The SPK Book Club Irene Olivo & Margaux Vialleron

Today the Salmon Pink Kitchen podcast gets a yellow makeover for a special episode in which Irene and Margaux discuss writing processes and Margaux’s debut novel, The Yellow Kitchen (spoiler free). 
‘A heady mix of politics, friendship, sex and food, poignant, provocative and utterly distinctive’ — Paula Hawkins 
‘’An exquisite novel — beautifully rendered, powerfully told, and so deeply felt. I urge you to read this novel — you will never forget it’ — Lucia Osborne-Crowley 
The Yellow Kitchen is Books Are My Bag’s July #IndieBookoftheMonth and is publishing on Thursday 7th July. In the meantime, you can already pre-order a copy from your favourite indie #ChooseBookshops. This episode is introduced by Irene, who reads (and sings!) an extract from The Yellow Kitchen. 
Recommendations from today’s episode:
Writers’ Hour
In Writing with Hattie Crisell 
If you enjoy this podcast, please remember to rate and subscribe as it’ll help others to find us. We’ll be back for a new season after the summer holiday, salmon pink promise!
Irene & Margaux 

In this new episode of the Salmon Pink Kitchen podcast, Irene and Margaux welcome Numra Siddiqui, head chef and owner of Empress Market, to discuss storytelling in the kitchen.  
With Numra, we retraced her journey from an office job to running a hospitality brand where she combines food, family traditions and storytelling. From selecting ingredients to planning a menu, doing the maths and picking dishwares, this episode is filled with tips and Numra’s love for a good story. 
This podcast is introduced by the brilliant spoken word artist Amani Saeed, who reads her poem ‘Vermillon’. 
Margaux Vialleron’s novel, The Yellow Kitchen, is publishing on 7th July! Pre-orders are hugely important for debut authors so if you can, please consider pre-ordering your copy from your favourite bookshops and retailers. Thank you for your support. 
Recommendations from today’s episode:
Parcha, the Empress Market newsletter
Food and Feminism, an Empress Market interview with Nida Bilgrami and Nida Jehangir
If These Meals Could Talk, a 6-part series
The Hen-nah Party, an open mic night
Queer Parivaar, a film by Shiva Raichandani and produced by Huma Qazi
The Salmon Pink Kitchen monthly newsletter
If you enjoy this podcast, please remember to rate and subscribe as it’ll help others to find us. This is the last episode of our 3rd season and we’ll return soon, salmon pink promise! 

In this new episode of the Salmon Pink Kitchen podcast, Irene and Margaux welcome chef and food writer Claire Thomson to chat all things writing cookbooks. 
Claire is the author of seven cookery books and her new book, Tomato, will be published in June by Quadrille Publishing. You can pre-order your copy now. With Claire, we took a journey through her cookery books, motherhood, feeding a family, working in kitchens, confidence, and using her Instagram account as a tool to spark ideas for recipes and to invite us all to find our blueprint in the kitchen. 
Claire’s knowledge of food and her confidence in the kitchen are contagious, and we can’t wait for you all to be energised by this episode! Here’s a link to Claire’s cookbooks; we are cooking our way through Home Cookery Year and we couldn’t recommend it more.
Springtime has come and the publication of our own Margaux Vialleron’s novel, The Yellow Kitchen, is approaching and we cannot wait! TYK will be published by Simon & Schuster on 7th July 2022 and you can pre-order your copy from your favourite bookshops and retailers! 
Recommendations from today’s episode:
Claire’s Instagram reel on the women food writers and chefs who have inspired her 
Writers and cookbooks we mentioned in this episode:
Elizabeth David
Jane Grigson
Marcella Hazan
Claudia Roden
Diana Henry
Nigella Lawson
The River Café cookbooks
Elizabeth Luard
Rachel Roddy
Anna Tasca Lanza cookbooks and cooking school
We attended the opening night of the British Library Food Season with the event dedicated to the #CookForUkraine campaign, hosting the incredible Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina in conversation with Caroline Eden. It was hands down the best talk we have ever been to and we are so grateful for all the work Olia and Alissa are doing to raise funds, awareness, help with visas and also with stocking your kitchens with ingredients to help Ukrainian refugees to feel at home. 
You can buy Olia’s, Alissa’s and Caroline’s cookbooks from the links below:
Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules
Salt & Time by Alissa Timoshkina
Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes - Through Darkness and Light by Caroline Eden
Check out the rest of the Food Season’s events,

In the first episode of this third season of the Salmon Pink Kitchen podcast, Irene and Margaux welcome writer and cook Rebecca May Johnson. 
With Rebecca, we returned to the basics of tomato sauce, cooking together over Zoom as we talked about documenting home cooking, Rebecca’s 10-year old dinner document blog, which has just been turned into a Substack, and her upcoming memoir Small Fires: An Epic in the Kitchen, which will be published by Pushkin Press in August 2022. You can pre-order your copy here or from your favourite indie. 
‘Cooking is thinking,’ as Rebecca says, and in this moving conversation we discussed the marks we leave and the revolutions that can start from the kitchen. We can’t wait for you to join us at the hob.

Some news! Our very own Margaux Vialleron has written a novel (!!!). The Yellow Kitchen will be published by Simon & Schuster on 7th July 2022 and you can pre-order your copy from your favourite bookshops and retailers! 


Recommendations from today’s episode:
Small Fires: An Epic in the Kitchen by Rebecca May Johnson
Substack: dinner document by Rebecca May Johnson
The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book by Alice B. Toklas 
Look Here by Ana Kinsella
Marcella Hazan’s cookbooks
McGee on Food and Cooking: an Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture by Harold McGee

Olia Hercules’ salo recipe from Summer Kitchens

400 Ricette della Cucina Piacentina cookbook edited by Carmen Artocchini
‘My Life is not my own. I eat, breathe and sleep this’: the single mother who has fed 100,000 neighbours as published in The Guardian 
Cookery classes at Bottega Caruso in Margate
Franchi: seeds of Italy
The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

The Salmon Pink Kitchen ends 2021 with a live recipe swap! 
For this episode, Irene and Margaux missioned their listeners to send through recipes that celebrate the cooks they are and/or their kitchens. Grab a snack and a drink of your choice and settle in as we dress 10 supper tables in honour of the women artists and writers we celebrated in our newsletter through 2021. 
Click here to subscribe to our monthly Salmon Pink Newsletter. 
N.B. make sure you have a pen and a notebook: this episode is filled with recipes and tips! 

Our menu for this episode: 
Supper one: The Table of Babe Paley (04:22)
Giulia’s beetroot, goat’s cheese and rocket risotto (@pizzalikesgiulia)
Supper two: The Table of Marguerite Duras (06:54)
Cécile’s leftover soup (@cecil.rdt)

Supper three: The Table of Eileen Chang (08:24)
Matt’s spiced aubergine rice (@mattb085)
Supper four: The Table of Maya Angelou (11:27)
Chiara’s cotoletta (@chiarariviezzi)
Davide and Claudia’s ragù (@clajolivo & @bomberalba_9)
Valentina’s chocolate cake (@v4le.p) 
Supper five: The Table of Nora Ephron (22:13)
Alyce and Alexis’ halloumi and mushroom burgers (@alycegabrielle)
Sean’s brutti ma buoni (@seanoftheshire)
Supper six: The Table of Natalia Ginzburg (26:08)
Alessandra’s crazy cabbage (@muchwritingaboutnothing)
Ludo’s minestrone 
Supper seven: The Table of Betsy Talbot Blackwell (32:35)
Jack’s tuna ragù (@jackclondon1992)
Jemima’s Belgian biscuit cake (@jemimaforrester)
Supper eight: The Table of Jan Morris (38:06)
Diya and her father’s biryani (@diyas.dinner)
Georgina’s sponge cake (@georginabbrookes)
Supper nine: The Table of Tove Jansson (48:02)
Lauren’s red pepper sauce (@sneezykitchen)
Maria’s open sandwich (@mariadinca)
Elisa’s pesche dolci (@ipnotista_dottssaelisacassi)
Supper ten: The Table of Toni Morrison (55:43)
Graham’s pasta pie (@gzoxley)
Elisa’s risotto with gorgonzola, pear and walnuts (@elyyogalife)
Dragos and Nora’s banana bread (@dragospopescu92 & @norracs)
Midnight snack with Louise Bourgeois (1:04:44)

Irene & Margaux’s 2021 round-up: 
Our top Book Club Reads of 2021:
Irene: Once Upon a Time in the East by Xiaolu Guo
Margaux: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Our top Fiction Reads of 2021:
Irene: Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Margaux: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 


Our top Non-Fiction Reads of 2021:
Irene: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Margaux: In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova 

In this episode Irene and Margaux welcome writer, poet, academic and editor Anna Sulan Masing for a salmon pink dinner party (oui oui, an actual IRL dinner party!).  
With Anna, we spoke about spirits, bread making and the pomodoro technique, collaborative work, food and academia, the fake meat industry, storytelling, culture appropriation in the kitchen, garlic and ginger and much more.  
Anna (@AnnaSulan) is the founder and editor-in-chief of both SOURCED and CHEESE, the magazine of culture. 
Our menu for this episode:
Courgette carpaccio and aubergine caponata, served with wholemeal breadHomemade pappardelle with fennel, radicchio, soya cream and parmesan (this recipe was taken from Rachel Roddy’s An A-Z of Pasta)Plum frangipane tartRecommendations from today’s episode:
One Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones (2021)
A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones (2014)
An A-Z of Pasta by Rachel Roddy (2021)
The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy (1992, 1994, 1998)
Chicago Fire, a TV series available on Netflix

And you can read more about our bread routine here.