Happy holidays to all of our listeners, we thank you so much for your responses and for your support.

As a present for you, we’ve made this podcast with Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli, the executive chefs at The River Cafe. We’ll take you inside the world of The River Cafe during this special time of year, and answer some of your festive cooking questions.

Ruthie’s Table 4, made in partnership with @me_andem

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I’m often asked about the inspiration for Ruthie’s Table 4. The answer is easy. Two words — Ian McKellen.

For some years, Richard and I invited actors to perform at our home. Ian ended his performance with a reading of a recipe for Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup. Compelling as any sonnet, we were all spellbound.

Ian is known to everyone as different characters — Macbeth, King Lear, Gandalf. I think of him as one character, inspiring, kind and brave. For this podcast, we went to his beautiful house overlooking the Thames. A morning and a conversation I shall always remember.

Ruthie’s Table 4, made in partnership with @me_andem

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Acting, directing, cooking. In this candid conversation, Saoirse, Greta and Ruthie explore their personal approaches to learning, and mastering their own confidence.

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The other week, the director Greta Gerwig sat at my table, describing the unique experience of working with Saoirse Ronan — ‘Ruthie, you have to meet her.’

In a way, I feel like I’ve already met Saoirse through the intimacy of her award-winning performances in 'Atonement', 'Lady Bird' and 'Brooklyn', and her forthright interviews. Now, the three of us are here together at The River Cafe in person — Saoirse, Greta and I. We’re talking about food and cooking, Ireland, Saoirse’s garden, learning to eat spaghetti and much, much more.

Ruthie's Table 4 is made in partnership with Me+Em.

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Adam Gopnik is a brilliant mind. An acclaimed writer, essayist and commentator; he's authored nine books, and has written for The New Yorker for nearly forty years, to which he's contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism.

I've been lucky enough to share 34 years of friendship with Adam, and in that time, we've never stopped cooking, and sharing our passion for food. Today, we're talking about family, the world, and of course, eating.

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Me+Em

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When Michael McCarty walks into The River Cafe, he immediately fills the room with his warmth and kindness. Restaurants are, of course, what he knows best.

He and his wife Kim opened Michael’s in Santa Monica in 1979, bringing Californian cuisine to the world; artichokes, asparagus, tomatoes and peaches, grown in the sun and eaten under the sun. Ten years later, California came to New York when they introduced Michael’s to midtown Manhattan. 

Today, they are with me in London, bringing their warmth and kindness to Table 4. 

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Me+Em

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When Rose and I opened the River Café in 1987, we were credited for bringing open kitchens, farm-sourced ingredients, and women chefs, to restaurants. We would always say ‘Alice Waters did it first.

Chef, author, food activist, founder of Chez Panisse and Edible Schoolyard, Alice is a culinary icon and a hero.  She is also my close friend.

Today, we are here to talk about our restaurants, our families, the world we live in and wonderful memories. 

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Me+Em

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The connections between Scott Rothkopf, Director of New York’s Whitney Museum, and I run deep.

When Rose and I wrote the first River Cafe Cookbook in 1994, Scott’s husband, Jonathan Burnham, helped us with our introduction.

Museums and restaurants are about connecting art and people. They welcome people into a space and create something beautiful to see, or cook something delicious for them to eat. This is what my friend Scott and I do every day, and this is what we will talk about today. A deep connection, indeed.

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Me+Em

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When Elton John agrees to do a podcast, you go to wherever he is. So a few weeks ago, I travelled to Elton and David Furnish’s beautiful home in Berkshire. We sat around his wooden dining table, tried to think of songs with lyrics of food (‘Blueberry Hill’, ‘Sugar Sugar’), talked about shelling peas with his grandmother, the first meal he and David shared (at the same table) and much more.

What was meant to be a half hour conversation stretched to an hour. His assistant, who joined us, said in 20 years of interviews, she had never heard many of the stories he told.

That’s what food does for memories - and what our podcast is all about.

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Me+Em.

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The world knows Kristin Scott Thomas as an actress, starring in films such as The English Patient, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and most recently, playing Diana Tarverner in Slow Horses. Having lived in Paris for decades, Kristin is passionate about French cuisine and culture, and today at The River Cafe we speak about how food, France, and family have all played a role in her journey.

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Moncler. 

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We return with our guest this week, former Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the second episode of the new series, Tony Blair reminisces about food in politics, from the 'memorable’ meals he made his children at Chequers to dining with Heads of State, including the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Moncler. 

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