Cooking the Books with Gilly Smith

This week, we’re diving into Nigerian food culture with culinary anthropologist, food historian and now author of Chop Chop, Cooking the Food of Nigeria, Ozoz Sokoh.Her Kitchen Butterfly blog has been documenting the back story to this West African cuisine since 2009, but Chop Chop, her debut cookbook, has been a long time coming. It’s already been nominated for an Andre Simon award and builds upon a rich tradition of cultural prodding at a food landscape that stretches way beyond the old country. Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Ozoz including a recipe from Chop Chop. You can buy it from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org by clicking here, and this supports this ad-free listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To kick off a brand new year, we’re diving straight into the power of protein with Jeffrey Boadi, author of Plant Fuel. As a former semi-professional footballer and tennis player, Jeffrey has been a top level athlete for most of his adult life. But it was his decision to go vegan overnight that has given him a place on the podium in the plant protein world. Gilly finds out how it happened and how he gets enough protein in plants.Click here to buy Plant Fuel from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org and here to get to Jeffrey's Extra Bites on Gilly's Substack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we’re creating Something from Nothing with Alison Roman.The former chef, food columnist for the New York Times, senior food editor at Bon Appetit, author of Dining In, Nothing Fancy and Sweet Enough, and now owner of her own store in upstate NY is all about about doing the bare minimum beautifully.But as one of the early queens of social media, she’s been through the highs and the lows of influencer stratosphere and cancel culture. Her recipes were among the first to go viral – listen to that chat on the delicious podcast back in 2019, and Gilly finds out what she knows now about social media that she didn't know back then.You can buy Alison’s book - and all your food books at the CTB page on Bookshop.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Christmas Day, we’re combining all the things that Cooking the Books is about – identity, belonging, food cultures and vicarious travel thorugh food with Emiko Davies in one of Gilly's favourite books of 2025, The Japanese Pantry.As Emiko puts the pieces of her Italian living Australian-Japanese ancestry and influence together through all her books, The Japanese Pantry reads like she’s landing softly among the flavours of her Japan. Gilly explores that journey with her.Pop over to Gilly's Substack for Extra Bites of Emiko, including an outtake of the book. You can buy her book from the CTB shop at Bookshop.org which supports this ad-free listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we’re with the Spirit of Christmas herself, Skye McAlpine and The Christmas CompanionAmong all the talk of the pressures, the aspirational values and the industry of Christmas, Gilly finds herself feeling like the Grinch in the presence of the Christmas Fairy as she asks Skye about about the nostalgia, the beauty and the magic of giving.Click here for Extra Bites of Skye on Gilly's Substack and here to buy The Christmas Companion on the CTB shop at Bookshop.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.