Anja Dunk was born in Wales to a German mother and a Welsh father. Her childhood was spent predominantly in Wales but also in Germany and South East Asia, where she moved to and from over the early years of her life. Her love of food started at home but has grown since working in cafes and restaurants over the years. Anja spoke to us about her wonderful new book Strudel, Noodles and Dumplings, proving that there is more to German food than Bratwurst and Black Forest gateau.

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Sybil Kapoor's new book, Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound, uses cleverly simplified kitchen theory and a selection of tempting recipes to reveal how we can unlock the power of our five senses and take our cooking to the next level. Sybil talked to us about the important differences between: Taste, Flavour (smell), Texture (touch and sound), Temperature (touch) and Appearance. She also told us all about her life in the world of food from London to New York and back again.

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Russell has built a life and career out of his love for the north Italian city of Venice. In his latest book, Venice Four Seasons of Home Cooking, he returns to the city to immerse himself in the authentic flavours of the region and the culinary traditions of the city throughout the seasons.

Everything from summer picnics to warming winter soup is covered in easy Italian family recipes: from radicchio, pancetta and chickpea salad to duck rigatoni, and from Bellini sorbet to chocolate and hazelnut semifreddo. We talk about the rare and intimate glimpse into the life of the city, its hidden architectural gems, its secret places, its embedded history, the colour and bustle of daily life, and the food merchants and growers who make Venice so surprisingly vibrant.

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It’s not often that you get to meet a living legend: Fabrizia Lanza’s cookery school in Sicily is a food lover’s mecca. Fabrizia’s family have been in Sicily for centuries and through their school and farm they preserve knowledge and flavours passed down through the generations. We talked about preserving food and preserving traditions, drank Sicilian wine and cooked some of Fabrizia’s amazing food for everyone who came.

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In a small converted greengrocers in South London (her ice cream shed), Kitty Travers patiently creates an array of iced delights – fresh ice creams that taste of the real, whole fruits; and eye-popping, palate-tickling sorbets that will enliven the taste buds of all those lucky enough to sample them. Kitty came to talk to us about how she fell in love with making ice cream and her new book, La Grotta Ices, containing over 100 inventive flavours of real ice cream, sorbet and granita.

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We had a very special evening celebrating the launch of our new book Honey & Co: At Home – Middle Eastern Recipes From Our Kitchen, out now! Usually The Food Talks involve one or both of us chatting to our favourite people in the food world but for one night only the tables were turned and our producer Hester got to grill us for a change. We talked about home food throughout our lives, what we cook in our precious weekends and our favourite recipes for each other...

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Signe is a Norwegian-American cook and the author of How to Hygge and Scandilicious. She joined us to talk about her latest book Solo: The Joy of Cooking for One. Celebrating the joy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, the book is all about becoming more selfish in the kitchen and is full of recipes for happy solo cooking. From uncomplicated no-cook fast food to one-pot dishes that will transform your daily routine. We talked at length about the perfect fish finger sandwich, how to shop for solo dishes and how much dill is too much dill.

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Self-taught chef Stephen Harris transformed what was once called a “grotty rundown pub by the sea” on the coast in Kent into a Michelin-starred restaurant that has been named Britain’s number one. At The Sportsman, Stephen uses the best ingredients available in the immediate land surrounding the pub – the pork is sourced from the farm next door; they make their own butter and the salt is sourced from the sea. We chatted about the transformation of the pub and of Stephen himself as well as his new book.

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Nick is one of three founders of Hodmedod’s, Britain’s pulse and grain pioneers. They’ve been working with British farmers since 2012 to bring a growing range of forgotten and new crops to British kitchens, from fava beans and carlin peas to quinoa, camelina and naked barley. We use a lot of these products in the restaurants and so we were very excited to have Nick join us to share the Hodmedod’s story.

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After a life-changing meal at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkley in 2010, Samin began cooking there; a job which determined the course of her life. The chefs she cooked with used four key principles to make any food taste great if used in the right way; salt, fat, acid and heat. Samin spent years creating her book in order to teach others how to master the art of good cooking. We spoke to Samin about the serendipity of her journey into food, how we can develop our palettes and which feta reigns supreme.

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