WEBVTT - Alfonso Cuarón 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.720 Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:05.720 and Adami's Studios. 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:12.280 Today, my guest is Alfonso Quiron, the Academy Award winning director, 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:18.480 writer and producer. Amongst his many masterpieces are Gravity, Roma. 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:19.680 And Harry Potter. 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.640 He is a man who combines beauty in film with 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.120 a passion for telling stories. Alfonso is from Mexico, and 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.960 ever since the architect Ricardo Legeretta brought us there in 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.640 nineteen ninety one, our family has returned every year to 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:40.320 this stunning country and the people who live there. Alfonso 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.720 and I share the feeling that our children are the 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.640 center of our lives, that food is a focus of 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.360 our days, and Italy is a second home for us both. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.880 I admired Alfonso through his movies long before I knew him, 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.040 and more and more ever since. Today, as we sit 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.200 in the garden of the River Cafe and talk together, 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.040 you will understand. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:16.560 Why goodbye, says Rutie Alfonso. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.760 When I cook a meal in the River Cafe. When 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.679 we are serving a meal, what you think about is 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.600 the action of the dish. But what really we're thinking 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:31.119 about is the preparation before. So we start very early 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.520 in the morning to prepare to think about process. And 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.800 I found very moving the interview that you did about 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.839 making a film, and you talked about that, you talked 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:48.120 about the lighting, you talked about the black and white photography, 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:52.280 you talked about the cinematography, you talked about process. So 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:57.639 process in film, process in food, what do you feel about? 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.480 What is your thing about? The relationship? 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:01.040 Exactly the same proces. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.600 But I think it's the same with any creative endeavor, 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:09.919 being this a technical endeavor or or an artistic endeavor. 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.840 I think that everything comes from the concept. You know, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.200 first there's a concept, and that concept, interestingly, I think 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:27.320 comes out of memories, and those memories in the specific 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.919 case of I mean that's what food is so amazing, 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:35.360 because it combines the two biggest centers of memory, that 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:36.360 is taste and smell. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.320 In film, you go through different things. 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:42.880 Tell me about film and. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.440 In the specific case of roma, for instance, the process. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.040 I try to focus the process in images, but also 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:58.360 in terms of smells and sounds and in terms of 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.320 Once that you start getting the concept also then you 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:06.880 you have to you have to to start landing that process. 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.520 How lan landing it is like how am I going 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.320 to make this happen that. I guess that in the 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:15.880 in the kitchen, in the when you're cooking is pretty 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.880 pretty similar. You have an idea of a recipe, you 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.760 have idea for a film, you write the screenplay, you 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.840 write the recipe, so everybody can have the same shared information, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.440 because that's something that is so specifically. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.000 It's so similar between between say cooking. 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:41.600 And and cinema that a lot of different processes are 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.000 involved and a lot of different people are involved in 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.640 the process. Another element that we have in common is 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:54.000 the presentation. Yeah, because one thing is just mixing the 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.720 ingredients and having the amazing dish, but how you're going 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:58.640 to present it? 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.320 And that's the last thing. That's that's what I do, 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.520 or that's what the hedgeh Off us. We stand there 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.560 and I will not send a plate out to your table. 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.600 I'm the last person, so the responsibilities. Man, I'm the 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.320 last person to see a plate before it goes And 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.240 I guess you're the last person to see your film 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:16.400 before it's in the cinema. 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.120 And then you not only that, but also you have 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.880 to do because in a film also is the presentation 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:30.200 goes together your film with which image you're going to 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:35.000 to use to convey the film, meaning the posters, the traders, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.640 all of that stuff off. 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.080 Answer, tell me about the food of your childhood. Tell 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.280 me about growing up in Mexico. 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:49.760 I belong to a middle class family in Mexico City. 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.080 You know, Mexico, And you know how different is a 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.320 middle class in Mexico that the European middle class. So 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:02.040 the way, tell me, ah, a middle class family in 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:08.080 Mexico growing up in the sixties and the seventies, there 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:14.839 was still a mentality of making things last. I remember 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.200 the refrigerator in the kitchen was probably a refrigerator of 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.720 the fifties. You know that rattle a lot. By the way, 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.880 the kitchen was an old kitchen. I mean there was 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:31.760 one TV set for the whole home and an old one. 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.000 And with the food it was. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.719 So what I'm saying that is that the dichotomy of 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.560 this is that in one hand, yes, it is that 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.400 it was less oppolentan what it would be like a 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:50.440 European or American families, a middle class families. But at 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:55.400 the same time, because of the horrible social structure of 0:05:55.560 --> 0:06:01.800 Mexico and the disparity any middle class family league uh 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:08.120 has domestic workers. And many of those families, of these 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.440 middle class families, they have social domestic workers that live 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.880 in the premises in the in what it was called 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:17.920 the servants quarter. 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:18.599 Yeah. 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.159 And when you say servants quarter, you're you're thinking, okay, well, yes, 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.200 a huge house is not not necessarily everything was gen 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:26.880 cramped up. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.600 And I have to say that the duty of. 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.800 The kitchen it fell in the in the hands of 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:42.279 these domestic workers. In my house, there was one person 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:48.760 that was born in charge of the kitchen. One another 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.320 person was in charge of all the other chores around 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:56.280 the house. When I my first memory was a very 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:02.600 old woman called Benita Uh. I guessed that she was 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:09.480 from Misteko origin south of that southern Mexico. I mean Mistako. 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:15.080 They extend, they extend between what is Vera Cruz and 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:15.720 beneath that. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.040 She was really old. The memory I have of her 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.720 was just a face filled with wrinkles. And Benita was 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:29.000 the was the cook, and she would just pretty much. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.960 She was very independent about unless. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.360 There was a special There were special occasions in which, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:39.520 as you we were talking before, it was more about 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:41.960 my grandmother giving instruction. 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.560 She wouldn't bring the food of her region because Mexico 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.920 is so original. She cooked the food. If she'd come 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.200 from Ohaka, would she cook. 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.320 That, she would cook, she would cook, cook for Haka. 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.480 But being a middle class family in Mexico, there was 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.240 a lot of Mexican food, Yes, but there was this 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.000 kind of uh Spanish tradition, I would, I would think, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:09.840 and a combination of this kind of Spanish and European 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:15.800 French tradition completely adapted, I guess you know, it was 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:21.440 very syncretic. And when I was a kid, also they 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:26.040 were starting to be greater influence from the US, the 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:27.840 whole thing of burgers and hogdogs. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.920 I'm picturing your household, your family home, and so you 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.240 would come home from school, or your father would come 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.760 home from work, or your mother would come home, and 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.280 then you would also do you have a large family? 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:41.480 Did you have brothers? Yeah? 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:42.080 I had. 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.079 I have three siblings, one sister, two brothers, And the 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.760 household was pretty much the way they describing in the 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:50.520 film Roma. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.199 The interesting thing is that it was a combination between 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:55.199 which ever. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.920 Food Benita cooked by Because you knew how to cook, 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.320 she was great, but also my grandmother would come with 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.600 her big book of recipes that it was one of 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.440 those ancient books you know. Well, it was not a book, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:15.520 it was a notebook. It was all written, handwritten, probably 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.440 from her family, her mom or whatever. It was a 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:22.880 very old kind of uh notebook, and she would go 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.040 through the pages and find like the recipe that was 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.000 going to be for that day. So that means that 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.959 those recipes will come from from way before. 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.800 It's interesting because yesterday I did a conversation with someone 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.320 rush To and so there's someone who grew up in 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.840 Bombay with a book like that in his kitchen from 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.880 his great grandmother. He said that almost every kitchen you 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.040 know had the great grandmother or the grandmother's recipes written 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:49.920 in hand, you know. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.320 And yeah, well that would have been maybe my great 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.280 grandmother or the book, and who knows for how far 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.440 back it would come in. And it was yes, I 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.120 remember it was I never I was a kid that 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.920 was not that interested. But what I was amazing was 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:11.000 the handwriting because they handwriting look antique. Yeah, and there 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:15.199 was stel like in between pages like dry flowers and stuff. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.160 Where is that book? I have no idea to find it. 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:30.840 The recipe that I'm going to read for our Fonso 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.520 that he chose is or ketti with tomato and ricotta. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:42.040 Three hundred grams or katta, three hundred grams of cherry tomatoes, 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.600 very ripe, cut in half and squeezed, one garlic cove chopped, 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:52.839 fifty grams of grated parmesan, one bunch of fresh basil, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.840 a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and two hundred 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:02.040 grams of ricotta. Combine the tomatoes, garlic, season add the 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.400 olive oil and toss to combine. Let marinate for fifteen 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.520 minutes or so. Put the ricotta in a bowl and 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.400 season with salt and black pepper. Cook the orchetti and 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:18.920 boiling salted water until al dente, and then drain gently. 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.120 Heat the tomato mixture and add the drained orchetti, stirring 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:27.720 gently to combine. Finally, stir in the ricotta and the 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:34.040 basil leaves and serve with parmesan. So, Alfonso, why did 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:35.480 you choose this recipe? 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:40.240 Sounds so simple, is so in many ways so basic, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:47.400 and I think that that makes it so universal. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:53.400 It is one of those in which it allows every 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.800 single flavor to come through. 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:57.480 You know. 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.400 It's with the tomatoes, particularly the tomatoes that you use. 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.920 You feel the soil. It's interesting because food is amazing 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.520 because you can like simplicity the same way that you 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:15.880 can enjoy a dish that takes like fifteen hours to make, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.920 you know, and it's a completely different journey. It's a 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:24.800 completely different trip. The beauty of dishes like this is 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:30.400 how honest and immediately they feel. But by this because 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.440 of the same reason, nothing can go wrong. 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.120 I think that growing up in the United States, the 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.439 image of Mexican food that we had of Mexican food 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.520 is being so heavy and so many, so many different 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.000 dishes on a plate. You know that you would have 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.800 you go to a Mexican restaurant and then just be 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.400 very heavy. And then the experience that I had it 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.880 was really radical to go to Mexico and see there's 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.160 incredibly refined. You know, even if it was just rice 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.920 and beans, there was just or if it was a 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.120 fish with a bit of chili and chilantra, or if 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:12.280 it was tortilla with just herbs and some cheese, it 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.320 was so delicate. You know, it's robust. But the difference 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.760 between the interpretation of Mexican food internationally and the reality 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.880 of eating it in Mexico, for me as a cook was, well. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.200 Yeah, it's totally because you know, of course you have heavy, 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.840 heavy dishes, I mean, and you you have a lot 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.440 of that that is like fast food, the equivalent of 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.960 fast food, A lot of them that you find in. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.120 Stands, like thousands of stands, and you know in the 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:42.920 street stands. 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:45.960 That is, they use a lot of corn and dough, 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.080 corn dough, tortilla massa tortilla and. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.880 Different shapes, and a lot of that is fried. 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:57.160 And and if you think about it, the difference between 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:02.560 what would be a soapage, a lupa taco and say 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.600 what achieve if you ask what are the ingredients pretty 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:11.160 much exactly the same. The difference is how that corn 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.160 dough is prepared a little bit like pasta. Yeah, now 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.760 that one. Yes, it can be heavy if it's if 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:21.880 you limit Mexican food to that, but that's you know, 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.400 that is just it's like saying Italian food is pizza. 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.480 Whenever I go to a city, must is the first 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.240 thing I do is try and go to a market, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.240 because in a way, the market tells you where you are, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.960 tells you about the people there, It tells you about 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.920 the food that's there, the attitude towards the food, and 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.280 so Mexico for me was full of great markets. Were 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.640 you did you go to the markets? 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.080 Right, Well, that's you're you're hitting something that's very important there, 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.800 because yeah, I think that unfortunately all of that is 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.640 changing as well in Mexico because of the arrival of 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.800 the big supermarkets and the convenience of the big supermarket. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.080 But what I grew up it was I love as 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:10.200 a kid going to to to the market. It was 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:10.920 an adventure. 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.360 I mean it was just going through the stalls and 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.560 you have all these kind of fruits and vegetables, but 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.680 also you will go to the mid section of the 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.440 fish section and they were like chopping all the stuff there. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:24.400 Yeah. 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.080 And it was the mixture of of the sounds, the smells, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.119 but other things. The sounds, you know, you've been in 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:35.040 a market in Mexico, like most markets, of course, it's 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:41.240 just the cacophony of sounds between the people announcing their 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:45.960 their produce and the chopping of the of the butcher 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.280 to some music in the distance. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.920 That's another thing growing up. It was the smells of 0:15:54.000 --> 0:16:00.360 the bakery. Yeah, and also the most beautiful smell, the 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:01.560 smell of the tortillaia. 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:03.600 Tell me about that. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.400 Oh, that's a to do. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.440 As you know, to do the tortillas, you go through 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.880 a process called mixed mixed a meal. 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:18.440 That is how you grind the corn. And it's a machine. 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.760 It's a big machine that grinds the corn into this 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.520 doll and then the machine actually goes and creates a tortilla. 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.280 And so you don't have that rolling out process. 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.360 No, you don't have that rolling out And now it's 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:38.280 mechanical in most of the cases, there's a whole mechanical 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.160 sound that comes with it is very metallical and very 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.200 machine with a lot of squeaking. And the thing is 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.160 the combination of the sound and the smell that is fantastic. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.320 Now I love that, but nothing beats a handmade tortilla. 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.080 There was you know, Lauosquivel and she wrote like water 0:16:59.120 --> 0:16:59.760 for chocolate. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:00.720 Oh, yes, of course. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.200 Louda used to say that the big difference is that 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.840 when you were doing the tortilla by hand, you're actually 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.360 infusing the tortilla with energy. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.120 Yeah. She was saying that. 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.600 When you left home and you were on your around, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.919 did you first did you cook? Did you start cooking 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:29.840 for yourself or did you. 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:35.760 I tried to cook for myself, and I was, Yeah, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.399 I was sort of successful, but I you know, I 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.359 was I was young, and I was completely busy trying 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.679 to make a living that my priority was elsewhere, and 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.199 wrongly so, because I think that they would help a 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:56.159 lot discovery the kitchen and cooking earlier, and that didn't 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.000 happen until later, and not because of me. It's because 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.120 as my son came to live with me, and it 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.960 was this whole thing of Okay, I'm not going to 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.160 be just going and doing I was living in New 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.479 York at the time, says I'm not going to be 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.480 just doing takeaways, you know, for my son. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:16.840 I have his home. 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.639 I need to cook for him, So yeah, I would. 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.359 Then I started spending a long time going through recipe books, 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:27.359 and I'm trying to figure out this combination of yes, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:32.400 food that was more kind of international food, if you might, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.920 but always having Mexican, Mexican dishes or Mexican ingredients. 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:39.160 And I was in New. 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.679 York and you could get at that time some ingredients. 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:44.359 Now you can get everything in New York for Mexican food, 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.480 but then it was a bit more difficult, so you 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.520 would have to sort out the places and then it's 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.600 when I start cooking the promise and it's something I 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:56.240 haven't haven't solved yet. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:01.560 What is it that I love cooking but i'm missy. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.959 Oh yeah, that's a problem. And the other thing is 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.520 I don't know how to manage the time. Yeah, time 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:17.520 and miss is the thing. And because there was appearing 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.520 which I said, you know, I just want to stay 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.160 here home, and you know, like my kid just moved 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.040 to New York, I want to be here. So it 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.600 was pretty much dedicated to that and my life would 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.160 go into doing menus and where I'm going to cook tomorrow. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.240 When you when you talk about we've talked about food 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:37.240 in your in your parents' home and your grandmother's cooking, 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:41.200 and in New York you're cooking and pretty ingredients. How 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.680 the restaurants appeal to you? Do you like eating in 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.480 a restaurant? Did your parents ever take you to a 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:49.040 restaurants in Mexico City? 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.879 Yes, that was for me growing up. There was a 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.880 big treat going to a restaurant. It was a treat 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.960 because it was expensive, so you would eat at home. 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:02.760 I mean the typical thing is, oh, I would like 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:04.879 to go at a restaurant and my grandmother and my 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.639 mom saying we can cook it at home and it's cheaper. 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.280 You would get mostly Mexican food, where it would be 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:21.040 international food or Argentine and steaks or panadas and stuff 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:26.480 like that. Once that I start being more independent pretty much. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.480 I lived in restaurants, yes, because also restaurants are not 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:35.639 only a place where there's food, is a communion, and 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.840 in Mexico, you know how it goes. I mean, the 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:43.000 thing in Mexico is that comitas or lunchtime. 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:44.359 Is dangerous. 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.040 Because you know that you're going to agree with some 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:52.760 friends to meet at three pm for lunch, and you 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:59.040 sit there and maybe they order a tequila to open up, 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:07.840 and then food comes and people eat. The launch extends 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.040 until six pm, seven pm, and suddenly they're you just 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.520 staying there and you're asking for some sort of diner. 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:20.399 So food is if it is a connection and it 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:24.800 is something very important to our life. So I suppose 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.200 my last question to you from a very wonderful conversation 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.080 here as people are starting to eat in the garden, 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:34.480 is if you have a comfort food, if there's a 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.919 food that you go to when not because you're hungry, 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.320 not because you're celebrating, but because you need comfort. What 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:43.280 would that food be? 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:49.399 I think definitely will be Yeah, that would be That 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:49.959 would be it. 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:52.320 Well, I look forward to having a case Ida with you. 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:53.440 I would love that. 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.680 To visit the online shop of the River Cafe, go 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.120 to shop Therivercafe dot co dot uk. 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.720 River Cafe Table four is a production of iHeartRadio and 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:26.960 Adamized Studios. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.240 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.