Ruthie's Table 4

Welcome to Season Six! 

How did growing up in a household affected by heroin, surrounded by jazz greats, shape Nile Rodgers? How did his Barbadian grandmother’s lessons about spices influence him? And what was it really like working with Madonna, David Bowie and Michael Jackson?

In the first episode of Season Six, I sat down with Nile to explore his remarkable life, from his childhood in New York and joining the Black Panther Party at 16 to forming Chic and creating some of pop music’s biggest records. He shared stories of Thelonious Monk and Dizzy...

We’re back!

The sixth season of Ruthie’s Table 4 begins Tuesday, 3 November.

Steve Martin and Martin Short tell us why grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup make the perfect Christmas dinner. Nile Rodgers remembers cooking with his grandmother in Barbados. Bertha González Nieves takes us to the agave fields where she fell in love with tequila, while Thandiwe Newton talks about reclaiming her name and her Zimbabwean heritage.

These are just some of the stories and intimate conversations I’ve been having around the table, and I’d love you to join us.<...

With Richard E. Grant delighting audiences on The Traitors, we’re looking back at this special episode of Ruthie’s Table 4. I remember Richard and his wife Joan in the early days of The River Cafe, coming in for lunch and sitting at the same table, always warm, lovely and absorbed in each other. More than thirty years later, Richard and I share the loss of the partners we loved. We came together to talk about family, food, friendship and, above all, the enduring joy of love.

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This week, we’re looking back at Gary Lineker’s visit to The River Cafe.

Over the table, we travelled from his childhood in Leicester and the food of his mother’s kitchen to the football pitches of Barcelona. We talked about fame, family, and the importance of speaking out for refugees and compassion. Gary made potato gnocchi with tomato sauce alongside our chef Joseph Trivelli, and revealed his love of cottage pie.

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This week, we’re looking back to the summer morning we shared with Cate Blanchett, who joined me at The River Cafe after her run in Thomas Ostermeier’s The Seagull.

We talked about the pleasures of touring a play, growing up between American and Australian food traditions, silent meals after losing her father, teenage dinner parties inspired by a Salvador Dalí cookbook, the joys of growing food, and her love of sake. 

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This week, we’re revisiting our live episode with Sarah Jessica Parker. And what a guest she was.

Sarah has always had a deep love of food, so we had plenty to talk about: from the role of food in Sex and the City, where so many memorable conversations unfolded around a meal, to growing up as one of eight children and cooking every night with Matthew Broderick.

She cooked puntarelle in the kitchen with Sian Wyn Owen, took questions from our audience, shared her thoughts on airplane food, revealed her perfect pork chops, and he...

During our between-season break, we’re revisiting some of our favourite conversations from the Ruthie’s Table 4 archive.

This week, we're looking back to when Benedict Cumberbatch joined me at The River Cafe to talk about Negronis with Wes Anderson, growing up in a theatrical family, body transformations, and cooking for his children.

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As we look forward to Series 6 in October, we’re revisiting some of our favourite episodes of Ruthie’s Table 4.

Zoe Saldaña was a force from the moment she entered the restaurant back in 2025. She told us stories about her grandmother’s coconut desserts, how her family dances through life, and what it was like growing up in Queens.

We talked about Caribbean soups, Dominican cooking and New York pizza — and by the end of the episode, we were all ready to eat.

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Whether in film, music, books or television, food can be a source of inspiration or integral to the way we work.

In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about the shared ingredients of what we do, with Gayle King, Mark Ronson, Graham Norton, Emerald Fennell – the director of Wuthering Heights, and Patrick Radden Keefe – the author of London Falling.

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I've always thought we judge a culture by the way we feed our poor, our sick and our prisoners.

In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about food and politics, in conversation with Jacinda Ardern, documentary filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, CBS conflict producer Erin Lyall, writer and critic Hilton Als, Annie Leibovitz, and Kamala Harris.

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It may come as no surprise that I have a special interest in restaurants. The River Café is where I work, where I record this podcast, and where I spend so much of my life.

In this special compilation episode of Ruthie’s Table 4, we’re talking about restaurants—how to run them and why they matter—with stories and memories from Piers Morgan, Jamie Oliver, Marina Hyde and Richard Osman, Tracey Emin, and Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.

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Childhood kitchens, our parents' cooking—the food we eat when we're young stays with us for life. This special compilation of Ruthie's Table 4 celebrates food and childhood, featuring memories from Kamala Harris, Mayor Sadiq Khan, architect Ab Rogers, Marina Hyde and Richard Osman, and Rashida Jones.

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As a farewell to series 5, I'm joined by Sian Wyn Owen to take you behind the scenes at The River Café during the recent heatwaves this summer—what we cooked and how we served.

And Season 6 is on the way, starting off with the stars of Only Murders in the Building, Steve Martin and Martin Short, in an episode full of laughter, food memories, and banjo playing.

See you in October!

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Dorothée Boissier is an interior designer and co-founder of the Gilles & Boissier studio. Together with her husband, Patrick Gilles, she creates exquisite architecture and interiors around the world.

Today, we're at Moncler's beautiful flagship store on the Champs-Élysées, designed by Dorothée and Patrick. We'll talk about Paris, food, their creative partnership, and the art of designing restaurants.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Good food and good clothes should do the same thing: make you feel instantly comfortable, confident, and completely at home.

In this episode Ruthie sits down with Clare Hornby, the visionary entrepreneur founder and CEO of ME+EM. Clare has built the UK's fastest-growing luxury label by mastering "intelligent style" -creating crafted, functional wardrobes for women.

Bound by a shared love for exceptional ingredients in food and fashion, Ruthie and Clare talk about friendship, building a business from scratch, the food memories that shape them, and much much more.

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Ruthie speaks to her brother, screenwriter and author Michael Elias, about his latest novel, Bender's LA.

In the coke-dusted canyons and deal-making rooms of 1970s Los Angeles, writer David Bender sets out to remake his life - romantically, professionally, and spiritually - after his wife walks out in Puerto Vallarta with a single sentence and a suitcase.

Order a copy now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Benders-L-Michael-Elias/dp/B0GWC41TVM

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Zanny Minton Beddoes and I have different professions, and different workplaces. As editor-in-chief of The Economist, hers is in the newsroom mine is the kitchen.

But we have much in common, sharing a message of honesty - me with ingredients, Zanny with words. 
 
And we both have time limits - in the case of this conversation, just 20 minutes which we recorded live onstage at the Google Zeitgeist conference. In this brief time, we explored her work and life through the lens of food.

And what a life it is.

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Ab Rogers explains his fascination with wine and why he prefers grapes that have had to fight for their survival.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Ab Rogers is a visionary designer. He is also my stepson.

For over 50 years, we’ve been side by side, taking adventures together. 

Today, we’re together in the River Cafe to share  stories  - memories of his father and my husband Richard Rogers - travels, families, work and food.

We will also talk about five women who inspired the way he cooks, and the creative methods he uses to bring ingredients together, creating some of the most delicious food I’ve eaten in my life.

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Erin Lyall, a conflict producer for CBS News, reveals what it's like to eat with soldiers, how an army feeds itself, and how she personally recovers after the strain of working in a war zone.

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As a conflict producer for CBS News, Erin Lyall has eaten with Ukrainian soldiers on the freezing front line, cooked with families in their homes in Gaza, and shared meals on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq with bullets sounding in the distance.

From these experiences in the field, Erin created Food Under Fire, a unique food blog featuring recipes, anecdotes, and portraits of the people she's met on her journalistic travels.

Today, we're together in the safety of the River Café to talk about how food can bring us together, both in war and i...

Graham Norton reveals what he learned from working in restaurants, what he noticed about tricky customers, and why he would recommend the experience to everyone.

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This week marks a very special occasion. My friend, Mel Brooks, is turning 100.

For the best part of a century, he has lit up the world with his warmth and humour, delighting audiences as a writer, director, actor and comedian. From The Producers and Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein, his unique talents have left an indelible mark on film, television and theatre.
To celebrate Mel, we're going to revisit some of the best moments from his wonderful appearance on Ruthie's Table 4, back in 2023 - one of my favourite ever episodes.

We talk about the...

To be a truly great host, as Graham Norton is every week on his television sofa, you have to understand and genuinely like people. It's the same for me at the River Café. There's no such thing as a difficult customer. Everybody has a story, and every table is a world.

Usually it's Graham asking the questions, but today, he's answering mine—about his early years in an American commune, his time working in restaurants, cooking, writing, and the art of hosting.

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Last September, at the Venice Film Festival, I went to see Agon — a radical and powerful film. Afterwards, I immediately changed my schedule to attend a dinner for its director, Giulio Bertelli.

Today, Giulio and I are back together in Hammersmith to discuss his filmmaking, the food of his childhood in Milan, his time as a professional sailor, the history of food and seafaring, and the company he has built as he looks to food's future.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiv...

Everyone knows Piers Morgan as a journalist, editor, and fearless interviewer. But I also know him as someone who loves food and can describe in detail what makes a great restaurant.

Today, we're here together to talk about growing up in his family's country pub, the postcard he cherishes from his mother, drinks with Bill Clinton, dining with Tom Hanks, and seeing the glass half full.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Ruth Porat - President and Chief Investment Officer of Google and Alphabet - discusses the social responsibilities that come with technological advancement and how AI must be used to tackle society’s most intractable problems.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Ruth Porat is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Google and Alphabet. She is also my friend.

Her extraordinary schedule has often kept us thousands of miles apart as she moves across continents, connecting people, ideas, and communities.

But today, we’re together at last - a Ruth and a Ruthie - to talk about the importance of food at Google, her scientific childhood, how her father survived the Holocaust to rebuild his family, and how her grandmother spent her last day showing love through food.

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Consello CEO Declan Kelly discusses his decision to become a vegetarian as a teenager in 1980s Ireland, and how he eats today.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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A few months ago, I met Declan Kelly, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Consello, one of the world’s most influential advisory firms.

 The connection between us was immediate, as I discovered a fascinating person with a fascinating life. Born in rural Ireland, from humble beginnings, he became an important journalist, created an influential communications company and in 2007 and 2008 served as one of the leading advisers to Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign.  

Today he advises some of the most influential people who lead powerful institutions, while mentoring a new generation. 

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The River Café’s Sian Wyn Owen joins Michael and Lindsay Tusk to discuss the menu she has prepared for the day, the seasonal ingredients she is using, and how she organises a lunch service with her team.

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Chef Michael Tusk and his wife and partner, Lindsay Tusk, believe great food is about simplicity, quality ingredients, and happiness.

A few months ago in San Francisco, I saw this for myself at their restaurants - Quince, Cotogna, and wine bar, Verjus.

Today, on a beautiful spring day at the River Café we will talk about creating food what we look for in a restaurant, and much more.

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Patrick Radden Keefe talks about two contrasting food pleasures - hosting and eating alone.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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I’ve sometimes wondered whether writing a book might be a bit like cooking a meal.

I create a menu by choosing the ingredients I’m drawn to. In the same way, today’s guest, Patrick Radden Keefe, creates a book by choosing the people he’s drawn to — most recently in his newly published London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth.

Today, we’re here together to talk about his latest book, his parents’ second dinner, the mise en place of his writing process, and the ingredients...

Burberry’s Paul Price talks about the restaurants of his past, and his idea to start one in the future.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook

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Paul Price is Burberry’s Chief Product Merchandising Officer.

When I asked his friend, film director Andrew Jarecki about him, he said ‘Paul is a tastemaker and a creator. He has reshaped my perception of what life can be, reimagining legendary fashion brands, most recently Burberry, making them newly relevant.”

Paul and I are together to talk about life in fashion, the school lunches leaving paw prints in restaurants, the joy of throwing parties,  and much more.

Order Table 4 at The River Cafe—the star-studded, food-filled book inspired by the beloved podcast: https://bit.ly/Tab...

Spring is here, which means it’s asparagus season. In this bonus episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we’re joined by The River Cafe executive chefs Sian Wyn Owen and Joseph Trivelli, to discuss their love of asparagus, and how they like to cook with it.

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Dara Khosrowshahi is known as one of the world’s most influential CEOs. Everyone wants to talk to him about leading a company as huge, and impactful, as Uber.

So do I - but mostly, I want to talk about food: Persian cuisine, memories from his childhood kitchen in Iran, the importance of food when his family fled to America, eating with his father after six years apart, and with his family now.

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Journalists Jorge and Paola Ramos discuss Jorge’s favourite way to welcome Paola home - quesadillas.

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When I was growing up in the sixties, the United States was a tumultuous place. Journalists were heroes, seeking the truth with courage.

So today, when we need them more than ever, it was thrilling to be introduced to two extraordinary journalists: father and daughter, Jorge and Paola Ramos. In their podcast, The Moment, they question, analyse, and report.

We are here together to talk about identity through food, holding power to account and much more.
Heroes indeed.

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