Lara Prendergast is executive editor of The Spectator. She hosts two Spectator podcasts, The Edition and Table Talk, and edits The Spectator’s food and drink coverage.
While looking at the photographs of food in this humorous exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery, I thought of how hopelessly outdated our own snaps will soon look. What seems fresh, clean and wonderfully modern to our eye — an Ottolenghi salad, say, dotted with pomegranate seeds and za’atar — will soon look almost tragic. How
Halloween used to be easy. It was a fancy-dress party: you could wear whatever you liked. The idea was to have fun. As teens, my friends and I would dress up as ghouls, spiders or witches, with cones of black paper on our heads. When we became more mature, Halloween turned into a tarty affair.
19 min listen
Alexandra Shulman is the former Editor-In-Chief of British Vogue. On the podcast, she talks to Olivia and Lara about her mother Drusilla Beyfus’s etiquette tips, wining and dining as a journalist in the 80s, and how doughnuts never lasted long at Vogue. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.
24 min listen
Jessie Burton is the bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse. In this episode of Table Talk, she tells Lara and Livvy about growing up with her dad’s packed lunches, the diet of a budding actress, and her dislike for marzipan (despite The Miniaturist!). Jessie’s new book, The Confession, is out now. Presented by
29 min listen
Kavi and Shamil Thakrar are cousins, and they’re also the co-founders of restaurant chain, Dishoom, inspired by the cafes of early 20th century Bombay. They join Lara and Livvy to celebrate the launch of their first cookbook, and chat Bombay street food, the risks of profit-maximising, and the great British curry house. Presented by Lara
32 min listen
Jose Pizarro is a Spanish chef, writer, and restauranteur. He came to London in 2000 and opened a series of well-loved Spanish restaurants, including Jose’s Tapas Bar. He is the author of five cookbooks. In this episode, he talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up on a farm in Spain, why he loves sherry,
27 min listen
Lara speaks to Olivia Potts, Spectator Life’s Vintage Chef and co-host of the Table Talk podcast, about Olivia’s new book, A Half-Baked Idea. Before she became a food writer and Cordon-Bleu trained chef, Olivia was a former president of the Cambridge Union and a high-flying criminal barrister. But her mother’s death changed all that. Tune
34 min listen
Tracey MacLeod is a broadcaster and food critic, known for hosting the BBC’s The Late Show and for regularly guest starring in Masterchef. She is friends with Helen Fielding, who based the character of Jude from Bridget Jones on MacLeod. In this special edition of Table Talk, brought to you live from the sofas of
31 min listen
Jeremy King, one half of the restaurateurs Corbin and King, is behind some of the most iconic restaurants in London, including the Ivy, the Delauney, and Fischers. In this episode, he talks about why he left banking for hospitality, how he redecorates restaurants according to their architectural influences, and people watching in his establishments.
28 min listen
Lara and Livvy talks to food writer Tom Parker-Bowles about his mother’s roast chicken, prep school gruel, and why, as a food critic, he still loves McDonald’s. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.
12 min listen
Jo Thompson is a prize-winning garden designer, whose upcoming book ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb’ is a correspondence between a hopeless gardener and a hopeful cook, taking a look at both gardening and cooking. Jo tells Livvy about the fresh buffalo mozzarella in her family home in Italy, her father’s Italian restaurant, and the one dish she can
Philip May seems a decent cove. He’s been stoic and loyal but I can’t help hoping that the next prime minister’s spouse will be a bit sparkier — and give us something to talk about other than Brexit. I suspect that it will be a woman. If so, who? We have Lucia, Jeremy Hunt’s wife.
Philip May seems a decent cove. He’s been stoic and loyal but I can’t help hoping that the next prime minister’s spouse will be a bit sparkier — and give us something to talk about other than Brexit. I suspect that it will be a woman. If so, who? We have Lucia, Jeremy Hunt’s wife.
18 min listen
Actress Cressida Bonas talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up on shepherd’s pie and pop-tarts, her trypophobia, and the best curry she’s ever had.
28 min listen
In this episode, Michelin star chef Nathan Outlaw joins Lara and Livvy to talk about his love for Cornwall and seafood, training under celebrity chef Rick Stein, and how he totally didn’t help his ten year old daughter win a baking competition.
30 min listen
In this episode, broadcaster and writer Adrian Chiles joins Lara and Livvy to discuss a childhood of Croatian home cooking, how an incident with a Turkish lamb turned him vegetarian, and why he prefers ‘mindful drinking’ to ‘drinking responsibly’.
31 min listen
Alissa Timoshkina is a chef, food and film writer, and the founder of the KinoVino supper club. Today she joins Lara and Livvy to discuss Soviet food culture, her journey from film to cookery, and ‘the cabbage myth’.
36 min listen
Jeremy Lee is the chief proprietor of the landmark Soho restaurant, Quo Vadis. In this episode, he talks to Lara and Livvy about why he was such a bad waiter, what it is like to cook and eat with Simon Hopkinson and Alistair Little, and his undying love for puddings.
28 min listen
Journalist and author Rachel Johnson joins Lara and Livvy on this episode to talk about what it was like to share with a student house with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, then budding student chef, about cooking rice found in a Greek bin for her children, and why ‘American food’ is an oxymoron.
40 min listen
In this episode of Table Talk, Lara and Livvy talk to Ella Risbridger, chef and writer, whose new recipe book is Midnight Chicken: & Other Recipes Worth Living For. It’s part memoir, part cookery; exploring mental health, friendship, love, and the redemptive power of food and cooking. On the podcast, Ella talks about the man
