Olivia Potts

Olivia Potts

Olivia Potts is the Guild of Food Writers’ Cookery Writer of the Year 2025. She hosts The Spectator’s Table Talk podcast and writes Spectator Life's The Vintage Chef column

16 food delivery services to try in London

London feels very different from the city it was a few weeks ago. Restaurants are closed, the tubes are empty save for key workers, and Soho is a ghost town. We can’t eat out, or go to bars or pubs; many are struggling to get hold of even basic supplies, like eggs and flour. But a number of food businesses have shown extraordinary tenacity, ingenuity and spirit in the way they have dealt with the daily changes to our lockdown situation, manipulating their business models, and pivoting to delivery services. We’ve collated a list of independent food stores or producers who are delivering in London at the moment. Please visit individual suppliers for delivery time estimates, as most are slightly longer than normal due to the current Covid-19 situation.

Simple flat bread recipe

Continuing in the vein of the last couple of weeks of Vintage Chef columns, this week’s recipe is designed to make the most of common ingredients, and give maximum reward for minimum effort with these incredibly simple flatbreads. Last week, I wrote about the joy that baking can bring even in adverse circumstances, how it remained a source of solace to me in this brave new world. These flatbreads are joyful (warm, pliable, smoky from the griddle), but when I make them, I tend not to be seeking joy as much as stability. These flatbreads require so little: no yeast, no proving time, no kneading – they don’t even need an oven. And it takes – from bag of flour to stuffing it in your mouth – about ten minutes.

With Camilla Fayed

20 min listen

Camilla Fayed is an entrepreneur, restaurateur, and daughter of Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods department store. On the podcast, she talks to Lara and Olivia about her childhood love of Finnish cuisine, interning in the Harrods kitchens, and Farmacy, her vegan restaurant chain.

Raspberry and coconut sponge recipe

I’ve spent the last few days wondering whether it is frivolous to give you a cake recipe at a time like this. But I’ve finally come to the conclusion that, actually, it’s probably more important than ever. Baking is a source of comfort and joy, both for those doing the baking, and for the recipients, and to willfully lose something like that when we face uncertainty and challenges, when many of our other sources of comfort and joy have been at least temporarily restricted, is sad. Having a simple cake recipe up your sleeve is reassuring – a taste of normality. I’ve gone for a cake which relies on store cupboard staples, one which you might recognise from school dinners: raspberry and coconut traybake.

Recipes to cook while you self-isolate

We live in interesting times. Given the recent government guidance on not leaving the house for unnecessary reasons, the run on supermarkets, the advice to avoid restaurants and pubs, we’re all looking at food preparation rather differently. Whether you are quarantined because you’re symptomatic, self-isolating because you’re vulnerable, or social distancing to protect those who are at high risk, there are ways to inject flavour and interest without having every possible ingredient or convenience at our fingertips. This is not the reboot of Ready Steady Cook we were all hoping for, but with so few things within our control, being able to handle ingredients and turn them into something wonderful is reassuring and hopeful.

Valentine Warner on nature, food, and grief

28 min listen

Chef, writer, and broadcaster Valentine Warner has worked in numerous London restaurants, presented programmes such as the BBC's 'What to Eat Now', and author of five books, the latest of which is 'The Consolation of Food'. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Livvy about how growing up on a farm inspired his love for food and nature, and he left the world of art to become a chef.

Revealed: the good and the bad of prison food

38 min listen

Chris Atkins is a journalist and documentary filmmaker, whose work on the tabloid media led him to give evidence in the Leveson Inquiry. In 2016, he was sentenced to five years in prison for tax offences. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Olivia about food in prison - why it was doomed to taste bad, how tuna was used as a barter currency, and cooking curry in a kettle.

With Jon Atashroo

25 min listen

Jon Atashroo is Head Chef at the Tate Modern, whose culinary career began with proving dough on a radiator at university. His latest creation is a tasting menu inspired by the Tate's upcoming Andy Warhol exhibition, featuring dishes such as Coca Cola Jelly and Tuna Fish Disaster. On the podcast, he talks to Olivia and Lara about his Persian sweet tooth, how a degree in economics influenced his culinary career, and bringing artists like Picasso and Olafur Eliasson to the Tate restaurant menu.Presented by Olivia Potts and Lara Prendergast.

With Skye Gyngell

13 min listen

Skye Gyngell, an Australian chef best known for her work as food editor for Vogue, and for winning a Michelin star at the Petersham Nurseries Cafe. She is now the founder of Spring at Somerset House and the culinary director of Heckfield Place. On the podcast, she talks to Lara and Livvy about being subjected to a 'macro-biotic' diet as a child, how winning a Michelin star wasn't such a blessing for Petersham Nurseries, and how a 20th century Austrian philosopher influences her work now.Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Sarah Langford

36 min listen

Sarah Langford is a barrister and author of the best-selling In Your Defence, which follows 11 real-life cases in the criminal and family courts. On the podcast, Sarah tells Lara and Livvy about her family's background in farming, the vending machine diet of a barrister, and how MeToo killed the drinking culture in chambers.Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

Buttermilk waffles recipe

I don’t like one-use kitchen gadgets. Well, that’s not true, I do like them actually. I love them. I am drawn to them in those little catalogues that come through the door, brimming with plastic and promise, like a magpie. But my small kitchen doesn’t love them. My overflowing drawers and crowded worktops don’t love them. After ditching my garlic peeler and my egg poacher, my milk frother and my (ahem) hot dog slicer, I have made a pact with myself that any utensil or equipment I bring into the kitchen has to do some heavy-lifting. No single-purpose gadgets shall darken my door any longer. But there is one exception: my waffle maker. I feel hypocritical, I do, but I can’t give up my waffle maker.

With Mark Diacono

32 min listen

Mark Diacono, food writer, farmer and photographer, who is the founder of Otter Farm in East Devon. The author of seven books, his latest, 'Sour', is out now. He talks to Lara and Livvy about what inspired him to start growing food, how to turn 17 acres of land into a farm producing Szechuan peppers, mulberries, and many things in between, and his love for all things sour. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Max Pemberton

39 min listen

Max Pemberton is a Daily Mail columnist and medical doctor specialising in mental health and eating disorders. On the podcast, he talks about his milkman father and activist mother and what family mealtimes were like, remembering to eat on shifts as a junior doctor, and dissuading patients with serious eating disorders of the 'clean eating' religion.

With Will Lander

14 min listen

Will Lander is the owner of the beloved restaurants Quality Chop House, Clipstone, Portland, and the new Amelia. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up with the FT's restaurant critic for a father (not many trips to McDonalds), a childhood dream to become a restauranteur, and the secret to traditional British cooking. Presented by Olivia Potts and Lara Prendergast.

Sichuan cuisine with Fuchsia Dunlop

25 min listen

Fuchsia Dunlop is a writer and chef specialising in Chinese cuisine, especially that of Sichuan. She tells Lara and Livvy about the international lodgers who trained her adventurous palate growing up, why some Chinese foods can be so challenging for westerners (hint: it's the texture!), and the 23 different types of Sichuan spicy. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Alexandra Shulman

19 min listen

Alexandra Shulman is the former Editor-In-Chief of British Vogue. On the podcast, she talks to Olivia and Lara about her mother Drusilla Beyfus's etiquette tips, wining and dining as a journalist in the 80s, and how doughnuts never lasted long at Vogue. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Jessie Burton

24 min listen

Jessie Burton is the bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse. In this episode of Table Talk, she tells Lara and Livvy about growing up with her dad's packed lunches, the diet of a budding actress, and her dislike for marzipan (despite The Miniaturist!). Jessie's new book, The Confession, is out now. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Kavi and Shamil Thakrar

29 min listen

Kavi and Shamil Thakrar are cousins, and they're also the co-founders of restaurant chain, Dishoom, inspired by the cafes of early 20th century Bombay. They join Lara and Livvy to celebrate the launch of their first cookbook, and chat Bombay street food, the risks of profit-maximising, and the great British curry house. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Jose Pizarro

32 min listen

Jose Pizarro is a Spanish chef, writer, and restauranteur. He came to London in 2000 and opened a series of well-loved Spanish restaurants, including Jose's Tapas Bar. He is the author of five cookbooks. In this episode, he talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up on a farm in Spain, why he loves sherry, and bringing tapas to Britain. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts.

With Olivia Potts

27 min listen

Lara speaks to Olivia Potts, Spectator Life’s Vintage Chef and co-host of the Table Talk podcast, about Olivia’s new book, A Half-Baked Idea. Before she became a food writer and Cordon-Bleu trained chef, Olivia was a former president of the Cambridge Union and a high-flying criminal barrister. But her mother’s death changed all that. Tune in to hear a story of love, grief, hope, and cake.  Presented by Lara Prendergast.