Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, we talk to Aaron Thomas, one half of the team behind Yum Bug. Aaron started Yum Bug with business partner Leo in 2018, initially experimenting with cooking insects in their free time, before selling insect recipe kits during the 2021 COVID lockdowns.

After trialling the concept as a pop up, Yum Bug now has a permanent restaurant based in Finsbury Park, London, where Aaron, Leo and their Chef team seek to show people that insects are a delicious and undervalued superfood. We chatted to Aaron to find out more about why we should be eating more bugs.

Yum Bug | Edible Insect Ingredients | Restaurant

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In this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, we talk to Anahita Dhondy, chef, author, consultant and alumna of Le Cordon Bleu London.

Anahita Dhondy is the former chef-partner at SodaBottleOpenerWala and author of The Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family.

Anahita represented India at the EAT Forum 2018 and the UN-affiliated Chefs’ Manifesto in Stockholm and London in 2018.

In 2019, Anahita featured on the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list for her contribution towards food sustainability and for popularising Parsi cuisine. She was awarded ‘Indian of the Year’ in the hospitality sector as Chef Manager SodaBottleOpenerWala in 2017. 

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In this episode of Beyond the Plate: Industry Talks by Le Cordon Bleu, we spoke to chef Ollie Dabbous, one of the founders of HIDE restaurant. In this interview, recorded in 2020, Senior Lecturer Nitin Radhakrishnan talks to Ollie about his career, HIDE and the industry as a whole.

In the latest episode of our podcast, Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, we speak to Paul Newnham, executive director of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub and Chefs' Manifesto.

Paul is a strategic innovator and executive leader with over 25 years of expertise managing complex stakeholder relationships, designing campaign strategies, and extensive knowledge of the not-for-profit sector. Paul founded the SDG2 Advocacy Hub in 2015, a secretariat convened to connect NGOs, advocacy groups, civil society, private sector, and United Nations agencies around Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The Hub’s goal is to coordinate global campaigning and advocacy to achieve food systems transformation, and it does so by facilitating multiple projects.

In this special festive edition of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast we chat to Ben Mervis, author of the British Cookbook and editor of Fare magazine.

Ben was born and raised outside of Philadelphia and moved to the UK to attend university where he studied British histories. He moved to Copenhagen in 2014 to pursue a career in food and food culture while working at the world-renowned restaurant noma for two years. There he worked closely behind the scenes with chef and owner René Redzepi on several projects, events, and research. It was at noma that he started to understand how food can be the vessel for understanding other people and cultures.

In 2016 Ben began his magazine, Fare, which uses food to explore city culture, history, and community. Ben has also worked as the lead researcher on the Netflix documentary series, “Chef’s Table”, and consulted on strategy and events with Michelin-starred chefs and award-winning festivals across Europe.

In our interview we talk to Ben about his first book, The British Cookbook, what is so interesting about British cuisine and find out what he can’t wait to tuck in to this Christmas.

In the latest episode of our podcast, Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, we speak to alumna Nancy Silverton. Nancy graduated from Le Cordon Bleu London in 1979 and has gone on to become a renowned chef, baker and author, as well as featuring on Netflix's Chef's Table.

She is the co-owner of Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles and Newport Beach as well as Osteria Mozza, Mozza2Go and Chi Spacca in Los Angeles. Nancy also founded the world-renowned La Brea Bakery, Campanile Restaurant and recently introduced Pizzeria Mozza to London with a branch located at the Treehouse Hotel in Marylebone.

In this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, Freya Perryman of Le Cordon Bleu speaks to alumna Laura Dove, COO at Allbright. Allbright is leading career network for women, creating connections through digital and physical spaces, with a private members club in London's Mayfair. Following her completion of her studies at Le Cordon Bleu London, Laura has held senior roles at Thompson Hotels, Virgin Hotels, D&D London and many more before joining Allbright in 2019.

In the episode, Laura discusses with Freya the importance of spaces designed for women in the hospitality and private members sector, as well as how much more than a physical location Allbright's network really is.

Join us for this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, Nitin Radhakrishnan of Le Cordon Bleu speaks to John Williams MBE. Chef John Williams MBE is Executive Chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant of the legendary Ritz Hotel in London. He also created the first ever Ritz cookbook, The Ritz London: The Cookbook full of the restaurant’s signature recipes. Originally recorded for our students over the COVID-19 lockdown, you can hear how Chef John started his career and specifically how he landed his job at the Ritz over 15 years ago, providing answers to student questions based on his culinary journey. Advice includes not sacrificing quality for profit and the importance of building a solid team in the kitchen.

In this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, Le Cordon Bleu's Freya Perryman catches up with Chef Asma Khan.  Chef Asma is best known as restaurateur, chef and author, also starring in an episode of Netflix's Chef's Table. Chef Patron of London-based Darjeeling Express, which is known for it's all-female kitchen - something that Asma is very passionate about and discusses in this episode - recently closed it's doors whilst it looks for a new premises. Asma discusses the challenges she faced when starting out in the industry, the issue of gender inequality in the hospitality industry and her role in paving the way for future female restaurateurs. Asma also released Ammu: Indian Home-Cooking to Nourish Your Soul in 2022 to great reception.

In this episode of Beyond Food & Wine: A Le Cordon Bleu Podcast, Nitin Radhakrishnan catches up with 3 Michelin-star Chef Alain Roux. Chef Alain talks about a variety of fascinating topics including his family's culinary legacy; how he balances his personal cooking style with consumer tastes; and the history of the Roux Scholarship. An incredible chef in his own right, Alain is proudly part of the incredible Roux family legacy of chefs including his father Michel Roux and his uncle Albert Roux. Inheriting the Waterside Inn from his father, since 2002 Alain Roux has not only maintained the incredibly high standards his father and uncle had established, but also added his own touches to the menu, alongside the family classics. The Waterside Inn has now retained its three Michelin stars' for over 37 years, making it the longest in the world to hold this status, outside of France.