Lecker

Why are so many of our kitchens so unsociable? Lucy meets Johnny Grey, a kitchen designer who’s been fighting for decades to make kitchens a place for leisure not work, and Katie Pennick, a disability campaigner whose work has changed the face of London transport – but who still can’t cook in her own kitchen. Plus Sean Warmington-Wan reflects on the unsociable kitchen in his shared London house.
Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove.
Thanks to the contributors on this episode: Sean Warmington-Wan, Katie Pennick and Johnny Grey.
You can find a full transcript for this episode on the Lecker website.
Buy the Kitchens print zine featuring original essays and illustrations!
Original music was composed for the series by Jeremy Warmsley, with additional music also by Jeremy, and by Blue Dot Sessions
Research and production assistance from Nadia Mehdi.
Cover collage by Stephanie Hartman
If you’ve enjoyed what you heard on this episode, or generally on Lecker, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening, and telling a friend about it! And if you’ve really enjoyed listening to this episode, or are a big fan of the podcast in general already, please consider becoming a patron of the podcast at patreon.com/leckerpodcast

Kitchens are inextricably linked with the woman of the house. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the fitted kitchen was literally designed as a workspace to fit around a woman’s body. But what does this mean for women - and men - now? How are traditional gender roles built up and broken down by the kitchen itself? Michael Etheridge reflects on the distribution of domestic labour in his own home, and food writer Gemma Croffie talks about the narrow definition of accepted womanhood when it comes to domestic work.
A full transcript for this episode is available on the Lecker website.
The title Meal Machine comes from the companion guide to the 2011 MoMA exhibition Counter Space: Design + The Modern Kitchen: “ Meal machine, experimental laboratory, status symbol, domestic prison, or the creative and spiritual heart of the home? ”
Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove.
Thanks to my contributors on this episode: Michael Etheridge and Gemma Croffie.
You can read Gemma’s piece Kitchens on the Path , which inspired this episode, in the print zine released alongside this audio series. Buy a copy now at leckerpodcast.com/kitchens.
Original music was composed for the series by Jeremy Warmsley, with additional music also by Jeremy, and by Blue Dot Sessions.
Research and production assistance from Nadia Mehdi.
Cover collage by Stephanie Hartman.
If you’ve enjoyed what you heard, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and tell a friend!
And if you enjoy listening to Lecker in general, and have enjoyed this series so far, please consider becoming a patron of the podcast at patreon.com/leckerpodcast

Aspirational kitchens are an integral part of our food media, but where did they come from? And what does it mean for those who can never attain a beautiful, cookbook-worthy kitchen? Design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan explores what came before the fitted kitchen, and how the room itself has shape-shifted drastically over the 20th century. And food writer and author Ruby Tandoh considers the aspirational kitchen in food writing.
Episode 1 of Kitchens, a podcast series by Lecker about the most important room in the home.
You can find a full transcript for this episode on the Lecker website.
Lecker is written and produced by Lucy Dearlove.
Thanks to the contributors on this episode, Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan and Ruby Tandoh.
There’s also a print zine featuring original essays and illustrations about kitchens released alongside this audio series. Buy a copy now at leckerpodcast.com
Original theme music was composed for the series by Jeremy Warmsley, with additional music also by Jeremy, and by Blue Dot Sessions
Research and production assistance from Nadia Mehdi.
Additional guest research by Sarah Woolley.
Cover collage by Stephanie Hartman
If you’ve enjoyed what you heard on this episode, or generally on Lecker, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening, and telling a friend about it! And if you’ve really enjoyed listening to this episode, or are a big fan of the podcast in general already, please consider becoming a patron of the podcast at patreon.com/leckerpodcast

Wall-mounted cabinets, continuous work surfaces, oven, hob, sink, fridge. Maybe a table, often not. Could this be describing your kitchen? The fitted kitchen is ubiquitous in British homes. But we all have different lives, tastes, needs; we cook different foods. How did we all end up with the same kitchen? Rooted in the memories and personal stories embedded in people's kitchens, Kitchens is a six part podcast series combining the history of design and food to understand the current context of how and where we cook. Lucy Dearlove meets contemporary academicians such as design historian Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan and legendary kitchen designer Johnny Grey, along with contributors like disability campaigner Katie Pennick and food writer Ruby Tandoh to explore the past, present and potential future of the British kitchen.
The series starts 16th August.
Original theme music was composed for the series by Jeremy Warmsley.
The collage for the series cover art was designed by Stephanie Hartman.

Many people have celebrated special occasions differently this year, finding ways to recreate communal food traditions for themselves. Our feasts may have shrunk, but we're still joined together through the kitchen and through the plate.
In this episode, hear four stories of personal food rituals reimagined and recreated in 2020: Jane's bread sauce, Emma and Ingrid's Venezuelan ham bread, Adi's Bacalhau com natas and Pratyusha's pongal.
Music
Quiet Sill by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Solemn Application by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
The Big Ten by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
A Catalog of Seasons by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Gusty Hollow by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Mogul by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Silent Flock by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)

Anne Willan has more than 60 years experience as a teacher, author, and culinary historian, and over 30 books to her name. Speaking to me around the release of her new book, Women In The Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined The Way We Eat from 1661 to Today (Simon & Schuster), she shared some stories from her amazing life in food.
I would be really grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to fill out the Lecker Listener Survey!

TV chef and cookbook author Rachel Khoo talks about privilege, being mixed race in the UK food industry and her new show Simple Pleasures.
You can buy the Simple Pleasures eBook for £5 here, with all proceeds going to the Film and TV Charity UK.

Although she’s originally from the Isle of Man, Katie Callin has never made the most traditionally Manx of all foods: the bonnag - a soda raised baked good with links to the nation’s pre-industrial past, and to its folklore too.
She returns to her family home in St Johns on the west coast of the island to enter the World Bonnag Championships and, under the guidance of her mum Vanessa, she uncovers the secrets of great bonnag making.
Music:
Blue Dot Sessions - Chapel Bottom (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Home Home At Last (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Stale Case (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Petaluma (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Plaid Shapes (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Cicle Veroni (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - The Spills (https://www.sessions.blue/)
Blue Dot Sessions - Flagger (https://www.sessions.blue/)

Sean Blake is (in his own words) a part time food and drink photographer, music producer, low skilled worker and full time dad. He’s a big advocate for making food and drink more approachable and less wanky, and he makes the best cocktails of anyone I've ever met. Having managed the bar and designed menus for the likes of the Polpo group, Brunswick House, Pitt Cue Co, run Sean's Bar pop ups all over London, been a YBF finalist, and co-founded Corals in Peckham with Lerryn Whitfield, I thought he would be a great person to talk to about making the most interesting drinks possible with the dregs of your cupboards. But it turns out there's a much bigger conversation to be had about the future of drinking once this is all over.
You can find Sean on instagram @eatseanblake; I'm sharing some of his incredible photography on the Lecker instagram too @leckerpodcast.
Support your local bar/pub/distillery/brewery at this time. Sean recommends Sweet Dram, a distillery founded in Peckham, now based in Edinburgh. They normally make Escubac but have switched to producing hand sanitiser. He's getting beer from Gypsy Hill Brewery (my local is Brick Brewery and their fruit sours are the best.)
A lot of bars are also doing pre-pay drinks schemes: so you buy now and drink once they re-open. Check out your local bars to see if they're doing something similar.
Any struggling hospitality workers should look into Speciality drinks/Suntory bartender packages available online for struggling hospitality workers.
The newsletter I mentioned at the end of the episode is Vittles: Jonathan Nunn is commissioning so many interesting people to write about food and some incredibly important topics are being covered. Subscribe and support if you can afford to.
Music:
Blue Dot Sessions - Low Light Switch

When our food supply is threatened, or feels like it is, preserving fresh produce is a natural response. Jelena Belgrave, whose fermentation class I took part in over Zoom last week, grew up with communal preservation traditions in her native Serbia; she explores via voicenotes how the instinct to store food for herself and her family is rooted in her own history.
You can read more about Jelena and her work on her website oblutak.co.uk and find her on Instagram @potsandfoodtoshare.
Music:
Blue Dot Sessions - Lakal