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Speaker 1: We have good news. Ruthie's Table four is launching on YouTube,

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Speaker 1: where you'll find full episodes, clips, and some of my

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Speaker 1: favorite moments from the series. Guests like Kate Blanchett, Francis

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Speaker 1: Ford Coppolo, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, and many many more.

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Speaker 1: To watch. Go to YouTube dot com slash hat symbol

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Speaker 1: Ruthie's Table four pod. I can't wait to see you there.

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Speaker 2: You are listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair.

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Speaker 1: Thinking about Laura Dern coming here today. I found myself

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Speaker 1: scrolling through three years of text messages. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: a story about making plans to meet our excitement at

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Speaker 1: the thought of seeing each other in la or London,

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Speaker 1: choosing restaurants to go to, and even sending photographs of

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Speaker 1: a fundraiser I gave for Nancy Pelosi. As usual, most

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Speaker 1: of our ideas were aspirational, adapting around our close families, movies, cooking, travel.

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Speaker 1: Laura is loved by me and many others. She's fun,

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Speaker 1: she's curious, she's smart, she hangs with a crew on set,

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Speaker 1: passionate about her children, Jaya and Ellery. She has strong

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Speaker 1: memories of her grandmother and describes her parents as heroes.

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Speaker 1: Laura fights for human rights, social values. It is a

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Speaker 1: bold and brave spokesperson for women in the film industry.

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Speaker 1: Directors and writers consider her first when making a movie.

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Speaker 1: Renzo Piano, the architect for the Academy Museum of Motion

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Speaker 1: Pictures in la remembers that as a trustee, she was

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Speaker 1: a rigorous and remarkable client. He asked me to give

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Speaker 1: her a hug. Laura Dern loves to eat, and she

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Speaker 1: cares about food and the politics of feeding people safely

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Speaker 1: and sustainably. To day, we're here in the River Cafe

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Speaker 1: to talk about all this and more. And after I

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Speaker 1: give her the hug from Rerenzo and another one for me,

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Speaker 1: that's what we're going to do. So tell me about

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Speaker 1: your cooking with Sean.

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Speaker 3: First of all, just being in the kitchen here was incredible,

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Speaker 3: and I was thinking about tracking my memories over the

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Speaker 3: last probably seven years of making movies here in London,

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Speaker 3: my memories with my collaborators, my great memories are here

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Speaker 3: at the River Cafe. This is where we plot and

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Speaker 3: create and invent, and over the course of a meal

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Speaker 3: that's always remembered. So then I was on set with

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Speaker 3: Noah boundback this week and we'd had dinner here together,

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Speaker 3: the two of us, talking about what it's feeling like

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Speaker 3: and how it feels different for him than the last

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Speaker 3: movies in his life. And as we're describing it, we're

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Speaker 3: describing like, oh, my god, wasn't that wine incredible?

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Speaker 2: Can you believe that salad was? What was the art

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Speaker 2: of show? How did she make that art of chow?

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Speaker 3: And we're just you know, it becomes this organic part

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Speaker 3: of memory, food and art, and you've created this sustainable,

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Speaker 3: inventive place for art and artists that is forever seeped

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Speaker 3: in my memory. So already it's such a gift and

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Speaker 3: it means so much. And now our friendship which is

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Speaker 3: growing and evolving, and we're getting finally getting time together,

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Speaker 3: but also being in the kitchen and watching a great

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Speaker 3: chef's kitchen and it feels rigorous and stressful. I walk

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Speaker 3: away from it saying, that's such a terrifying space and

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Speaker 3: there's something even cold about it. And the minute you

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Speaker 3: walk in, first of all, the warmth of the kitchen

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Speaker 3: as part of the room, that the chef is not

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Speaker 3: separate from the client, that we're all eating and creating

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Speaker 3: and inventing this day together. That's what's so beautiful about

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Speaker 3: the space you've created. And then Sean's energy is so beautiful,

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Speaker 3: and that she wants to teach as much as she

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Speaker 3: loves to cook is so amazing. And my son, we

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Speaker 3: were sharing, Ellery has really, through the pandemic, discovered his

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Speaker 3: love of cooking. And he always had that innate instinct

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Speaker 3: even as a little boy, you know, putting something together.

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Speaker 3: He knew how to kind of close his eyes and

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Speaker 3: pick the right flavors or something.

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Speaker 2: But now he cooks. And I was sharing with Sean.

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Speaker 3: He said, you know, the only thing that I've ever

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Speaker 3: experienced that feels like making music is making a meal.

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Speaker 2: And to make a meal.

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Speaker 3: Alongside other people is like when you're collaborating in the studio.

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Speaker 3: You don't know what's going to happen or how we're

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Speaker 3: going to invent together to create this same goal, this

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Speaker 3: piece of art. But everyone has their unique rhythm.

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Speaker 4: Hi, I'm John and I'm making a potatoes are Porno

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Speaker 4: with sage with Laura. Then the potatoes are done in

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Speaker 4: the wood oven. But you don't need to have a

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Speaker 4: wood oven in your house time Okay, good, you might

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Speaker 4: have one, No, I don't know what. Oh, yeah, so

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Speaker 4: this is your recipe that you've chosen, I pay.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: And so it's just thinly sliced waxy potatoes and then

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Speaker 4: they've been tossed with garlic and sage and covered and

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Speaker 4: cooked for about forty five minutes and then the brow

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Speaker 4: up in an oven.

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Speaker 3: It's really traditional oven.

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Speaker 2: What would you do? You just put it in forty

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Speaker 2: five minutes.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So when you read the recipe you'll see just

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Speaker 4: slice the potatoes, scarlet, sage, cover it and then you

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Speaker 4: uncover it and brown it and it will turn out

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Speaker 4: like that, I promise you.

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Speaker 2: And you'd only.

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Speaker 3: Use the fresh stage leaves, right, Yeah, well you can

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Speaker 3: use anything is fine.

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Speaker 4: Roast, Yeah, it's really nice with fish or meat.

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Speaker 1: Anything not beautiful.

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Speaker 2: This is my son's obsession also with.

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Speaker 3: There's a beauty to the irregularity, and there's a beauty

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Speaker 3: to the shaving.

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Speaker 2: And like he was like, when you have a true

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Speaker 2: tritata in Spain.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, when he's like, Americans try to make it and

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Speaker 3: it's you.

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Speaker 2: Never get the texture of it, right.

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Speaker 3: So there's still like a density like aldente and pasta, yes, exactly.

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Speaker 4: And I wonder whether it's something to do with the

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Speaker 4: potato because it's actually like a waxy potato. By the

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Speaker 4: end of today, you'll know how to make that. You

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Speaker 4: can impress your son. Okay, you know what you're where

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Speaker 4: you're going with it now?

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Speaker 3: Okay, great, I'm going to attempt it.

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Speaker 4: I think like when you get really good at cooking, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: I think you don't need to cook with your eyes.

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Speaker 4: You cook it with other senses. Can you can cook

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Speaker 4: with your ears because you can hear how it's cooking,

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Speaker 4: cut you and then you can obviously smell. And she

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Speaker 4: just got it like somewhere in your intuition.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder what you're somethink I love it.

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Speaker 4: I'll have to ask him because I need for eyes.

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Speaker 4: You know, when you're like buying garlic or something. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: and when it goes into oil, it's sort of making

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Speaker 4: a noise. But as it browns, it starts to change

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Speaker 4: in the sound. I reckon, you can tell when when

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Speaker 4: it's brown, just buying the sound.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's so bad.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm really into I'm really interesting. Can you cook

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Speaker 4: without your eyes? Yes, I reckon you can.

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Speaker 2: That's amazing. I'm not there.

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Speaker 4: If he wants to come and have a look I

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Speaker 4: have a kitchen anytime.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, I have to bring in a day

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Speaker 2: with us. Are you kidding?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god, that would be We can talk.

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Speaker 1: About should we read the recipe first? Why don't you

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Speaker 1: heed the recipe?

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Speaker 2: Okay?

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Speaker 3: So the recipe is potato alfaro, four tablespoons of olive oil,

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Speaker 3: four garlic clothes, peeled and finely sliced, twenty sage leaves.

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Speaker 3: We spoke a lot about the sage, because the sage

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Speaker 3: is beautiful now that spring is here. Eight hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty grams rose vale or similar yellow waxy potatoes, peeled,

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Speaker 3: sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. You preheat the oven

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Speaker 3: to one ninety degrees. You heat the oil in a

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Speaker 3: frying pan, stir in the garlic. Slice each potato lengthways

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Speaker 3: down the middle, so that you are left with two

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Speaker 3: thick slices. Place in a large bowl, season with salt

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Speaker 3: and pepper, tossed together with olive oil and sage. Put

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Speaker 3: in a baking dish. Cover with foil, and you cook

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Speaker 3: in the oven for forty minutes. About twenty minutes before

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Speaker 3: the end of cooking, remove the foil so that the

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Speaker 3: surface of the potatoes become brown. Now the sage looked

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Speaker 3: so fresh, which I think is a key. And she

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Speaker 3: was saying, these amazing waxy potatoes are from Italy. And

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Speaker 3: I don't even know what how I find those waxy

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Speaker 3: potatoes in California or what they translate as.

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Speaker 1: I can't answer that, but we can find them. You

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Speaker 1: can find great potatoes. I mean the extreme for potatoes

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Speaker 1: is when I went to perof you just see all these,

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Speaker 1: you know, different different, different potatoes. But I bet if

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Speaker 1: we went to a market in La we can find

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Speaker 1: the potatoes so that they'll give you a rose potatoes

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Speaker 1: and you can show it to the person.

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Speaker 2: Amazing, amazing potatoes.

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Speaker 3: But I also was so touched, especially because I said,

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Speaker 3: I want to make it for ellery by not only

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Speaker 3: the lengthways, but the beauty of irregularity that ellery doesn't

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Speaker 3: like precise, the precise look of things. It's even like

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Speaker 3: in filmmaking something being off center, you know it, there's

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Speaker 3: something so beautiful about the way it looks. And I

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Speaker 3: was really touched by that. And he always comments on that,

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Speaker 3: like when we've been in Spain and you have a

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Speaker 3: frittata and the potatoes the density, like he was comparing

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Speaker 3: it to al dente and pasta like you have it.

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Speaker 3: There's a little bite to them, and they can be

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Speaker 3: very potatoes can be very mushy.

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Speaker 1: Well that's why I think the usl when she said waxy,

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Speaker 1: like they're not flowery. You know, you have a baked

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Speaker 1: potato with sour cream or whatever you have with it,

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Speaker 1: you want it to be quite flowery. And we have

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Speaker 1: mashed potatoes.

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Speaker 2: You want them not to be waxy.

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Speaker 1: But these hold their shape and they kind of defined

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Speaker 1: and always sounds better and better. Where is he?

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Speaker 2: I know, we got to get him over here if.

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Speaker 1: He's concerned about the way that potatoes alice, and I

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Speaker 1: want him here tomorrow. He's a musician.

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Speaker 3: He's a musician, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and now he's just

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Speaker 3: started producing his first record for an amazing artist, a

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Speaker 3: female singer songwriter. And so I think sound and instinct

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Speaker 3: is everything. You know, it's really Yeah, it's beautiful, but.

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Speaker 1: Over food, talking over food, food and sharing a meal

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Speaker 1: and creating also really happens together, doesn't.

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Speaker 2: It so much? I was just saying to a girlfriend.

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Speaker 3: She was like, what is the thing that makes you know?

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Speaker 3: And I said, if anyone mistreated a waiter, I deal.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, million percent.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're pretty lucky in the restaurant that people

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Speaker 1: really nice.

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Speaker 2: And also being raised between Los Angeles and New York.

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Speaker 3: I was raised by actor parents, and most waiters are

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Speaker 3: often actors in Los Angeles and New York or musicians,

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Speaker 3: and so their respect at the presentation of the specials.

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Speaker 2: I was taught that, you know, you not.

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Speaker 3: Only the focus and regard, but actually honoring their performance

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Speaker 3: of the specials as high art. And so the performance

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Speaker 3: of Specials was given deep in high regard.

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Speaker 1: For a long time. The friend of mine had their

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Speaker 1: two children who were like eight and ten. We were

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Speaker 1: all having their journalists with we're all having lunch in

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Speaker 1: a restaurant, and his daughter turned him and said blue, daddy,

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Speaker 1: and then the son later on said brown, And I

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Speaker 1: said what are they doing? He said, oh, we've taught

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Speaker 1: them to learn the color of the eyes of the

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Speaker 1: person who's waiting on their table so that they look

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Speaker 1: at them. And I thought that was really a nice

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Speaker 1: way of doing it, that they just met the you

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Speaker 1: know somebody. Yeah, since brown, blue, blue brow, that's amazing nice. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: let's go back, okay, because we've talked about your son,

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Speaker 1: we haven't talked about your daughter, but about it is

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Speaker 1: she is she interested in food.

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Speaker 2: She is like me.

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Speaker 3: We love food and we appreciate food. And she is

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Speaker 3: a fierce young activists. So she definitely cares deeply about

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Speaker 3: sustainability and the politics of food, particularly in the US,

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Speaker 3: and so we have a lot of conversations about where

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Speaker 3: the food is coming from, carbon emissions, how to support it,

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Speaker 3: regenerative farming, the soil itself.

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Speaker 2: And she was a.

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Speaker 3: Really beautiful supporter of a series of films and I've

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Speaker 3: been a producer on the most recent, which has Kissed

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Speaker 3: the Ground, and now a film we made Common Ground,

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Speaker 3: which is sort of the sequel to that about regenerative farming.

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Speaker 3: And so she's learned a lot about the question of

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Speaker 3: overtilling and pesticides and big food, the industry of it,

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Speaker 3: and obviously the laws in the UK and EU are

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Speaker 3: very different than in the US, in which chemicals are

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Speaker 3: somehow god in the US, which is tragic and hopefully

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Speaker 3: changing more and more with independent farmers. And so she

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Speaker 3: is deeply interested in it, which is really beautiful.

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Speaker 1: Did you know the River Cafe has a shop. It's

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Speaker 1: full of our favorite foods and designs. We have cookbooks,

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Speaker 1: Linden Napkins, kitchen ware, toad bags with our signatures, glasses

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Speaker 1: from Venice, chocolates from Turin. You can find us right

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Speaker 1: next door to the River Cafe in London or online

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Speaker 1: at Shopthrivercafe dot co dot UK. I'm a grandmother now

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Speaker 1: and I think there is something about wanting to cook

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Speaker 1: for your grandchildren in a way that you were, maybe

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Speaker 1: as a working mother, not able to do or to

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Speaker 1: do enough. And tell me about the role that your

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Speaker 1: grandmother played in your childhood.

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Speaker 3: My mom being a single parent when my parents divorced,

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Speaker 3: and a working actress because of travel, my grandmother raised

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Speaker 3: me when she was gone working, So majority of my

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Speaker 3: time was with my grandmother Mary, who's from Alabama and

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Speaker 3: she gave birth to my mom in Mississippi. And so

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Speaker 3: the roots of my family are so tied to food

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Speaker 3: and tradition in the South.

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Speaker 1: Southern cooking is the region, isn't it. When you think

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Speaker 1: about France and Italy and Britain having you know, the

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Speaker 1: north of France has a very different cuisine from the

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Speaker 1: South of France, and Piermonte has a very different cuisine

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Speaker 1: from Sicily. And then you think about American food and

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Speaker 1: you think, well, it is a food of Vermont, really

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Speaker 1: different from the food of Ohio or but the food

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Speaker 1: actually of the South has such a strong identity.

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Speaker 3: So strong, and you what's beautiful is you watch the

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Speaker 3: DNA of those traditions and where they came from, just

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Speaker 3: like in the Great Lakes. You know, this a very

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Speaker 3: Scandinavian focused American cuisine. And the South, I mean, particularly

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Speaker 3: in New Orleans. Obviously there's so much French influence, but

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Speaker 3: there's also the influence of the American farmer. And what

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Speaker 3: was incredible was in lower income families the food was

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Speaker 3: simpler and from the land that you had. But my

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Speaker 3: grandmother was getting what she could from her fellow friends

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Speaker 3: and farms locally.

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Speaker 1: So did she move to la to take care of you, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: oh she did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So it was very based in broad beans, kidney beans, okra,

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Speaker 3: collared greens, rice, and you know.

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Speaker 2: That was sort of the staple of your meal.

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Speaker 3: But when she was in the South, especially when they

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Speaker 3: were on the farm, the major meal of the day

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Speaker 3: was breakfast, which was so wild. They would have of

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Speaker 3: like really like an early morning breakfast and then go

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Speaker 3: out and work in the fields and then come back

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Speaker 3: and have this huge breakfast at like ten in the

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Speaker 3: morning because they'd already been working since four am. And

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Speaker 3: I remember as a little girl when I would go

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Speaker 3: visit my grandfather in Mississippi and at ten am it

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Speaker 3: was corn bread and eggs and bacon and grits and

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Speaker 3: collars and a coconut cake and a cake cover a

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Speaker 3: cake for breakfast with your coffee. You know.

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Speaker 1: Would this be weekdays as well?

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Speaker 2: Every day for them? Every day, you know?

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Speaker 3: But the Los Angeles version is like Sunday breakfast was

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Speaker 3: like a big.

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Speaker 1: Did you was your father in the kitchen or never?

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Speaker 3: Never, although my mom just told me that when they

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Speaker 3: were first together in New York, he would cook on

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Speaker 3: Sundays for all the unemployed actors, you know, and do

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Speaker 3: like a big pastas meatballs or lamb chops or some

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Speaker 3: kind of Sunday meal to help feed the other actors

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Speaker 3: and whoever was working would feed everybody. My father was

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Speaker 3: raised in Chicago with a very influential and wealthy family

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Speaker 3: of aristocratic family.

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Speaker 1: See the husband of your grandmother who came to look

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Speaker 1: after or a different.

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Speaker 3: No side, Yeah, yeah, the Dern McLeish side. And it

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Speaker 3: was secretary of War under FDR. Poet Laureate of the US.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, now how are you related to?

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Speaker 3: That's my dad's uncle, Archibald MacLeish was the Poet Laureate

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Speaker 3: under FDR. While his grandfather on his father's side, George Dern,

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Speaker 3: was Secretary of War under Fdr.

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Speaker 2: Warnor Roosevelt. His godmother Eleanor. I mean I've lost my

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Speaker 2: dad's godmother.

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Speaker 1: Godmother was Eleanor Roosevelt.

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Speaker 3: But in that family, no one growing whether you have

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Speaker 3: someone cooking, and so he didn't grow up with it

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Speaker 3: at all, but he loved it.

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Speaker 1: I was saying, if you don't have any money, then

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Speaker 1: probably you have to learn to cook if you want

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Speaker 1: to eat well exactly. But if you do, then you know,

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Speaker 1: there are probably quite a lot of men and women

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Speaker 1: who never went into a kitchen.

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Speaker 3: And also, my mom tells so many stories of like

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Speaker 3: literally hungry actors.

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Speaker 2: In New York City.

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Speaker 3: My mom came to New York with twenty dollars in

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Speaker 3: her pocket and a little cardboard suitcase to become an

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Speaker 3: actress from a tiny town in Mississippi, knowing no one.

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Speaker 3: And she said, you know, you used to go in

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Speaker 3: and if you ordered a beer, they would suggest, you know,

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Speaker 3: order a beer because it'll fill your stomach, and the

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Speaker 3: bartender would give them bread and butter.

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Speaker 1: But coming out of this family, where your grandmother cooked

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Speaker 1: for you, where your mother cared about food, your father

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Speaker 1: came from a food culture, was there a time when

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Speaker 1: you went off on your own and suddenly there was

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Speaker 1: not that comfort food or a million percent?

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Speaker 3: I mean I started acting at eleven, and I was

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Speaker 3: on location by myself at sixteen on and working on

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Speaker 3: movies meant eating on the run and eating poorly and

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Speaker 3: eating in small towns everywhere, and so it became what

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Speaker 3: is provided to small town America, which was fast food,

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Speaker 3: eating tragic.

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Speaker 2: This isn't what y're starting in the late.

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Speaker 3: Seventies, and I only discovered the gift of the connection

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Speaker 3: between eating beautifully and food becoming a part of my

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Speaker 3: artistic experience in the last decade because of heroes like you.

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Speaker 1: But do you think that you could work or act

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Speaker 1: or do what you do better if you actually had

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Speaker 1: healthy food on a film set or do you think

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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter?

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Speaker 3: Well, there are heroes in this movement, and I mean

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Speaker 3: in music. I am so impressed. Thanks to Maggie, Billie

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Speaker 3: Eilish's mom, who is working so hard in terms of

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Speaker 3: how to feed crew on music productions and touring. And

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Speaker 3: there is a new model that a lot of incredible

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Speaker 3: companies that are looking at zero waste are looking at

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Speaker 3: sustainable models for catering. It's shifting and so we're trying

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Speaker 3: to figure out on film production how to do that

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Speaker 3: more and more. Kate Blanchett care so deeply about this

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Speaker 3: as well. We've been having conversations about, you know, making

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Speaker 3: sure there is a model that production follows more and more.

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Speaker 1: I know that Wes Anderson, you know, when he did

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Speaker 1: a podcast and his dream and there are a few

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Speaker 1: directors who would say not to stop at all. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's sitting down to a meal. Let's do that at

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Speaker 1: the end, we'll all go out to dinner.

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Speaker 2: We'll do this.

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Speaker 1: But he tried it. He tried giving everyone soup, and

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Speaker 1: of course there was a rebellion, especially months of crew

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Speaker 1: saying we can't do the lighting of this or that

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Speaker 1: out a bowl of soup.

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Speaker 3: And it's deeply possible. I've seen it done here and

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Speaker 3: i've seen it done in Italy when I've worked and

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Speaker 3: you're not taking a lunch, so as people are free.

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Speaker 3: You're feeding that group of people when cameras taking a break,

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Speaker 3: when the actors are taking a break, so that you

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Speaker 3: have a shorter day, so that everybody has the time

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Speaker 3: to be with their family, and then you have time

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Speaker 3: for a meal with your family or your collaborators, which

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Speaker 3: I think works beautifully. I mean, I've worked on a

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Speaker 3: couple of productions now where there's a certain amount of

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Speaker 3: meat and it's on order.

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Speaker 2: So the day before, if you're someone.

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Speaker 3: Who wants meet a meal that involves meat, you're pre

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Speaker 3: ordering so you're not wasting that day of food. And

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Speaker 3: then also working with local communities so that you're taking

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Speaker 3: the food and giving it to the community and there's

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Speaker 3: no waste, because the waste is shocking.

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Speaker 1: What was it like with David Lynch, Because you talk

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Speaker 1: about him a lot and you've worked with him a lot.

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Speaker 1: What was food was? What was David's? Is that matters

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Speaker 1: to him?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it matters to him, and sharing a meal matters

400
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Speaker 3: to him. And from the first time I worked with him,

401
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,719
Speaker 3: which was on Blue Velvet, I was seventeen and those

402
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,879
Speaker 3: meals are some of my favorite memories, which was you know,

403
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,919
Speaker 3: at night we go and we eat together. You know,

404
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 3: we go to we find a couple of chefs in

405
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Speaker 3: that town that become friends. They know what we love

406
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Speaker 3: and we learn what they make, and at the end

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00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,359
Speaker 3: of the day we'd always have a meal together.

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Speaker 1: What about food in movies? When you do a food scene,

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Speaker 1: now they're food scenes that you remember.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. The one I remember the most was on this

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Speaker 3: experimental film Inland Empire that we made some of that

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Speaker 3: movie literally just the two of us, and we shot

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Speaker 3: several days.

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Speaker 2: In Paris, you and David Lynch.

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00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:34,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, Inland Empire is this radical journey movie. I think

416
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 3: it's more of a meditation than a linear film, and

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Speaker 3: it was an amazing experience.

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Speaker 2: We shot over almost three years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and he wanted to make a film so that

420
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Speaker 3: everyone could be inspired to make a movie. He's like,

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Speaker 3: if you're seventeen years old and you're in Phoenix, Arizona,

422
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Speaker 3: and you've got your grandparents, Sony Camcord, you pick that

423
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 3: up and you make a movie, and now you can

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Speaker 3: do it with your I phone. But we did a

425
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Speaker 3: scene in a hotel room in Paris and it was

426
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Speaker 3: this very long monologue me on a phone call and

427
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 3: we'd sit down for our cafe ole, and he wanted

428
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Speaker 3: his pinashokla and he would write on a legal pad

429
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,160
Speaker 3: and I would sit there and he would look at

430
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Speaker 3: me like a painter and just be writing this monologue.

431
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Speaker 2: And then he'd give it to me and he's like.

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Speaker 3: Now while I have my panasha cola, you learn your monologue.

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Speaker 3: And it's like seven pages, and so I'm like, you.

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Speaker 2: Better eat slow, buddy.

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Speaker 5: So then i'd try to learn it and do a

436
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Speaker 5: probably poor job, but attempt. And then we'd go to

437
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Speaker 5: the hotel room and he would do my makeup or

438
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Speaker 5: I would do my makeup, or we'd work on it together,

439
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Speaker 5: and then he would set up the shot and we'd

440
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 5: shoot the scene. And we shot this monologue and he

441
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 5: was happy with it, and I was so exciting.

442
00:25:58,280 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 2: He was like, we got it.

443
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 3: And so then I went and I sat next to

444
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,479
Speaker 3: the bed. There was this little chair and the side table,

445
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:11,520
Speaker 3: and there were two perfect ladree macaron which that hotel

446
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 3: would have provided, and there was a pistachio one. So

447
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 3: the green was so beautiful and they bit into it. It

448
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 3: was so fresh.

449
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 2: And then he.

450
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 3: Said, okay, now we'll do the close up, and he

451
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 3: set up the shine and he goes where's the macaron.

452
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,120
Speaker 2: I'm like, what do you mean? I ate it? He goes,

453
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 2: you ate my props.

454
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 3: So that's my biggest memory of food and working with

455
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 3: David in a movie.

456
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 2: I ate the prop and he was like, you have

457
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 2: to go now to.

458
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 3: Laderie and get a pistachio macaron.

459
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,239
Speaker 1: I was once in Mexico and I sat down and

460
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 1: I was late for lunch, and there was the mayor

461
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 1: of Mexico City, and I was so starving that I

462
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,439
Speaker 1: ate the crudite that was in the middle of the table.

463
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 1: And the waiter came up and said, you just ate

464
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 1: our floral arrangement.

465
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 2: And I'd eaten somehow I need the floral arrangement.

466
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: Then guess what happened my whole mouth Vietnam because part

467
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 1: of that floral arrangement was some weird plant. And I thought, okay,

468
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 1: I'm gonna die. I'm going to die in this lunch

469
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,640
Speaker 1: with the mayor in Mexico because I ate the flower

470
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,679
Speaker 1: flower plant called flower or something. Do you think about

471
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: food a lot? Do you think what you're going to

472
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,480
Speaker 1: eat the next day, or do you go to bed thinking, well,

473
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: well I have when I wake up, or do you

474
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 1: wake up and think what am I going to see?

475
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 2: My son started cooking.

476
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 3: We've started having conversations that we never had before and

477
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 3: challenging ourselves, you know, like how do we really make

478
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:48,440
Speaker 3: truly a great Cajun style red beans and rice? Because

479
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,640
Speaker 3: we talk about my grandmother and how i'd have red beans?

480
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:51,160
Speaker 1: Did you know.

481
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,400
Speaker 2: As a baby only?

482
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 1: Yeah? Did she ever leave you any of her recipes?

483
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,720
Speaker 3: Yes? And in fact, my mother and I did a

484
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 3: book together of conversations and it's called Honey, Baby Mine.

485
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,920
Speaker 2: And the book it's a book and publish it.

486
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, And in it in the sort of subtitle, we

487
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 3: reference banana pudding and there are a few of her

488
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,399
Speaker 3: recipes for chicken and dumplings and for banana pudding and

489
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 3: cobbler and chicken and dumplings.

490
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,880
Speaker 2: Is such an interesting thing because it's what.

491
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 3: It's fascinating because it's like the mainstay meal that can

492
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 3: be made no matter what family you come from and

493
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 3: where you are in life.

494
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 2: And it's a big part of Southern culture.

495
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 3: And I think in communities who are struggling, like my

496
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 3: mom's family, you need flour, you need starch, and you know,

497
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 3: and chicken and that's it. And so but the dumplings

498
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 3: are radically different and it's interesting like in the UK,

499
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 3: like a chicken pie, the idea of flour and in

500
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 3: a way a dumpling or a potato being used within it,

501
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 3: there's a similarity in it.

502
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 2: Just like cobblers. I think.

503
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 1: So in California, being in LA, you have such a

504
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 1: fast availability of great produce, would you say, what do

505
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 1: you think we do?

506
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:35,000
Speaker 3: But tragically there is probably the most pesticide use in California.

507
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 3: So California has a massive trend toward organic and regenerative

508
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 3: farming and you can find through farmers' markets and organic markets,

509
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 3: health food stores some gorgeous produce. And we have not

510
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 3: illegalized the use of glyphosates and round up in California,

511
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 3: which is illegal in many farming states out the US now,

512
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 3: which I find tragedy.

513
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 2: There are so many small.

514
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 3: Farms, and there are some amazing companies and corporations even

515
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 3: like General mills, that are starting to put money into

516
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 3: supporting regenerative farming as their source of soy and wheat.

517
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 3: That's what we need, I mean, we need the corporations.

518
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: What about what about the whole the wellness industry? Because

519
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 1: I know that you've also done a lot of investigation

520
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: into what is wellness, what is what you know?

521
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 3: It starts with food and my mom and I's book

522
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 3: seemingly is two actresses talking are mother and daughter about

523
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 3: things we've never spoken about before.

524
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 2: But the auspices the.

525
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,840
Speaker 3: Reason for its existence and the hope was to promote

526
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 3: the fact that my mother moved to a beautiful town, Ohi, California,

527
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 3: which is gorgeous for produce and farming, to get away

528
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 3: from la and the smog and moved into a beautiful

529
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 3: home surrounded by orange groves which were those were then

530
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 3: bought by sun Kiss, therefore Monsanto, and they were spraying

531
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 3: without notification, and my mom was exposed to glyc estates

532
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 3: over five years and ended up with a lung disease.

533
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 3: And so Hi, she's struggling still but doing amazing, and

534
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 3: the only protocol that was given was eating healthfully and

535
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 3: to get her walking. And so our book is me

536
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 3: getting her walking on oxygen a few steps and every

537
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 3: day we walked, and I knew to get her walking,

538
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 3: I had to get her telling stories, and then I

539
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,240
Speaker 3: recorded the stories.

540
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 2: So it unfolded.

541
00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 3: But it also gave us an opportunity to do press

542
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 3: to talk about pesticides and to talk about healthy eating

543
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 3: and wellness and breathing fresh air and exercise and storytelling stories.

544
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 1: Well that's what we're doing today, you know, the stories

545
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 1: of food of memory and passing down recipes.

546
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 3: And stories of our grandparents and great grandparents.

547
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 1: And our children. Do you go out to eat lunch?

548
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: I go to where do you What kind of restaurants

549
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: do you look for when you go?

550
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 3: Well, hero restaurants like yours that provide local and healthy

551
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:39,320
Speaker 3: food that put art and love into it is my favorite.

552
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 3: But I think I tend when I'm traveling on movies,

553
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 3: I tend to find Italian restaurants often because they're the

554
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 3: food is simpler and the produce is fresh, and so i'll,

555
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 3: you know, unless I'm in London and I get, you know,

556
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 3: a home like River Cafe, but you know, but it's

557
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 3: rare so around the world. You can also often find

558
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 3: restaurants that don't mess it up by you know, smothering food,

559
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 3: which is a very Southern tradition. You just smother.

560
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 2: Everything with every possible.

561
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 3: Spice and yeah, it's just crazy that you can't taste

562
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 3: the food anymore.

563
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 2: And now that.

564
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,560
Speaker 3: The hobby, I think thanks to my son has been

565
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 3: getting to understand the food differently and want to understand

566
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:36,120
Speaker 3: how to cook well.

567
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: We want to have him here. We want to definitely

568
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: have more of you. And this has been such an

569
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: incredible time and just to talk about food is love,

570
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: and food is sharing, and food is teaching, and food

571
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 1: is a legacy. It's also comfort. Yeah, And one of

572
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 1: the questions that we do ask is there a food

573
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: that you would go to for comfort?

574
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 2: It always was cobbler growing.

575
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,320
Speaker 1: Up, certain fruit or just any color.

576
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,720
Speaker 3: Maybe peaches pieces that would be, you know, because of

577
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 3: remembering my grandmother's love of it and her taste, the

578
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 3: taste of peaches and like that idea of summer and

579
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 3: the scent of them. And but I think for me now,

580
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 3: comfort is.

581
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 2: Community.

582
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: Let's go eat, Let's go eat, all right.

583
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, Oh my god, that's so beautiful.

584
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership

585
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 3: with Montclair