Nile Rodgers on Madonna, Spices, and Growing Up Amid Love and Addiction

Welcome to Season Six!  How did growing up in a household affected by heroin, surrounded by jazz greats, shape Nile Rodgers? How did his Barbadian grandmother’s lessons about spices influence him? And what was it really like working with Madonna, David Bowie and Michael Jackson? In the first epis…

Season Six!

We’re back! The sixth season of Ruthie’s Table 4 begins Tuesday, 3 November. Steve Martin and Martin Short tell us why grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup make the perfect Christmas dinner. Nile Rodgers remembers cooking with his grandmother in Barbados. Bertha González Nieves takes us to t…

From the Archive: Richard E. Grant on eating the same seven meals growing up, Henry Higgins and coping with loss

With Richard E. Grant delighting audiences on The Traitors, we’re looking back at this special episode of Ruthie’s Table 4. I remember Richard and his wife Joan in the early days of The River Cafe, coming in for lunch and sitting at the same table, always warm, lovely and absorbed in each other. Mo…

From the Archive: Gary Lineker on Goals, Gnocchi, and Refusing to Stay Silent

This week, we’re looking back at Gary Lineker’s visit to The River Cafe. Over the table, we travelled from his childhood in Leicester and the food of his mother’s kitchen to the football pitches of Barcelona. We talked about fame, family, and the importance of speaking out for refugees and compass…

From the Archive: Cate Blanchett on growing her own food, multiculturalism, and a disastrous Christmas dinner

This week, we’re looking back to the summer morning we shared with Cate Blanchett, who joined me at The River Cafe after her run in Thomas Ostermeier’s The Seagull. We talked about the pleasures of touring a play, growing up between American and Australian food traditions, silent meals after losin…

From the Archives: Sarah Jessica Parker on the importance of food in Sex and the City, cooking with her husband, and pork chops.

This week, we’re revisiting our live episode with Sarah Jessica Parker. And what a guest she was. Sarah has always had a deep love of food, so we had plenty to talk about: from the role of food in Sex and the City, where so many memorable conversations unfolded around a meal, to growing up as one …

From the Archive: Benedict Cumberbatch on Living with Wes Anderson, Imitating Ruthie & ‘Daddy Pancakes’

During our between-season break, we’re revisiting some of our favourite conversations from the Ruthie’s Table 4 archive. This week, we're looking back to when Benedict Cumberbatch joined me at The River Cafe to talk about Negronis with Wes Anderson, growing up in a theatrical family, body transfor…

From the Archive: Zoe Saldaña on Growing Up in Queens, Family Recipes & Why NYC Has the Best Pizza

As we look forward to Series 6 in October, we’re revisiting some of our favourite episodes of Ruthie’s Table 4. Zoe Saldaña was a force from the moment she entered the restaurant back in 2025. She told us stories about her grandmother’s coconut desserts, how her family dances through life, and wha…

How Food Shapes Our Work… Gayle King, Mark Ronson, Graham Norton, Emerald Fennell, and Patrick Radden Keefe.

Whether in film, music, books or television, food can be a source of inspiration or integral to the way we work. In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about the shared ingredients of what we do, with Gayle King, Mark Ronson, Graham Norton, Emerald Fennell – the dir…

Where Food Meets Politics… Jacinda Ardern, Andrew Jarecki, Erin Lyall, Hilton Als, Annie Leibovitz, Kamala Harris

I've always thought we judge a culture by the way we feed our poor, our sick and our prisoners. In this special compilation episode of Ruthie's Table 4, we're talking about food and politics, in conversation with Jacinda Ardern, documentary filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, CBS conflict producer Erin Lyal…