Lecker

​​This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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 s...

​​This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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...

​​This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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 a time when this technology was unaffordable to most people. Jennie Thomas refl...

This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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...

​​This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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 traditio...

​​This month Lecker is re-releasing some older episodes: here’s Kitchens, a six part series from 2021 about the most important room in the home. 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 befo...

On this month's Lecker Book Club, a regular interview series with authors writing in or adjacent to food culture, The Jackfruit Chronicles by Shahnaz Ahsan. The Jackfruit Chronicles is a recipe book and memoir hybrid which integrates food into the text in a very specific way. In the book, Shahnaz tells the story of her family’s migration - three generations across three continents - which begi...

On this month's Lecker Book Club, a regular interview series with authors writing in or adjacent to food culture, Katie Goh's Foreign Fruit. Foreign Fruit is a memoir which explores Katie’s experience growing up and existing as a mixed heritage person in the north of Ireland, but also documents alongside this personal narrative a history of the orange; how the fruit moved from East to West, ga...

On Book Club this month: Heather Parry's Carrion Crow, a novel about a woman in the attic which encompasses class consciousness, turtle soup and Mrs Beeton. You can find a transcript for this episode at leckerpodcast.com (https://www.leckerpodcast.com/) . An A-Z of Chinese Food is out now. Find all of the Lecker Book Club reads on my Bookshop.org list (https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/leckerbookc...

On Book Club this month: Jenny Lau (https://www.celestialpeach.com/) 's An A-Z of Chinese Food, an 'anti-glossary' offering a unique breadth of knowledge and insight into the Chinese diaspora and its food culture. You can find a transcript for this episode at leckerpodcast.com (https://www.leckerpodcast.com/) . An A-Z of Chinese Food is out now. Find all of the Lecker Book Club reads on my Bo...

Down a little alley in the centre of Hastings you can find Crêperie by the Sea serving traditional French buckwheat crêpes and galettes. Owner and chef Penelope Foster explains the fundaments of a good crêperie, and what it takes to spin perfect pancakes. Find Crêperie by the Sea on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/creperie_by_the_sea/) . You can find a transcript for this episode at leck...

Introducing....The Lost Food of Soho, a new audio piece commissioned and published by Vittles and written, narrated and produced by me (Lucy Dearlove). This is just a very small taster, you can listen to the whole thing for free on Vittles itself, or on all good podcast platforms. https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/the-lost-food-of-soho With big thanks to Jonathan Nunn and Adam Coghlan who I wo...

On Book Club this month: Anna Sulan Masing (https://www.instagram.com/annasulan/?hl=en) 's Chinese and Any Other Asian, an eye-opening and moving book about East and South East Asian identity in Britain. You can find a transcript for this episode at leckerpodcast.com (https://www.leckerpodcast.com/) . Chinese and Any Other Asian is out now. Find all of the Lecker Book Club reads on my Booksho...

In the final episode of To Be Delicious, Anna considers the future of MSG in the UK. Drinks culture has an inherent playfulness and creativity that makes it the perfect experimentation lab for seeking out where MSG might go next. She meets two key figures in London (and the world!)'s bar scene to understand how they're using it as an ingredient, and how umami as a flavour presents itself in dri...

On umami in diaspora, from chicken salt to bay leaves. Dr Johnny Drain (https://drjohnnydrain.com/) explains how garum is the root of many of our umami based sauces. Author and cook Kate Young (https://kateyoungwrites.com/) prepares a classic Australian English mince on toast, with essential MSG. Chef Dara Klein (https://www.instagram.com/dara.klein/) reflects on how she's learned to find home...

Chinese takeaways are a national institution in the UK, and have also - for many years now - been the frontline where public understanding of MSG comes to a head. Angela Hui (https://www.angelahui.co.uk/) , whose book Takeaway has shone a light on life growing up behind the counter, and her mum, Jin Tian, spend a day with Lucy and Anna; showing them around their home town in South Wales, then J...

AKA infinite ways with a packet of instant noodles. Georgina Quach (https://georginaquach.wordpress.com/) , a journalist and archivist, makes her personalised ramen for Anna and Lucy, and considers the importance of comfort in the food she makes, as well as how her Vietnamese heritage informs the savoury flavours she uses in her cooking. Chef and Chinese food creator Chin Taylor (https://www....

MiMi Aye (https://www.meemalee.net/about) , a Burmese chef and cookbook author, has used MSG in her cooking for as long as she can remember. While preparing a meal for Anna and Lucy, she reflects on her processes in the kitchen, and how a misinformed narrative around the ingredient has impacted her personally. Also featuring insight into umami from Dr Kumiko Ninomiya (https://www.instagram.com...

The brand new Lecker mini series launches Friday 31st January. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing (https://www.annasulanmasing.com/) explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and ...

This month: Kin by Marie Mitchell. I met Marie in the days before the book was published in June and we reflected on grief, demanding more from attitudes to Caribbean food in the UK and the importance of flavours at the heart of her recipes. Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’l...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be writing about it on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! This month: London Feeds Itself, edited by Jonathan Nunn. This episode features Kurdish ...

A meandering exploration of what surrounds our food: its packaging, history and meaning for our world. Featuring Hugo Lynch, Sustainability Lead at Abel and Cole (https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjpkoew3KGHAxWalFAGHT8NB5EYABAAGgJkZw&ase=2&gclid=CjwKCAjwqMO0BhA8EiwAFTLgINTE3lFrp4sb232tvOjM8PCwYrH4J3OEfzxvE6_qc6S1gCYBt2bOixoC1HgQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVeD...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. This month: Namesake: Reflections on a Warrior Woman by N.S. Nuseibeh. Namesake is a collection of essays exploring what it means to be a young, secular Muslim woman today, told through the lens of stories of the author's ancestor, Nusaybah, th...

A reflection on learning – and teaching – the fermented arts at the School of Artisan Food. (https://www.schoolofartisanfood.org/) You can find a transcript for this episode at leckerpodcast.com (https://www.leckerpodcast.com/) . Support Lecker (https://www.leckerpodcast.com/support) by becoming a paid subscriber on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) , Apple Podcasts (https://pod...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be writing about it on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! This month: Piglet by Lottie Hazell (https://www.lottiehazell.co.uk/) . I first came ac...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be writing about it on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! This month: Ramen Forever by Tim Anderson. Ramen has ended up as a cornerstone of Tim A...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be writing about it on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! In Made in Taiwan, Taipei based journalist Clarissa Wei (https://clarissawei.com/) beaut...

Is it possible or productive to organise around a common language in order to reimagine how we produce grain and bread? In the third and final part of Good Bread, Kim and Ruth reflect on some of their experiences working on the project and consider what the future of good bread might look like. Good Bread is a three part series made with Farmerama exploring The Body Lab, a participatory arts a...

Consistency is at the heart of industrial bread production, from the field to the mill to the oven. But what is it costing us? Good Bread is a three part series made with Farmerama exploring The Body Lab, a participatory arts and research project by baker Kimberley Bell and artist Ruth Levene considering standardised grain testing and the possibility of reimagining measurement within the syste...

How is the quality of bread measured by the system that produces and consumes it? Good Bread is a three part series made with Farmerama exploring The Body Lab, a participatory arts and research project by baker Kimberley Bell and artist Ruth Levene considering standardised grain testing and the possibility of reimagining measurement within the system that surrounds bread production. The Body ...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be writing about it on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! Conversations around food often - rightly - touch on attribution, ownership and identity...

Stories of moving house, and moving kitchen. Episode contributors: Ruby Mason Ruby is an editor at SAND, a Berlin-based journal of contemporary writing and art (www.sandjournal.com (http://www.sandjournal.com/) ) Margaux Vialleron Margaux writes the newsletter The Onion Papers: https://theonionpapers.substack.com/ Maria Agiomyrgiannaki Maria is originally from Crete, now living in London. Y...

Welcome back to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be cooking from the book and writing about that on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! On this edition of the Lecker Book Club: Fliss Freeborn's Do...

Welcome to the Lecker Book Club. Every month I’ll pick a newly released food related book and talk to the author about the process of writing it. I’ll also be cooking from the book and writing about that on Substack (https://leckerpodcast.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/leckerpodcast) . Join me there as well! On the first edition of the Lecker Book Club: Maria Bradford’s Sw...

An audio exploration of the most enigmatic meal of the day. Thanks so much to the guests on this episode: Bre Graham (https://www.instagram.com/breaudreygraham/) Bettina Makalintal (https://www.instagram.com/crispyegg420/) Gurdeep Loyal (https://www.instagram.com/gurd_loyal/) Dan Hancox and Dr Kasia Tee (https://www.instagram.com/cursedobjectsuk/) Thea Everett (https://www.instagram.com/theaev...

This is a preview of an episode of the excellent Cursed Objects podcast, featuring me, Lucy, talking to Dan Hancox and Dr Kasia Tee about the great British institution of Meal Deals. Listen to the full version on Cursed Objects. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-a-meal-of-it-ft-lucy-dearlove/id1558480450?i=1000605142023)

I’m delighted to bring you a very short sweet taste of a conversation I had recently with the food writer Gurdeep Loyal. I’ve followed Gurdeep’s work for a few years now, and have always been in great admiration of what he does; not only in his own writing, and not even just in his platforming of other people’s work on his site and instgram page Mother Tongue, but also just in his general enthu...

Ginger and apple bircher, toast toppings, Australian pancakes; writer Bre Graham (https://www.bregraham.com/) talks about being a breakfast person. Her debut cookbook, Table for Two (https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9780241593288-table-for-two/) , is out now! This is the first episode in a new interview series all about BREAKFAST! Future episodes will be available exclusively on the Lecker Patreon. ...

A mythical-looking beast to be found on the hills of the Isle of Man; the loaghtan is a fascinating heritage breed sheep whose story is intertwined with Manx culture and history. Katie and Lucy meet farmer Jenny Shepherd from Ballacosnahan (https://store.manxloaghtanproduce.com/en_GB/) , who have one of the biggest loaghtan flocks on the island, make loaghtan croish cuirns with artist Rosie Wo...

Katie and Lucy take a deep dive to the heart of the Manx fishing industry to meet a true Isle of Man legend: the herring (skeddan in Manx). Blasstal is a podcast series by Lecker about food and folklore on the Isle of Man, supported by Culture Vannin. (https://culturevannin.im/) Hosted and produced by Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin Podcast theme music by Mera Royle (https://meraroyle.bandcamp...

In episode 1 of Blasstal, Katie introduces Lucy to the vegetable at the heart of Hop-tu-Naa traditions of the Isle of Man. They explore the island's folklore with poet and folklore expert Annie Kissack, attend a Hop-tu-Naa celebration at Cregneash, carve their own moots, and finally head out Hop-tu-Naa-ing around Peel. Blasstal is a podcast series by Lecker about food and folklore on the Isle...

Welcome to Blasstal! A podcast series by Lecker about food and folklore on the Isle of Man, supported by Culture Vannin. (https://culturevannin.im/) Launching 31st October. Hosted and produced by Lucy Dearlove and Katie Callin Podcast theme music by Mera Royle (https://meraroyle.bandcamp.com/) Podcast artwork by Vicky Webb (https://www.instagram.com/crumpetsandcrabsticks/)

The writer and cook Melissa Thompson (https://www.fowlmouths.co.uk/) talks about her book Motherland; a very personal history of Jamaica. Melissa weaves the history of the country so elegantly with her own story in a way that makes it impossible to ignore that the violent history of colonialism in Jamaica is to do with all of us in Britain. As you’ll hear us talk about, she uses the physical w...

The writer and editor Thea Lenarduzzi (https://twitter.com/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 famil...

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 (https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Angela-Hui/Takea...

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 (https://adriennekatzkennedy.com/) and produced by Lucy Dearlove. You can find out more about Jeremy Pang at https://jeremypang.co.uk and his new book, Jeremy Pang’s School of Wok is out now, wok clock illustrations and all. Ben McDonald ...

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 (https://www.elevate256.com/) , an organisation that creates and curates inspiration content and events centred around Uganda. She was also a co-host on Unsavoury Ethnic Types podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/unsavoury-ethnic-t...

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. (https://www.hardiegrant.com/uk/publishing/bookfinder/book/live-fire-by-helen-graves/9781784884789) Helen Graves (https://www.instagram.com/foodstories/) is a food and rec...

An audio exploration of our love of citrus, with chef Selin Kiazim (https://selinkiazim.com/home/oklava/) and writer Nina Mingya Powles (https://www.ninapowles.com/) . Three: Acid, Texture, Contrast by Selim Kiazim (https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Selin-Kiazim/Three--Acid-Texture-Contrast---The-Essential-Foundations-/25622516) and Small Bodies of Water by Nina Mingya Powles (https://www.hive.co...

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 s...