The only person who has sold more books in Britain than Jamie Oliver is J. K. Rowling. Jamie has been watched and read by millions. His enthusiasm for food is often infectious. His cooking and his campaigning have changed the way we eat. I'm speaking about Jamie with Rachel Roddy, author of a regular column on Italian food for the Guardian. We focus mainly on how Jamie, and others, have viewed food in Italy and I ask whether this helps explain why Jamie is often seen by some people as...

Alexis Soyer cooked for the rich and poor alike. He transformed elite restaurant kitchens in London with new technologies such as gas stoves and he provided nourishment to the starving in Ireland and the battered and the bloody during the Crimean war. Soyer's fierce desire to feed people went against the grain of Victorian common sense and he helped change how we think about who is responsible for public nutrition today. Joining Lewis Bassett is Pen Vogler and Miranda Carter. Pen discusses...

The most influential cook that you've probably never heard of, according to food historian Neil Buttery. Elizabeth Raffald captured the distinctly modern English food of the 18th century. The Heston Blumental of her time, inspiring cooks like Fergus Henderson today. Neil Buttery is the author of "Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential Housekeeper". He's also got two new books coming out, Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Puddings. Find Neil's...

Obviously we were going to do an episode about Madhur Jaffrey, and so here it is. Madhur Jaffrey: the actress who taught British and American audiences how to cook Indian food. Lewis Bassett speaks about Madur with Mayuk Sen, author of Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America. We talk about Madur's life, some of the barriers to her success as an actress and her move into being a celebrity chef where she made huge waves, plus a lot more. Find out more about Mayuk...

Ken Hom taught the British how to cook Chinese food, but Chinese takeaways showed us what it was in the first place. Lewis Bassett talks to journalist Angela Hui about Ken's impact and about her book Takeaway: Stories From a Childhood Behind the Counter. The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Get extra content and support the show on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Part two on Elizabeth David is all about the impact of her work, with Jeremy Lee and Ruth Rogers. Jeremy Lee's award winning cookery book is called "Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many". The River Cafe have a number of brilliant cookbooks and, in recent news, have also opened a cafe (a River Cafe Cafe) next door to their main restaurant in West London. The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter,...

Elizabeth David led a life whose story is as compelling as her impact on the way we eat. In part one of two episodes, Lewis speaks to Artemis Cooper, author of Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David. Part two featuring Ruth Rogers and Jeremy Lee will appear soon. The Full English is produced by Lewis Bassett. Mixing and sound design is from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Get extra content and support the show on...

Marco Pierre White, once the "enfant terrible" of the UK restaurant scene today the face of Knor stock cubes. Who is Marco, what impact has he had on how we eat and just why is he so weird? Answering the questions for a change is The Full English's Lewis Bassett. Taking over is Ida Février and her show No Man Land. Join us for this special crossover episode, part of our season on cooks that have changed the way we eat. Find No Man Land's Instagram here. Get extra content and support the...

Episode two in our series on cooks that have changed the way we eat. Lewis Bassett speaks to Luke Barr, author of 'Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class' about the French chef Auguste Escoffier, who rose to fame in London at the Savoy in the 1890s. Mixing and sound design from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Get extra content and support the show on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Get extra content and support the show on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Delia Smith: friend of the royals, a national treasure who taught us how to boil and egg and an advocate for radical spiritualism. In this episode Lewis Bassett, Felicity Cloak and Zoe Williams unpick who Delia is and what her impact has been on how we eat in Britain. This is the first episode of our new series on cooks who've change the way we eat. Subscribe to hear future episodes on everyone from Madhur Jaffrey to Jamie Oliver. Mixing and sound design from Forest DLG. Follow the Full...

Who or what are ultra elite restaurants for? Welcome to a pervert's guide to fine dining. Produced and presented by Lewis Bassett, featuring Andy Hayler, Erin McDonnell and Robin Burrow. Mixing and sound design from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Clips from: The Bear, FXGrant Achatz on Chef's Table, NetflixDan Barber on Chef's Table, NetflixArtisans of Craft: Thomas Keller, Peter MillarMasterchef The Professionals with Rasmus Munk, BBCThe Menu,...

Join us, join us, join us for a Full English Christmas special! Get the turkey in the oven and warm some wine as we answer all your questions on why we eat and drink in the ways we do at Christmas. And hear us rate the best and worse mince pies from high street coffee shops. Lewis Bassett is joined by the man of music Forest DLG, master baker Rebecca Spaven, the talented Jemma Greenwood and the food historian Neil Buttery. Hohoho and sponsor our show: https://www.patreon.com/fullenglish Find...

What did the ancient Romans do for us? Well, according to Thom Ntinas from The Delicious Legacy podcast, they were the first to give Britain the burger. Find out more about the lasting culinary legacies of ancient Roman Britain in this special cross over episode. Presented by Thom Ntinas and Lewis Bassett. Produced and edited by Thom Ntinas. Music from Pavlos Kapralos. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Get extra content and support the show on Patreon Hosted on...

Costa is the nation's most popular coffee shop. There are 1000 more Costa than Starbucks and 500 more than Greggs. And that's before we take into account Costa's express machines and retail products. How did Costa get so big and why do we love it? Lewis Bassett is joined by co-host Jemma Greenwood, comments from the coffee historian Jonathan Morris and a Costa taste testing with three time UK barista champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood. Forest DLG provides the music and sound design. Find...

Few people are aware that in the first half of the 20th century the British government helped establish a huge number of popular canteens, serving food to everyone who wanted it during war time and afterwards. These British Restaurants, as they became known during World War II, were, at their hight, more numerous than today's McDonalds and Wetherspoons combined. Lewis Bassett speaks to Bryce Evans, a Professor of History at Liverpool Hope University, about British restaurants and their...

Vines in a Cold Climate is a new book by Henry Jeffreys charting the sparkling rise of English wine and the people behind it. Lewis Bassett and Jemma Greenwood speak to Henry over a couple of bottles of vins anglais about Henry's book, the story of English wine and attitudes towards wine drinking in England. Mixing and sound design is as ever from Forest DLG. Follow the Full English on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Get extra content and support the show on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See...

What is a caff when it's not a cafe? Where did the caff come from and who will mourn the greasy spoon if, as we hear, they're disappearing? Joining Lewis Bassett is the author and Guardian columnist Felicity Cloake and Isaac Rangaswami, writer and the man behind the Instagram page Caffs Not Cafes. Felicity's book is Red Sauce Brown Sauce. Her writing for the Guardian can be found here. Isaac has written about caffs for the Guardian and Vittles. Mixing and sound design is from Forest...

There exists a distinctly middle class culture in Britain that has taught us to love our meat, especially if we feel guilty about eating it. But what if rather than caring for the animals we eat, we thought about animals as an exploited class who deserve justice, not a cuddle before they are slaughtered? So argues Amber Husain in Meat Love, a powerful little book that is out now. Lewis Bassett speaks to Amber Husain about the book, whether capitalism really is a barrier to changing our food...

By creating a network of pubs that are accessible to anyone with 89p for a coffee, JD Wetherspoon has become something of a public service. But should Britain's most popular pub chain really be owned by Tim Martin and a small group of shareholders? Is it time to nationalise Wetherspoons? In this episode, Lewis Bassett is joined by Jemma Greenwood to discuss the origins and meanings of Spoons, and by James Meadway to discuss pubs and public ownership. Mixing and sound design is from Forest...

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British people are fatter and sicker than people in most other rich nations. That's down to our food system, argues Henry Dimbleby in his new book Ravenous, co-authored with Jemima Lewis. In this episode, Lewis Bassett speaks to Henry about his book, covering everything from why exercise won't help you lose weight to how what we eat is a leading cause of climate change to why food companies are helpless to create the kind of food system we all need to stay alive.   Henry Dimbleby is the...

The British realise their food is bland and that's a good thing, according to world renowned economist Ha-Joon Chang. In this interview, Lewis Bassett speaks to Ha-Joon about some of the key themes in his latest book 'Edible Economics'; from how the field of economics has become something of a monoculture, to why its hypocritical of rich nations to encourage poorer ones to accept free trade. Ha-Joon Chang is a professor of economics at SOAS university London. 'Edible Economics' is out...

From around the 1500s to the early 19th century, when the price of food went up poor people were likely to riot. Today we've seen the highest food price rises in a generation, but does anyone feel angry? Lewis Bassett speaks to economist James Meadway on the causes of rising prices, to historians Steve Poole and Joe Stanley on the history of food riots in England as well as to regular shoppers in Rotherham. We find out whether people are angry about the cost of living crisis today and whether...