WEBVTT - Ruthie's Table 4: Best of Season Two (part one) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.760 Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:05.039 and Adamized Studios. 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.799 Gwyneth Paltrow worked for a day in the River Cafe kitchen. 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.320 She arrived early dressed in professional chef whites, ready to cook. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:21.800 This memory speaks to how professional Gwyneth is. An Oscar 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.360 winning actor, she built Goop from a simple newsletter into 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:30.360 an influential and uplifting business with energy, elegance, and strong values. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.879 Another memory. Ten years ago, just after the death of 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.440 our son, Beau, I asked Gwyneth if she might surprise 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.240 the River Cafe team and sing one song for them 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.640 at our Christmas party to thank them for their care 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.360 and concern for me. Gwyneth not only said yes, she 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.000 sang four songs, danced with everyone, and stayed to the 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.760 very end. In the River Cafe history, we still talk 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:01.200 about the time Gwyneth Paltrow came to sing. I admire 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:06.200 Gwyneth for being a brave, smart entrepreneur. I respect Gwyneth 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.720 as a writer of recipes. Most of all, I love 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.800 Gwyneth for being there with me that night and here 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.400 with me today. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:22.600 Oh boy, I wasn't expecting that. 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:21.320 That was so beautiful. 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.959 Thank you. So, if we were going to start at 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:26.800 the beginning, what is the beginning? Where were you born? 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:27.800 Where did you grow up? 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:32.679 I was born here in Los Angeles, in Hollywood. We 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:34.679 kind of went back and forth between New York City 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.000 and Santa Monica a lot. I did a lot of 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.040 preschool in New York City, and I did first and 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.840 third grades in New York City while my mother was 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.440 on Broadway, and then the bulk of the rest of 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.240 elementary school here and then moved permanently to New York 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:50.280 City when I was eleven. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.440 Can you remember the kitchens as food? I described the kitchens, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:55.200 but they're very different. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.280 The La house and the kitchens were very different. So 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.720 our kitchen in Las Angelus here had a brick floor, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.480 red brick floor and a tile counter, sort of like 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.560 very country kitchen. Lots of windows, and you could see 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.320 the backyard in the pool, and we were in there 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.840 a lot. I mean, I think with every house, you're 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.040 in the kitchen more than anywhere. Our New York kitchen 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.480 was on the ground floor. We grew up in a townhouse, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.680 almost no windows, but we had a big fireplace in 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.280 the kitchen, which was really nice, and it was more 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.960 of a modern kitchen had been done by a Swedish architects. 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.720 It was kind of minimal and who cooked well. When 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.480 I was little, I remember, I mean my mom cooked. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.160 My dad started cooking a lot, but that was later. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.040 He got very into cooking, kind of when we were 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:46.639 older teenagers. 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.239 And when you have meals around the table together with 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.280 you and Jake, Oh, my parents sit down, what were 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:52.680 they like? 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.440 They were really nice. I mean it was I think 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.120 we felt special being included the dinner table, even though 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.640 it was a nightly event. It felt, you know, like 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.280 if they had friends over. We sat with them at 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.320 the table and had long conversations. It's something that I've 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.200 carried on with my kids as well. You know, we 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.639 always have dinner all together as a family, no phones 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:18.280 allowed at the table, and you get into great discourse 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.080 with them and hear what they think about things. And 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:23.880 I think my father made me feel that I was 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.840 valuable during those dinners because he really elicited our opinion. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.960 He asked questions, and my brother and I were very 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.200 much a part of the conversation. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:34.440 It was his background. 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.440 He grew up without money, he grew up on Long Island, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:41.720 and they were you know, They were kind of a 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:46.240 working class moving trying moving up into middle class Jewish family, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.040 but they didn't have a lot of disposable income, and 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:53.000 they didn't they didn't go out to eat. So when 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.560 my father finally made it, you know, like his and 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.480 he loved food and all the. 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:00.560 Beautiful things in life. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.960 You know, he loved beautiful fabrics and paintings, and you know, 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.720 he would take me to every museum in the world 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.760 and we would walk for hours. And I think food 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.680 for him was really an expression of life's beauty and 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.320 our blessings and good fortune to be able to eat 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.360 something that was fresh and delicious and really well conceived 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.560 and thought about. And he was so proud that, you know, 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.880 we ate oysters and you know, things that he hadn't 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.800 come across until really later in his life. And I 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.640 always remember, and I wrote about this in my first book, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.480 that when we would get into the car to go 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.800 out to dinner, like no matter how many times we 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.880 had gone, like, he was so excited. It was like 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.200 the greatest thing of all time that we were going 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:48.880 out to dinner. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.520 Did you travel with your parents, Did you go to 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:52.440 Italy or Spain? 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:57.400 We never went to Italy, until you know, the first 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.120 time I ever went to Italy with my mind. My 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.719 father he was when he died. He died in Florence, 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:10.480 he died in he died in Rome. And we were 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.719 doing our first kind of road trip after my thirtieth birthday, 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.480 and yeah, he kind of died on me, which. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:19.400 Complicated the trip. 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.039 It is a complicate Italy for you. 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.160 It did complicate Italy for me for a long time. 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:32.000 I didn't go back for ten years. And when we 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.279 were on our road trip and I found out that 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.240 he was sick and he had been coughing up blood, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:37.880 and I said, we have to go to the hospital. 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.440 You know, he'd been hiding it for me because he 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.440 didn't want He really wanted to finish our trip. And 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.720 I was like, this is so, we're going to the hospital. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.080 And he was like, no, we got to get to 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.640 the Splendido. He really was trying, and I was like, 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.040 we're not going to the like, we're going to the hospital. 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.200 And he ended up dying. And then I had a 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.880 real aversion to Italy for a long time. And then, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.400 very sweetly, Chris Martin, my first husband, on my fortieth 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.479 birthday ten years later, and I was having a lot 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.680 of anxiety about it anyway, because I think turning forty, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:10.719 I mean, I'm about to turn fifty and I kind 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.000 of don't give a but forty I was like, really 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:18.920 had so much anxiety about it, and he by that point, 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.440 I had the two kids and we got on a 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:23.800 plane and I didn't know where we were going, and 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.679 we all of a sudden, I realized we were landing 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.000 in Genoa and that we were going to the Splendid Though, 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.280 which was so sweet. It was such a nice surprise. 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.839 So it was like a completion, but it was. But 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.359 Jake was with me and my two best friends Mary 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.920 and Julia, who've been my best friend since one since 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:46.920 I was four and one since I was eleven. They 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.320 were with me, and they my father was like a 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.920 father to them too, So it was it ended up 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.440 being a really beautiful experience that we all got to 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.920 be there and kind of come full circle. And now 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.680 I'm you know, we bought a little farmhouse in Umbria, 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.720 so just south of the Tuscan border. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.240 Great food in Umbria, Yeah, tuffles in the fall, you 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.040 have lentils and you know, boar, it's great. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:14.600 I know, it's really it's a really special place. So 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.760 I'm excited to spend more time there and to learn 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:18.520 some Italian. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.600 But what about Spain of France. 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.480 Spain so France. Well, I kind of told this like 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.400 now now it's kind of food. A famous story about 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.800 my dad taking me. My mom was doing a filming 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.240 something in London when I was ten. We still lived 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.200 in Los Angeles, and we all made the trip over 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.560 to visit her, and then my dad took me to 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.920 Paris for the weekend and just he and I and 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.640 we stayed at the Ritz and we went to the 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.240 Pompei dou, We went to the Louver, we went to 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.520 all museums, and my main thing was that I wanted 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:59.240 to eat French fries, like actual French fries. So that 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.160 was the first thing we did when we checked into 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:05.400 the hotel, is that I ordered French fries. And he 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:07.400 took me all around, you know, we were eating all 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.800 kinds of things. And on the way back to London, 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.240 he said, do you know why I took you to Paris, 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.720 just you and I? And I said no, and he said, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.000 because I wanted you to see Paris for the first 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.240 time with a man who will always love you no 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:25.800 matter what. 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.960 So sweet. I mean, what you've been talking about is 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.400 memories of a man who loved food, loved you, wanted 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.560 to take you and indulge in new experiences to do 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.440 with eating and cooking and spending time with you. And 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.920 I think that you know that is about what we do. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:49.559 Food is memory and food is love. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:01.240 Oh, everyone, hope you will sorry to be familiar. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.240 I just am because I'm here. They always look. 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:05.640 Like what. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.640 He's quite familiar that hello. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.400 I can't say how many times when arriving in the 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:19.840 River Cafe in a taxi the driver will turned around 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.679 to me and say, is this the restaurant or Jamie 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.440 Oliver cooked the other day? One even informed me that 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.880 the River Cafe was owned by Jamie, and I thought, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.719 why correct him? He is a prodigal son or the 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.040 brother who knows that when he walks in the door 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.079 of the restaurant he is home. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:40.480 Like the old days. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:41.600 When was the last time you're here? 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.439 I try and get here at least two or three 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.280 times a year if I'm lucky, and I have to say, 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.800 it's a bit like therapy really see Charles, which always 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.560 makes me very happy. We normally go through the same 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.480 old jokes and then crack onto a bit of new news, 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.040 friends and family. But there's lots of nostalgia, isn't there. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:09:59.800 I think one of the things you always said is 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:01.679 that you love the reset of coming back to the 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:02.560 River gap, something you and. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.600 Beggsy always said. Yeah, as you go out. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.000 Into the world, and then it's quite nice to get 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:07.960 back to your roots and taste a bit of that 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.280 get that River Cafe experience again. It's like being home, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:13.560 which is lovely. 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.160 Jamie came to work with us when he was just 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.960 about twenty, I guess almost thirty years ago. Rose Gray 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.320 interviewed him for the job and as always said, it 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:25.760 was love at first sight. 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:30.280 Thank you, Euthie. Well, I love that. I remember the 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.320 first time Rose interviewed me. 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:33.440 Tell me about it. 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.280 Well, I had been working at the Neil Street restaurant 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.080 for a year and a half and I knew it 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.080 was time for me to move on. And I just 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:46.000 read this book, the first River Cafe book, Blue, and 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.640 it just like changed everything. It was like it's like 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.000 a moment because just from a design point of view 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:53.720 and a feeling point of view and the black and 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.719 white reportage photos, and it was like fresh air and 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.240 I knew I had to get there, so I owned 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.720 up and I came in. I was quite skin and 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.120 I had my first suit that was a really cheap suit. Honestly, 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:08.760 it was if it had gone near a candle. We 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.760 had gone up in flames so quickly, and I turned 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.360 up in a suit with a terrible tie because my 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.320 dad always said, like, make an effort. And I remember 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.920 the head chef at the time and all the chefs 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.480 looking around just thinking like he's in a suitcase. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:27.359 You don't really wear suits. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:33.080 Of the River customers, but we we definitely bonded on them. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.240 I think Ravioli was the place that we kind of 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:38.199 connected and then the rest was history. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.559 Then did you come straight away? Yeah? 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:43.200 Yeah, And I couldn't wait. 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.240 And it was like it was an amazing time because 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.040 you know, obviously you always look back with romance, but 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.800 it was an amazing time in Britain and the River 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.720 Cafe was on fire and had come from you know, 0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:00.680 such humble beginnings. But was this extraordinary, unconventional John doing 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.040 incredible things, run of course by Ruthie in the amazing team, 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:08.400 but you know, cool Britannia, the music scene, the fashion scene, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.400 the photography scene, the part scene. I remember cooking with 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.880 you for a new labor before they got in and 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:20.280 during they got in, and and I remember the Millennium 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.640 Dome as a sketch on a tablecloth, and I remember 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.040 it as a as a model that was just a 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:30.079 few meters away from the pastry section while making chocolate Nemesis. 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.359 And then I remember the real one. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.800 Did you do you remember I was I was nineteen. 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.040 Yeah, I was nineteen years old when I came here, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:38.520 and I was. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:44.520 Ninety wondered Blair when the election wasn't ninety seven. And then, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.959 as you said, there were a kind of excitement, a 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.719 kind of melding also politics and food and as you say, 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:55.240 culture and excitement. I certainly remember Rose calling me up. 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:57.520 I think I was away clearly when you were. When 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.360 you came through an interview in the suit, I would 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.800 have remembered it. And she said, you know, Ruthy, this 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.120 one you're going to love this. 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:05.000 This is somebody else. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:05.760 I was so keen. 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:07.760 I was so keen, and it felt like a family 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.880 straight away, and I'd grown up obviously in a family restaurant. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:11.360 I know. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:13.800 My last bit of advice from my dad to me 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.280 was like just whoever you work for, just treat their 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.120 business like yours. And you haven't got one job, You've 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:20.920 got every job. If the phone rings picked it up, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.840 if your floor needs moping, moping. And I remember just 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.360 sort of coming to the River Cafe and it actually 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.680 felt like a family, which is actually it is more 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.880 rare than it's not that common even now in restaurants. 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.760 What you and Rose were doing was so untraditional from 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.800 what the kind of machine teaches. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:39.800 I remember. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.760 I remember thinking about crying for about three weeks, not 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.160 because of you or the team, but just because of 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.280 the stress of a new menu twice a day. 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.679 Was completely outside of what I knew. 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.880 But then you get used to it, and I learned 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.800 what you created was thinkers. Yeah, people that could adjust 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.360 and react to seasons, and everything that was happening in 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:04.240 the industry was about protocol and structures and safety, whereas 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.600 we I don't know, it was so exciting to have 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.080 two women as bosses and owners. I think very male 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.360 driven kitchens, and I'm not saying this for any effect, 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:18.680 like quite aggressive, often flooded with drugs, and it was 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.320 quite scary. Yeah, And I knew those kitchens and I'd 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.040 worked in London and abroad and things like that. So 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.200 it was, you know, even when I come in today, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.840 you can see there's this lovely fifty to fifty balance 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.160 of them. And that's the holy Grail, I think. I mean, 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:33.720 I think if. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.560 You skew one way or the other, you can get issues. 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.920 But you know, it's but the thinking was so different. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:46.080 One of the amazing trajectories was when we did a 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.880 film called what was it called A Christmas at the 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.560 Christmas at the River Curvet, and that was a film 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.560 that you know, really I remember, you know you've fried mushrooms, 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:57.000 didn't you. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.920 Yeah, well we did, I think Paul Ketta and Ret Yeah. 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.400 And then I think I was on HOTS two one night, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.280 and obviously I can look at it back now sort 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.360 of seeing because I think, correct me if I'm wrong. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:11.040 You were filming for. 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.520 A couple of weeks, the show that you were making, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.360 and I wasn't supposed to be working that night. I 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:17.840 don't know if I ever told you this, I don't 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:19.960 know that. So the night that I was in the 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:24.080 background of your your program, I wasn't supposed to be working. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.400 I was off, and my wife Jewels was off as well, 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:29.920 and she worked at the River Cafe in the front 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.360 of house. We hadn't had a night off together for 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.320 ages and the phone rang about four o'clock and one 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:40.000 of the team had gone sick jewels, you know, with 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:41.200 all the best in the world. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:43.320 I had to come and put the shift in. 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:45.880 But that's when the crew was there, and actually they 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:47.640 were kind of in the way because I was catching 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.600 my tail because I was an hour and a half 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.640 late for the shift to cover someone and I was 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:54.720 running Hots two, which as you know, is one of 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.360 your busiest sections. I'm sure it still is now. But 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.640 it was free to miss the tagleteleia I remember with 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:05.400 Girol's and Risotto, remember I do, I do remember, and 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.000 the slow of course. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:08.560 Yeah. 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.960 I didn't think anything of it, and the night went 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.360 out on TV like many months later, maybe six months later. 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:19.760 Possibly I didn't know I was in it because I 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.240 was working. But then the phones started to ring. The 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.000 next day, literally the next day I came in. 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.240 I would say that I came in that morning and said, wow, Jamie, 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.640 you did a really great, great thing with those mushrooms. 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.640 You were amazing on television. And then the phone rang, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:37.400 and I can remember where it was. The phone used 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.480 to hang up on a hook in the kitchen just 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.120 when you came in. It was before we had the 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.800 really open kitchen, and it was a call for you 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.560 from Pat Lewellyn came over to me like, Ruthie. Somebody 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:50.040 just called me up and asked me if I wanted 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.320 to do a screen test? What's a screen test? Should 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.200 I go? And we didn't know anything, and then they said, Ruthie. 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.520 The newspapers called up and said do I want to 0:16:58.520 --> 0:16:59.720 do it? Calm? Can I go? 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:00.440 Sure? 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:00.800 Damien. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.720 Then a supermarket is called up cold and I say 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.640 that within a very short time, you had a column 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.480 in a newspaper, a television show, an advertising campaign with 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:18.520 the supermarket, and they knew, they knew that you could 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.080 do all this, and you showed them that you could 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:21.720 and you did. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.960 I mean, when I think about it, I mean, I 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.240 remember when I had my twenty years anniversary and there 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.320 was loads of people together, and to think that it 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.640 really genuinely does come back to that phone court four 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:36.240 o'clock saying can you cover. 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.480 Some weeks ago? Ian Wright and his beautiful family were 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.760 sitting here in the River Cafe garden celebrating Nancy, his 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:54.040 wife's birthday, Ruthie the waiter said to me, please go 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.840 and ask him to do a podcast, especially for all 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:58.960 of us. We know he loves to eat, but we 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:01.840 want to know more about him. He is our hero. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.440 Ian does a lot that I could never dream of achieving, 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.320 for instance, kicking footballs into nets. But we do share 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.280 a lot as well, concern for healthy eating for children, 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.840 advocacy for social justice, a more fair society, and an 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.360 end to racial discrimination. Today, on table four, we're going 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.040 to get to know each other better, discussing all this 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:28.680 and more, including having delicious lunches with our family. Thank 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.359 you so much for doing this. Nice and you're going 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.680 to stay for lunch? Yes, yeskay, because you do love 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.119 to eat out. Yes, I see you here and you 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.640 always seem so happy. Did you eat out as a child. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.640 No, This is probably why I love eating out so much. 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.199 I didn't actually start eating out until obviously, I think 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.359 I'm probably twenty one. Yeah, I didn't have a lot 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.600 of experiences of going to restaurants, and even when I 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.960 started doing that, I started eating past the very late 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:58.879 in my life, and my mum never There wasn't a 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.840 lot of variety, a lot of West Indian stew chicken. 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:07.160 It was curry, golt, mutton, tripe, pigs, trotter's oxtail, white rice, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.920 rice with peas, boiled dumplings. So it was that kind 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.200 of food all the way up until that point. And 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.240 I remember when I started playing football in Crystal Palace, 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.480 I used to get very nervous about going to like 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:21.840 we used to have to go to hotels, you used 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:23.840 to have to go to restaurants and communal eat all 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.199 of us together. And I was very insecure about it 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:29.840 because I didn't know I didn't know foods. So and 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.600 then we had older players who were really they were 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.800 quite mean. Let's say things like, you know, you know 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.160 you've got duffin wires on there, you know you've got 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.040 sour ta potatoes, And they'd say things like do you 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.200 know you don't even have to spell duffing wa? You 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.120 know what I mean? Do you know what potatoes are? 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.800 Can you afford steak? So what I would do is 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:48.920 I would I would end up then getting my mum 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:50.960 to make me something. I'd go down so the boss 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.320 would see me and then I'd say for a five 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:55.600 minut and then I'd leave and get my food warmed 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.160 up by the people in the kitchen, and I'd eat 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:58.919 in my in my hotel room. And that's what we 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:00.400 used to do when we was younger. You to all 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.520 eat either in the bedroom, in the living room in 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:05.720 front of television or stuff like that. So I was 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:10.879 more comfortable doing that. But my problem was insecurity about 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:14.600 ordering the food. So you know, it's intimidating. It was, 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.399 and it was intimidating to the point where the manager, 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:19.640