We have talked about dinner parties in literature before, but none have been quite so much of a struggle to sit through as this one! Happiness and Love by debut author Zoe Debno is a treat for the senses … in quite a different way. And via this book, and the conversation it sparked, we experience how appetites can be lost and food can be nauseating depending on the company we keep.

This is about becoming curious about our reactions to a book, how food creates atmosphere and adds to character and how wealth, class and education can be a cover for the emptiest of internal lives. As ‘the actress’ says in Happiness and Love;

“You act like all you want to do is have serious conversations about art and about literature, and that only a select group of people who have studied enough, who have the credentials you think are important, are smart enough to engage with you, but what is even inside of a book but people’s thoughts and feelings. Everyone can understand thoughts and feelings. Everyone can read a book and understand it.”

Bibliotherapy in action! We hope you enjoy this conversation as we join our narrator on the “white linen sofa” for a long night ahead.

Show notes are coming soon, featuring lists of all the books and topics we discuss.

In the meantime, thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

Germaine and Sophie x

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

What books will you never let go of? What recipes will you cook forever? In this episode, we talk about letting go, holding on and the recipes and books that we turn to when we need to fall in love with cooking or reading again. We share the books that ‘wallpaper’ our minds and the things we’re cooking, reading and loving this month.

Show notes are coming shortly, with lists of all the books and things we talk about, plus Sophie’s heart-shaped sponge recipe.

Thank you for listening, and thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

Germaine and Sophie x

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

‘Lonely mouth is a Japanese expression. It means, like, you feel like you want to eat something, but you don’t know what it is. You’re looking for just the right thing. But maybe there is no right thing. Maybe you don’t need anything at all.’

This episode, we are talking and thinking about Jacqueline Maley’s latest novel, Lonely Mouth.

It begins with two young girls being abandoned by their mother at the Big Merino just out of Goulburn and goes on to be the story mostly of the elder sister Matilda, her hungers, losses, relationships, relationship to her sister Lara and her body. And it sparked this conversation which we hope you enjoy listening to. And as always, you don’t have to have read the book to listen along, we deal more with the themes of the book than the plot (no spoilers we promise).

Show notes with all the links and a soup to soothe and calm are coming to our wonderful subscribers shortly.

Germaine and Sophie x

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

Thanks for reading Something to Eat and Something to Read! This post is public so feel free to share it.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

What do you read before you go away? Do you research your trips/holidays through ‘place-rich’ novels? What genre do you prefer while ‘in transit’? How does travel affect the ‘shape’ a book or meal leaves on you (how can it not?).

This episode meanders through the above and more, and we hope you enjoy it. We would love to hear about the books you love to read while dreaming of, planning for, and during your own travels.

The afternoon we recorded this episode, Germaine had just arrived back from a trip to Germany and the UK, and Sophie was heading to the airport to visit Italy and Slovenia.

Thank you for listening; we hope you enjoy this one. Show notes are coming to our subscribers shortly.

Germaine and Sophie x

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

Thanks for listening to Something to Eat and Something to Read! If you know of someone who might also enjoy our podcast, please do share with them. Thanks so much x

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

Welcome to another episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love cooking, reading and talking about both! Hosted by food writer Sophie Hansen and Germaine Leece, psychotherapist and bibliotherapist.

This episode, because we think we all need it, we’re talking about optimism and the books and foods we reach for when we want/need to be reminded that everything is going to be ok in the end. Here below are some of the books that came up in this one.

From baking to re-reading, poetry and the inherent optimism of leftovers, we have a list of 20 things to be optimistic about. We hope you enjoy them. We’re optimistic you will!

Show notes will be sent out to our subscribers shortly.

Germaine and Sophie x

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

Welcome to another episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love reading and eating, and talking and thinking about both. In this episode, we're wondering if reading and cooking too much—is there such a thing?—can ever stop us from living. Maybe sometimes we need a pause to give us time to respond to all the stimuli (and there's a lot out there at the moment). After we've had that pause, we've got some good things to read and cook and ways to approach both so they're as nourishing as possible.

We loved this chat, flipping the narrative a little on our passions and hope you do too.

Thank you for listening. Show notes are coming to our subscribers shortly.

Germaine and Sophie x

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

Hello, and welcome to the 2025 season of Something to Eat and Something to Read!!! This is a podcast for people who love to eat and read and talk about both, hosted by bibliotherapist Germaine Leece and food writer Sophie Hansen

We all, thanks to writer Katherine May and her book of the same name, are familiar with the idea of Wintering. Of recognising and resting through fallow seasons, of re-grouping, healing, hibernating through days when the light is low, as she says, “doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it is essential.”.

For our first episode of the year, we’re talking about the idea of ‘Summering’ and what that means for us in terms of reading and eating. Plus there are loads of good things to read and cook as we share our top five good things from this summer.

We hope you enjoy listening. Show notes with all the links and things mentioned will be sent to our subscribers shortly.

Sophie and Germaine

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

It’s been a year… and in the past we have made our Christmas episodes about anticipating good food, extra reading time and getting into the festive spirit.

But some years even that can feel too big an ask and the idea of escaping into a magical festive stories where snowman come alive (hello Christmas Days) or a Christmas movie where everything magically works out in the end, or sinking into a quiet thoughtful book of everyday miracles at the table…well that seemed like just the ticket.

So we thought we would dedicate this year’s Christmas episode to the idea of miracles - everyday miracles of taste that give us an opportunity to escape into a different time or memory. And book that does this in a gentle, whimsical way is this episode’s ‘guest’, a Japanese novel, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai.

We hope you enjoy this episode and will be sending show notes with links and recipes to our subscribers later today.

Thank you. Happy listening and see you next year.

Sophie and Germaine x

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.

After dedicating an entire episode to Dame Jilly Cooper’s Rivals earlier this year, we were quick off the mark to watch the tv adaptation the second it dropped.

And we had so many thoughts we thought we’d jump in and do an emergency debrief, plus a catch up on what we’ve been reading and eating since the last episode.

Happy listening, reading, watching and eating!

Germaine and Sophie x

Something to Eat and Something to Read is a monthly podcast and fortnightly newsletter all about and celebrating cooking, reading and reading about cooking.

Hosted by Bibliotherapist/Psychotherapist Germaine Leece and food writer Sophie Hansen, who both believe you should never go anywhere, or for long, without something to eat and something to read.

We are a listener supported podcast and newsletter, and while every episode will always be free to listen to, our show notes, recipes and recommendations will be available to paid subscribers only. So if you’d like to support us to the tune of $5/month and help us continue recording for and writing to you, please click below.

What do you cook and read when feeling all the feels? This special episode is a recording of a panel discussion on cooking and reading with our emotions at a special lunch last month at Logan Wines as part of the 2024 Mudgee Readers Festival. Our chat ran the gamut from love to nostalgia, stress to turbulence and what we cook and eat when experiencing each one.

We (your regular hosts!) Sophie Hansen and Germaine Leece, were joined on the panel by Tamara Howorth, chef and owner of Mudgee’s fantastic The Little Cooking School and Commissary and James Findlay, Breakfast presenter at ABC Western Plains. Thank you so much to you both for your time and all you shared.

We hope you enjoy this conversation about the best things in life—books, pasta, chocolate, and baking!

All the links, recipes and shownotes will be sent to our subscribers separately.

Thank you to our wonderful producer, Kristy Reading, for putting this and every episode together so beautifully.

We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.