He’s an author, Masterchef judge and food critic, and host of Waitrose’s Life On A Plate - but Jimi Famurewa’s new podcast is all about identity. And sometimes food.
Where’s Home Really? (listen now) examine the links between some of Britain’s best known and most loved celebrities and their culture and heritage. Hearing memories, anecdotes and stories that illustrate the way his famous guests have navigated their own journey of self-discovery and had their identities shaped by calling two places “home”.
Upcoming guests include Big Zuu, Asma Khan and Stephen K Amos. We sat down with Jimi to find out why we should tune in...
What's the core message of Where's Home Really? Is there something you want people to come away knowing?
To me, the show is about the duality of experience and identity. Lots of us feel that in some way – whether we proudly identify as Northerners or Brummies or Cockneys – but it can be especially acute when you're balancing immigrant heritage with one adoptive homeland or another. Where’s Home Really? digs deep into this very relatable but probably under-discussed idea. It looks at the ways that well-known people (and all of us, really) have been shaped by the varying cultural forces in our lives. And it does all of that, I hope, with lots of revelations, heartfelt moments and proper belly laughs on the way.
Your last podcast series was for Waitrose... What did you learn from making that show which you're bringing to the table here?
I absolutely loved hosting Life On A Plate and I only left, after a fair bit of agonising, because I needed more time to finish writing my book, Settlers. I think working on it really helped me hone my skills as a broadcast host and interviewer, and speaking to such a range of interviewees from the world of food greatly expanded my knowledge. It also gave me an all-timer of a technical disaster story – specifically, an interview that had to be completely redone because the recording failed – that was horrible at the time but inevitably breeds a sense of hard-won nervelessness and confidence.
Which podcasters have inspired you to pick up the mic again?
Dax Shepherd and Monica Padman on Armchair Expert, Adam Buxton, and the Football Ramble guys.
You've got a great line-up of foodies for the first series - from Big Zuu to Asma Khan. Can you give us a taste (pun totally intended) or a few takeaways (ditto)?
Asma Khan is someone I’ve interviewed multiple times in various contexts now and I just love that there are never any small conversations with her – you start off talking about biryani and, soon, you are deep into patriarchy, warrior princesses and the childhood stories her father would tell her as she dozed off under the stars. Big Zuu is such an ebullient, infectiously honest character – he shares a near-death experience that was also, somehow, one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard – but he was also unexpectedly honest and affecting when talking about the rootlessness of his family’s first years in London and how class operates in the TV world.
And just to stretch the restaurant metaphor to breaking point... is there a podcast that would make an excellent accompaniment? A pairing pod, if you will?
I think How To Fail, Diary of a CEO or Off Camera with Sam Jones (RIP) would make good thematic counterparts. Lots of WHR is about childhood and beginnings, so Kathy Burke’s Where There’s A Will… could be a good contrast.
Jimi Famurewa’s Where’s Home Really is available every Thursday - the first episode dropped last week. Follow the show now to get more!
