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Hello and welcome to Table Talk, the Spectators' Food and Drink podcast.

I'm Olivia Potts, and today we are delighted to be joined by Julian Begini.

Julian is a philosopher, journalist and author of over 20 books. He has served as the academic director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and is a member of the Food Ethics Council.

His latest book, How the World Eats, a Global Food Philosophy, is published by Granta and out now.

Julian, welcome to Table Talk. Thank you for having me, Olivia. We're going to start where we always do at the very beginning and ask you, what are your earliest

memories of food?

Well, I think the earliest memory of a meal which I really enjoyed was Shepherd's Pie.

Actually, it was probably a cottage pie, if you're going to be pedantic, but in our household

we call it Shepherd's Pie. And I don't know, as like a four or five- you're going to be pedantic. But in our household, we called it shepherd's pie.

And I don't know.

As like a four or five-year-old, I love this.

I remember I had a birthday party.

It was what I wanted to have for the party.

It's just that sort of savoury meatiness.

And I love the way the potato got really crispy on the top.

You had that little crust. So yeah, Shepard's Pie was my first food love, I think.

And is it still something you love now?

No.

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