Love & Laughter with LittlePod

Episode 5: “From Our Kitchen to the Classroom”, feat. Joe Mann
Love & Laughter with LittlePod
Hosts: Janet Sawyer & Sally Sedgman
Guest: Joe Mann, Head of Food and Nutrition at Queen’s College Taunton
Episode description:
Pull up a chair, because this week we’re welcoming one of our own back to the table, and there’s cake! Joe Mann has just turned 50, so it’s a birthday special. Joe came through the LittlePod family and went on to become one of Devon’s most celebrated food teachers. He’s won Devon Teacher of the Year and Best School Food Education, and he founded Fun Kitchen, the multi-award-winning Exeter cookery school that turns classrooms, halls and festival marquees into flour-filled kitchens. Over tea and birthday cake, Joe talks about how a love of food became a career teaching it, what happens when a child cracks their very first egg, what his time at LittlePod taught him about real vanilla, and why every child deserves to know what the real thing tastes like.
In this episode:
Janet and Sally welcome Joe Mann, founder of Fun Kitchen and Head of Food & Nutrition at Queen’s College, Taunton
They sample the “bake of the episode”: an Elderflower & Almond birthday cake made specially to celebrate Joe’s 50th
How Joe and Janet first crossed paths, and Joe’s LittlePod origin story
From a love of food to a career teaching it, and why Joe chose to teach children
Winning Devon Teacher of the Year and Best School Food Education, and what it took to get there
Inside his role at the College: their new teaching kitchen and importance of provenance and story with ingredients
What Joe’s time at LittlePod taught him about real vanilla and real food
Real vanilla in the classroom: the reactions, the joy of scraping a pod, and the “isn’t it too expensive?” question
Mentioned in this episode:
Elderflower & Almond Cake recipe: https://www.littlepod.co.uk/recipes/elderflower-and-almond-cake/ 
Joe’s Vanilla & Venison Ice Cream recipe: https://www.littlepod.co.uk/recipes/vanilla-venison-ice-cream-with-balsamic-glaze/ 
LittlePod Natural Vanilla Paste – https://www.littlepod.co.uk/product/natural-vanilla-paste/
The Campaign for Real Vanilla – LittlePod’s founding fight against artificial vanilla – https://www.littlepod.co.uk/
Follow along:
New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don’t miss one, and if you enjoyed pulling up a chair with Janet, Sally and Joe, leave a rating or review, it genuinely helps other people find the show. Got a question or a story of your own? We’d love to hear it, bring a friend and come back next time.

Episode 4: “Listen to the Land”, feat. Jamie Raftery, The Holistic Chef
Love & Laughter with LittlePod
Hosts: Janet Sawyer & Sally Sedgman
Guest: Jamie Raftery, The Holistic Chef
Episode description:
Pull up a chair, because our next guest is joining from a farm in the West of Ireland. Jamie Raftery, The Holistic Chef, has been a friend and champion of LittlePod for more than 15 years, ever since Janet turned up at his kitchen in Taunton with a box of vanilla. 
 
 Since then he’s swapped cooking in Michelin-star kitchens to cooking for health, gone from butcher to vegan and back to hunting his own venison, and taken over Tanglewood Farm, his family’s land, where he’s planting trees, coppicing hazel and building an educational food studio. Over a plate of his hemp seed muffins, he talks soil, forests, why hemp might be the crop of the future, and why we all need to listen to the land. Sally, meanwhile, would like it on record that she hates vegetables. Challenge accepted.
In this episode:
Janet and Sally welcome Jamie Raftery, joining from Tanglewood Farm in the West of Ireland (https://holisticchefacademy.com/services/tanglewood-farm-food-studio/)
They sample the “bake of the episode”: Jamie’s vegan Hemp Seed Muffins, made with LittlePod REAL Vanilla Paste and baked for the studio by chef Peter Gorton. Recipe can be found here: https://holisticchefacademy.com/hemp-seed-muffins/
How Janet and Jamie first met over a box of vanilla at The Castle in Taunton, 15-plus years ago
Why Jamie left Michelin-star kitchens to “cook for health”, and what holistic really means to him
Tanglewood Farm: three generations, native woodland, ten acres of new agroforestry and a storm that changed everything
From butcher to vegan to deer hunter, and finding balance in how we eat
Farming through record rain and sudden drought, and what Ireland can learn from hotter countries
The Wood Wide Web, the 12 inches of soil we all live on, and why food education should be a basic life skill
Hemp, the superfood that can also build houses and make clothes, so why isn’t more of it grown?
Jamie’s plans for a food studio, woodland classroom and wood-fired sauna at Tanglewood
Carrying LittlePod vanilla across four countries this year, coconut and vanilla ice cream included
 Mentioned in this episode:
Holistic Chef Academy – https://holisticchefacademy.com/ / @the_holistic_chef
Tanglewood Farm & Food Studio – https://holisticchefacademy.com/services/tanglewood-farm-food-studio/
Hemp Seed Muffins recipe – https://holisticchefacademy.com/hemp-seed-muffins/
LittlePod Natural Vanilla Paste – https://www.littlepod.co.uk/product/natural-vanilla-paste/
The Campaign for Real Vanilla – LittlePod’s founding fight against artificial vanilla – https://www.littlepod.co.uk/
 Follow along:
New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don’t miss one, and if you enjoyed pulling up a chair with Janet, Sally and Jamie, leave a rating or review, it genuinely helps other people find the show. Got a question or a story of your own? We’d love to hear it, bring a friend and come back next time.

Episode 3: “Unexpectedly Vanilla”
Love & Laughter with LittlePod
Host(s): Janet Sawyer 
 Guest: Peter Gorton, with the LittlePod team
Episode description:
Forget everything you thought you knew about vanilla. To celebrate International Real Vanilla Day, Janet is joined by chef and long-time friend of LittlePod Peter Gorton, along with the wider LittlePod team, to taste their way through dishes from our brand new Unexpectedly Vanilla recipe booklet. From “Toasted Mealworm & Vanilla Cookies” to a “Savoury Pumpkin & Vanilla Tart” every recipe puts real vanilla somewhere you’d never expect to find it, and the team’s reactions are every bit as honest as you’d hope. It’s a celebration of the real thing, a few happy surprises, and proof that vanilla is far more than a baking essential.
Download the recipe booklet HERE
In this episode:
Janet, Peter and the LittlePod team gather round the table for a very special IRVD tasting
What International Real Vanilla Day is, and why it matters so much to LittlePod
The story behind the Unexpectedly Vanilla recipe booklet, and how the recipes came together
Tasting time: “Toasted Mealworm & Vanilla Cookies”, “Savoury Pumpkin & Vanilla Tart” and “No-Bake Vanilla & Spiced Apple “Toffee” Pot”, and the verdicts from around the table
Peter’s tips for cooking with real vanilla beyond cakes and custards
Why real vanilla and artificial vanillin are worlds apart, especially in savoury cooking
Mentioned in this episode:
Unexpectedly Vanilla IRVD recipes – www.littlepod.co.uk/our-recipes
Peter Gorton – https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-gorton-1474a434/ 
The Campaign for Real Vanilla – LittlePod’s founding campaign educating around artificial vs natural vanilla - https://www.littlepod.co.uk/
Follow along:
New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don’t miss one, and if you enjoyed pulling up a chair with Janet, Peter and the LittlePod team, leave a rating or review, it genuinely helps other people find the show. Got a question or a story of your own? We’d love to hear it, bring a friend and come back next time.

Episode 2: "Line-Outs and Lamingtons", feat. the Exeter Chiefs
Love & Laughter with LittlePod 
Host(s): Janet Sawyer 
Guests: Liv McGoverne & Lucy Nye, Exeter Chiefs Women’s Rugy Team
Episode description: 
Boots off, kettle on: Janet is joined on the sofa by Lucy Nye and Liv McGoverne from Exeter Chiefs Women. Lucy is Exeter born and bred, a scrum-half who swaps her boots for an RAF uniform as a Flight Lieutenant, while Liv came all the way from Christchurch, New Zealand, to pull on a Chiefs shirt and keep the scoreboard ticking with her boot. Over a plate of lamingtons, they chat about life inside a professional women's squad, what it takes to juggle elite sport with everything else, how LittlePod ended up with its name on the kit, and why a Devon vanilla brand and a Devon rugby club make a rather lovely team. It's warm, it's silly, and there's a fair bit of coconut on the carpet by the end.
In this episode: 
Janet welcomes Liv MGoverne (https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/players/liv-mcgoverne) and Lucy Nye (https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/players/lucy-nye)
They sample the "bake of the episode": “Vanilla Lamingtons”. Recipe can be found here: https://www.littlepod.co.uk/recipes/vanilla-lamingtons-as-seen-on-the-podcast/ 
How LittlePod and Exeter Chiefs teamed up, and the story behind the kit sponsorship
A glimpse of life inside a pro rugby squad
Food, fuel and what the players actually eat, “cheat” days included
Why a Devon vanilla brand and a Devon rugby club make more sense together than you'd think
Mentioned in this episode: 
Exeter Chiefs – @officialexeterchiefs / https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/ 
Exeter Chiefs Women - @exechiefswomen / https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/teams/womens 
Lucy Nye - @lucynyee 
Liv McGoverne - @livmcgoverne 
LittlePod x Exeter Chiefs kit sponsorship – https://www.littlepod.co.uk/press-release-littlepod-gets-behind-the-exeter-chiefs-women/ 
The Campaign for Real Vanilla – LittlePod's founding fight against artificial vanilla https://www.littlepod.co.uk/
Follow along: 
New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss one, and if you enjoyed pulling up a chair with Janet and Sally, leave a rating or review, it genuinely helps other people find the show. 
Got a question or a story of your own? We'd love to hear it, bring a friend and come back next time.

Episode 1: "Hello, and Welcome to Our Little Podcast!"

Love & Laughter with LittlePod 

Hosts: Janet Sawyer & Sally Sedgman
Episode description:
Pull up a chair, pour the tea and cut the cake: Janet and Sally are kicking things off with the very first episode of Love & Laughter with LittlePod, accompanied by a rather delicious Good Housekeeping cake. It's an introduction, to the show and to each other, told the way it would come out over a pot of tea between two old friends. They talk about why this podcast exists now, where LittlePod's wellbeing focus is heading, the Campaign for Real Vanilla that started it all, and a taste of who's joining them on the sofa in weeks to come.
In this episode:
Janet and Sally settle in and set the scene, china, flowers, cake and all
They sample the "bake of the week": Good Housekeeping's Strawberry Cream Soda Cake. Recipe can be found here: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a71360046/strawberry-cream-soda-loaf-recipe/
The story behind the Good Housekeeping partnership and LittlePod's place as a pantry staple
Why "two friends over tea and cake" felt more honest than a slick, produced show
Who this podcast is really for, and why it's called Love & Laughter
LittlePod's shift toward a wellbeing focus, and what that means for them
A quick look back at the Campaign for Real Vanilla, and the fight against artificial vanillin
A first look at who's coming up: friends of LittlePod from as close as home and as far as Japan
Mentioned in this episode:
Good Housekeeping partnership – LittlePod as a Good Housekeeping pantry staple
The Campaign for Real Vanilla – LittlePod's founding fight against artificial vanilla (https://www.littlepod.co.uk/)
Follow along:
New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss one, and if you enjoyed pulling up a chair with Janet and Sally, leave a rating or review, it genuinely helps other people find the show. Got a question or a story of your own? We'd love to hear it, bring a friend and come back next time.