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.

On comfort food, the power of a wooden spoon, the only diet, rituals, crunch and the things we cook to anchor and soothe. Our book guest this week is The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson.

Show notes, links and more will be sent to our paid subscribers shortly. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode. And Bee, if you’re listening/reading - thank you for this book.

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.

Our book this episode is Butter, by Asako Yuzuki (translated by Polly Barton). And it sparked a very ‘alive’ conversation on appetites, cake boundaries and whether a bowl of rice, butter and soy sauce can truly awaken an appetite for life.

As always, you don’t have to have read the book to follow along. Although, we both did love it and would recommend you do! It’s a very layered, clever and thought provoking read.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis;

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer", Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

Show notes with links, recipes, and more will be sent to our subscribers separately.

Thank you. Happy listening! And please try the butter and rice dish as per Kajii’s instructions. It really is excellent!

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.

For a little light relief in a heavy time, in this episode, we are talking about Jilly Cooper’s Rivals and the many Shepherd’s pies, Dover soles, and bottles of Sancerre that keep its glamourous (enormous) cast of characters fuelled for all that romping around in stables and meadows.

Links and recipes from this chat will be sent to our wonderful subscribers shortly.

Happy listening!

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.

This episode is mostly about psychological thrillers, and how food and scenes around food can build words, develop characters, turn our stomachs and sometimes if we’re lucky, give us a moment to catch our breath.

We love table scenes in books - the table provides a reason and a place for everyone to be together and is a great canvas for a showdown or perhaps to introduce the characters, to flesh them out. This episode’s book, None of This is True, by Lisa Jewell provides us with a few pivotal ‘table scenes’ that propel the narrative and tell us so much about every character.

We have a lovely time diving into this, chatting about the book and meandering through related subjects such as - books as a warm hug, the magic of finding the right book at the right time and the joy of a flaky croissant in the warm sunshine.

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Shownotes are coming separately to our beloved subscribers.

Thank you to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for putting our episodes together so beautifully. And for finding our fab new music which we think feels a bit ‘Great British Bake-off’-ish. In a good way.

Germaine and Sophie

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.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love to eat and read, and to think and talk about both!

In this episode, we chat about eight very different books and the ‘shape’ of summer reading. Then we read and answer a beautiful letter asking for nourishing things to read and eat in difficult times.

Thank you so much to our subscribers for their support of this pod, your show notes are incoming via the newsletter.

Thank you also to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for putting our episodes 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.

Merry Christmas from us both! We hope you enjoy this episode where we talk about our doorways into Christmas this year, thanks to our patron saint Jeanette Winterson and her book Christmas Days. She helps us in more ways than just festive ones. Her understanding of the importance of creativity and imagination leads us into a conversation about the ways art and culture offer us bridges back to our humanity.

We need this to fuel our imaginations and inner worlds as much as we need food to fuel our bodies. Our wish to you all this Christmas is that you find the time to ignite your imaginations whether that be with something new (can be short!) to read, cook or eat. We hope this episode nourishes you the way that creating it nourishes us!

Show notes with links, books and a Christmas recipe will be sent to our wonderful subscribers later today.

And we will be back in your ears after the summer holidays.

Thank you so much to musician Tom Donald, for the music on this episode and thank you to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for bringing it all together.

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.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas

Sophie and Germaine