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Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

Written by: Gilly Smith
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About this listen

Cooking the Books is about all of life through the prism of food, from climate change to culture and politics to people. It's for foodie book lovers who want to hear something more profound about the way we live, making the link between delicious food and the impact of food production on the land, all through four food moments from the books of our favourite food writers.


Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith is the winner of The Guild of Food Writers' Best Broadcast or Podcast Award 2022, and was shortlisted for Fortnum and Mason Best Podcast 2022 and 2024.


Hear how A-lister food writers have changed the conversation about food as Gilly talks through their four chosen food moments from their latest books. As she joins the dots between stories from the old country and food identity, plant-based recipes and climate change, she shows how a deeper connection with food really could save the planet.


Listen to all your favourite food writers from Claudia Roden to Yotam Ottolenghi, Sheila Dillon to Anna Jones, Prue Leith to Elisabeth Luard, Gill Meller to Ravinder Bhogal, Dan Barber to Raymond Blanc as Gilly finds what's cooking in the minds of our food writing stars.


Do support the podcast by subscribing, and PLEASE leave a review. You can do this by clicking HERE for the link to Apple Podcasts, click on Listen on Apple Podcasts under the show title and then click on Rating and Reviews! Thank you so much.


For more information and to join the mailing list, visit Gilly Smith


Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith is rated in the top 2.5% of global podcasts by ListenNotes and in the top 40 of food podcasts globally by FeedSpot


Theme music by Willy Zygier



Gilly Smith is also the presenter of the delicious. podcast and Leon's How to Eat to Save the Planet which was highly commended in the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2021. She won the Investigative Food Work Award for Right2Food (now known as the Food Foundation Podcast) in the same awards.


She also produced The Big Table for Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, and is the multi-award winning author of Taste and the TV Chef: how storytelling can save the planet (Intellect Books 2020)

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Episodes
  • Clare Coghill: Cafe Cuil

    Clare Coghill: Cafe Cuil
    Jan 22 2026

    This week, we’re on The Isle of Skye with the author of Café Cuil, Clare Coghill.


    This is so much more than a recipe book celebrating the best of Highland produce, and the CUIL, the Gaelic for cosy nook - is much more than a play on words. This is a story of brilliant enterprise in the face of adversity drawn from a sense of identity and belonging – Gilly's favourite ingredients in any cuisine.


    Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Clare including a recipe from Café Cuil for Lobster Roll with Nduja Butter You can buy the book from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org by clicking here, which supports this ad-free listen.

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    32 mins
  • Ozoz Sokoh: Chop Chop

    Ozoz Sokoh: Chop Chop
    Jan 15 2026

    This week, we’re diving into Nigerian food culture with culinary anthropologist, food historian and now author of Chop Chop, Cooking the Food of Nigeria, Ozoz Sokoh.


    Her Kitchen Butterfly blog has been documenting the back story to this West African cuisine since 2009, but Chop Chop, her debut cookbook, has been a long time coming. It’s already been nominated for an Andre Simon award and builds upon a rich tradition of cultural prodding at a food landscape that stretches way beyond the old country.


    Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Ozoz including a recipe from Chop Chop. You can buy it from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org by clicking here, and this supports this ad-free listen.

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    25 mins
  • Jeffrey Boadi: Plant Fuel

    Jeffrey Boadi: Plant Fuel
    Jan 8 2026

    To kick off a brand new year, we’re diving straight into the power of protein with Jeffrey Boadi, author of Plant Fuel.


    As a former semi-professional footballer and tennis player, Jeffrey has been a top level athlete for most of his adult life. But it was his decision to go vegan overnight that has given him a place on the podium in the plant protein world. Gilly finds out how it happened and how he gets enough protein in plants.


    Click here to buy Plant Fuel from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org and here to get to Jeffrey's Extra Bites on Gilly's Substack.



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    28 mins
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