University College London

The Kitchen Cabinet

BBC

Arts, Food

4.6 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jay Rayner and the panel are at the Institute of Making at University College London. Joining Jay to answer questions from an audience of keen home cooks are chefs and food writers Melissa Thompson, Jocky Petrie, Tim Anderson and, on home turf, materials expert Dr Zoe Laughlin.

The panel discuss the trials and tribulations of fermentation at home, the Peruvian delicacy involving bacteria from feet, and whether Jocky's knife collection is excessive. Later in the show, Zoe puts the noisiest of foods to the test with her very own UCL food 'choir' to assess which lunches make the loudest crunches.

Produced by Dan Cocker Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:06.1	Can I just say?
0:07.6	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:10.0	It's such a wonderful listen.
0:11.7	So nice.
0:12.5	There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.
0:14.8	Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.
0:17.9	Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.
0:20.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:22.6	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:27.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:31.2	And she's had to live with that.
0:32.8	So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.
0:35.8	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:39.7	Sort of expecting that every week now.
0:45.2	Hello and welcome to the first in a new series of The Kitchen Cabinet. This week we've come to a place of learning 200 years in the making. Founded in 1826, University College London, is heralded
0:51.2	as a progressive institution, the UK's first alternative to the established
0:55.8	religious universities, and the first to welcome women into higher education alongside men.
1:01.0	Traditionally found in the heart of bourgeois, Fitzrovia, Bloomsbury borders, two years ago,
1:05.9	UCL opened a sister campus, UCL East, on Stratford's Olympic Park, and that's where we are today.
1:12.0	We're guests of the Institute of Making Home to our Resident Materials expert and the Institute's
1:16.9	director, Dr Zoe Loughlin.
	...

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