Comfort Eating with Grace Dent

Comfort Eating with Grace Dent

The Guardian

From school dinners to sofa snacks – food has a huge part to play in shaping our story – and your favourite celebs have some delicious tales to tell. Join Guardian food critic and her celebrity guests, as she throws the cupboard doors open and chats life through food. Grace’s new Comfort Eating book, inspired by the podcast, is out now. It’s a wonderfully scrumptious, life-affirming journey through the foods that really mean the most to us. On the podcast, expect to hear from guests (actors from TV, movie, theatre and film; sportspeople, comedians, chefs …) such as: Shirley Ballas, Nadiya Hussain, James Norton, Graham Norton, Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Amma Asante, Gaz Coombes, Georgia Pritchett, Jayde Adams, Adam Kay, Jaime Winstone, Jay Blades, Malorie Blackman, Dawn O’Porter, Jamie Laing, Natalie Cassidy, Neneh Cherry, Greg Rutherford, Goldie, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Marian Keyes, Rufus Wainwright, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Big Zuu, Eddie Marsan, Self Esteem, James May, Guy Garvey, Dave Myers, Jo Brand, Craig David, Fern Brady, Bernardine Evaristo, Tom Watson, Rosie Jones, Laura Whitmore, Desiree Burch, Russell Tovey, Stephen Fry, Deborah Meaden, Munya Chawawa, Aisling Bea, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Candice Carty-Williams, Lawrence Chaney, Siobhán McSweeney, Scarlett Moffatt, Mae Martin, Rafe Spall, Nish Kumar, Jon Ronson, Jamie Demetriou, Bridget Christie, Mary McCartney, Keith Brymer Jones, Adjoa Andoh, Tamsin Greig, Tom Kerridge, Suranne Jones and Russell T Davies. Comfort Eating is a one-to-one interview. In Grace’s kitchen, her guests discuss their lives in the context of food, cooking and cuisine. They talk about comfort food and snack recipes. The tone of the podcast is: warm, comforting, chatty, feel good, cheering, heart warming, comical and amusing. It’s inspiring but also escapism. It’s funny, laugh out loud, entertaining, humourous, inspirational, hilarious, illuminating, memorable, uplifting, soothing, reassuring, cheery and entertaining. Expect to hear di

39 minutes 24 seconds

S6, Ep 10: Kiell Smith-Bynoe, actor and comedian

Joining Grace this week is the multi-talented actor, comedian and rapper, Kiell Smith-Bynoe. Long before becoming a household name as the exasperated boyfriend in the hit series Ghosts, Kiell (AKA MC Klayze Flaymz) tells Grace how, as a teenager, he combined his performance skills in the ultimate London arena: the chicken shop. With the taste of success, Kiell and Grace chat about his journey to the stage and screen, via several years working in a call centre for unemployed actors. Answering the big question: what is an appropriate lunchtime meal to eat at your desk?

16 April 2024, 4:00 am
39 minutes 56 seconds

S6, Ep 9: Kiri Pritchard-McLean, comedian

Welsh standup, podcast host and panel show queen, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, brings her finest bowl of scran to Grace’s house. Over this steaming ultra-value concoction, she reveals how her upbringing on a Welsh sheep farm led to a hankering for performance, humour and cheap noodles. Cutting her teeth on the Manchester comedy circuit and finding solace with fellow newbies, Kiri learned to win in an industry still steeped in sexism. Her latest solo show, Peacock, is about the unlikely subject of becoming a foster parent – a journey Kiri and her partner have recently embarked on. Their offering to children centres around home-cooked food made with love. Comfort eating just took on a whole new meaning.

9 April 2024, 4:00 am
41 minutes 10 seconds

S6, Ep 8: Tom Kerridge, chef

Comfort Eating’s culinary standards might have been permanently raised after two-Michelin-star chef Tom Kerridge’s visit. But he’s not exactly one to show off. Growing up in Gloucester, Tom always wanted to recreate the homely meals he’d find at his local pub or at his mum’s on Sundays. With a brief detour on to the acting stage, Tom started his career working at some of the country’s top restaurants. In the rock’n’roll era of fine dining, suddenly it was cool to be working in a restaurant late at night. But as Tom and Grace discuss, a world of late hours and excess triggered multiple health problems for him. Going sober and solo, Tom started running his own businesses and success quickly followed. So what exactly does a top chef snack on when they’re not winning awards? You might be surprised …

2 April 2024, 4:00 am
41 minutes 26 seconds

S6 Ep 7: Cat Burns, singer

Platinum-selling singer songwriter Cat Burns cosies up with Grace for a warm plate of nosh and some deep chats. The biggest-selling British female artist of 2022, who won three Brit award nominations after her single Go went viral on TikTok, reveals how she went from shy schoolgirl to stadium gigs in just a few years. While Covid put an end to busking on the South Bank, it opened up another portal on social channels that sent Cat’s star on its rapid ascent. Recently diagnosed as autistic, Cat explains how her relationship with food thrives on predictability and consistency. Yet with a small recipe suggestion from her girlfriend, she had a lightbulb moment – opening up new possibilities. Cat says she doesn’t do small talk, which is more than OK; her big talk is just beautiful.

26 March 2024, 5:00 am
45 minutes 42 seconds

S6 Ep 6: Daniel Foxx, comedian

Sliding into Grace’s sitting room this week is rising star and multitalented comedian, playwright and musical theatre creator, Daniel Foxx. Bringing his concoction of gunk meant only for solo consumption in the small hours, there’s nowhere left to hide. Buckle up and join Grace and Daniel as they go on a tour of the ins and outs of life in the fast lane – or is that the M6 at 1am? Daniel shares his different incarnations – from coming out age 11 to donning a string of pearls post-lockdown. His observational obsessions have helped to feed his viral hit The Supervillain’s Gay Assistant and Grace and Daniel unpick its threads with scurrilous delight. Oh, and there’s a modern-day love story involving Tinder and trains. Scoop it all up with love and a crunchy lentil curl

19 March 2024, 5:00 am
46 minutes 12 seconds

S6 Ep 5: Amol Rajan, broadcaster

It’s tough presenting BBC radio’s top morning news programme, hosting the nation’s brainiest quiz show and being a devoted dad to four young children. But someone’s got to do it. And that person is none other than the broadcaster Amol Rajan. Having risen through the ranks of the Independent newspaper to be its youngest editor at the age of 29 and now only the third ever presenter of University Challenge, there’s got to be something fuelling this dynamo. Finding a little window in his busy schedule, Amol parks his responsibilities at the door and shares the secrets of his success and culinary tricks with long-time friend and former colleague, Grace. From his mum’s incredible home cooking to his special porridge recipe for when the kids aren’t looking, Amol tells all. There’s some raving, insomnia and umami twang thrown in too – you might have seen them at Reading?

12 March 2024, 5:00 am
43 minutes 33 seconds

S6 Ep 4: Katie Price, model turned reality TV star

Dropping by this week for a spot of comfort eating is the legendary glamour model turned reality TV star, Katie Price. One of the most photographed and filmed women of our times, splashed across page 3 and lads mags as Jordan 30 years ago, then in six of her own TV series, multiple documentaries and reality shows, everyone thinks they know her. But talking to Grace over a squishy, soft and ‘bald’ dish, Katie reveals a more nuanced picture – opening up about childhood, horses, early photoshoots, love, abuse, men, the media, breakdown and being a proud mum of five. ‘Never underestimate the Pricey’ – it’s a motto to live by and Grace embraces it all – the ups, the downs and snacks in between

5 March 2024, 5:01 am
38 minutes 26 seconds

From the archive (season 2): Dave Myers, hairy biker

This week, the world learned of the sad passing of a true British icon, TV cook and hairy biker, Dave Myers. To celebrate his life, we wanted to bring you this episode from January 2022 where Dave tells Grace about – ironically – losing all his hair aged eight, his years as a makeup artist, working in the steelyards of Barrow-in-Furness, and the comfort foods that have seen him through it all

1 March 2024, 10:18 am
41 minutes 1 second

S6 E3: Kathy Burke, actor, director and writer

One of the UK’s most loved and versatile actors, Kathy Burke, lands in Grace’s sitting room this week. Transitioning from punk teenager, to award-winning actor and then taking on comedy, Kathy has loved almost all of it. She talks to Grace about her career highlights and when her personal life sometimes got in the way, recounting the food that got her through. Whether it’s eating fish and chips on a film set with Ray Winstone, a love-hate relationship with bananas and beans, or coming to adore biscuits in her 50s, Kathy and Grace reminisce about it all. And hey, sometimes all you need is a bit of burnt toast

27 February 2024, 5:00 am
40 minutes 36 seconds

S6 E2: Michelle de Swarte, comedian

Model-turned-standup Michelle De Swarte knows how to make an entrance. And arriving at Grace’s with her eat-it-or-climb-it comfort snack of choice, she doesn’t disappoint. For the woman who left school at 14, signed as a model at 19, fell on the Gucci catwalk a month later, modelled for years in New York afterwards and then changed tack to become a comedian, life is what you make it. Straight-talking, no-nonsense, Michelle and Grace get down to business and discover their shared dependence on a well-known sandwich chain. There’s glitz, there’s glamour, and quite a lot of rude bits. Sorry, not sorry

20 February 2024, 5:00 am
43 minutes 25 seconds

S6 E1: David Baddiel, comedian

Pulling up a pew at Grace’s house to launch a new season of Comfort Eating is the legendary comedian and author, David Baddiel. With a career spanning 40 years on TV, stage and radio, not to mention coining anthemic football songs and writing multiple bestselling books for adults and children, David has a unique place in our nation’s popular culture. He brings Grace his favourite comfort snack and while demolishing this cherished chow, David opens up about family, relationships and an obsession with telling the truth. Together, he and Grace take a trip down memory lane back to the 90s when their paths crossed. Wistful, honest and outrageous – it’s a conversation best served with a dollop of brown sauce. Just make sure the bread’s white and squishy

13 February 2024, 5:00 am
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