Olivia Potts is the Guild of Food Writers’ Cookery Writer of the Year 2025. She hosts The Spectator’s Table Talk podcast and writes Spectator Life's The Vintage Chef column
From our UK edition
Braising isn’t a terribly glamorous way of cooking: you’re not flipping steaks over an open fire, flambéeing alcohol, or shucking oysters. No one is going to gasp at your cheffy technique if you plump for braising. And when you pull the dish from the oven, it may not look any more exciting: no soaring soufflés,
For all their embracing of modern social media, the royals are traditionalists when it comes to their puddings
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36 min listen
Marcus Wareing is a celebrated, Michelin-starred chef, a judge on Masterchef: The Professionals and Chef Patron at Marcus in Knightsbridge. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about eating in school canteens, working with Gordon Ramsay, and catering during coronavirus.
Food has the power to evoke nostalgia like almost nothing else
From our UK edition
35 min listen
Sharmadean Reid is an entrepreneur and the founder of Beautystack. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Livvy about her grandfather’s allotment, cooking roasts and trying crab for the first time.
From our UK edition
23 min listen
Dan Keeling is a wine writer behind the magazine and restaurant Noble Rot. He tells Lara and Livvy about how he discovered his love of wine; working in the music industry; and how to start a restaurant with zero experience. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.
Making honeycomb has always felt to me like one of the purest forms of kitchen magic
From our UK edition
I have always been a bit of a stew-pusher; it tends to be my answer to any of life’s dilemmas, culinary or otherwise. Friends coming round? Stew. Cold and dark outside? Stew. Feeling sad? Stew. To be honest, it doesn’t matter whether or not the weather demands it, I am always in the mood for
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Nigella Lawson is many things to many people: the perfect hostess, the TV star, the thinking man’s crumpet. To me she’s always embodied the joy of sharing food with friends and family. Her books and television shows burst with conviviality, with parties and suppers. Now we are in the middle of a pandemic that has
From our UK edition
20 min listen
Olia Hercules is a chef and food writer. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Livvy about growing up in Cyprus; being disappointed by British ingredients; and teaching her son to love Ukrainian cooking.
From our UK edition
20 min listen
Ian Rankin is a bestselling crime writer, most known for his Inspector Rebus novels. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about living in a motel during his first year at university; how eating curry for the first time was ‘a revelation’; and the snacks that keep him going while he writes. Tell us
From our UK edition
44 min listen
Dolly Alderton is an author, journalist and podcaster who hosts ‘The High Low’ podcast. On the episode, she talks to Lara and Livvy about campaigning for gender equality (and cooked breakfasts) at her boarding school; how taste in food can make or break the attractiveness of a man; and the importance of planning a desert
From our UK edition
37 min listen
Annie Gray is a historian, cook and writer who specialises in food from 1600 to present day. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Olivia about a childhood of eating ‘frisbee-like’ omelettes, why male hares are inedible, and how an episode of Antiques Roadshow nearly jeopardised the release of her new book. Annie Gray’s Victory
From our UK edition
29 min listen
Skye McAlpine is a Sunday Times columnist and the author of two cookbooks. She joins Lara and Olivia down the line from Venice, where she grew up. On the podcast, she talks about moving to the city as a child, her favourite Venetian meals, and why, despite being a dinner party maestro, she doesn’t believe
From our UK edition
45 min listen
Rory Sutherland is the vice-chairman of the renowned advertising firm, Ogilvy, and the Spectator’s ‘Wiki Man’ columnist. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Olivia about everything and anything from the dreadful British food of the 70s, why he loves chain restaurants, and the best and worst kitchen gadgets. As well as his incredibly
From our UK edition
27 min listen
Greta Bellamacina is an actress and poet, who has published numerous collections and made her acting debut in Harry Potter. On the podcast, she talks to Lara and Olivia about what it was like to be on set for Harry Potter, growing up with four siblings, and why her favourite restaurant is an over-priced Chinese
From our UK edition
24 min listen
Rhik Samadder is an actor and columnist for the Guardian, where his column Wellness or Hellness? reviews kitchen gadgets and life hacks. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Olivia about his mother’s adventurous dinner table, his teenage battles with anorexia, and the worst kitchen gadgets he ever reviewed (including a mug which had
From our UK edition
46 min listen
John Williams is the ebullient Executive Chef at the Ritz. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Livvy about breaking into the London fine dining scene as a boy from Tyneside, how the Ritz is as far from rustic as you can get, and his friendship with Margaret Thatcher, when she lived at the
From our UK edition
Are toasties the ultimate comfort food? For me, they have to be in the top three at the very least. Toasties mean late nights or early suppers; they mean eating in the kitchen, standing up, or sitting on the sofa, probably in your pyjamas; they mean picking the little bits of escaped melted cheese from
From our UK edition
28 min listen
Rory MacLean is a historian and travel writer. His latest book, Pravda Ha Ha, is out now. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Livvy about how his mother was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Miss Moneypenny, singing a duet with David Bowie, and the time he was taken to lunch by a Vietnamese
