Food Tribe

Thanks for tuning in to the last episode of this season - we're ending on a high! My guest today is the lovely, and incredibly talented co-founder and chef of the much-loved Japanese restaurant Koya. Shuko Oda and her business partners John and Junya opened Koya in Soho back in 2010, specialising in Udon - the chewy moreish flour-based noodles which they handmake fresh every day and pair with an array of beautiful broths and toppings. Shuko is also renowned for her blackboard specials where she and the chefs at Koya really get creative and use the best of British ingredients to come up with dishes that wow!  Koya opened a second restaurant in the city a few years ago, and what they're doing is a recipe for success. Simple dishes, high-quality ingredients, thoughtful cooking, and exceptional flavours. As we know, restaurants in London come and go, but Koya is still as loved, as popular, and as good today as it was 11 years ago.  I'm so glad I got to sit down with Shuko and chat with her about how Koya came to be, the dishes that so many of us Londoners have come to love and crave, and what led her from Japan to London, and into the kitchen.  Happy listening!

My guest today is a chef on a mission, championing Filipino cuisine in London. Budgie was born in the Philippines, grew up in Sydney, and moved to the UK 9 years ago, and that's when he decided to change careers and become a chef.  While working at other restaurants, he started Sarap as a supper club 4 years ago, as a way to connect to his heritage, to learn about Filipino food, and to champion this underrepresented cuisine in London. After winning the Brixton Kitchen competition, Budgie opened Sarap as a permanent restaurant in Brixton's Market Row at the start of last year. I absolutely love Budgie's food - it takes you on a trip, it's made from the heart, it's lip-smacking good, and just really fun to eat. Over lockdown, Sarap changed to Sarap Baon, offering a more casual menu that could be done to take away and have at home - things like Budgie's signature pork Lechon and crispy fried chicken sinigang. But now that things are open, watch out for what Budgie does next… I headed over to Sarap to chat to Budgie about his food, life as a chef, Filipino food culture and ingredients, and what led him to open Sarap.

Lulu has been cooking professionally since she was 18, first in the private catering world, and then moving into London restaurants, most recently as sous chef at the beloved Rochelle Canteen. Lulu began to grow more interested in produce, where it came from, and how it was grown, so last year she left the kitchen to go and work on farms and learn more about regenerative growing.    This led to a whole lot of new doors being opened and Lulu co-founded SSAW Collective with two of her good friends. They grow the most beautiful flowers and do pop-ups and food events that champion local, seasonal ingredients. We chat about her experiences in the kitchen and on the farm, and how she's combined her knowledge of both to craft a whole new career for herself. We also talk about Lulu's book she's working on with Henrietta and Bridget from the Land Gardeners which is going to be called Soil to Table - and there'll be chapters on soil, regenerative farming techniques, spotlights on different UK producers, and Lulu's recipes of course.  Lulu is so lovely, she's a fantastic cook, she's someone who cares about where things come from and the connection between food, farming, and our environment. Definitely one to watch on the UK food and farming scene... If you're around this summer SSAW Collective is doing events and pop-ups where Lulu will be cooking – you can find out more about those here. I hope you enjoy the chat with Lulu.   

Ollie Hunter recently published his second book, Join the Greener Revolution: 30 easy ways to live and eat sustainably. He believes that sustainability is the only way forward, and that it has to be at the centre of everything - whether it be food, our communities, economics, energy, education, or simply making a loaf of bread... Ollie owns and runs The Wheatsheaf pub in Chilton Foliat with his wife Lauren, which was voted the most "sustainable business" in 2019. It's not too far out of London so I headed over there for lunch to chat to Ollie about his views, his new book, how he found his way into food, hospitality and sustainability and what exactly joining the greener revolution means.

Today on the show I'm speaking to Vietnamese cook, author, food photographer, and stylist Uyen Luu. A few years ago, I went to one of Uyen's supper clubs she hosts in East London, I fell in love with her food and I've been a fan of hers ever since. Now, lucky for us she's just launched her new book called Vietnamese - Simple Vietnamese food to cook at home. And it's a beauty!   As it so often is with beautiful food made from the heart, there's a bigger story behind why it's there and what it means to its maker. For Uyen, coming over to the UK as an immigrant when she was a little girl, meant food was about more than just the food - it's been a bridge to home, a daily link to what was left behind, something real that can be touched and tasted and shared.   And she's been so generous in sharing her comforting home dishes with us, all wrapped up in one pretty pink book. We chat about her new book, about Vietnamese food culture, about her and her family's journey of moving over to London and making a new home here, and what led her from a career in film and fashion, to food.  I hope you enjoy this conversation with the wonderful Uyen Luu. 

Bettina started her business, Bettina's Kitchen, to share her knowledge on plant foods, seasonality, incorporating local produce into our diets, and to spread the word on how to eat more sustainably, and cook in a way that makes us feel good while still being damn delicious.  This all came about as a result of being diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis years ago and being told that she wouldn't be able to have children. After changing her diet and lifestyle, Bettina fell pregnant 6 months later, and she's been on a mission ever since to share the beauty and power of plant-based foods, to get more people cooking wholesome dishes from scratch, and to care about where our food comes from. Bettina's food and recipes are always so bright and flavoursome (take a look at her uber-popular Instagram account if ever you're in need of inspiration). Her 3rd book, Celebrate, is out later this summer and as the name suggests, it's all about the crowd-pleaser dishes perfect for feasts and parties and gatherings - and don't we know we need a few of those in our lives!  I met up with Bettina to chat about her career in food, her new book, and how food plays such a critical role, especially for women, in balancing our hormones and helping us thrive. Happy listening! Book we discussed – WomanCode by Alisa Vitti

Joining me on the show today is cookbook author, writer, podcaster, and infamous salad queen, Hetty McKinnon. After she had her children, Hetty wanted a way to connect with and build relationships in her community so she decided to start making hearty salads from her home kitchen in Sydney and delivering them to her hungry neighbours on her bicycle. She named her small operation Arthur Street Kitchen and it quickly grew a cult following which led to the publishing of her first book, Community, in 2013. And the rest, as they say, is history.  Hetty now lives in Brooklyn and recently published her 4th book, To Asia with Love. This book is a personal homecoming story for Hetty - an exploration of her heritage and a return to the humble, nurturing flavours and meals of her childhood as a Chinese girl born in Australia. Beyond writing cookbooks, Hetty does so much in the food community - she's a storyteller at heart and works to highlight the personal stories of everyday cooks and important issues surrounding food, culture, and identity through her food magazine which she started called Peddler and accompanying podcast called the House Specials. Hetty and I chat about her new book, her experience of growing up as a third culture kid and the extraordinary role food has played in her life.

FOOD TRIBE IS BACK! And joining me on the show today is none other than the uber-talented, ray-of-sunshine, superstar Mexican chef Santiago Lastra. Since he left Mexico at the age of 18, Santiago has been traveling the world, the ultimate nomad chef, and in 2017 he had the opportunity to work with Rene Redzepi and the Noma team when they asked him to project manage the entire Noma Mexico pop-up in Tulum.  It was a huge success and this experience of sharing Mexican food with people from all over the world led to a dream for Santiago - a dream of putting down roots and creating a restaurant, a home, a community, a place where people could come to experience the tastes, and hospitality, and soul of Mexico.  And finally, after 3 years of dreaming, and imagining, and cooking and refining, and the rollercoaster of the pandemic, Santiago's restaurant Kol is now open-open in the heart of London. And it's something very special!  I met up with Santiago a few weeks ago to chat about the journey so far, and how Kol came to be. We talk about his food, his background and why he loves to cook, and what opening this restaurant means to him.  I hope you enjoy this conversation with Santiago….

My guest today is farmer and butcher Ian Warren, who owns the family-run Philip Warren Butchers in Cornwall. They produce and sell some of the highest quality meat in the UK, supplying top restaurants in the country, and also selling directly to consumers. This year, during lockdown, they launched 'On the Pass', making their specialist cuts of meat, that would normally have been used by the likes of Brat and The Ledbury, available for people to order online and cook at home. Ian and I talk about the work he does and what is means to rear and sell quality meat, and he shares some background on livestock farming in the UK, and how we as consumers can make better, more informed decisions when buying and eating meat. I know meat can be a very contentious subject - my view is I believe meat is a specialist product, that it's not a staple we should be eating every day, and if we do have the means, it would make a huge difference if more of us made the effort to seek out better quality meat farmed in a way that respects nature, where we pay a bit more, eat a bit less of it, and support the farmers producing it in the right way. Like anything in our food system, these small changes can have a big impact. So I hope this conversation gives you some food for thought, and provides some more info on the very nuanced world of meat and how we can do our part to help make it better... You can find out more and order online here - https://philipwarrenbutchers.co.uk/  

My guest today is the creative, unconventional, and rather brilliant Willy Wonka of British wine. Ben Walgate is pushing the boundaries of winemaking in the UK - from the grape varieties he uses, the styles of wine he's producing, his combination of aging methods, to his vision for the farm and his wine. Ben started Tillingham 3 years ago, on a gorgeous farm in East Sussex. When he took over the farm, there weren't any vineyards on the land so he's had to buy in grapes grown in the area to make his wine, while he set about planting his own vines (of which they're around 35,000 now). This really is just the beginning for Tillingham… I'm in awe of what Ben has created in such a short space of time - aside from the fact that he has an incredible gift for winemaking and his wines are so acclaimed, not just in the UK but by some of the world's top restaurants, he's also set up a beautiful guesthouse and restaurant on the property which uses produce grown and reared on the farm. We recorded the episode in the winery at Tillingham, and Ben and I chat about the farm and how it came to be, and of course we talk about the wine and some of Ben's methods. Ben is so charismatic, and his love for wine is infectious. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.