This week on Empty Plates, I’m joined by Missy Flynn co-founder of Rita’s and a deeply thoughtful voice in London’s hospitality scene. We talk about Rita’s as a homage to the American dive bar a place rooted in welcome, memory, and belonging and why dining doesn’t need to look like anything other than what feels true.

We also explore identity in the food industry, the pressure to perform authenticity, and the reality of being a restaurant owner in an increasingly politicised landscape. Missy reflects on growing up in pubs, the communities built through service, and how those early experiences shaped her approach to food and culture.

In today’s episode, Anjli is joined by William Sitwell one of the UK’s most established food writers, a restaurant critic for The Telegraph, authors and broadcasters. He’s the former editor of Waitrose Food magazine, a familiar face on MasterChef, and the author of The Restaurant: A History of Dining Out — a book that traces how the simple act of eating out has evolved across centuries and continents.

This episode isn’t just about the history of restaurants; it’s also about what dining means right now. With William, we talk about that tension between nostalgia, simplicity, and skill and what it really takes to create a restaurant that leaves a mark. We also explore London’s shifting food culture, the role of memory in dining, and why restaurants like Dishoom have done such a brilliant job of capturing the soul of Bombay within the London scene.

In this episode of Empty Plates, I speak with writer, actor, and author Jassa Ahluwalia about identity, race, and food. Jassa’s Both Not Half philosophy challenges the idea that mixed-heritage identity is somehow incomplete and reminds us that being both is not division, it’s wholeness.

We talk about growing up Punjabi and English in the UK, the humour of being a “Punjabi-speaking white man,” his love of aloo paratha, and of course, the great Punjabi vs Gujarati samosa debate. Along the way, our conversation opens up deeper reflections on what it means to be the child of immigrants, to feel both local and foreign, and to question what patriotism means in Britain today.

This episode is released at a time of heightened tension in the UK, and it became a very personal conversation for me (Anjli, your humble host) as the child of a refugee father and an immigrant mother who met in Leicester. Together, we reflect on belonging, survival, and the power of telling our own stories in a country still wrestling with race and identity.

In this weeks episode Anjli speaks chef Sohini Banerjee whose journey into food has taken her from prep shifts at Cinnamon Kitchen while studying a master’s in Health Economics, to leaving the financial world behind and building a career dedicated to the flavours of her heritage.

Along the way, Sohini has worked alongside chefs like Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express, Helen Graham of Bubala, and Michelin-starred Rohit Ghai but her own cooking is rooted deeply in Kolkata, West Bengal, and in the home-style traditions of Bengali food that she has made her mission to share with the world.

Her supperclubs, Smoke & Lime, have been running for over six years, introducing diners to a cuisine that’s often overlooked in the West but rich with its own unique traditions, flavours, and personality. Sohini’s food tells her story drawing on her roots, her life growing up in the UK, and her playful use of global ingredients to create something that feels both deeply nostalgic and entirely her own.

In this weeks Anjli episode we speak to Himansu Suri - also known through his stage Moniker as ‘Heems’. "Heems" Suri is an artist, rapper, and writer from Queens, NY.

Himanshu Kumar Suri, better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper. Suri came to prominence as a member of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, with whom he released two mixtapes and one album

He first received recognition as a founder of the art-rap trio Das Racist, before releasing solo work and later joining the actor Riz Ahmed in the transatlantic rap group Swet Shop Boys.

Suri has performed at Coachella, Carnegie Hall, and on the Colbert Show and Conan. He has created music for CNN and appeared on the episode of Anthony Bourdain's - Parts Unknown about Queens.

When you listen to Heems rap, there is a sheer sense of authenticity in his voice, appeal and his content, especially if you're of South Asian descent.

He has an ability to navigate through a complex range of topics that are widely experienced by diaspora communities. His music has a relativity that speaks to anyone who might be a ⅓ culture kid.

He has shown and performed at the Whitney Museum, the Met Breuer, the Guggenheim, Queens Museum, Aicon Gallery (New York), MCA (Chicago), ICA (Boston), and Sunaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts (India). He is currently working on a new album.

In this episode Anjli speaks to Rebecca Ghim the founder of the Ferm - A London based Fermentary - that produces incredible low carbon kimchi!

Rebecca is from Gwangju, South Korea, a town known for good food and is the home to the World Institute of Kimchi.

After her MA focused on food waste, food insecurity, and food sovereignty, she decided to marry her heritage and research by creating The Ferm, as the medium of expansion of her low-carbon lifestyle and activism by tackling systematic food waste on production and manufacturing levels.

She has participated in Kimjang, the practice of the whole neighbourhood coming together to make kilos of kimchi since she was little. It is a collective ritual that she shares through partnerships with restaurateurs and farmers.

The Ferm partners with London's top restaurants and catering companies to collect commonly discarded byproducts, such as cauliflower leaves and broccoli stalks, and transforms them into super delicious, nutritious pickles at their freshest state.

In this week's episode Anjli speaks to Bettina Campolucci Bordi,

Bettina is a phenomenal self -taught chef, author and she also runs a retreat chef academy.

Bettina works across the plant based food scene from training wellness chefs, to advocating for sustainable proteins with the likes of Baxterstorey and Chefs Manifesto!

Her story of how she entered the food industry is one of following intuition it seems and letting life guide you into the next stage.

Bettina seamlessly manages to demonstrate that a chef doesn't just wear one hat - they can and should align their values to their food vision, and in doing so they can actually cultivate a space where they are giving in a way that keeps them feeling full (no pun intended).

In today's episode Anjli speaks to doctor Dr Neha Vermani, a historian of early modern South Asia, particularly the Mughal Empire about the how our diets have been unwittingly been colonised by food ways. Neha’s research focuses on intersections between material culture (especially food practices and human-plant-animal interactions) and histories of science, senses, emotions, and self-fashioning.

Together they explore the topic of food migration through the lens of ancient supply chains, food theories and food as a key component of human migrational identity.

Along with co-editing a volume on recipes as sources of history writing, Neha is currently preparing her first book “Tasting the Empire: Food Practices in Mughal South Asia” that is based on her doctoral and postdoctoral research. From 2022- 2024, Neha Vermani was a British Academy Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of History, University of Sheffield, UK and postdoctoral fellow on the Andrew W. Mellon foundation funded “Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Culture” project at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C.