A Q&A With Sophie Wyburd On 'I’ll Have What She’s Having!’

Sophie Wyburd is a cook, recipe developer, presenter and co-host of the 'I'll Have What She's Having' podcast.' We caught up with Sophie to discuss the social value of food and hosting, springtime and her hit agony-aunt podcast ‘I’ll Have What She's Having'. She also shares her delicious recipe, a cauliflower and 'nduja rigatoni, perfect for both mid-week affairs and cozy Friday nights alike.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did your love for cooking first come from?

I’m a cook, recipe developer and presenter who specialises in hearty, seasonal comfort food. I formerly headed up the food team at Mob, but am now working on my own projects, including food writing, hosting supper clubs, and co-presenting the ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’ podcast. I have always been an extraordinarily greedy person. My entire life is structured around my meals, and I have been this way since I was a very small child. I am lucky to have grown up in a family where food was at the centre of our universe. My mum is a phenomenal cook and was consistently cooking me and my sisters fresh, hearty meals that we all loved. I was keen to get involved from a young age and started cooking for my friends as a teenager. I really saw value in the social nature of cooking and feeding people - my big family all gathered around the table every night for raucous meals over our supper, and this is where all the bonding happened. I really craved creating those warm communal spaces for myself. This led to me seeking out a career in food - I worked in food PR, as a chef at Quo Vadis in Soho, as a food styling assistant, and as an in-house presenter and recipe developer, before landing where I am now.

Can you give us an overview of your hit podcast, 'I'll Have What She's Having’? What exactly can listeners expect?

Once a week, Hannah and I sit down for a chat over some good food and wine. I’ll make a meal; Hannah will pair it with something lovely for us to drink, and we will talk about what has been happening in the week. We talk about a pretty wide range of things - from restaurants we’ve recently loved; whatever Westminster scandal has occurred that day; the Kardashians; mental health and body image. It’s two women sitting down for an honest, authentic chat about pop culture, life and womanhood, and we enjoy doing it so much.

You co-host 'I'll Have What She's Having', with friend and wine expert Hannah Crosbie. How did you two meet and what inspired you to start this venture together?

We met at a party a couple of years ago. I spotted Hannah across the room looking like she wasn’t having the best of times, so I went over to introduce myself. We hit it off right away, and have been friends ever since! The food and wine world can have a tendency to be quite male-dominated still, and we both really value nurturing relationships with other women in our industries, both personally and professionally. We decided to start a podcast together off the back of conversations surrounding this, to provide some insight into our industries and experiences from a woman’s perspective. We are also both pop culture junkies, so it was a no-brainer to add this into the mix too.

We love the agony-aunt-style questions that you ask your listeners to send in as part of this – what are your biggest trials when answering these questions?

It is such a privilege to have our listeners open up to us about such personal, big topics, so we try to give each answer lots of time and give them a definitive way to go about solving their problems. The best way to go about it I find is to treat all the questions with the care and respect you would if it was one of your closest friends seeking your advice. In a way, the listeners do become friends, as that trust is there. Not having a dialogue with the listener after we have given the advice can feel quite disconnected, so we always encourage the listeners to get in touch afterwards and let us know how it goes. 

With a predominantly female audience are there any key lessons you're hoping you’ll convey in the advice you give?

One of the main themes that comes up with our listeners is worrying about how to make an impact in the workplace. As women, we are often taught to make ourselves small and to accommodate others at the expense of our own happiness. I would just love to convey to any woman reading this that you are allowed to be big and sparkly - be authentically you, and go after what you want. It feels uncomfortable at first but is so rewarding in the end.

You describe yourself as a 'hostess with the mostess'! What's your go-to meal for hosting at this time of year?

When it is still quite nippy but spring is around the corner, my top dinner pick-up would be a slowly braised piece of lamb with a wild garlic pesto. Serve it up with a couple of vegetable sides - some cheddar and walnut baked leeks and a crisp pea and bean salad would be gorgeous - and a creamy potato gratin. I’d do some anchovies on bread with lots of butter as a nibble, and a rhubarb bread and butter pudding for afters. Be sure to get lots of daffodils on your table too - they are so cheap and cheer up any setting. For a more relaxed mid-week affair, I would still do some anchovies on bread but afterwards serve up pasta, like my cauliflower and ‘nduja one below, with some good quality shop-bought bread, and a sharp salad.

What's coming up for you in 2023?

I’m excited to be hosting lots more supper clubs and pop-ups this year, so keep your eyes peeled for more details about those. Feeding people in real life is such a joy, and one of my favourite bits about the job. We’ll be starting on season 3 of the podcast soon, and I’ll be cracking on with lots of my own recipe development, whether that be for social media, in print or for another big project I am working on, that I will be announcing later in the year.

What is your favourite thing about Wolf & Badger?

I love the incredible range of small brands stocked by Wolf & Badger - having so many brilliant smaller designers gathered in one place, across homeware, clothing and beauty, makes it a real pleasure to browse. I have a bit of an obsession with buying plates and glassware, and Wolf & Badger is a delicious crockery black hole I would happily get stuck in forever.