Romy Gill Has a Brilliant Idea for a Travel Show — if Someone Lets Her Make It

Tinfoil Swans Podcast

On this episode

Romy Gill puts in the work — always. Growing up in India, the chef, TV host, and author dreamed of being a cricket player and directed all her effort into that — and into lightly fibbing her way into her neighbors’ homes to try different dishes than the ones she ate in her Punjabi household. It’s this hunger and curiosity about other people and their foodways that has made her such a beloved presence on the BBC and ITV, as well as amassing a devoted audience for her award-winning cookbooks that explore regional Indian food and the people who keep these delicious traditions alive for generations to come. She joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about her passion for teaching, her evolving relationship with perfection and anger, speaking up to bullies, and the celebrity she’s dying to take on a train trip.

Meet our guest

Romy Gill is the author of Romy Gill’s India: Recipes From Home, the IACP Award-winning Along the Himalayan Trail, and Zaika: Vegan Recipes From India. She was born in West Bengal, India, and is the former owner and head chef of Romy’s Kitchen in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, in South West England. In 2016, she was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in honor of her work in the culinary field. Gill is a frequent host and guest on ITV and BBC TV and Radio programs as well as contributing stories and recipes to BBC Food, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The New York Times, and other major publications. She recently partnered with the clothing designer East for a capsule collection based on the aesthetics of Romy Gill’s India, and partnered with 6 O’Clock Gin on a spirit inspired by her stories.

Meet our host

Kat Kinsman is the executive features editor at Food & Wine, author of Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves, host of Food & Wine’s Gold Signal Award-winning podcast Tinfoil Swans, and founder of Chefs With Issues. Previously, she was the senior food & drinks editor at Extra Crispy, editor-in-chief and editor at large at Tasting Table, and the founding editor of CNN Eatocracy. She won a 2024 IACP Award for Narrative Food Writing With Recipes and a 2020 IACP Award for Personal Essay/Memoir, and has had work included in the 2020 and 2016 editions of The Best American Food Writing. She was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in 2013, won a 2011 EPPY Award for Best Food Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and moderator on food culture and mental health in the hospitality industry, and is the former vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.

Highlights from the episode

On being a self-taught chef

“I want people to know that a self-taught person can work hard and push themselves up the ladder. People will be there to see how you fall down. Of course there will be people to uplift you, but you don’t notice. I just say, ‘You work hard, put your head down. It’s all on you. No one else’s shoulders. It’s on you how you want to learn.’”

On standing out from the crowd

“In order to survive, you have to be creative. In order to be relevant, you have to be different.”

On demanding perfection from herself

“If they’re paying to come and eat my food, I want people to be satisfied. When they’re going home, their faces need to be happy. I want somebody to buy my book and think, ‘This is correct.’ I can’t miss ending at perfection. If a monkfish in my restaurant wasn’t right, I wouldn’t serve it. I would go out by myself and say, ‘I’m really sorry it hasn’t turned out, but please have this on the house.’ If it’s not done right, I have to go to that table and apologize.”

On not being afraid to ask when you don’t know something

“I’m the first person to put my hand up to say, ‘I don’t know this,’ because if I don’t know, I will want to learn. For me, it is really important that I’m in a position where I can help people. I don’t think by writing books, writing articles, and giving knowledge that people are going to take your job. If I don’t know how to make this sauce, and I don’t ask, and I make a mess and then get shouted at — that’s not going to be nice.”

On calling out bad behavior

“Kitchens have changed a lot since I started nearly 20 years ago; it’s a vast difference. I think people also are scared that you can record it and then send it out on the socials. I’m not saying it’s changed — but it’s changing. When I go to a kitchen, if I see somebody being really rude, I will say, ‘Hang on a second. Please, don’t do that in front of me. You can’t do that in front of me, because I just think that is awful.’ And that person is exactly my daughter’s age. I’ll say, ‘I can’t let you do that.’ 

You can’t be scared that you’re working  in somebody’s kitchen. You have to be really firm. I think it’s changing, but it’s going to take a long time.”

On the value of aging

“I have come to learn that people come into your life for a reason and people go away from your life for a reason, and I don’t care if people don’t like me. That I think is because of age. I used to get really upset, ‘Oh, she doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like me.’ I don’t care if you don’t like me. What also I have learned is that people have taken advantage of my help. I have helped loads of people in the industry, but also now I don’t worry if people are going to help me or not — I will still help people. With age comes power.”

On her dream show

“I did a podcast with the actress Minnie Driver. She ate my food, and we’ve become really good friends. She has the most sexy voice — that English, powerful, sexy voice. I want to take her to India on this travel journey on a train — which I write about in my book — and show her India and show her the food. I want to do that. If there is anybody listening who wants to make something with me, please do.”

About the podcast

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with a new series of intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made these personalities who they are today.

This season, you’ll hear from icons and innovators like Roy Choi, Byron Gomez, Vikas Khanna, Romy Gill, Matthew Lillard, Ana and Lydia Castro, Laurie Woolever, Karen Akunowitz, Hawa Hassan, Dr. Arielle Johnson, Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Samin Nosrat, Curtis Stone, Kristen Kish, Padma Lakshmi, Ayesha Curry, Antoni Porowski, Run the Jewels, and other special guests going deep with host Kat Kinsman on their formative experiences; the dishes and meals that made them; their joys, doubts and dreams; and what’s on the menu in the future. Tune in for a feast that’ll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen and follow on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

These interview excerpts have been edited for clarity.

Editor’s Note: The transcript for download does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.