The Inner Table podcast host: Why it’s wrong to demonise alcohol
Our wine columnist Libby Brodie has teamed up with her friend Anna Lancaster to launch a new podcast exploring the meeting point between wellness, wine and food. We caught up with her to ask what we can expect from The Inner Table: The Art of Living Well.
Why does The Inner Table stand apart from other podcasts?
The Inner Table brings together two worlds that are increasingly being seen as separate. I don’t know of any other podcast that combines wellness with wine and food and yet it is how most people want to live. We want to live healthier, longer lives but still enjoy a glass of wine and a pizza.
Introduce yourselves!
Anna Lancaster is a mental longevity expert with a career in wellbeing, and I am a food-loving wine writer and consultant. Coming from our different perspectives we talk with leading names from wellness, hospitality and lifestyle industries to learn how they find balance and what truly defines living “well”. It’s for people who want to live fully, not perfectly. It’s very much a podcast for now.
The subject feels refreshingly different to the current mood…
There has been an overall decline in drinking alcohol and that’s no bad thing in itself. A moderate approach is healthier, but wine and food shouldn’t be demonised. There’s no joy in existing on supplements and green juice – a good life needs to include some joy.
What do you think people are getting wrong?
Alcohol has become the villain of the wellness trend, handily ignoring its incredible importance in culture and society throughout history and the fact our bodies have evolved to digest it. If your body reacts badly to booze, then cut it out as a coeliac avoids gluten – but we are biologically individuals. It’s not a case of ‘one size fits all’. There’s also the mental health aspect. Stress and isolation have a huge negative impact on mental longevity and a glass of wine with friends improves both.
Is The Inner Table about defending drinking – or reframing how we think about it?
A bit of both. Wine isn’t the only way to have a good time, nor is it purely a toxin. It’s about balance and finding the right path for you as an individual. That’s what The Inner Table is all about.
You talk about wine as part of a “holistic” life – what does that look like?
It looks like the blue zones, which are specific regions where people live exceptionally long, healthy lives, with lower rates of chronic disease. In most of these areas, people consume alcohol regularly, but moderately. It is very much part of an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle – and unlike Tiktok trends, this has been the proven case for centuries.
Has your own relationship with alcohol changed over the years?
The more you know, the better choices you make. In my student days I used to glug down any cheap glass going and thought wine just appeared on supermarket shelves. Now I know that any bottle of wine has taken a minimum of four years of someone’s hard labour and care. It’s grown by farmers and made by winemakers. It deserves to be respected and savoured. I’ve taken the time to work out what I actually enjoy, and I drink that. If you don’t like it – what’s the point?
What are your thoughts on the abstinence movement?
There is also a growing loneliness epidemic… I wonder if that’s connected. The practice of coming together around a table, eating a meal and pouring a bottle of wine is a foundation of family, tribe and community. Sharing food, wine and conversation have defined us as human beings for centuries. I think zealots are missing the point. There’s a difference between “wellness” and actually living well.
Is part of the problem that we’re losing the rituals around drinking?
There are studies that show wine tastes different when drunk from heavier or lighter glasses, while different music is being played, under different lighting. I imagine the company you’re keeping is vital too. I like the ceremony of opening a bottle of wine and cultures that have more of a ritual around drinking tend to be more mindful about it too.
The Inner Table’s first guest is the chef Ryan Riley – what drew you to him?
Firstly, Anna and I are both friends with Ryan. We all met many years ago in the Groucho Club before any ideas of a healthy lifestyle had touched us. He has a fascinating story, and he was just awarded a British Empire Medal by King Charles, so he seemed the perfect first guest!
Tell us about some other The Inner Table guests
Both wine and wellness can sometimes feel like communicating within a little bubble, and we wanted The Inner Table to speak to all kinds of people. We have chefs, comedians, musicians, actors, eco-campaigners and skincare advocates. It’s incredibly exciting.
Have any of the conversations challenged your own thinking?
Not challenged, but they have certainly emphasised that there is no one right way for everyone and how different every person’s lives and experiences are.
What would you like The Inner Table to achieve?
Firstly, we want it to be as entertaining as it is informative. We talk about everything from new health hacks Anna has tried to the best new restaurant launches I’ve been to. And we talk about the journeys of a bunch of brilliant people across a broad spectrum. There’s something for everyone. We’d also love people to turn away from the all-or-nothing attitudes both industries can spout and think more about how they really want to live and how they might achieve balance for themselves.
If you could reset the conversation around alcohol in one sentence, what would it be?
Find the right drink for you and enjoy your alcohol intentionally rather than habitually.
• The Inner Table, sponsored by Coravin, is out now on your favourite podcast providers