Comfort Eating with Grace Dent The Guardian

Joining Grace this week is the multi-talented actor, comedian and rapper, Kiell Smith-Bynoe. Long before becoming a household name as the exasperated boyfriend in the hit series Ghosts, Kiell (AKA MC Klayze Flaymz) tells Grace how, as a teenager, he combined his performance skills in the ultimate London arena: the chicken shop. With the taste of success, Kiell and Grace chat about his journey to the stage and screen, via several years working in a call centre for unemployed actors. Answering the big question: what is an appropriate lunchtime meal to eat at your desk?

Welsh standup, podcast host and panel show queen, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, brings her finest bowl of scran to Grace’s house. Over this steaming ultra-value concoction, she reveals how her upbringing on a Welsh sheep farm led to a hankering for performance, humour and cheap noodles. Cutting her teeth on the Manchester comedy circuit and finding solace with fellow newbies, Kiri learned to win in an industry still steeped in sexism. Her latest solo show, Peacock, is about the unlikely subject of becoming a foster parent – a journey Kiri and her partner have recently embarked on. Their offering to children centres around home-cooked food made with love. Comfort eating just took on a whole new meaning.

Comfort Eating’s culinary standards might have been permanently raised after two-Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge’s visit. But he’s not exactly one to show off. Growing up in Gloucester, Tom always wanted to recreate the homely meals he’d find at his local pub or at his mum’s on Sundays. With a brief detour on to the acting stage, Tom started his career working at some of the country’s top restaurants. In the rock’n’roll era of fine dining, suddenly it was cool to be working in a restaurant late at night. But as Tom and Grace discuss, a world of late hours and excess triggered multiple health problems for him. Going sober and solo, Tom started running his own businesses and success quickly followed. So what exactly does a top chef snack on when they’re not winning awards? You might be surprised …

Platinum-selling singer songwriter Cat Burns cosies up with Grace for a warm plate of nosh and some deep chats. The biggest-selling British female artist of 2022, who won three Brit award nominations after her single Go went viral on TikTok, reveals how she went from shy schoolgirl to stadium gigs in just a few years. While Covid put an end to busking on the South Bank, it opened up another portal on social channels that sent Cat’s star on its rapid ascent. Recently diagnosed as autistic, Cat explains how her relationship with food thrives on predictability and consistency. Yet with a small recipe suggestion from her girlfriend, she had a lightbulb moment – opening up new possibilities. Cat says she doesn’t do small talk, which is more than OK; her big talk is just beautiful.

Sliding into Grace’s sitting room this week is rising star and multitalented comedian, playwright and musical theatre creator, Daniel Foxx. Bringing his concoction of gunk meant only for solo consumption in the small hours, there’s nowhere left to hide. Buckle up and join Grace and Daniel as they go on a tour of the ins and outs of life in the fast lane – or is that the M6 at 1am? Daniel shares his different incarnations – from coming out age 11 to donning a string of pearls post-lockdown. His observational obsessions have helped to feed his viral hit The Supervillain’s Gay Assistant and Grace and Daniel unpick its threads with scurrilous delight. Oh, and there’s a modern-day love story involving Tinder and trains. Scoop it all up with love and a crunchy lentil curl

It’s tough presenting BBC radio’s top morning news programme, hosting the nation’s brainiest quiz show and being a devoted dad to four young children. But someone’s got to do it. And that person is none other than the broadcaster Amol Rajan. Having risen through the ranks of the Independent newspaper to be its youngest editor at the age of 29 and now only the third ever presenter of University Challenge, there’s got to be something fuelling this dynamo. Finding a little window in his busy schedule, Amol parks his responsibilities at the door and shares the secrets of his success and culinary tricks with long-time friend and former colleague, Grace. From his mum’s incredible home cooking to his special porridge recipe for when the kids aren’t looking, Amol tells all. There’s some raving, insomnia and umami twang thrown in too – you might have seen them at Reading?