Martyn Odell on reducing food waste, flashing on stage and lasagne

Eat the Food You Buy: Martyn Odell on Ending Food Waste at Home What if the answer to food waste is just eating the food you buy? Chef and content creator Martyn Odell, known as Lagom Chef, joins Samuel Goldsmith to talk about his new cookbook Eat the Food You Buy. They also get into cooking with confidence and why cheese and crackers with beetroot counts as dinner. Martyn's book is built around 15 everyday ingredients, the ones most likely to be thrown away. He explains how his "mind maps" turn a single potato into 15 different meals, and why tasting at every step is the quickest way to learn to cook by instinct. He shares how ADHD shapes his creative process, how he went from an Edinburgh Fringe stage show to a Penguin cookbook, and why food photography without a stylist made the book feel more like him.

In this episode:

The simple idea behind Eat the Food You Buy

Why beetroot lost to aubergine in the final ingredient list

Decision fatigue, and how social media has changed what we think a "proper" meal is

Testing recipes, and why his wife cooked most of the book

Martyn's perfect lasagna, plus his tip of letting it rest before serving

Culinary confessions, the quick-fire round, and what good food means to him

Whether you're tired of throwing out half-used veg or just want to feel more confident in the kitchen, this episode is full of practical tips you can use tonight.

Eat the Food You Buy by Martyn Odell is out now.

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