The Writer's Banquet: The Writer's Kitchen

Hosted by Radio National’s Ramona Koval and the first in The Book Show’s series of The Writer’s Banquet sessions, The Writer’s Kitchen traces the links between writers, writing and food.

Toni Jordan, Morris Gleitzman and Andrea Goldsmith, three writers not self-evidently of a culinary persuasion, explore their own connection with food and cooking, reflecting on what tickles their tastebuds and uncovering the key ingredients that make it easy to eat their words.

Gleitzman comes dangerously (and hilariously) close to admitting that his key ingredients are cats and dogs, though he insists his resistance to following recipes clears him of that particular suggestion. Meanwhile, it’s the lure of a secret lover which makes Goldsmith’s mother late for dinner, while Jordan’s father is similarly late to dine — for reasons not dissimilar.

Elsewhere, the writers share the books and hand-me-down recipes that have guided them in the kitchen as well as the snacks that refresh them at (or away from) the writing desk. And they ponder the relationships between food, eating, reading and writing.