Ruthie Rogers Talks Food Industry

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks: Ruthie Rogers Talks Food Industry

Podcast: Bloomberg Talks
Host: Bloomberg
Episode: Ruthie Rogers Talks Food Industry
Date: June 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features a lively conversation with Ruthie Rogers, award-winning chef, co-founder of London’s Michelin-starred River Cafe, author of 13 cookbooks, and host of the podcast "Ruthie’s Table 4." The discussion explores Rogers' philosophy on what makes a restaurant special, the unique connection between food and personal stories, and how her acclaimed podcast and new book, "Table 4 at the River Cafe," distill those experiences. The episode conveys Rogers’ warm, reflective approach to food and the restaurant industry, underlining how shared meals and stories become central to community and happiness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Essence of the River Cafe and Rogers’ Philosophy

• Foundational Values:
  • Ruthie describes how, from the start, the River Cafe focused on hospitality and making guests feel welcome—“the way people are greeted, the way people are made to feel welcome, of course the food.” She emphasizes changing the menu daily to reflect what’s fresh and in season (01:35).
  • Quote:

    "Every day is a different day. We have great people working here...you want people to come to your restaurant and leave, I always say, quite simply happier than when they arrived."
    — Ruthie Rogers (01:35)

• The Open Kitchen and Atmosphere:
  The kitchen’s openness fosters a unique collaborative spirit and transparency between staff and diners.

2. The Iconic “Table 4” and Significance of Shared Spaces

• The Story Behind Table 4:
  • Table 4 is both a literal and symbolic centerpiece—once Michael Caine’s favorite, now a focal point for the new book and podcast.
  • The table serves as a metaphor for inclusivity and the varied, memorable experiences that happen there (02:29).
• Food as a Bridge to Memory and Storytelling:
  • Ruthie connects food to memory—with tales surfacing through questions about familial cooking or early food experiences. This approach became vital during the pandemic, when the restaurant was shuttered and Rogers sought ways to stay connected with her community.
  • Quote:

    "When we talk to people through the lens of food about their memories, it's very thoughtful...It brings up other stories."
    — Ruthie Rogers (02:29)

3. The Power of the Table and Gathering

• Centrality of the Table:
  • Her reflection:

    "The best things happen around a table...the sad things happen around a table, but...it is around a table that we meet.”
    — Ruthie Rogers (03:56)

  • She recounts interviewing Elton John and others, illustrating how food topics unlock personal stories and emotions.
• Not Just About Cooking:
  • Rogers notes many don’t cook, and that’s okay. The act of gathering matters more: “It's not about the cooking. It's about somehow being together.” (03:56)

4. Podcasting as an Extension of the Restaurant Experience

• Bringing the Table to Audio:
  • Rogers stresses that everyone at the restaurant has a unique story—some joyful, some sad—which she aims to capture in her podcast (05:19).
  • Chapters in the book and podcast, like "Food is Family" and "Food is Art," frame interviews with the likes of the McCartney family, David Beckham, and designer Jony Ive.
  • The intention is inclusivity and democracy—not just celebrity but a focus on shared human experience:

    “It's not about famous people. It's not about celebrities. It's about people who have stories that we all want to know about...I think it's quite democratic, you know.”
    — Ruthie Rogers (05:19)

• Selection of Podcast Guests:
  • Rogers clarifies that not all favorite guests are in the book, hinting at a possible future volume (04:59).

5. Origins of the Podcast and Notable Episodes

• Starting Out and Early Guests:
  • The first podcast episode featured Jake Gyllenhaal, a personal friend. Rogers admits she “didn't really know what I’m doing” and wanted support from someone she trusted (06:58).
  • The idea for storytelling around food was inspired by at-home charitable evenings with performances from friends like Ian McKellen, who once read a recipe aloud—prompting Rogers’ realization that recipes can be poetic as well as scientific.
• Crossing Artistic Mediums:

  "A recipe is half science and half poetry, right. There’s something rather beautiful about listening."
  — Ruthie Rogers (07:42)

6. Ruthie’s Comfort Food

• A Personal Touch:
  • Asked for her comfort food, Rogers instantly replies:

    "My overcome food would be tomato sauce."
    — Ruthie Rogers (08:16)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You want people to come to your restaurant and leave...happier than when they arrived.” — Ruthie Rogers (01:35)
• “The best things happen around a table...but it is around a table that we all meet.” — Ruthie Rogers (03:56)
• “It's not about famous people...It's about people who have stories that we all want to know about.” — Ruthie Rogers (05:19)
• “A recipe is half science and half poetry.” — Ruthie Rogers (07:42)
• On comfort food: “My overcome food would be tomato sauce.” — Ruthie Rogers (08:16)

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Main Timestamps

• 01:35: Ruthie discusses her restaurant’s foundational values.
• 02:29: The story and symbolism of Table 4; food and memory.
• 03:56: The importance of gathering around the table—happy and sad moments alike.
• 05:19: The vision behind the podcast and book—democracy of stories.
• 06:58: Starting the podcast with Jake Gyllenhaal; inspiration from home performances.
• 08:16: Ruthie reveals her comfort food: tomato sauce.

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Tone and Style

Ruthie Rogers comes across as warm, reflective, and democratic in her approach to food and conversation. The episode is filled with inviting anecdotes and philosophical musings, underscoring her belief in the transformative power of food to gather, comfort, and connect people, regardless of fame or background.

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Conclusion

This episode provides a heartfelt look at Ruthie Rogers’ philosophy—a belief that food and the act of gathering transcend mere sustenance to become the core of personal connection and memorable experiences. Through her restaurant, podcast, and new book, Rogers invites everyone to the table, embracing both grand stories and everyday moments, always aiming to make guests leave a little happier than when they arrived.

Transcript

[Narrator/Commercial Voice]

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[Interviewer/Host]

Well, she is an award winning chef, co founder of a Michelin starred restaurant, author of 13 cookbooks, a native New Yorker, has a podcast where she talks with the likes of Paul McCartney, Tina Fey, David Beckham, Mel Brooks, Martha Stewart, Francis Ford Coppol, Mark Carney, Bob Iger, Jony. I've whose comfort food by the way is peas.

[Co-Host/Interviewer]

Okay, I like that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Who would have known? She has also, full disclosure, talked with Michael Bloomberg, of course founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. She has talked with many, many folks. All of it comes together in a great book. It also comes together like a great meal with amazing company. Her new book is entitled Table 4 at the River Cafe, which as we understand is a highly coveted physical table located near the restaurant's open kitchen. Here to tell us about it and more is Ruthie Rogers, co founder of the River Cafe in London, host of her podcast Ruthie's Table 4. She joins us from London. We are so delighted to have you. We know it's a little bit later there in London. Congratulations on the new book. And we were thinking about where should we begin? And if you had to pick one single thing, Ruthie, as to where you are today, why you got there, your restaurant, iconic, well known in London, award winning, you've got now a five year old podcast. What might that thing be?

[Ruthie Rogers]

I think that you know, from the very beginning we started with the values of a restaurant. What is a restaurant? Why do people go to restaurants? What do you look for in a restaurant? And I was just downstairs just now and I see that the way people are greeted, the way people are made to feel welcome, of course the food, we change the menu for every meal. We write a menu. We rather like you do at home. We see what is fresh, what we have we bought the day before and what of course always what is in season in the Italian market. So I think every day is a different day. We have great people working here who we, you know, the whole kitchen is open and so there's a kind of way that we all work together. And I think, you know, you want really people to come to your restaurant and leave, I always say, quite simply happier than when they arrived.

[Co-Host/Interviewer]

So tell us about for people who haven't been to the restaurant, the coveted table four.

[Ruthie Rogers]

Well, you know what Michael Caine always Used to sit at table four, but then, you know, when Nancy Pelosi came in, we sat at table one. And there might be a table who prefers somebody who prefers table. Table 10, which is near to the entrance. Table 4 is slightly also a pun on the word for. So it's a table number, but it also is a table for Michael Bloomberg, a table for any of the other people who are in the book. Because what we wanted to do during, when we. We had to stop the restaurant because of the pandemic, we wanted a way to reach the people who ate in the restaurant. How could we reach them? We thought about reading a recipe every day, and then that segued into the story. Because when you think about when we, when we talk to people through the lens of food about their memories, it's very thoughtful. It brings back. If I asked you, did your mother cook? Did your father cook? Did you go to restaurants? It brings up other stories.

[Interviewer/Host]

I love that aspect. Being from a large family, food was a big part. My mom loved to cook. And, you know, especially around holidays, birthdays, a relative in town, she would cook and make sure there was things for everybody who liked, you know, even if she had to do, like, five different vegetables to make sure everybody was happy. But we would sit Ruthie at that table for hours. And I feel like that's where you're coming from.

[Ruthie Rogers]

The best things happen around a table, I think very. And the sad things happen around a table, but I think it is around a table that we all meet. It doesn't matter. We could have a sandwich around the table or a drink around the table, but there is something of that conversation. And when, when I, you know, when we interviewed Elton John and David furnished, the woman who worked for his chief of staff, who said she'd worked with and heard so many interviews over 25 years, but was only when Elton started talking about potting peas with his grandmother or how they tried, you know, the people who use food, you know, to seduce, to impress, to give joy, to share. It's, you know, and I'm also, you know, I meet a lot of women who don't cook or men who don't cook. And that's fine. It's not about the cooking. It's about somehow being together.

[Co-Host/Interviewer]

Well, let's talk about the podcast a little bit and the way that these interviews have come together in this new book, as Carol mentioned, a host of names, these are not your favorites. These are just some of the interviews that the publisher picked. We should know.

[Ruthie Rogers]

I want to make that really Clear. Because so many brilliant people are not in the book, but they'll be in volume two.

[Co-Host/Interviewer]

Well, what is the connection between the podcast and the restaurant and the way that you try to bring what you bring to life in a restaurant to an audio format, that you invite people to sort of be at the table with you?

[Ruthie Rogers]

I think there are two things. I think a friend of mine came into the restaurant the other day and he said, you know, oh, I don't. You know, I'm having trouble with one of my children. I'm not sure that I can join this crowd. Look at this room, Ruthie. There are so many people at this table looking so happy and celebrating. And I said, you know, if you went to every table in this restaurant, everyone has a story. Everyone has a story. It could be a happy story. That daughter might have graduated, or they could have been fired that day, or their mother might be sick, or, you know, there's so many stories that people have. And I think what I wanted to do is talk to people and. And have their stories told, as I say, through the lens of food. And you discover we have different section. We have the chapter of food is family. And so we have the McCartney family. We have the Beckham family. We have the Harry Russell and Matthew Rice. We have. And that's families. We have the art. Food is art. And we have Tracy Emman, and we have Jony I've, Who's a designer. We have the political artists, politics. We have, as you said, Mark Carney. And it's not about famous people. It's not about celebrities. It's about people who have stories that we all want to know about, you know, and so I think it's quite democratic, you know.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, it is.

[Ruthie Rogers]

It is.

[Interviewer/Host]

And the approach is really fun to kind of go through. I want to ask you, though, I think your first podcast was September, back in September of 2021. Jake. Jake Gyllenhaal. Was it? Was it Jake?

[Ruthie Rogers]

And if so, yeah. Why?

[Interviewer/Host]

How did that come to be? And why Jake being the first?

[Ruthie Rogers]

Well, we never thought. We never. Jake is a really good friend. I've known him for a long time. And I said, would you do this with me? Because I don't really know what I'm doing, but we're going to try and do this podcast. And it really came from my husband and I used to give evenings, one every year in which an actor or a singer or a writer would perform in the living room of our house. And. And we would give the money to, you know, to charitable cause we believed in. And one night we had Ian McKellen. And Ian, you know, he told an anecdote, he sang a song, he recounted something that had happened to him in the theater. He did a sonnet of Shakespeare. But the last thing he did was to get one of our cookbooks, the first cookbook, and read a recipe for a soup. And you know, I always say a recipe is half science and half poetry, right. And to a recipe is actually, there's something rather beautiful about listening. So I said to Jake, help me out here. And so he, he did one and the first one I think, and Wes, it was Wes Anderson, who's another good friend. And

[Interviewer/Host]

listen Ruthie, we have to jump and go 10 seconds though. What's your comfort food?

[Ruthie Rogers]

My overcome food would be tomato sauce.

[Interviewer/Host]

Ah, a good one. Ruthie, thank you so much. We've been looking forward to catching up with you. Ruthie Rogers, co founder of the River Cafe in London. Her podcast Ruthie's table for her new book Table 4 at the River Cafe.

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