Food as a plot point

For a little light relief in a heavy time, in this episode, we are talking about Jilly Cooper’s Rivals and the many Shepherd’s pies, Dover soles, and bottles of Sancerre that keep its glamourous (enormous) cast of characters fuelled for all that romping around in stables and meadows.Links and recipes from this chat will be sent to our wonderful subscribers shortly.Happy listening! Germaine and Sophie xThank you to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for putting this, and every episode together so beautifully. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is mostly about psychological thrillers, and how food and scenes around food can build words, develop characters, turn our stomachs and sometimes if we’re lucky, give us a moment to catch our breath. We love table scenes in books - the table provides a reason and a place for everyone to be together and is a great canvas for a showdown or perhaps to introduce the characters, to flesh them out. This episode’s book, None of This is True, by Lisa Jewell provides us with a few pivotal ‘table scenes’ that propel the narrative and tell us so much about every character.We have a lovely time diving into this, chatting about the book and meandering through related subjects such as - books as a warm hug, the magic of finding the right book at the right time and the joy of a flaky croissant in the warm sunshine. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Shownotes are coming separately to our beloved subscribers.Thank you to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for putting our episodes together so beautifully. And for finding our fab new music which we think feels a bit ‘Great British Bake-off’-ish. In a good way. Germaine and Sophie We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

We hope you enjoy this episode of Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love to eat and read, and to think and talk about both!In this episode, we chat about eight very different books and the ‘shape’ of summer reading. Then we read and answer a beautiful letter asking for nourishing things to read and eat in difficult times. Thank you so much to our subscribers for their support of this pod, your show notes are incoming via the newsletter.Thank you also to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for putting our episodes together so beautifully. We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Merry Christmas from us both! We hope you enjoy this episode where we talk about our doorways into Christmas this year, thanks to our patron saint Jeanette Winterson and her book Christmas Days. She helps us in more ways than just festive ones. Her understanding of the importance of creativity and imagination leads us into a conversation about the ways art and culture offer us bridges back to our humanity.We need this to fuel our imaginations and inner worlds as much as we need food to fuel our bodies. Our wish to you all this Christmas is that you find the time to ignite your imaginations whether that be with something new (can be short!) to read, cook or eat. We hope this episode nourishes you the way that creating it nourishes us!Show notes with links, books and a Christmas recipe will be sent to our wonderful subscribers later today.And we will be back in your ears after the summer holidays.Thank you so much to musician Tom Donald, for the music on this episode and thank you to our wonderful producer Kristy Reading for bringing it all together.We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.Thank you, and Merry ChristmasSophie and Germaine Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Our book for this episode is Karina May’s Duck à l'Orange for Breakfast, and the conversation it sparks floats around how romantic comedies feed us, how this genre, especially in good hands (hey Karina) is so soothing because it is inherently optimistic. You just know love will triumph in the end. And in a world where nothing much makes sense at the moment, that is a welcome comfort. We really enjoyed this book, talking about and around it. Hope you do too!Other things we cover in this episode;* Our favourite food-focussed rom coms.* Ikea (it’s our protagonist’s happy place) as a one-dimensional version of home.* Food as a key to a character finding themselves.* The perfect ‘welcome cake’.* And the perfect book for when we need to make big choices and reconcile them in ourselvesAll the recipes, recommendations and show notes will be sent to our subscribers later today. To join them, please click below!Thanks, Germaine and Sophie xSomething to Eat and Something to Read is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.Thank you as always to our producer Kristy Reading and to Smith and Jones for generously allowing us to include your beautiful song Small Town Woman at the beginning and end of this episode. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Something to Eat and Something to Read, a podcast for people who love reading and cooking and reading about cooking. In this episode, we’re talking about Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake, the shape it left on us, and the comfort and joy it brought us.This book, this episode is all about celebrating the small happinesses;“The things that are important in life, are the things that are so easy to overlook: family and kindness and homework and lunch and conversation.” Ann Patchett in conversation about Tom Lake on the New York Times podcast The Book Review.And then we’ll answer a listener ‘letter’ with a book and recipe ‘prescription’.Recipes and show notes will be sent to our subscribers shortly. Join them here!A quick note - we don’t think you have to have read the book yet to enjoy this episode but wanted to flag that we do chat about what happens in it quite broadly. So perhaps not a full-blown ‘spoiler alert’ just something to be aware of!We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.Thank you as always to our producer Kristy Reading and to Smith and Jones for generously allowing us to include your beautiful song Small Town Woman at the beginning and end of this episode. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

Hello! And welcome to our episode dedicated to the joys or otherwise of cooking and/or eating on our own. This one is rich in books celebrating, observing and offering advice for the art of feeding ourselves and ourselves alone. It’s full of stories about how people eat, what they cook for themselves, how they feel about eating alone - how some relish in it, some avoid it, some do it beautifully and some gleefully have marmalade on toast for dinner when she’s home alone (that’d be me/Sophie). We each bring two books to the table and chat about how the authors use the idea of eating and cooking solo to make a point, develop character or evoke emotion.We hope you enjoy this one and as always, all the links and shownotes will be sent to our subscribers shortly. Thank you, Germaine and Sophie We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.Thank you as always to our producer Kristy Reading and to Smith and Jones for generously allowing us to include your beautiful song Small Town Woman at the beginning and end of this episode. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is in honour of dinner parties - with all their stress, drama, and magic, all for that perfect moment, when you’re all at the table, the candles are flickering and good food is smoothing the edges of life. We cover small miracles, kitchen disasters, dinner party scenes in books we love and the wonder of a good repertoire. We hope you enjoy this mini-episode. Shownotes with recipes, links and all the books we cover will be sent to our subscribers. Join today if you’d like to receive them! Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

This month we are discussing a book of essays that could be described as a “literary potluck”.My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings was edited by actor and writer Zosia Mamet (fellow fans of the series Girls will remember her as the character Shoshanna).We both loved this collection of short stories about food and all the feelings we attach to and around how we cook and share meals. And it sparked a conversation covering sad food vs solitary food, cooking your way back to life after grief, joy toolboxes, reclaiming custody of problematic foods and whether really good food can be enjoyed in a vortex or do you need the whole package (ie atmosphere, time and company) to enjoy a meal (we’re definitely in the latter camp).Plus, as always, we answer a listener letter with a book and cooking ‘prescription’.We hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you as always to our producer Kristy Reading and to Smith and Jones for generously allowing us to include your beautiful song Small Town Woman at the beginning and end of this episode.All the links to everything we mention, recipes, and book recommendations will be sent to our lovely subscribers later today. If you’d like to become a paid supporter of Something to Eat and Something to Read for $5/month and receive all of the above plus more, please click here. Thank you so much.Germaine and Sophie xWe acknowledge that the land on which we work and live is the traditional land of the Wiradjuri Nation (Sophie) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Germaine). We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe

So much goes on at the breakfast table, especially in books. Don’t you think? We do. So much so that we dedicated a whole (mini) episode to our favourite breakfast scenes in some favourite books; from Helen Garner to Maggie O’Farrell, there are some great scenes in this episode.Show notes with all the books, links and a breakfast recipe Sophie is particularly fond of will be emailed to our subscribers on Friday afternoon, May 5.Please click below if you’d like to become a paid subscriber and receive all the snow notes and extra bits and bobs.With thanks to the wonderful podcast Literary Friction for inspiring this ‘minisode idea’.Thank you as always to our producer Kristy Reading and to Smith and Jones for generously allowing us to include your beautiful song Small Town Woman at the beginning and end of this episode.Germaine and Sophie x. Get full access to Something to Eat and Something to Read at somethingtoeatandsomethingtoread.substack.com/subscribe