This week, as Trump tramples over the future of Eastern Europe – and indeed the rest of Europe, we’re with Siberian-born food writer and co-founder of #CookforUkraine, Alissa Timoshkina.

Her latest book, Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe is a celebration of the humble cabbage (and four other vegetables) in the everyday kitchens of Eastern Europe. Her co-founder of CookforUkraine, Olia Hercules calls it ‘A rare cookbook that engages our thinking and delights our senses’ and Nigella has already propped it up in her Cookbook Corner.  

In a world that is in such turmoil at the moment, a book about the rich history of Eastern European food and its peoples can do much to remind us all of the taste and flavour of a part of the world eclipsed by the headlines of war.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Alissa.

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This week, we’re back with our favourite doctor, Saliha Mahmood Ahmed and her latest book, The 20 Minute Gut Health Fix. 

Saliha is a specialist registrar in gastroenterology with a Masters in Nutrition,an award winning food writer and the 2017 winner of MasterChef. She’s been on this show to talk about Foodology and The Kitchen Prescription, but since we last met, beans have made it back into the mainstream. Gilly finds out if we're on our way to gut health.

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

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This week, Gilly puts her pack on her back and heads to Thailand, Baja California, Sri Lanka and Mexico with holistic chef Samantha Dormehl to explore her Wanderlust Kichen.

The book is a spiritual guide to healing recipes from around the world, and the result of years of travelling, eating with locals, cooking in their kitchens and slowing right down to experience the wonders of the world through eating together.

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

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This week, we’re celebrating CTB’s fifth birthday with another in our series of Live events at Rockwater in Hove, this time with Claire Thomson.

The Five o clock Apron, as she’s more commonly known was with us to talk about her latest book One Pan Beans, the 10th in her series of how to cook books. In front of an audience of super-fans, she told us how to elevate the simplest of ingredients - beans, chickpeas and lentils - into fabulous weekday meals and weekend feasts.

Pop over to Gilly's Substack for the Q&A which has masses of tips from the book.

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This week, Gilly finds out what happens when life falls apart, and grows again, with Kathy Slack’s Rough Patch

Kathy 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 📞 116123

Papyrus- for under 35s 📞 08000684141

And to learn how to have compassionate, courageous conversation that could save a life, click here to Start the Conversation

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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

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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.

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This week, Cooking the Books Live is back at Rockwater, Hove in the first of a series of second Tuesdays and a rather fabulous food book club. And who better to start with but Brighton’s favourite novelist, Josie Lloyd and the inspiration for her latest murder mystery, Mrs Isabella Beeton.

Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency is a classic whodunnit, but it’s the protagonist, Alice Beeton’s distant ancestor who haunts the story with recipes from her 1861 masterpiece Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management peppering the plot. Click here for Extra Bites of Josie, including the Q&A from the evening on Gilly's Substack

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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.

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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.

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