ingrid at Sussex Surplus who spun their food moments into small plates for an adoring crowd.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link, or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles. 

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This week we're with author, journalist and broadcaster, Rebecca Seal and her deep dive into the world of allergies in Irritated

She's spent 20 years writing about food, not least as the deputy editor of Observer Food Monthly, and her life was all about the deliciousness of food. But it was her younger daughter’s allergy to soy which prompted her to explore the rise in the allergy epidemic, and to piece together a fascinating puzzle of the way we live.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link, or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles. 

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This week we're with Danish food writer, restaurateur and campaigner, Trine Hahnemann and her latest cookbook, Midnight Sun.

This is a book about long lazy summer days - cycling to the beach, stopping off to buy strawberries from a local stall, peeling shrimps to eat with homemade mayo and bread.. But under the haze of a Scandanavian sun, food for Trine is about much more than a picnic. It’s about history, time, geography and culture, a sum of the past and a warning about the future. Gilly asks how the simplicity of a long hot summer could say so much.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for extra bites of Trine and a recipe from Midnight Sun.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link. Or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles. 

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This week, we’re with the WORD on Turkish food and heritage, Ozlem Warren to dig into her latest book, Istanbul.

We’ve followed Ozlem on Cooking the Books through her writing career, from Ozlem’s Turkish Table which inspired a fund raising supper club for the earthquake in 2023 at Gilly’s house, through vegetarian Turkish in Sebze, and now to Istanbul, her most confidant work yet, and her warmest welcome to her homeland.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link, or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles. 

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 This week, Gilly is with the author of The Smallest Restaurant in Paris, Rachel Khoo

Now, you may know her as the author of The Little Paris Kitchen and the star of the BBC’s cooler original version of Emily in Paris - without the haute couture or the PR job, a young Brit abroad, feeling her way through being in Paris and cooking in her tiny kitchen.

Now she’s written a memoir about those years, and – whisper it - published it herself. A self-published book by someone with 400k followers on Instagram? How? Why? Well, as we find out, Rachel has never been the kind of girl to do what she’s told.

In true Rachel Khoo spirit, Gilly is paving her own streets of gold on this podcast through the economy of kindness. If you like what you hear,  do click here to make a contribution.

Then pop over to Substack for Extra Bites of Rachel and the recipe for the baby baguettes from her food moments.

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This week, we're with travel and food writer, Sudi Pigott to Consider the Anchovy.

Part memoir, largely a travelogue, this is a deep dive into the story of a big hitting little fish. Stuffed with maverick, rakish characters, it's a passionate manifesto making the case for the anchovy as a leading mover and shaker in world culinary history. 

Rachel Roddy described it as "an anchovy odyssey, a journey in search of a small fish of enormous importance — fascinating, unexpected and utterly enticing." 

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Sudi and a recipe from the book.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link, or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles. 

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This week, we're with Ella Risbridger and The Kitchen Book

Now, we know Ella intimately through her memoirs, Midnight Chicken and The Year of Miracles, both of which blended grief, joy, love and loss with food, gathering serious accolades and scooping up the awards. Here, she’s happy. Her life is good. Her writing is full of joy and the reception over on Instagram in particular has been effusive. And it’s an instant Sunday Times bestseller.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Ella and a recipe from The Kitchen book.

If you'd like to support CTB which is advertising and sponsorship free, contribute whatever you like via this link, or become a paid subscriber on Substack which gives you access to Second Helpings, monthly Zooms with a CTB guest, and a massive archive of Gilly's articles.

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This week, we're with three of the judges from this year’s World Food Photography Awards which took place earlier this week at The Mall Galleries in London.

The competition, first known as the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year, has pretty much put food photography on the map since 2011. With more than 120,000 entries from nearly 100 countries over that time, this year the judging panel led by legendary food photographer David Loftus, assessed 9000 images from professional and amateur photographers from 50 countries.

Gilly caught up with 3 of the judges, food stylist, Sal Henley, Skye Trayler of the London-based agency At Trayler and Angela Nicholson, founder of SheClicks, an award-winning community for female photographers to talk through the runners up and winning images in two of the categories. 

Pop over to Gilly's Substack to see the images for the runners up and the winners of those two categories on Extra Bites. And if you’d like to support this ad and sponsor free podcast, just click here to contribute to Gilly's economy of kindness.

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This week, we’re off to lunch with Chetna Makan, the Bake Off semi finalist who has become one of our national treasures with her massive YouTube channel, Food with Chetna. Her latest book 5 Ingredient Indian is yet another way of making Indian food simple enough to cook for quick weekday suppers while keeping all the flavour.

Pop over to Substack for Extra Bites of  Chetna, and a recipe from the book.

And if you like what you hear on this ad and sponsor free podcast, you can contribute to the Economy of Kindness by clicking here to contribute a little something, or here to become a paid subscriber on Substack.

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This week, we're back at Cooking the Books live in Brighton with Felicity Cloake (and Wilf the Wonderdog) to talk about her debut novel, The Underdog.

We know Felicity from her Bridget Jones-on-a-bike style adventures across France in One More Croissant for the Road, the UK in Red Sauce, Brown Sauce and America in Peach Street to Lobster Lane. But she's also the Queen of Culinary Perfection in her Guardian column, How to Cook the Perfect..., and has somehow managed to combine both personalities in Katy, the hapless protagonist in her first rom com. Gilly finds a thin line between fact and fiction.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites and a recipe for one of Felicity's food moments whipped up by Jo at Sussex Surplus.

And if you’d like to support this ad and sponsor free podcast, don’t forget to click here to contribute whatever you like.

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