You have to hand it to Ed Miliband. After bacon sandwich-gate, he might never have eaten in public again, but there he was, wolfing down cod and chickpeas, eggs and Za’atar on the chart-topping podcast Table Manners with Jessie Ware. Presumably he thought that audio would be a fail-safe medium in which to redeem himself. No cameras, no aggressive questioning (the show is co-hosted by singer Jessie Ware and her mum Lennie), no risk. Suffice it to say he underestimated this one.
An early part of the conversation, in précis, ran like this: ‘What’s your go-to dish?’, ‘I’m a recipe-box follower and a recipe follower.’ ‘Which recipe books?’, ‘That’s a good question.’ [Some minutes later.] ‘What would be your last supper?’, ‘That’s really hard. [Long pause.] I’ve been under-briefed.’ We had suddenly been plunged into a Gordon Brown favourite-biscuit situation.
Food podcasts with celebrity guests, of which there is a glut of new series this summer, tend to adhere to a fairly predictable format, like Saturday Kitchen on TV. The guest is invited in, treated to some nice food and wine, and prompted to discuss their gastronomical likes and dislikes as they stray hopefully into the territory of their career. Some come well-prepared. Physicist Brian Cox could tell Jay Rayner on Out to Lunch that to cook a steak medium-rare he uses a meat probe and waits for a reading of 56º. Other guests are less exacting.
Every journalist knows that the most revealing interviews are conducted over a hearty lunch. As Miliband sat down to deliberate, cogitate, and digest over his Ottolenghi-esque supper, he became more relaxed, even affable. ‘You’re not a foodie are you, Ed?’, asked his hosts. That much was clear, though he could name his favourite restaurants — Dishoom, Moro and Anima e Cuore.
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