The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.

Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12 week subscription in print and online,

along with a free £20 £10,000 or Waitrose voucher.

Go to spectator.com. UK forward slash voucher.

Hello and welcome to Table Talk, the Spectator's Food and Drink podcast. I'm Laura Prendergast.

And I'm Olivia Potts. And today we're delighted to be joined by Claire Dinut. Claire is also known as Condiment Claire on social media. And she is a creator, host, cook and writer.

A Harvard-educated historian, she's become known for her guides to the world's condiments via her social media. Her new book, which is out now, is called The Condiment Book,

and it looks at how condiments are a pillar of food, cooking and eating,

and covers everything from recipes to flavour pairings,

condiments from across the globe and fascinating historical facts. Claire, welcome to table talk.

Hello, thank you so much for having me. Claire, we're going to start where we always do

at the beginning and ask you, what are your earliest memories of food? You know, I've been listening

to your podcast all week and I've been thinking

about this nonstop because I would say most of my memories are based on flavor. So it's hard to

pinpoint one exact one. But I would say the first solid food I ever had was actually a garlic

anchovy. And I just remember, I was sitting on my mom's lap and the look of horror, like all of my

family that was sitting across the table. And I think that was the moment that really stuck with me,

because I guess as a child, I did not realize that garlic anchovies were not a food for a two-year-old.

But otherwise, I guess in terms of a tradition that is a memory that I still kind of relive every year.

So even as a child, it really stuck with me was every June, my family goes back to France because my father's side of the family is French.

And every June, that's when the cherries are ripe.

And so it's just climbing into the cherry trees and knowing that the second I touched out in France, I'll be able to run to the farm and get some

...