The FoodTalk Show

Never stop being cheesy

Penny Nagle introduces Feltham Farm's Renegade Monk Cheese and Damien Lee talks about Mr Lee's Noodles' new innoavtion 

It has been quite difficult to focus on all of our work this week – everybody at FoodTalk HQ has been arguing an age-old debate: When it comes to Afternoon Tea, are you Devonian (cream then jam) or Cornish (jam then cream)?

There’s no right or wrong answer (apart from the fact that Devonian is the right answer), and we think we should all just enjoy our cream-first scones in any cream-first way that we cream-first want. We aren’t sure on Sue or Ollie’s preferences, and we didn’t ask, because they had something a bit stronger on their plates for this podcast. 

Cheese… it’s one of those foods that you just couldn’t be without (unless you’re Cornish and you probably hate it because you’re wrong about everything food-related). However, we aren’t sure that the cleaners of our studio were altogether impressed at the end of this session.

We were delighted to welcome Penny Nagle of Feltham’s Farm. Penny already knows Ollie through their involvement in Great British Chefs’ Cheese Awards – so we knew that their Renegade’s Monk would be good. Boy, we weren’t disappointed and it certainly packed a punch. 

What about noodles? Do noodles go with cheese? Like cream and jam (note the cream-first), they probably do – so we were delighted to welcome Damien Lee back on to the show.

This isn’t the first time that Damien has graced our microphones… he’s a bit of a pro by now. We’ve caught up with him in the past to hear all about his Mr Lee’s Noodles brand. You’ve probably seen the totally healthy and super tasty products in many places by now – but there’s a new award-winning tool in his sales arsenal, and we wanted to find out more.

If you are lucky enough to be at one of the locations that host a Mr Lee’s kiosk – you’ll know what we mean. Their kiosk is available 24/7, fully customisable (choice of sauces and oils) and is completely cashless – our foodie experts were so impressed with the bespoke machine that they were gave it gold at the FoodTalk Awards in the kitchen tech category.

We hope you enjoy this episode, but if you are running low on memory on your phone or don’t have the opportunity to listen right away, we are now on Spotify!!! Simply search ‘The FoodTalk Show’ to listen to our whole back catalogue – there are literally hundreds of FoodTalk hours to enjoy.

 

It's all in the name

No clues need, we have Real Good Ketchup and some Cool Cold Brew

The school holidays are in full swing; parents of the world – we salute you (not least because the roads are quieter and it’s quicker to get home). Those of us without offspring will stand there with empathetic nods towards parents who try desperately to fill the six-week period with activities that entertain and control. 

For your hard work, we have another fantastic podcast for you. There’s no tantrums or paddies from Sue or Ollie this week – that’ll be because we have food and drink in the studio (nope, not raisin packets or rusk biscuits).

Now, this is actually a handy bit of knowledge for parents; did you know that (according to this article) a serving of Heinz Tomato Ketchup contains as much sugar as a standard chocolate chip cookie? Scary thoughts, especially during BBQ season when little hands creep towards the big red bottle. However, it’s time to rejoice, this year’s FoodTalk Awards helped us to unearth the solution.

Easily deserving of their gold award, Elizabeth Jones introduced us to Real Good Ketchup. It contains 78% less salt and no sugar at all. The most impressive thing though? It tastes exactly like the real deal. Superb stuff.

Another thing that comes with having kids is the tiredness. They wake up early and demand to be fed and watered, they don’t even lay-in at the weekend – it sounds exhausting. The tiredness issue is exasperated by this heatwave – it’s not so nice to drink hot coffee when it’s what feels like 300 degrees outside. Yet again though, we’ve discovered a fix. We’re putting out fires all over the place!

This time it’s the handy-work of Joe Devereux-Kelly that needs to be admired. He has created the lovely Cool Cold Brew – the clue’s in the name; it’s perfectly chilled and perfect for the summer. Make sure you learn all about the cold brewing techniques that have created the tasty range of cold coffees.

Getting on the right path

Tom Mansel leads us down the LeanPath and Tarryn Gore introduces us to Kafoodle 

We shared an article on our social media pages earlier this week which revealed that one in five people would disapprove of somebody dunking a biscuit in a cuppa tea while at work…well, if that’s the case, you won’t want to employ anybody from our office. Dunkers and proud. Looks like we’d better just crack on and introduce this week’s podcast.

Builder’s tea on the table and choccy digestive in hand, Sue is ready to get stuck into some key issues affecting the industry – menu management and food allergies. We aren't sure what Ollie's preferences are when it comes to biscuits. 

First up, we explore a company that went deep into the FoodTalk Awards. A bit like England at the World Cup – heroic. Tarryn Gore introduced Kafoodle to us; they have developed revolutionary software for businesses in the food industry to improve menu management whilst simultaneously boosting revenue and improving profitability. 

Our other guest is doing something, also B2B, that we can all get behind. Tom Mansel is tackling food waste with LeanPath. Their software is allowing food businesses to keep a proper eye on their processes to ensure that they don’t contribute to the unbelievably shocking statistics that shame us all.

There’s no food to taste this week, but enjoy dunking that biscuit while you listen in.

Going nuts about plastic waste

This week we are joined by Adam Petyt of Cornware and Philip Yau from Bonnie Yau's Foods 

The nation is in crisis; people stuck to their leather sofas in Sunderland, an outbreak of heat-related insomnia in Ipswich, an ice lolly shortage in Luton and people are melting in their cars in Cardiff. What is that weird bloody orange thing in the sky? It’s flaming hot.

The best policy is to just wait indoors and wait for it all to blow over; return to some normality with familiar old rain! Make FoodTalk the soundtrack of your heatwave.

It has already been six weeks since the FoodTalk Awards winners were announced (where does the time go?) and we were delighted to feature two of our gold winners. Both amazing, but for very different reasons. 

First up, we spoke to Adam Petyt of Cornware. Unless you’ve being hiding under a large rock with black-out sunglasses and no access to wifi, you’ll have noticed or heard that there’s a bit of an issue with plastic, to put it lightly. Amid a backdrop of staggering stats, Cornware are presenting corn-inspired solutions for the takeaway food industry. 

Our other guest is doing something which is a real head-scratcher; Bonnie Yau's have created a satay cooking sauce (completely peanut-based in case you didn’t know) without any nuts at all – and it tastes remarkable. How on earth have they done it? You’d better listen to the podcast to find out how Philip Yau scooped the free-from award.

A handful of bleeding vegan burger

Joe Taylor of Real Handful joins Simeon van der Molen of Moving Mountains Foods

Leave the fate of the geraniums to the gods, cry for the chrysanthemums and live in hope for the hydrangeas; there’s a hosepipe ban looming and your pottering time in the gardening will be greatly reduced. You need to find something to fill the void.

Don’t you worry, our first guest on the FoodTalk podcast this week can help you to complete an ironman. Not heard of one? Pretty simple really, it’s a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run…the gardening takes longer, probably.

Joe Taylor tells us how his penchant for physical activity powered him to creating the fantastic Real Handful range. Forget complex and counterproductive creations from their competitors, these guys keep it simple, good and proper. They taste amazing.

If, however, for some crazy reason, you aren’t up for an ironman, we do have another option to pass the time while the reservoirs fill-up. Just go out for a burger, sounds good, right? Of course, that’s not always an option if you happen to be a vegan, but we were delighted to welcome Simeon van der Molen on the show. He is the founder of Moving Mountains Food and they have created the first burger in the UK that is 100% plant-based and bleeds in the middle like a proper beef burger. It is creating a massive buzz and Simeon tells us the story.

Gourmade with love

This week we are joined by Jo Devenish, co-founder of Gourmade, who is revolutionising the frozen aisle

 

The UK heatwave seems to have finally tailed off slightly, and it’s all quite apt because we’ve got a product that’s cooler than a cucumber on The FoodTalk Show this week.

As sun kissed skin starts to peel across the land, we’re putting the BBQ back in the shed for now and we’re heading to the freezer because we have the fantastic Gourmade in the studio and co-founder Jo Devenish has bought Sue & Ollie a feast.

One staggering stat that we learned on this podcast is that over 50% of ready meals made in Europe are consumed in the UK – forget the rubbish supermarket editions though, it’s only quality ingredients from Gourmade and their brilliant dinners and desserts.

After all, with such an enthralling World Cup, who wants to be slaving over a hot stove?

****Once you have listened to this podcast, make sure you head over to Gourmade.com – where the first 50 listeners will receive 40% off their first order by using the promo code: FOODTALK – thanks so much to Jo for the generosity!***

The underground pantry

World Cup mania has firmly gripped the country and it has coincided with the big UK heatwave; what a good old time we’re having at the moment. Fancy making it even better? We’ve got another cracking FoodTalk podcast for you.

Sticking with the football theme; we’ve got Ollie Lloyd, CEO of Great British Chefs, back from a long lay-off to lead the line with the ever-present Sue Nelson. They tend to have a few fallings out, but they get the job done. 

Making their FoodTalk debut is Suzie Walker from The Primal Pantry. In a crowded market, these guys are really on their way to a snacking golden boot because they seem to pop-up whenever we need them across all the major supermarkets. Suzie tells us how she managed to kick it all off.

Our second guest is not a stranger to our squad, but this is the first-time that we’ve been able to scoop gold by getting him for a recording session in the studio. Steven Dring co-founded the amazing Growing Underground; they grow food right under your feet on the streets of London. Sounds bonkers, but is definitely brilliant.

With these fantastic guests; FoodTalk’s coming home.

The Bottle Shop special #4

For the final of our special podcasts with The Bottle Shop, we meet Jon Swain of Hackney Brewery and Rebecca Pate from Mason & Company

Another week, another heatwave. Whisper it quietly but this summer’s weather has been performing admirably. 

The crystal ball in our office is also doing pretty well too – it just so happens that we have one final special podcast lined up with The Bottle Shop’s Andrew Morgan on this sunny week. Completely on his turf this time, we’ve got wall-to-wall of beer.

Kicking us off is Rebecca Pate from Mason & Company. It’s fair to say that these guys just love the East London food & drink scene. What makes us say that? Just the fact that they run the Five Point Brewing Co, they are behind the amazing Capish food menu and they showcase it all from their Hackney Wick premises.

Having tried a few of the Five Points products, we decided to make this session a proper tasting session by adding Hackney Brewery to the mix. Founder Jon Swain brought a collection of his best beers to the party and, well, it all got a bit boozy.

It’s fair to say Andrew was in Sue’s good books for inviting along such fabulous guests.

The Bottle Shop special #3

Jo Hilditch from White Heron introduces us to the British Cassis that is gaining all sorts of plaudits from long and far. 

It’s coming home… 

Unless you’ve been stuck under rock somewhere over the last week or so, you will probably have noticed that the World Cup has begun and the boys in white and red will be bringing home the trophy. Probably.

Once we’ve ruled the world kicking around a bag of leather-protected air we’ll turn our attentions to the alcohol world – we’ve already made a pretty decent start at that one too.

For the third of our Bottle Shop special podcasts, we were delighted to meet Jo Hilditch from White Heron Drinks. They make the amazing blackcurrant-based British Cassis – it’s winning all sorts of awards and even rivalling the wine-mad French. See, we’re ruling the world.

They also have a claim to fame because of their link to a classic British drink. Listen to the podcast to find out more.

The Bottle Shop special #2

We take a look at the vegan alternative to milk with Viegan Life founder Devin Chohan 

For those of you who missed it in the news this week, Sainsbury’s have become the first supermarket in the UK to trial an initiative to put ‘fake meat’ vegan burgers next to their meaty cousins in the shopping aisles.

This seems like a good hook on which to hang the second of our special podcasts with The Bottle Shop and their founder Andrew Morgan. This will be the only episode of the four to not feature booze, because everybody needs a break once in a while.

Milk…everybody loves the white stuff, but not everybody is able to enjoy it – either through moral choice or health issues.

Many have tried and failed to come up with a vegan and IBS-friendly alternative, but we think we’ve found the man who has cracked it by using tigernuts. Devin Chohan is the classic foodie innovator and has launched a number of successful brands, and now he hopes that the Viegan brand will rule the world.

We put the milk through an extensive taste testing – find out how it got on by listening to this podcast and visiting their website too.

 

The Bottle Shop special #1

We are joined by Caps &Taps and Will Hawkes for the first of our specials with The Bottle Shop 

It’s officially summer! 

We’ve been treated to a pretty good spring, if truth be told, so let’s raise a glass to the sun and hope that it continues. 

What shall we fill that glass with though? Well, to help us make our minds up, we’ve recorded a collection of special podcasts with the fantastic Bottle Shop.

You may recognise Andrew Morgan from a previous episode earlier this year – this time he joins Sue in the presenting seat and has brought along a few friends.

If you happen to find yourself in the Kentish Town or Camden areas of London soon, you should probably make sure that you fire Caps and Taps into your Google Maps. It won’t take long. When you find it, you won’t regret it… as long as you don’t need any more than 400 beers to try at their craft beer shop. Stephanie Palgrave-Elliot talks us through the story.

Caps and Taps has an important seal of approval from our other podcast guest this week too. It’s the king of the beer writers, Will Hawkes (seriously… he once won beer writer of the year). We think Will has the best job in the world – he gets paid to drink and write about beer for publications like The Guardian, Washington Post, FT and Imbibe. Check him out.

Keelham Farm Shop special

We go behind closer doors at one of the UK’s leading farms, learning everything about auctions, butchery and baking

We’re really racking up the mileage here at FoodTalk – in the space of a couple of weeks we’ve been at the Food & Drink Expo in Birmingham, in Scotland for a special podcast, we visited London’s first winery last week and now we’re adding Yorkshire to thatlist.

Nestled in a leafy and rural area of North Yorkshire, just outside of Skipton, is the fantastic Keelham Farm Shop.

We spent a whole day looking at how farming should be done, from sewing seeds to the dinner plate. 

From chatting to the owner, Victoria Robertshaw, Sue got to experience all elements of the fantastic Farm Shop. We learn how to judge the price of cows at auction, the process behind the butchery and finally the end product from the bakery.  

This is farming and food supply how it should be. If this special episode doesn’t get you passionate about buying British, nothing will.

Find out more about Keelham Farm Shop by visiting their website.

Roberson Winery special

This week we have a wine special with Roberson Winery in London 

When you envisage a winery, you’re probably thinking about somewhere lovely in the south of France or maybe a nice little trip to South Africa. Even closer to home, maybe it’s somewhere tucked away in the Kent countryside… what about in the middle of London?

As summertime fast approaches, Sue took the opportunity to visit the team at Roberson Wine – not only the UK’s finest wine merchant, but also London’s first urban winery.

Crack open a bottle and head to the park.

We were delighted to chat with one of the Directors, Talya Roberson, who talked us through the story of the company and some of the trends that she has been seeing in the industry. We then caught up with Cliff Roberson, founder of the brand, who lends his view on the best wines around having spent most of his life on the grapevine.

You’ll never get a duff bottle if you speak to these experts – so we hope you enjoy this special episode.

Some wee Scottish specialities

It's time for a Scotland special on FoodTalk, featuring everything from Scotch Whisky to Oatmeal. Tuck in. 

Doing what we do here at FoodTalk, it tends to take us up and down the British Isles – but we’ve never really had the chance to delve into any specific country in great detail…until now.

When you think of Scotland, you think of the wonderful mountainous scenery and the vibrant and unique culture – but what about the food? There’s more to the country than just Haggis and Shortbread, just as we discovered in this special episode. 

With the help of the Scotland Food & Drink Organisation, we met some fantastic companies operating north of the border with some amazing tasting products. Rapeseed oil, cheese, smoked fish, Scotch whisky and oatmeal lay in wait over the course of the next hour.

Make sure your summer is special

Tom Tuke-Hastings introduces us to Borrago and Sanja Ilieva tells us about the Caffe di Artisan coffee

We hope you all enjoyed the recent wonderful Bank Holiday Weekend – wasn’t it just wonderful? Eyes are now set on the summer months – but there’s one thing to monitor more closely.

The FoodTalk Awards…

You need to be quick. The ticket deadline stands at midnight on May 31^st – though we are expecting to sell-out before then. As if you needed reminding, your ticket price includes tasting of finalists’ products, a fancy three-course meal, lovely wine, cocktails and a DJ for the afterparty.

You’ll easily have enough time to purchase the tickets while you listen to this week’s fantastic podcast too.

We were delighted to meet Tom Tuke-Hastings – founder of the Borrago brand. Summer can be a tough time for the designated driver, but not anymore. Tom has created a lovely spirit with no nasties and no alcohol. Just make sure you have it with tonic!

And, if you needed perking up any further, we had an example of some real coffee innovation. Sanja Ilieva from Caffe di Artisan explained how their pods are bringing café style coffee to your cup in less than 60 seconds.

CanO you believe 3D food printing?!

Josh White & Ariel Booker take us through the idea of CanO Water while Caitlin Richards introduces us the Magic Candy Factory's 3D Printing

 

We meet some great people in food every week…all of them chasing buyers, getting popular with their customers and growing their brand, however, not one of them has yet sung ‘we’re in the money’ after securing a merger to make themselves the biggest supermarket in the country – Sainsbury’s haven’t responded to our interview request.

Hi ho, it’s off to work we go and one part of our work is to fight the good fight against plastic waste. We’ve got another new weapon in this week’s podcast. 

Ariel Booker and Josh White are the founders behind CanO Water. A bit like Ronseal, this is exactly what it says on the tin – this is a can of water. Aside from just looking cooler, it’s made from aluminium which is so much better for recycling than plastic. Oh, and the founders think their re-sealable cans could be used as a dating tool too – listen in to find out why.

To be honest, our second guest had a sure-fire dating win for you too – if you could print your date’s selfie as a 3D sweet, you’re sorted. Plucky singletons probably aren’t the key demographic for Magic Candy Factory, but we were delighted to welcome Caitlin Richards on to the show. Armed with castles, David Beckham, a dragon and much more (in sweet form), we were dazzled by this one.

 

Food & Drink Expo 2018 - part 2

As with most expos that we visit, just one highlights show doesn’t seem to be enough – so we are delighted to present some more fantastic interviews from the Food & Drink Expo 2018.

Sue Nelson gives you the lowdown on her favourite companies from the second day of interviewing and, as always, we’ve got a mixed bag.

From tea and coffee to boozy fish and black pudding – you wouldn’t want all of that on your plate at one time but we find it makes for a great podcast.

We’ll be back with the normal show format next week.

Food & Drink Expo 2018 special

It has been marked in our diaries for quite some time now and, like a kid on Christmas morning, we were buzzing at the prospect of spending three days at the Food & Drink Expo.

 

As with all good foodie events that we attend – we now have a special show with all of our favourite interviews. This is the first of two and features the best of the many companies that we met on day one.

 

Over the course of the next hour, catch up with Eco For Life, Glacierfire, James White Drinks, Peakz, Chilled Packaging, Popcorn Shed and My Coffee Station.

 

As always, you can find out more about this week’s guests on our Food Heroes page.

Yo ho, a pirate's life for us

Katherine Jenner joins us from Burning Barn Rum, while we also welcome the editor of Speciality Food, Holly Shackleton

 

If there’s a will, there’s a way…so if you really really want to believe that the weather is good enough for a barbeque, don’t let your stick-in-the-mud neighbour’s disapproving glances under and overcast sky shy you away from your fun. Just make sure you play FoodTalk loud and proud.

Fact of the day: We actually record these shows in advance from our studio on the 33^rd floor of Euston Tower in Central London. This particular podcast caused a stir and left Sue, Guy and Ollie at odds with the sniggering producers – you’re about to find out why.

Rum…on a Monday morning! Unless you’re a Jack Sparrow wannabee sprawling around a Caribbean beach, this is not a usual partnership. This was amazing though. We were delighted to meet Katherine Jenner, who has founded the Burning Barn Rum brand. It looks like rum is ready to fightback against the gin revolution.

Again, in another potential scheduling issue, we’d had quite a bit of rum before we moved on to something very visual – the fantastic Speciality Food Magazine. Thankfully there were no beer goggles and we had a great chat with Holly Shackleton, editor of the hugely popular publication.

The beers and the bees

Andrew Morgan from The Bottle Shop joins us with Kath Austin of Bee Bee Wraps and Claire Forster of Oast to Host

 

We’re all back to work this week, but hey – the weather is getting warmer so that’s something to enjoy. In fact, you’ve got plenty of things to enjoy. You are reading this because it’s time to listen to the FoodTalk Podcast.

 

There’s enough good things going on that we can raise a glass to the sky. This week we’ll be filling that glass with beer. Andrew Morgan was this week’s first guest, he is the owner of The Bottle Shop – he has three premises which are showcasing the finest beer in the world. He even bought us some Cannabis-like-beer; looks like we’ll be getting the munchies.

 

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock recently, you’ll know that we are in the midst of a war against plastic – we have a brilliant weapon to unveil too. Kath Austin was our next guest and she has made a fantastic product called Bee Bee Wraps. It’s hands down our favourite plastic alternative.

 

Our last guest was already in our good books. Claire Forster entered Oast To Host into the FoodTalk Awards and impressed us sufficiently to be named as a finalist. She then compounded our love by bringing all of us in the studio, from other guests to sound engineer, a lovely tart made with their gluten-free pastry. Bribes never tasted so good!