The Digest: Recent Episodes
Fine Dining Lovers
When author, journalist and food writer Bill Buford uprooted his young family from New York to the French city of Lyon, he got more than he bargained for. His quest for knowledge in French cuisine saw him attend classes at the famous Institut Paul Bocuse, but it took a turn at a humble neighbourhood bakery.
It was there that he discovered the secrets to making perfect French bread. But he also discovered 'Bob', the master baker, and friendship, in a city once known as the 'gastronomic capital of the world'. Here, he tells us his story.
Nicholas Gill is not Nicholas Gill. Well, at least not British chef Nicholas Gill, brother of the late writer A.A. Gill.
Gill (the chef) was a trailblazing and much hyped young talent – ‘the next big thing’ – who crashed and burned in the 1990s and eventually disappeared without a trace. Since then, Nicholas Gill, the New York-based food writer, is regularly pinged by email, by someone asking hopefully, “Are you him?”
In this podcast, Gill examines chef Gill’s story and recounts his own attempts to disappear, a quest that led him around the globe and to eventually find a place for himself in the world of food writing.
And we meet many more Nicholas Gills, all of whom have their own stories to tell about the pressures of modern life.
This is a look at history, society, culture and tradition all through the eyes of a dish. A dish loved and adopted, nurtured and developed by generations. A dish with different timelines, different things added to the pot, but a dish that distinctly defines its area.
Grashina Gabelmann is writer and editor-in-chief of Flaneur Magazine. Her explorations and work around the world led to a natural affinity with the city of New Orleans, where she met Alec, an adopted son of the Big Easy and a self-taught, passionate expert of its defining dish, gumbo. Alec told her about gumbo, his love affair with the dish, and why he always takes his roux right to the edge.
In Alba, Piedmont in Italy’s northwest, there is a tradition stretching back centuries of the truffle hunt. Today the Alba white truffle is sought after all over the world, fetching high prices at auction and served in the world’s fine finest restaurants.
There is a dark side to the Alba white truffle however. Intense competition among hunters has seen the practice of targeting dogs, laying out poison for dogs to eat, resulting in agonising slow deaths. The truffle’s natural habitat is under threat from the increased cultivation of wine and hazelnuts and the forest is disappearing.
Fine Dining Lovers ventured into the Alba forest before first light, guided by Trifolau, to unearth the stories behind this quasi-mystical tradition and its little-known dark underbelly.
A humorous tale of the highs and lows of modern dating in the age when apps decide everything for us: from the restaurants we visit, to the people we visit them with. A doomed love story, critically reviewed. "Love = two out of five stars, but the sushi was divine."
Aleppo has long been revered as the spiritual home of Middle Eastern gastronomy. Once a key stopover on the spice route between Asia and Europe, it became famous for its bustling souks, fine restaurants, talented chefs and sophisticated cuisine. Such was its reputation as a culinary centre, it became the first port of call for food writer James Brennan when he embarked on an eating and writing tour of the Middle East in the summer of 2010. Then Syria fell into civil war. The following is a testament to the generosity, warmth and good humour of the people of Aleppo - and their excellent food.