
Desert Island Dishes
What would you choose as your last meal? Chef Margie Nomura talks to a special guest about the seven dishes that have shaped their lives.
In this podcast you will find conversations with interesting people from the world of food and beyond uncovering the seminal dishes and experiences that have shaped who they are today. We will find out about their favourite childhood dishes, the dishes they eat the most often, and the dishes that mean the most to them. And of course we will also discover what their last dish would be before being cast off to the desert island.
Latest episodes

Feb 27, 2023 • 42min
One from the archives: Dolly Alderton: Author and Journalist
Hello! We are very nearly back with our new season! Currently recording the next season as we speak so in anticipation of our imminent return I thought it would be fun to release a few golden oldies from the archives for you to enjoy. This week is with the wonderful Dolly Alderton.
If you've ever enjoyed an episode of Desert Island Dishes and you're glad we are returning, can I ask you to share it with your friends? This podcast has grown in the way it has all through word of mouth and I'm so grateful to you all! Please do keep sharing and helping to spread the word as it really does make a difference.
If you've not heard this episode before I hope you enjoy and if you have, I hope a trip down memory lane will be be a lovely way to start the week.
@desertislanddishes
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Feb 16, 2023 • 45min
One from the archives: Stanley Tucci
Hello lovely listeners!
We are back! Well, nearly back! Currently recording the next season as we speak so in anticipation of our imminent return I thought it would be fun to release a few golden oldies from the archives for you to enjoy.
Thank you for sticking with me during my quiet season, but promise we are back for good and really really excited for all that’s in store for Desert Island Dishes. You are a big reason for the success of this podcast and every time you share it on social media or with your email list or tell your friends about it, it helps it to grow and helps me to keep brining it to you. So thank you thank you!
And I thought it would be appropriate to kick off with one of our most popular episodes to date… with the one and only Stanley Tucci, still pinching myself really that I got to go to his house and sit in his amazing artists studio at the bottom of his garden and talk all things food with him. He is everything you imagine he would be. Enjoy!
@desertislanddishes
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Jun 9, 2022 • 39min
S13 Ep6: Sally Clarke: Founder of Clarke's
My guest today is Sally Clarke
Sally has been described as the unsung hero of British food, and her cooking a masterclass in simplicity. She was just 14 when she envisaged the restaurant that she would one day open and this year Clarkes celebrates it’s 37th year.
Despite the prevailing fad for Nouvelle Cuisine at the time she opened in December 1984 , she never waivered in her mission to showcase fresh and seasonal ingredients, cooked simply and in her trademark unpretentious style. It’s no wonder her restaurant was Lucian Freud’s favourite haunt
In the 25th year of being in business, she was awarded an MBE in the queens birthday honours list for services to hospitality – an award she modestly states she shares with everyone involved in the running of Clarkes. Alongside the restaurant, she runs a booming bakery business which has over 120 wholesale customers, and sees them making over 60,000 mince pies during the run up to Christmas. . If you’ve ever tucked into a pain au chocolage on the Eurostar, chances are it was one of Clarkes.
She has just written her third and self proclaimed final book. It has been said that she is a quietly successful restaurateur, described by Jason Atherton, amongst others as Britain's answer to Alice Waters.
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Thank you to Cooks Matches for sponsoring this season of Desert Island Dishes
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Jun 2, 2022 • 50min
S13 Ep5: Ravneet Gill: Pastry Chef, TV Presenter and Author
My guest today is Ravneet Gill
Ravneet is fast becoming one of the best known pastry chefs of her generation.
After completing a psychology degree, she studied at Le Cordon Bleu before working her way up the ranks in different pastry sections at some of the best restaurants in London - most notably, St. John, Llewelyn's, and Wild by Tart.
Ravneet published her first cookbook - in April 2020 entitled 'The Pastry Chef's Guide: The Secret to successful baking every time' as a handbook to dispel the fear around baking. And since then it looks as though her feet have barely touched the ground.
She joined both the Telegraph and Guardian Feast as their new baking columnist and starred as a judge on Channel 4’s Junior Bake Off alongside Liam Charles and host Harry Hill. A winner at the 2021 GQ Food & Drink Awards, this year she also launched The Damson Jelly Academy online cookery school
In 2018 she set up an organisation called Countertalk; a platform designed to help connect chefs, provide education and promote healthy work environments in the hospitality industry. The countertalk platform has gone from strength to strength over the last few years through Ravneet's hard work.
In addition to all of this, She has just brought out her second cookbook, Sugar, I Love You.
Ravneet has said:
‘Pastry is an art but it is also food so remember to stay in touch with your ingredients, reflect the seasons in your food and, for the love of God, don’t use strawberries in December.’
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Thank you to our season sponsor Cooks Matches for helping us to bring the show to you each week. Head to their website www.cooksmatches.co.uk for lots of recipes and foodie inspiration.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 26, 2022 • 54min
S13 Ep4: Daphne Oz: Chef, TV Host and New York Times Bestselling Author
My guest today is Daphne Oz.
Daphne is an Emmy Award-winning television host, New York Times best selling author, chef, and entrepreneur focused on the worlds of food, beauty, wellness, fashion and media.
She also happens to be the mother of four children proving that you can have a very successful career and be a present mother.
Daphne is the eldest daughter of the one and only Doctor Oz – possibly the most famous Doctor in America. But Daphne is a veteran TV personality herself, she spent six seasons as co-host of hit TV series "The Chew," has been a judge on Junior Masterchef and now as one of the co hosts of the Dish on Oz (a weekly series on The Dr. Oz Show), Daphne brings the latest in food news, family-friendly recipes and expert cooking tricks.
After university, Daphne received her chef's degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute and is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
When asked what cooking means to her, Daphne has said: New memories, freedom and fun. And “At the end of the day, I want to have fun in my kitchen, I want it to be my kingdom, and I want that for my readers.”
Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for listening. If you have been enjoying listening and haven't yet left a review, then please do! It only takes a moment and really does make a big difference.
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Thank you to our season sponsor Cooks Matches. Find them on Instagram @cooksmatches and head to their website www.cooksmatches.co.uk to find out more.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 5, 2022 • 1h 7min
S13 Ep3: Ella Risbridger: Author
My guest today is Ella Risbridger
Author, writer and cook , in her own words: sometimes a journalist and other things too
Described by The Times as "the most talented new cookbook writer of a generation", Her debut, Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For), was published by Bloomsbury in January 2019 and won praise from Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater and Diana Henry.
A cookbook which starts with Ella trying to take her own life. A cookbook about mental health, cookbook about anxiety, a cookbook about life being difficult and complicated and lots of fun and full of brilliant people and brilliant things and terrible things and all of this happening at the same time
It’s about living in london, in your twenties, with an anxiety disorder and being in love and recipes
The one and only Nigella has said: "One of the things that makes Midnight Chicken such a very good book is how hard it is to say exactly what it is. Yes, to be sure, it's a cookbook, but it is also a manual for living and a declaration of hope."
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Thank you to our season sponsor Cooks Matches for their support and for helping me to bring the podcast to you each week
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 28, 2022 • 58min
S13 Ep2: Giles Coren: Restaurant Critic, Food Writer and TV Presenter
My guest today is Giles Coren
Giles is a food writer and TV presenter.
He has been a restaurant critic and columnist for the Times newspaper for the last 17 years. He has been Described as Britains Most Powerful Food Critic.
His career has been rich and illustrious. He has written books, presented TV series, written columns and hosted radio shows.
Most recently alongside chef Monica Galetti he is the presenter of Amazing Hotels Life Beyond the Lobby - a BBC series that sees him travel the globe visiting some of the most amazing hotels and rolling up his sleeves to work alongside their staff.
When asked which he prefers, writing or being on telly? He said “I hate them both and if I had money I wouldn’t do either”
Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for listening. If you have been enjoying listening and havent yet left a review, then please do! It only takes a moment and really does make a big difference.
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Thank you to our season sponsor Cooks Matches. Find them on Instagram @cooksmatches and head to their website www.cooksmatches.co.uk to find out more.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 21, 2022 • 57min
S13 Ep1: Pierre Koffmann: One of the Greatest Chefs of All Time
Hello! We are back with a brand new season! I missed you all!
My guest today is Pierre Koffman.
Often described as one of the greatest chefs of all time. A living legend.
He has been a chef for over 50 years. His list of achievements are basically too long to mention. Born in the South West of France in 1948 he didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a chef and yet he has become the “chef of chefs, the chef all other chefs look up to”.
Combining a rustic gutsiness with haute cuisine, Pierre Koffmann knows how to combine tastes and flavours like no one else. He cooks the kind of food he likes to eat; the food of the French countryside and of his grandparent’s farmhouse kitchen in rural Gascony. He is one of only a handful of chefs to have achieved three Michelin stars.
While Pierre is renowned for his cooking expertise, after mastering his skills in the kitchen for 50 years, he is also known for his mentoring and championing of new talent in the industry.
Pierre has famously said: "There is no secret, it’s all about working hard, using few but the right ingredients but enjoying food. You have to be in love with cooking, it is not just a job, it’s a passion, you must enjoy eating and oh you also need a bit of luck."
Thank you to Japan Centre for sponsoring this episode. Definitely check out their website which you can find at www.japancentre.com and use the discount JAPAN10OFF
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Thank you to our season sponsor Cooks Matches. Find them on Instagram @cooksmatches and head to their website www.cooksmatches.co.uk to find out more.
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Thank you for listening!
If you don't already and you would like to, then do come and follow me on Instagram @desertislanddishes
See you next week!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 16, 2021 • 1h 2min
S12 Ep11: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Chef, Writer and Broadcaster
Hello! We are back with another BONUS episode for you!
My guest today is Surprise! We are back with another BONUS episode for you!
My guest today is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Hugh is a chef, broadcaster, food writer and campaigner.
The nation first got to know Hugh in 1997 with his TV show “A Cook on the Wild Side” in which he ate roadkill and all that the countryside’s hedgerows had to offer. And then a year later through his River Cottage series and books filmed at the river cottage estate on the Devon / Dorset border.
In fact he’s now done more than 20 cookery shows and he’s also tackled powerful issues in his documentaries like obesity, the illegal wildlife trade, fishing and the war on plastic. He has an uncompromising commitment to seasonal and ethically produced food and his concern for the environment has inspired a vast and loyal fanbase.
You may even have whipped up something delicious based on one of his recipe books as he is a multi award winning writer and the Author of numerous best selling cookbooks committed to seasonal and ethical food
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Thank you to our sponsor Cooks Matches. Find them on Instagram @cooksmatches and head to their website www.cooksmatches.co.uk to find out more.
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Thank you for listening!
If you don't already and you would like to, then do come and follow me on Instagram @desertislanddishes
You can sign up for the newsletter and find a whole host of different recipes at www.desertislanddishes.co
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 26, 2021 • 58min
S12 Ep10: Tom Gozney: Designer, Entrepreneur and Founder of Gozney Wood Fired Ovens
Surprise! We are back with another BONUS episode for you!
My guest today is Tom Gozney.
Tom is an entrepreneur and designer, he is the founder of Gozney. Gozney for those who don’t know, make incredible outdoor ovens and the business really is taking the world by storm.
Tom started out designing a brick pizza oven for his back garden in 2008, and by 2014 was supplying professional ovens to some of the UK’s leading restaurants including Chewton Glen, River Cottage and pizza chain Franco Manca. But his domestic ovens have also collected a loyal following of very famous fans including Tom Aikens, Paul Hollywood, the founder of Instagram, Mike Krieger, and Richard Branson – who flew Tom out to his personal island: Necker Island to build one.
Tom had in his own words, a “colourful youth” and might not necessarily be the stereotypical entrepreneur. He moved from school to school after being expelled and was constantly told he would amount to nothing. After battling with alcohol and drug addiction, he used his passion for food to turn his life around and proved all his teachers wrong. Despite not really being one for material possessions, by the age of 29 he was able to fulfil one of his dreams and to buy himself his dream car - a Lamborghini. Not too shabby for someone teachers told just a few years earlier was on a road to nowhere.
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Thank you to Gozney for sponsoring today's episode. You can buy the Gozney Roccbox from Amazon and also from their website www.gozney.com where you will find lots more information. The Roccbox is £399 for the gas only option or £499 for dual-fuel. Happy Christmas shopping!
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Thank you for listening! We will be back soon with another season I promise.
If you don't already and you would like to, then do come and follow me on Instagram @desertislanddishes
You can sign up for the newsletter and find a whole host of different recipes at www.desertislanddishes.co
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.