This episode of Table Talk is sponsored by J-Food-O, dedicated to sharing the best Japan has to offer.

Over the next few months, J-Food-O and a selection of London restaurants will create seafood and sake pairings for spectator listeners to help develop your knowledge and enjoyment of the drink.

The pairing will focus on the concept of umami, which in Japanese

means the essence of deliciousness.

Hello and welcome to Table Talk, the Spectators' Food and Drink podcast. I'm Olivia Potts.

And I'm Lara Prendergast. And today we're delighted to be joined by Lance Foreman. Lance is the owner of H. Foreman and

Son, Britain's leading salmon smokers, and author of Foreman's Games. He was elected a Brexit

Party MEP for London at the 2019 European election, but quit the party during the 2019 general election

to endorse the Conservatives and formally joined them in January 2020. He was previously a special

advisor to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Lance, welcome to table talk. Delighted to be here.

Lance, as listeners know, we always start with the same question, which is, what are your

earliest memories of food?

My earliest memories of food, goodness.

I'm sure I was probably fed like most babies are with little sort of fruit purees stuffed down

your throat and most of it sort of dripping around your chin. But I do remember,

obviously being in the smokeshomond business, I do remember as a very young child, probably about

six years old, maybe, maybe even slightly younger. My dad used to bring home a side of smoked salmon

at the weekend. And it was always a treat and he he taught me

to carve it then when I was six holding a very sharp knife I'm sure he would have been taken

away now but back in those days you know it was something that you did because there was no such

I mean you couldn't buy smoke salmon in a supermarket 40 what well, 40, what I was talking about, 50 years ago.

You'd only buy it somewhere where they'd sort of carve it at the counter for you.

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