The Strange World of Spuds & Natural Wine! | Secret Life of Food

Matt & Olly's Secret Life of Food

Matt Tebbett and Olly Smith dive into the quirky world of potatoes, exploring everything from historic Jersey Royals and vintage jacket potato vending machines to the

Key takeaways

• The first toy ever advertised on television was Mr. Potato Head, highlighting potatoes' deep cultural footprint in Western media.
• Reheating cooked potatoes increases their resistant starch content, lowering the glycemic index and making them healthier for blood sugar management.

Main topics

• Potato history and cultivation
• Natural wine production methods

Notable quotes

"Natural wine is kind of the sourdoughification, if you like, of alcohol. It's nothing added."

Conclusion

Listeners gain a refreshed appreciation for humble ingredients like pota

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) The Secret Life of Food podcast brought to you by All Good Things, the wine brand created for moments of connection, bringing people together to celebrate all of life's good things. Speaker 1 (0:08) Hi, I'm Matt Tebbert. And I'm Oli Smith. This is The Secret Life of Food. Now, we've been mates for a very long time. Right. Speaker 2 (0:15) Everyone's baffled by it. Speaker 1 (0:16) Like 25 years or something like that. At Speaker 2 (0:18) least, Speaker 1 (0:18) at least. We've eaten and drunk our way through many different countries. Now, we really obsess over food. We look at a plate. and we take it apart. It's true, we do that. And I think that every plate Speaker 2 (0:29) has something to say, every dish has got a secret tale to tell, and every bottle has a message in it. And just to share it with the world, it's our Speaker 1 (0:37) mission. So what we thought is we'd sit in some uncomfortable chairs, we'd put some microphones in front of us, and we'd talk to you about it. I mean, it's going to make sense because Matt is going to bring the Speaker 2 (0:47) food. He's going to bring the drinks. And then together we'll have a bit of a laugh. Speaker 1 (0:50) So get ready, strap in. This is The Secret Life of Food. Speaker 1 (0:58) Food or fake? Let's play it. Food or fake? Grotty dick. Oh, that is an absolute food. Is Speaker 2 (1:05) it? I was going to hope. I mean, I'm going to say fake because I don't know. Food, food, food, food. Speaker 1 (1:10) Wow. Do you know what it is? I've heard the thing. Hang on. Is it your stage name? It's a... Oh, what is it? So spotted dick. Speaker 2 (1:19) It's got to be something to do with like things in things. That sounded... I can't remember, Speaker 1 (1:25) but it's 100 % a real food. Okay, groggy dick, a real food. I thought it was fake, so I'm going down. Speaker 2 (1:32) Next one, food or fake? Speaker 2 (1:35) Panty dropper. Speaker 1 (1:38) Wow. I've had many cocktails like that. I know you have. You've invented them. Wow. That's great. I really want that to be true. I'm going to say fake. I'm going to say food. Do you know it could be a cocktail, couldn't it? It could actually Speaker 2 (1:52) be a cocktail. A panty dropper. I mean, you'd order that. 100 % I would. Especially if you had blue. Just for the name. Blue stuff in it. Right. Food or fake. The goblin's armpit. No Speaker 1 (2:04) way. No way. I'm completely no way on that. No, Speaker 2 (2:07) that Speaker 1 (2:07) is a fake. I really want it to be. What would it... I mean, how could that be food? Speaker 2 (2:12) I Speaker 1 (2:12) mean, that would be like... Although that could be a beer. That could be one of those flat-worn beers that you find in those old pubs. Do you know... With, like, just kegs. Sometimes... Where there's full of walkers with beards. Sauvignon Blanc can sometimes smell a bit armpitty as well. Sometimes. A Speaker 2 (2:31) bit sweaty, Speaker 1 (2:31) like tomato leaf, Speaker 2 (2:32) armpitty. So what are we thinking? I'm thinking it's definitely fake because nobody's going to say, yeah, my wine smells like a goblin's Speaker 1 (2:37) armpit. Speaker 2 (2:37) Goblin's armpit. Speaker 1 (2:38) I'm going to go food. You would, wouldn't you? I've Speaker 2 (2:41) got Speaker 1 (2:41) three Speaker 2 (2:41) foods. Speaker 1 (2:42) Okay, I'm going fake. I'm Speaker 2 (2:43) going Speaker 1 (2:43) to win this. You probably are. That's annoying. Speaker 2 (2:45) You'll never live that down. Speaker 1 (2:46) You're the most competitive person ever. I'm quite competitive, secretly. Quite? Yes, a little bit. Everyone knows how competitive you are. Really? You're a mastermind. I Speaker 2 (2:53) did win mastermind. That was very exciting. But I can't win running races. Speaker 1 (3:00) How are you at the parent race at Sports Day? Speaker 2 (3:03) Well, I left it to Soph. My wife is super fit and used to win all of them. She's like running, jumping, getting the other parents. So she'd have to go and stand Speaker 1 (3:11) in with all the other blokes at the parents' race. That's my wife. You sat there with your parasol. Yeah, exactly. Speaker 2 (3:18) And your Speaker 1 (3:19) hanky. My lavender Speaker 2 (3:20) bouquet. Your lavender bouquet. Oh, it is a sin, but my strong wife Speaker 1 (3:24) doth win so Speaker 2 (3:26) well at medley. I do say I love my wife. Speaker 1 (3:30) She's amazing. Speaker 1 (3:35) So we're gonna talk about potatoes, right? So I'm gonna give you a few there's an actual hotel in Idaho the potato hotel and it's shaped like a giant baked potato I Speaker 2 (3:44) do actually like the sound of that. Imagine that! I am imagining it. It's enormous. I am slightly obsessed with potatoes I grow them and I do so I love my new potatoes. Your wife Speaker 1 (3:56) digs them Speaker 2 (3:56) out the ground Speaker 1 (3:58) Sometimes I have been known to do. I can Speaker 2 (4:01) snip the asparagus, but I can't take the potatoes. Do Speaker 1 (4:04) you grow asparagus? Speaker 2 (4:04) Of Speaker 1 (4:04) course I grow asparagus. Yeah, I grow everything. I love it. It's a bit of a long game, asparagus. Speaker 2 (4:10) Yes, I've just planted a load more crowns for a bed that will come up in three, two years. I Speaker 1 (4:14) love Speaker 2 (4:14) how you switched into serious. I love my asparagus. But potatoes, I... I do this thing called, I call them Christmas potatoes, which just means ignoring them until Christmas day. They're digging them up and going, Christmas Speaker 1 (4:25) potatoes! Hooray, hooray, they've arrived. They've arrived. Everyone wants on their table a Christmas potato. They Speaker 2 (4:32) taste Speaker 1 (4:32) quite nice, amazingly. Do they grow better in colder weather? I Speaker 2 (4:37) think they just shut down. I mean, I think Speaker 1 (4:40) you Speaker 2 (4:40) can... They shut down Speaker 1 (4:40) after 25 degrees or so. There you go. Another fact. So they're basically being stored Speaker 2 (4:44) in the cold Speaker 1 (4:45) earth and hopefully not going rotten. But I've served them to people and they've not died. The Christmas potato. The Christmas potato. God bless you, sir. Thank Speaker 2 (4:51) you, sir. Do you give them to Speaker 1 (4:52) the villagers? All about them. Back, you devils. Speaker 2 (4:55) Back. No, Speaker 1 (4:58) I don't. Anyway, yes, potato facts. I like the hotel. The ancient Incas who lived there, potatoes, they used to measure time by how long it took to boil a potato. Speaker 2 (5:08) You're... Speaker 1 (5:09) Joking. Anyway, more importantly, the first ever toy that was advertised on TV was... Ta-da! Mr. Potato Head. Mr. Potato Head. Speaker 2 (5:17) Put his little eyes in. Sam, on the inkers, would they have potato time for Mr. Potato to... I don't know. I'm playing with Mr. Speaker 1 (5:23) Potato. I Speaker 2 (5:23) mean, they're so Speaker 1 (5:24) cute. Mr. Potato Head. That's actually remarkably well achieved in such a short period of time. So that's that. So London markets, right. I don't know what I've got these spoons for. Right, so... Sit comfortably. London markets back in the 1800s used to sell 10 tonnes of jack potatoes a day. For people to eat? Yeah. Well, throw them at villagers. I'm not building potato hotels. No. So 10 tonnes. And also, we used to have vending machines in the 1980s and 90s for jack potato. Did you ever remember those? Because we're children of the 80s and the 90s. I remember Speaker 2 (5:56) buying Shandy Bass hoping that it had alcohol in it from vending machines. Well, did it not? It had a little bit. Speaker 1 (6:02) Anyway. Spuds are, they're back with a vengeance. They've now gone viral. I hate that phrase. Speaker 2 (6:07) Was this Mr. Spud on the internet who's done his Spuds? Mr. Spud. Mr. Spud. Lord Spud. Speaker 1 (6:11) If Speaker 2 (6:11) you mean Speaker 1 (6:12) Spudman. Spudman. Mr. Spud. King Spud. Spudman. Spudman, he started selling potatoes in a van in Staffordshire. He now tours the UK with merch. Can I just put it out there? I think they're bloody boring. Potatoes? I'm not a potato fan. I love the things. I like a potato salad. Yes. Speaker 2 (6:33) Now, controversially, you know that I used to pick Jersey Royals when I lived in Jersey. Of course you did. I know. It was a job. I bet you Speaker 1 (6:39) used to go around the fields with your lyre, playing to the... Playing to the fairies. Playing Speaker 2 (6:44) to all the Speaker 1 (6:44) pickers. All Speaker 2 (6:44) of that, yeah. No, I did actually pick the Spuds. Because you didn't grow up in Jersey. I did, yeah, yeah. From the age of like three... up to like my parents left when we were in our 20s my dear dad was a teacher and my mum was a nurse they were they were actually imported as essential employees really true facts yeah so um it is lovely just oh it's beautiful and and the spuds are great and the produce is amazing and the coastline is incredible berserak's the best thing ever but for me i love the jersey raw but i know that you feel that the cornish ones the welsh ones they've also got their place i think they're as Speaker 1 (7:14) good i think the jersey royal is obviously very nice and I love the papery skins that you can scrub off because people don't, they scrub them too hard. Speaker 2 (7:26) Or they Speaker 1 (7:26) don't scrub them at all. You need to put them in Speaker 2 (7:28) a Speaker 1 (7:28) condom. You get one of those wooden brushes, you know those eco brushes that you wash pans with? Do you use that on your leathery back? Yeah, and I use that to scrub those skins off and some of it stays on, some of it doesn't. And I think they're delicious. Speaker 2 (7:40) My favourite potato recipe with Jersey Royals, I actually like to keep it really simple. I just, Bit of salt, bit of mayonnaise. But I'm totally into things like marjoram, oregano, thyme, any of those really kind of quite pungent Mediterranean flavours. Thrash that through a bit of yoghurt. Stick a potato up it. Brilliant. Speaker 1 (7:59) Yoghurt? Speaker 2 (7:59) Yoghurt. What do you call it? The kefir yoghurt. Speaker 1 (8:02) Oh, give over. I Speaker 2 (8:04) love Speaker 1 (8:04) it. It's tasty. Fizzy yoghurt. It's delicious. Oh, Speaker 2 (8:06) give Speaker 1 (8:06) over. Speaker 2 (8:07) It's what my blood is made of. Fizzy yogurt. Cut me. I bleed fizzy yogurt. Speaker 1 (8:13) And if they do, I want to talk about Jersey and roller discos. Oh, Speaker 2 (8:16) yes, Speaker 1 (8:16) Jersey and Speaker 2 (8:17) roller discos. Oh, you know what? It was wonderful growing up there. I kind of started my wine career there in a little wine shop around the back of the