The writer and editor Thea Lenarduzzi talks about her book Dandelions; a family history of migration, cooking, living. So much of personal writing in food focuses on heritage and family - and rightly so! But - down, no doubt to the very white, middle class status quo - there can be a tendency towards simplification - of dishes, or even a narrative, a family’s history. What Dandelions does so well is capture how much of people’s lives rests in the spaces between, resisting categorisation and...

A conversation between Angela Hui and Rebecca May Johnson, recorded just after their respective debut non-fiction books had been published. An exploration of the importance of valuing and demonstrating labour within cooking, of novelty versus repetition, and of the idea of rejecting food writing as a category. You can find Takeaway by Angela Hui and Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson at all good bookshops now. Mentions: Cathy Park Hong's part poetry part memoir (Angela) Audre Lorde - Zami...

What's the secret of a successful cooking school? Jeremy Pang, founder of School of Wok, lets us in on it. This episode was hosted by Adrienne Katz Kennedy and produced by Lucy Dearlove. You can find out more about Jeremy Pang at jeremypang.co.uk and his new book, Jeremy Pang’s School of Wok is out now, wok clock illustrations and all. Ben McDonald creates original illustrations for Lecker - find them on the Lecker Twitter and Instagram. If you’re in a position to, please considering...

A love letter to the beating heart of Ugandan food, Matooke. With Katasi E. Kironde and Nakigudde Elizabeth Kibalama. Katasi is the founder of Elevate 256, an organisation that creates and curates inspiration content and events centred around Uganda. She was also a co-host on Unsavoury Ethnic Types podcast, who did a great episode about Ugandan food. She also guest-curated a recent issue of Fare magazine all about Kampala. We talked a bit more about a couple of pieces in the magazine, and...

Helen Graves talks about illegal rooftop barbecues, the joy of cooking and eating together outdoors, and why tenderstem broccoli is the thing everyone needs to grill. Helen's new book Live Fire is published by Hardie Grant. Helen Graves is a food and recipe writer and editor and she used to write a much loved blog called Food Stories. The Guardian podcast I mentioned in this episode is called Let's Eat! Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove Lecker is on Twitter, Instagram and...

An audio exploration of our love of citrus, with chef Selin Kiazim and writer Nina Mingya Powles. Three: Acid, Texture, Contrast by Selim Kiazim and Small Bodies of Water by Nina Mingya Powles are both out now! Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove You can find a full bibliography for this episode on the Lecker website. Ben McDonald creates original illustrations for every episode of Lecker. Lecker is on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok. If you’re in a position to, please...

There's one detail that everyone's picked up on in Claire Kohda's debut novel: the fact that the main character, Lydia, is a vampire. But it's actually much more about food than it is about vampires. Claire explores how the book relates to ethnic identity and colonialism, and the othering of Asian cultures which happens so frequently, and explains how food came to be such a central part of a story whose main character physically can't eat it. Woman, Eating is published by Virago. Claire...

You’ve eaten hot pot at a restaurant, or at the very least seen it offered at restaurants near you. But did you know that thanks to the minimal prep required, it’s actually the perfect dinner party meal to have with friends at home?  Melanie Xu, a lifelong fan and staunch advocate of Chongqing Ma La hot pot, makes the case. Thank you to Mel and Andrew for their hot pot hospitality! Lecker is on Twitter, Instagram and now TikTok. If you’re in a position to, please considering...

A look back at the 2017 episode recorded at Granville Community Kitchen with Leslie Barson and Dee Woods. While Leslie and Dee prepared a community meal of Peruvian inspired pork stew, beans, rice and salad they shared how their work addresses fundamental and system issues of oppression, poverty, land use, farmers' rights and the environment. And there's an update from Leslie on the Granville's plans for 2022 and beyond. Read more about The Granville and get involved at...

How can the practice of eating together secure a sustainable future for our kitchens? In the final episode of the series, Joanne MacInnes and Betul Piyade from the community centre West London Welcome describe what it's like for refugees and asylum seekers to live indefinitely in hotel rooms without kitchens. And academic and "food crisis responder" Marsha Smith explains why social eating is so important for us as a society, and explains how it's the key to future proofing our eating...

Does it matter what fuels our fire in the kitchen? Javon Bennett explains how his family adapted their cooking when they moved from Jamaica to England, and Carwyn Graves explores open fire cooking and other Welsh kitchen traditions. A full transcript is available on the Lecker website. Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove Thanks to the contributors on this episode, Javon Bennett and Carwyn Graves.  And also thanks to Naomi Oppenheim who put me in touch with Javon via the...

Prefabs – built to help counter the post war housing shortage - were actually some of the earliest examples of fitted kitchens in the UK, and came with built in fridges at time when this technology was unaffordable to most people. Jennie Thomas reflects on growing up in a post war prefab in Hackney, and Alice Wilson, whose academic work examines tiny houses, reflects on the movement as a reaction to the housing situation in contemporary Britain. Lecker is written and produced by Lucy...

Why are so many of our kitchens so unsociable? Lucy meets Johnny Grey, a kitchen designer who’s been fighting for decades to make kitchens a place for leisure not work, and Katie Pennick, a disability campaigner whose work has changed the face of London transport – but who still can’t cook in her own kitchen. Plus Sean Warmington-Wan reflects on the unsociable kitchen in his shared London house. Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove. Thanks to the contributors on this...

Kitchens are inextricably linked with the woman of the house. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the fitted kitchen was literally designed as a workspace to fit around a woman’s body. But what does this mean for women - and men - now? How are traditional gender roles built up and broken down by the kitchen itself? Michael Etheridge reflects on the distribution of domestic labour in his own home, and food writer Gemma Croffie talks about the narrow definition of accepted womanhood when it...

Aspirational kitchens are an integral part of our food media, but where did they come from? And what does it mean for those who can never attain a beautiful, cookbook-worthy kitchen? Design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan explores what came before the fitted kitchen, and how the room itself has shape-shifted drastically over the 20th century. And food writer and author Ruby Tandoh considers the aspirational kitchen in food writing. Episode 1 of Kitchens, a podcast series by Lecker...

Wall-mounted cabinets, continuous work surfaces, oven, hob, sink, fridge. Maybe a table, often not. Could this be describing your kitchen? The fitted kitchen is ubiquitous in British homes. But we all have different lives, tastes, needs; we cook different foods. How did we all end up with the same kitchen? Rooted in the memories and personal stories embedded in people's kitchens, Kitchens is a six part podcast series combining the history of design and food to understand the current...

Many people have celebrated special occasions differently this year, finding ways to recreate communal food traditions for themselves. Our feasts may have shrunk, but we're still joined together through the kitchen and through the plate.  In this episode, hear four stories of personal food rituals reimagined and recreated in 2020: Jane's bread sauce, Emma and Ingrid's Venezuelan ham bread, Adi's Bacalhau com natas and Pratyusha's pongal. Music Quiet Sill by Blue Dot Sessions...

Anne Willan has more than 60 years experience as a teacher, author, and culinary historian, and over 30 books to her name. Speaking to me around the release of her new book, Women In The Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined The Way We Eat from 1661 to Today (Simon & Schuster), she shared some stories from her amazing life in food. I would be really grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to fill out the Lecker Listener Survey (https://forms.gle/boff8CJJj48C8ZHWA) !

TV chef and cookbook author Rachel Khoo talks about privilege, being mixed race in the UK food industry and her new show Simple Pleasures. You can buy the Simple Pleasures eBook for £5 here (https://www.rachelkhoo.com/product/simple-pleasures-book) , with all proceeds going to the Film and TV Charity UK.

Although she’s originally from the Isle of Man, Katie Callin has never made the most traditionally Manx of all foods: the bonnag - a soda raised baked good with links to the nation’s pre-industrial past, and to its folklore too. She returns to her family home in St Johns on the west coast of the island to enter the World Bonnag Championships and, under the guidance of her mum Vanessa, she uncovers the secrets of great bonnag making.

Sean Blake is (in his own words) a part time food and drink photographer, music producer, low skilled worker and full time dad. He’s a big advocate for making food and drink more approachable and less wanky, and he makes the best cocktails of anyone I've ever met. Having managed the bar and designed menus for the likes of the Polpo group, Brunswick House, Pitt Cue Co, run Sean's Bar pop ups all over London, been a YBF finalist, and co-founded Corals in Peckham with Lerryn Whitfield, I thought...

When our food supply is threatened, or feels like it is, preserving fresh produce is a natural response. Jelena Belgrave, whose fermentation class I took part in over Zoom last week, grew up with communal preservation traditions in her native Serbia; she explores via voicenotes how the instinct to store food for herself and her family is rooted in her own history. You can read more about Jelena and her work on her website oblutak.co.uk (https://www.oblutak.co.uk/) and find her on Instagram...

In these strange times I’ve been thinking about food almost constantly. Unable to go out to eat (or go out much at all), food dominates my waking life even more than normal. Like many people on the internet, I’ve started using the solid blocks of time I have at home to start learning to bake sourdough, and I’ve been thinking a lot about why I’m so drawn to this and why I find it so absorbing.  Via the medium of voicenotes, I asked my friend Rebecca Spaven, a professional baker, to consider...

Catherine Ross and her daughter Lynda-Louise Burrell are the founders of Museumand, a Nottingham-based a social history and community 'museum without walls' dedicated to preserving Caribbean history, heritage and culture in original and unusual ways. I joined them for a Friday afternoon sweet tea to talk about the influence - and ingenuity - of slavery within Caribbean food, the hurdles they've overcome in setting up the museum, and their favourite coconut-based sweet treats. You can find out...

Tokyo: a symphony for the ears of Pachinko, cicadas and Taro's tea ceremony. With thanks to Taro and Tomoko (and Rory). Follow @leckerpodcast on Twitter (https://twitter.com/leckerpodcast) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/leckerpodcast/)  and subscribe to the Lecker tinyletter (https://tinyletter.com/LECKER)