Pick of the podcasts: Comfort Eating with Grace Dent, You’re Dead To Me, The Offensive

These past 18 months or so have witnessed a few of us putting some pounds on.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of comfort eating; if you can’t wolf down enough Ferrero Rocher to shock the Belgian ambassador during a global pandemic then when can you?

We all have our comfort foods and it’s not just a particular flavour of crisps or brand of biscuits. These are dishes – if you can call them that – to soothe the soul.

A quick survey of P.S. reveals some of our favourites: how about Findus chicken and bacon crispy pancakes drizzled with curry sauce; pasta baked with lemon and old breadcrumbs; or even a Morton’s roll and salt and vinegar crisps?

Guardian food critic and MasterChef judge Grace Dent is exploring this idea with her new podcast series, Comfort Eating.

Dent may be famous for her refined palate but at home she can often be found with a plate of oven chips, gravy, and mint sauce.

The idea here is to chat to various interesting people to find out about their comfort eating habits.

Often the chat makes you hungry; recently comedian and writer Aisling Bea revealed her comfort dish, which was microwaved baked beans dumped on (toasted!) potato waffles, which had been slathered in Irish Kerrygold butter.

Finding out the reason why people like these dishes isn’t merely about ogling their guilty taste pleasures.

Dent revealed in a radio interview last week that, as a journalist, asking someone to tell you about their childhood tends to see them clam up. Ask them what sweet they bought when they were sent to the off license for a parent as a child, though, gets people talking about some lovely memories.

The Offensive

Also back for a fourth series is the spoof series about the trials and tribulations of fictional Premier League club, Ashwood City FC. Described as The Thick Of It in football podcast form, and the winner of a British Podcast Award in 2019, the series covers the boardroom circus familiar to most football clubs, in the form of satirical dialogue from the likes of Chris Kamara, Jim White, Peter Drury and Sven-Goran Eriksson.

You’re Dead To Me

The comedy podcast about history is back with a new 15-episode series, hosted by Greg Jenner. In each episode, he hosts one historian and one comedian, taking on subjects such as Nell Gwyn, medieval science, the history of high heel shoes and the Neolithic era.

Bridget Jones star Sally Phillips explores the history of fairy tales while award winning author and historian Peter Frankopan takes on Ivan the Terrible.