Appetite cover art

Appetite

A Memoir in Recipes of Family and Food

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Appetite

By: Ed Balls
Narrated by: Ed Balls
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 ‘Delightfully different’ – Delia Smith

Ed Balls was just three weeks old when he tried his first meal: pureed roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. While perhaps ill-advised by modern weaning standards, it worked for him in 1967, and from that moment on he was hooked on food.

Appetite is a memoir with a twist: part autobiography, part cookbook, each chapter is a recipe that tells a story. Ed was taught to cook by his mother, and now he’s passing these recipes on to his own children as they start to fly the nest. Sitting round the table year after year, the world around us may change, but great recipes last a lifetime.

Appetite is a celebration of love, family, and really good food.
©2021 Ed Balls (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio Food & Wine Gastronomy Memoir

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Chewing the Fat cover art
JGV cover art
Old Rage cover art
Hallelujah! The Welcome Table cover art
Bread and Wine cover art
The Marmalade Diaries cover art
Spinning Plates cover art
The Ten (Food) Commandments cover art
Beautiful Affair: A Journey in Music, Food and Friendship cover art
Keep Talking cover art
Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey cover art
L.A. Son cover art
Life from Scratch cover art
Mango and Peppercorns cover art
Menus That Made History cover art
The Lick of Love cover art

Critic reviews

"Delightfully different." (Delia Smith)
All stars
Most relevant
loved this, some great recipes as well as an interesting listen to Ed's life.
liked the recipes so much bought the book as well

Great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a lovely listen. I am about the same age, so the reminiscences are of similar vintage. The recipes are fab, the political gossip is fun, but it is the love that Ed Balls has for his family that really shines out.

Warm and comforting, like a tray of Yorkshire puds

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I can't say I ever cared much for Ed Balls during his years in politics, and I am generally wary of (former) politicians and their cultural efforts, but "Appetite" is a gorgeous feast of moving memories, extremely relatable family stories and mouthwatering recipes. I was moved to tears several times, especially when the author talked about his lovely relationship with his parents and his mum's fight with dementia.
Overall, moving, funny and surprisingly relatable, "Appetite" is a most delicious literary treat and one of the best memoirs I've read.

Gorgeous, moving and mouthwatering.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I could take or leave Ed Balls but after reading a newspaper review I thought I would give this book it a go. I’ve really enjoyed it and now I think I’m a fan, (never thought I would say that!)
If you’re after a nice easy read, warts and all, give it a go. Well done Ed.

ENJOYABLE READ

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this audio book learning more about Ed and his family. The one thing I didn't like were his large nasal intakes of breath when reading it. Surprised this got through the edit TBH.

Really lovely story told in meals

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews