Table Talk

Table Talk

Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts interview notable guests about their life, through the food and drink that has come to define it.Lara Prendergast is the Food and Drink Editor of Spectator Life.Olivia Potts is Spectator Life's Vintage Chef.

Episodes

August 12, 2025 29 mins

Brett Graham is the man behind the Michelin-starred The Ledbury in Notting Hill, which is celebrating 20 years this year. He’s also the director of The Harwood Arms in Fulham, London’s only pub with a Michelin star.

 

On the podcast, Brett tells hosts Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about why being in the kitchen is like being in the army, what it was like for The Ledbury to receive its third Michelin star and the trials and t...

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Charlotte Ivers is the restaurant critic for the Sunday Times; most recently she reviewed Lupa, Fenix and Home SW15. Charlotte started her career as a media adviser in Theresa May’s Number 10, before she moved into the world of radio. She was a political correspondent at talkRADIO and Wireless Group before joining Times Radio. 

 

On the podcast, Charlotte tells hosts Lara Prendergast and Olivia...

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July 15, 2025 32 mins

Candice Chung is a food writer whose work has been featured in many publications, including the Guardian. Her first book, Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You, is out now.


On the podcast, she tells Liv about her earliest memories of food growing up in Hong Kong, why trying lasagne for the first time was a magical experience, and how Chinese parents show their love through food.



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Thomasina Miers is a chef, writer and restaurateur who co-founded Wahaca – the award-winning restaurant group that brought bold, sustainable Mexican street food to the UK. Her new book, Mexican Table, is out in August.


On the podcast, Thomasina tells Lara about early memories of stirring onion with her mother, why she moved her family across the world to live in Mexico, and why bread is the ultimate comfort food.

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June 17, 2025 15 mins

Nadine Dorries is one of the most recognisable Conservative politicians from the past two decades. Elected as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire in 2005, she notably clashed with David Cameron and George Osborne (who she called ‘two arrogant posh boys’) and lost the whip in 2012 when she took part in the reality show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. Loyal to Boris Johnson, she served in his government and rose to be Culture Secretary....

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June 3, 2025 22 mins

Jun Tanaka is a Japanese-British chef with over 30 years’ experience in some of London’s most famous restaurants, including La Gavroche, Restaurant Marco Pierre White and The Square. In 2016 he opened the Ninth, which was awarded a Michelin star two years later.


On the podcast, Jun tells Lara why the smell of baking brings back early food memories, how Japanese packed lunch is superior to English packed lunch, and why, in his vi...

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Daria Lavelle was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in New York. Her work explores themes of identity and belonging and her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere. Daria is the author of the critically acclaimed new novel Aftertaste which explores food, grief and the uncanny. 

On the podcast she tells Liv about her 'inexplicable' love of olives as a child in Ukraine, trying to make it...

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May 6, 2025 24 mins
Mary-Ellen McTague is a chef based in Manchester. She is the culinary driving force behind Aunbury, 4244, the Creameries and her newest venture, Pip at the Treehouse Hotel. Mary-Ellen is also the co-founder of Eat Well MCR, which has delivered almost 100,000 meals across Greater Manchester since 2020 to those sidelined by poverty.

On the podcast, she tells Liv and Lara why, as a child, she would only eat orange cheese, ...

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Roger Pizey is a baker, chef and one of the most influential pâtissiers in the UK. He started his culinary journey as an apprentice at La Gavroche under Albert Roux before taking on the role of head of pastry at Marco Pierre White’s Harveys, during the time it achieved three Michelin stars. He has since worked at a number of London institutions and now serves as the head of pastry at Fortnum and Mason.

On the podcast he...

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April 8, 2025 25 mins
Gok Wan is a renowned stylist and television presenter. Over the years, Gok has transformed the way we think about style and body image with his much-loved series How to Look Good Naked and Gok’s Fashion Fix – his focus on body positivity was the antidote to the crash-dieting fads which dominated the 2000s. Later in his career, Gok drew upon his Chinese heritage to author books on Chinese cooking.

On the podcast he tell...

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March 25, 2025 24 mins
Loyd Grossman is a man of many talents: from appearing on our screens as the host of MasterChef and Through the Keyhole, to crafting a beloved line of pasta sauces. Loyd has left his mark on both the culinary and cultural worlds.

On the podcast, Loyd talks to Lara about hazy memories of ‘sipping a Shirley Temple cocktail aged 6 or 7’, the secret behind his pasta sauces, and why he loathes school meals. 

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March 11, 2025 24 mins
Ash Sarkar is a journalist, academic and political activist known for her commentary on social justice and democratic socialism. She is a senior editor at Novara Media, and her work has been published extensively. Ash’s debut book, Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War, examines how ruling elites exploit cultural divisions to maintain power.

On the podcast, she tells Liv and Lara about early memories of her grand...

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February 25, 2025 28 mins
Emma Fox is the chief exec of Berry Bros & Rudd, the world's oldest fine wine and spirit merchant. A retail veteran, Emma's broad experience has been shaped by a career spanning over 30 years. 

On the podcast, Emma tells Liv about early memories of 'sugar butties', what's the best bottle to bring to a dinner party and what she would pair with her desert island meal. 

Photo credit: Elena Hearthwick

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February 11, 2025 18 mins
Andy Cato is a musician, record producer and DJ, and is perhaps best known as one half of the Grammy Award-winning electronic music duo Groove Armada.

Andy is also a farmer and now puts his energy into championing a better food system as co-founder of Wildfarmed, the UK’s leading regenerative food and farming company. Backed by Jeremy Clarkson and hundreds of farmers nationwide, regenerative farming methods place nature...

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January 28, 2025 19 mins
Jeremy Chan is the head chef and owner of Ikoyi, a West African-inspired restaurant that celebrates British seasonality. He is also the author of a cookbook of the same name.

On the podcast, he tells Liv and Lara about growing up with a number of different food influences – from Hong Kong to Canada – and why his two-Michelin-starred restaurant should never be pigeonholed.

Photo credit: Danny J Peace

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Julian Baggini is a philosopher, journalist and author. He has served as the academic director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and is a member of the Food Ethics Council. His new book, How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy, is out now.

On the podcast, Julian tells Liv about why he used to insist that shepherd’s pie was served at his birthday parties, the philosophical view of veganism and why it’s worth gett...

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December 31, 2024 31 mins
Laura King is affectionately known as the 'Caviar Queen' and is widely regarded as the UK's foremost caviar expert. In this special episode of the podcast Laura takes Liv and Lara through a caviar tasting: from Beluga to Oscietra.

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December 17, 2024 29 mins
Elif Shafak is a novelist, political scientist and essayist. She has published 21 books – 13 of which are novels – and her books have been translated into 58 languages. Her most recent novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, is out now. 

On the podcast, Elif tells Liv about the significance of food and drink in her writing, the many places she takes culinary inspiration from and reveals her love of heavy metal music. 

B...

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December 3, 2024 28 mins
Richard Madeley is a presenter, author and journalist who has been on our screens since the 1980s, most notably presenting This Morning with his wife Judy and more recently on Good Morning Britain.

On the podcast, he discusses his early memories of Heinz tomato soup, implores Lara and Liv to try 'tuna casserole' – his mother’s speciality made from tinned tuna, canned soup and crisps – and makes the case for fish paste a...

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November 19, 2024 27 mins
Julian Metcalfe is a British entrepreneur and one of the most influential individuals on the London high street. He revolutionised the grab-and-go lunchtime food industry in 1986 by co-founding Pret and did the same again in 1997 when he commercialised Japanese cuisine with the first Itsu.

On the podcast, he tells Liv and Lara about the influence of his Ukrainian mother; why he decided to start Itsu, in many ways a comp...
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