WEBVTT - Karen Drijanski & Eduardo Plaschinski 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.880 You're listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.880 In two thousand and eighteen, I found myself living in 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:20.920 Mexico City for four months. My regular world of London work, 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:27.000 family and friends became irregular as I was unexpectedly thrust 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.080 into a city with new people, new language, and definitely 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:36.800 new food. Then one day someone suggested we meet at Nido, 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.239 a small restaurant recently opened by Karen Dujonsky and her 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:47.640 son Eduardo Pleshinsky. From that morning everything changed. I went 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:51.320 to Niedo almost every day, always to be greeted with 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.440 a strong embrace from Karen, who would then go back 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.040 to her kitchen and cook me the best Mexican food, 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:05.200 eggs Mexicana and cettos, tortillas, fresh breads, oatmeal, cheese, omelets, avocado. 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:09.399 Months later, when it was finally time for me to 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.880 return to London, it had switched around. Karen and Nido 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.440 had become my regular world and it was painful to 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.520 leave them. We emailed and sometimes phoned, but it was 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.080 only two days ago that I returned to Nido and 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:29.119 Karen for breakfast. In four years, so here we are 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.920 today in a studio. Two good friends back in the 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:34.399 most beautiful city I know. 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.720 Ruthie, thank you so much. Would you like to read? Yes? 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.360 And isn't it good to be together? It is beautiful. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.520 You always bring tears to my eyes never So you've 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:46.920 chosen the recipe. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:52.400 I've chosen that tlalini with sparagus. So oh, we need 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:58.000 these five hundred grums of chopped sparagus, four garly clothes, peeled, 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:03.520 four tablespoons chop mix fresh herbs, one hundred million liters 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:08.640 of double cream, five hundred grams of unsalted butter, two 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.639 hundred grams of taglarini, one hundred and twenty grams of parmesan. 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.120 Please grate it and this is how you're going to 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:22.080 do it. Trim and finally chop the sparagus. Bring the 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.760 cream to a boil in a saucepan with a garlic, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.840 and simmer until the clothes are soft. Hiat the olive 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.480 oil and butter in the saucepan and fry half of 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:38.640 the chopped sparagus. Add the rest of the cream. Bring 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.960 to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.640 the cream begins to thicken. Cook the pasta. Add the 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:50.480 sauce half of the parmesan and tossed together, serve with 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.079 remaining parmesan and a lot of love and a lot 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:54.440 of love. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.240 A good recipe. And why did you choose it? All 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.960 the recipes in all our books that I asked you 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:01.720 to choose, why did you choose this one? 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:06.560 Care I love sparagus, I love herbs. I like when 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.280 pastas are treated simply, and I adore cream and butter. 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.520 So I thought anyone can do it because you can 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.520 find the ingredients everywhere, and it's something that I do 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:19.720 very often. From your book. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.920 In England, we have a very short asparagus season. It 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:27.120 goes from probably mid May till end of July. What 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.280 is there a season in Mexico? 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:34.280 Apaus, we can find sparagus throughout the year. Yes, usually 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.920 sometimes they come from here and sometimes they come from California, 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.240 So we find that's you know, it's easy because I 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.880 can find sparagus all the year, and also fresh herbs 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.800 in the parmer market that I go every Sunday. They're amazing. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:49.960 They come from Bay. 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.440 So let's start at the very beginning, perhaps, which would 0:03:54.480 --> 0:04:00.000 go back to how did your family come to Mexico? 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.800 Because I know, it's a very compelling story. Was it 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.080 your grandmother or your great grandmother? 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:06.120 My grandmother? 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:07.680 Tell me about your grandmother. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:12.200 So my Austrian grandmother came from Austria escaping the Second 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.320 World War, and my other grandmother came from Poland way 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.400 before the Second World War. So I had two very 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:25.960 different upbringings, two very different kitchens, and two very different 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:31.480 environments for cooking. The Viennese one, the Austrian, was super 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.720 sophisticated because she could purchase and she knew about a 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:41.120 lot of ingredients. So there was dark, but something very interesting. Ruthie, 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.960 the cook at my grandma's, was an amazing Mexican cook. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.360 So when I was five and six, as soon as 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.680 I went into her house, I ran into the kitchen. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.440 I didn't go to the garden. I didn't want to 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.680 go play with the dogs in the garden or with 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.560 the dolls. I wanted to cook my own eggs. Had 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.560 six years at six, so they had a little wooden 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.480 stool for me to go up, and they would say 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.000 can I cook for you the eggs? And said no, no, no, 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.160 I'll make my own. And since then I do scrumble 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:12.440 eggs like I did for you. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.400 Every day. When you talk about your grandmother who escaped 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.080 to come to Mexico, what was her story. 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.360 It was a very hard and painful story. She lived 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:31.080 in a very close town to Vienna, who was taken. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:36.839 You know, they came to get them and kill them all. 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:38.080 They were a Jewish family. 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.880 He was young. I'm Jewish and my family is Jewish, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.159 and I'm very proud of our traditions like anybody else 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.360 with their own traditions. So we are a Jewish family. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:55.520 And her mom saw a diamond inside a hat and 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.800 she explained to my grandma, when they come together us 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.560 and if they kill all, wear the hat and run away. 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.359 They came. They killed everyone except my grandma and my 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:12.480 grandma's sister. In fact, my grandma saved the sister from 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:17.880 a camp. So it was an amazing story because my 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.800 grandma was very hard working, and I take the hard 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.599 working part from her since I was very young. She said, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.880 you need to work, you need to learn how to 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.480 make a living, because that's the experience that she learned, 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:31.719 and she wanted to pass it to me. 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.560 Go back to the story of the diamond and the hat. 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.880 But she saw her family being killed. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.920 She was spared she quickly went and got the hat. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.680 She got the hat she wore, and she was how 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.599 old she was? Fifteen? She run away into the. 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.279 Woods with the hat and the diamond. 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.359 Because by with the diamond she could save her life 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.240 and get a ticket to go to America. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.000 So she was coming not to Mexico, but to a marria. 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:04.840 She went to New York. Yeah, a family member took 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:09.279 her while she was trying to make a living, and 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.960 she lived in a garbage bin in New York. In 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.160 New York, in a garbage bin for more than six 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:22.720 months until she could make it, wadering doing housework, anything 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:27.480 that would give her a living while finding her sister. 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:32.600 She did find. You know, it's very interesting, Ruthie, because 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:38.640 my grandma name was Carlotta Charlotte and her sister was Annie, 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.440 and Annie and my grandma taught me how to cook. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.720 So once they went to New York, they saw an 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.720 opportunity to come to Mexico. And Mexico has been always 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:55.119 always an amazing place of opportunities. If you work hard 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.400 and you're passionate, there's always opportunities in Mexico. So they 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.400 came to make how old were they then? Okay? So 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.960 my grandma was nineteen or twenty. She was trying to 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.280 find her sister. She didn't save her from the camp, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.200 from the Holocaust camp, and they came to Mexico and 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.840 the sister started to cook and started to have a 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.400 little restaurant in a Capulco. And my dad had a 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.440 jewelry store and my grandma had a jewelry store in 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:27.600 a Capulco in the in the coast line of the beach. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.320 So I worked in the jewelry and in the restaurant 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:31.840 since I was twelve. 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.320 And your own so that was your grandmother. Your parents 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.040 then were born in Mexico. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.360 The first generation born in Mexico. I'm the second and 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:46.240 my children are the third. Yes, so yeah, it's an 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.800 amazing story because on the other side, the Polish side, Yeah, 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:55.120 they didn't suffer the Holocaust. They just came before to find. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.640 They decided to camp. Why did they chanse Mexico? 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:02.040 Do you think there was a good Jewish community and 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:06.200 a lot of opportunities. So from Poland to Mexico it 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.080 was a great opportunity. So they came to Mexico, the 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.240 Polish and the Austrian and then mom and dad they 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.520 met here. They were born here and my mom Susanna 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:22.320 and my dad Muses they met here, they married and eating. 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.880 What did they do? Mom? 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:30.520 An amazing art dealer? Oh yes, amazing art dealer. You know, 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.200 I was very lucky to get to know Medida in 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:38.880 Suynia and Toledo. So they sat at a table always. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.440 So there was always cooking, an art, cooking and culture, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.560 cooking and music, cooking and love. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.040 And where were your grandmothers did they did they live 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:48.960 near your house? 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:54.200 Very close? Polanco and Polanca, both in Polanco and I 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.880 could work and the Vienna's grandma. When I was very little, 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.120 I put a little food store outside the house with 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:07.360 little soapasitos and the supositos were one sent So since 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.600 very young I was cooking and feeding people. 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.800 Yeah, were you ever trained or did you just know? 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.360 I'm not supernatural? Like when I was very young, I 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.160 could smell and know what I wanted to put into 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.920 the dishes. I love spices and herbs and products and 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.160 markets and the people who do it, you know, and 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:31.400 very passionate about it. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.440 And who taught what? Was it your grandparents and the 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.040 Mexican chef that you had cooking for you. The Mexican 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.120 cook that you had in the kitchen, who actually Corney, 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.199 who was Corny Corney, was a very important. 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.840 Figure in my life because my grandma taught her cook 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.480 while she worked. She was a silversmith, so while she 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.160 work a lot, the cook cook a lot, and she 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:04.240 was taught by my grandma. Was very tough and she 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:07.280 and Connie was very soft, and she was very sweet, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.800 and she was an amazing cook. So she was very 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.959 patient with me because she took care of my mom 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.079 when she was pregnant in me when I was born. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:21.400 When I interviewed Alfonso Couran, the other Mexican that I 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.000 had on the podcast, he talked very much, and of 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.280 course he made a movie Roma about the role of 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:32.560 the domestic help in Mexican families, and it's a very 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.480 unique role I think that you had. He said a 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.040 very interesting thing. He said, when Americans made money and 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.520 had greater wealth, they would buy bigger things. They would 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.679 have a bigger kitchen, they would have a bigger car, 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.439 they would have a bigger house, they would have maybe 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:53.120 two cars. In Mexico and also I think perhaps in Italy, 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.800 maybe in Spain. His opinion was that when people had 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.840 greater wealth. They kept the house the same, the kitchen 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.760 the same. Is very simple. That they had more domestic staff, 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.000 They had more people to work for them, and those 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.400 people became very, very important in the family. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:15.600 Do you agree they become your family, They become your 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.600 chosen family. In fact, I have somebody that helps me 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.760 at home and my children for over thirty years, Ruthie. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.760 So the same with Connie. So Connie became my mom's 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.960 mom because my mom's mom was always working, and Connie 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.720 was the one feeding the kids and taking care of 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.600 their calls and their temperature and their you know, and 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.040 she became almost like my grandma. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:39.559 Yeah. 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.840 So I was always in Cornie's kitchen and then on 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:49.160 my Bobber's kitchen. My Jewish Yewish, you know, very interesting Jewish, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:50.600 but very different. 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.760 And so you had the Mexican food when your family. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.200 Tell me about life in your household. Your mother was working, 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.360 your father was working, and you had one sister. What's 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:06.400 the four girls? Four girls? Okay, so we four and 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.040 so what would you'd go to school? And what was 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:13.360 life like at home? So mum worked and ground my work. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.400 So at home you would wake up in the morning, 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.760 go to school, come back and have an amazing Mexican meal. 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:21.400 Dinner. 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.600 It was lunchtime. It was two thirty two three, right, 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.360 So dinner in Mexico was light. Lunch is heavy. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.640 When I lived here, that was one of the things 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.880 I learned, really was that you had well, we had 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.720 big breakfast at Niedo. Then we would have I would 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.480 be in the hospital with my husband, and then we 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.720 would meet for lunch at about four or possibly five, 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.640 have a delicious whatever it was called lunch or early dinner, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:49.760 and then that was it. You'd have a piece of 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.120 fruit at ten o'clock or a glass of mescal or 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.520 tequila and then go to bed. So I thought it 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:57.840 was a beautiful way to eat if you could do 0:13:58.000 --> 0:13:58.880 that and work. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.720 You know, I like because you go to bed very light. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.720 You have a slice of papaya or watermelon or melon. 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:10.040 It's very light. But since we have a Mexican food, 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.160 you know, you know, Ruthie, you know the rice and 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.360 the fideo and the moorland and chiladas, and that's what 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:21.160 we ate at home. And then a little bit of baking, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:22.920 which was Austrian or. 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.680 Polish, and so you sit down to dinner, everybody ate together. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.640 Yeah, so they would come from work and at three 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.040 everybody was sitting at the table. We had an amazing 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.040 Mexican during the week, and then Sunday was a little 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.760 bit more sophisticated and for Shabba, dinner was always at 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:45.680 my Polish Grandma, and at sha dinner was very Jewish. 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.880 They filled the fish, mudzables, you know, roasted chicken all that. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.600 And on Sunday we had a very delicious, amazing lunch 0:14:56.040 --> 0:15:01.880 at my Viennese Grandma, which was dark and then potato 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:08.280 dumplings filled with apricot in sach and linzert and butter cookies. 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:09.400 It was all about butter. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:15.440 Yeah, and better easy to get in Mexico is amazing butter, yeah, interesting, 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:16.360 amazing butter. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.320 Sometimes I buy it from a special very small ranch, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.520 or sometimes I get it from where it comes to bit, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.760 which is France or Denmark, but produce in Mexico, if 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.560 you know where, we're very lucky. Yeah. 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:36.320 I think that there's such an incredible food awareness in 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.000 Mexico City, and I think it can be anything from 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.200 your own restaurants to what you're doing to contram Mar, 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.760 which we went to today, which has probably two hundred 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.680 and fifty people in one room and having wonderful you know, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.440 fish brought to you by waiters who just say yes 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.640 to everything. You know, there's just a wonderful atmosphere to 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.920 a bar that I went to the first night I 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.160 got here, and you had to open what looked like 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.000 a kind of refrigerator door to get downstairs to have 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.520 a thing. It was like prohivision. But it feels on fire. 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:13.560 The Mexican food scene without being with you know, not 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.640 being fashionable. There's a culture of food here that I'm 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.320 so amazed by and moved by. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.840 It is so important for us. It is so important 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:28.160 as family together, as friends together, as couples together. So 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.000 fort is a huge part for where are you going 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.280 for breakfast? What are you doing for lunch? Where are 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.200 you having dinner? It's part of our life. You know, 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:40.760 it's big because I find that you stop your day 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.480 for those moments and you connect with people in those moments. 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.120 And did you go to restaurants with your family or 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.120 so you did, so you'd have those danielsynth thing and 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.400 then you'd go Friday night Shabad, And then when would. 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.960 You go to Saturday when we're young on Saturday? Have 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.480 you been to that movie. Now it's a very typical 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:05.520 fish Spanish restaurant in the city center. You have to go. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.560 It's a classic, okay, So from lobster to big shrimp 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.040 to little clams, and it's a very old, beautiful dining room. 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.440 I'll take you next, Nubio. We went to the Nubio, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:21.720 We went to La Lanna, We went to Chamselice, which 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.840 was like an amazing restaurant. Food was an eaties a 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.240 huge part of our lives. I have four sisters, So 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.320 wherefore we cook big time? 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.600 And is it regional? I know it is regional, so 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.440 I know the answer to that question. So if you're 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.040 in the Yucutan, you'll be eating something very different than 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.240 you would have perhaps in you know, on the Pacific coast. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.439 And if you're on the Pacific coast, you'll have something 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.320 that's quite different from you know, Mexico City or then 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:55.520 the Boa, California, Wahaka. So the regionality of food is 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:57.879 very important in Mexico, isn't it. 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.879 Such a It is because who is from Wahaca is 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.240 very proud from their products and the way they cook 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.199 their chillis. If you go to Puebla, you have a 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.840 certain kind of molley, But if you go to Wahaka, 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.120 you have another morley. Tell me about the two Malays, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.840 you know, they're so different, So listen. In Puebla sweeter. 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.359 In Wahaca is hotter, spicier. And I was just in 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.960 Merida in Casasquila doing an amazing pop up, and I 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:29.240 went to these amazing markets, Ruthie, I cannot even tell 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.520 you what I found, Like a La masorca. 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.480 That's the corn cob. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:43.200 It's burned inside the ground and it's burnt and it's 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:47.320 brown and it's smoky. And I did pick of thee 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.960 with it, and mal is with it, and you can 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.920 do pastory with it. Then it's very regional. 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.720 Can you just tell everyone what malay is. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:03.080 Yes, moley. It's a very thick sauce made with chili nuts, 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.480 tons of spices from cinnamon to chocolate. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.080 Does all malet have chocolate and it. 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:15.560 Not in Wahaca. Yes, a ton in Pevla. Less in Pevla, 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:20.560 more sugar, in Wahaca, more chocolate. And then in Wohaca 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.760 you can find more than twenty thirty forty kinds of moley, 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:30.080 like colorado mariito nero for for pork, for chicken for 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:35.080 Waholote molay. It's a huge thing. Yeah, I love it. 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:37.520 You love it? And do you cook a certain type? 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.359 Do you make all different Puebla? Yeah, I like it 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:41.639 mole sweeter. 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.560 And I went to Puebla like two three months ago 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.639 and I got some beautiful pastes from it and I 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.159 just seas in it. And I do it with chicken 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.879 and white rice and tortillas for my kids, with an 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:58.560 amazing avocado and tomato salad with a cilantro dressing, and 0:19:58.600 --> 0:19:59.240 it's beautiful. 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.800 It's so interesting because as an American, my vision of 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.840 what Mexican food was it was so different from the reality. 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:14.159 It's so refined, it's so subtle and light and about 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:18.919 the ingredients. The markets have the markets changed in the 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:20.399 last many years. 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.320 No, there real ones. No, you know, if I go 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:30.040 to El Mercado in Wohaka and Elmergo Central and Ohaga 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:35.200 La Central de Bastos, Ruthie, it's the same. It's beautiful 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.639 because it has we make sure we keep it the same. 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:41.639 So if we go to the old markets and the 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:46.320 original markets. Yes, if you go to the neighborhoods, maybe 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.320 they come and they want to paint a little bit 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.800 and they take the charm of it. But I was 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.040 in Meridia and I went to three markets, and I 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.760 went to the original market and these one market was 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.000 It took me back one hundred and fifty years ago 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:04.400 in what way, the way that people dress, the way 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.000 that people talk, the ingredients they had, the way they 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:12.159 display it, the freshness. It was the same ass one 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.359 hundred years ago. So we keep them. We want to 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.560 keep the tradition. We want to keep We want to 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:21.560 keep it that way. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.680 Did you know the River Cafe has a shop. It's 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.119 full of our favorite foods and designs. We have cookbooks, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.440 linen napkins, kitchen were toat bags with our signatures, glasses 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.880 from Venice, chocolates from Turin. You can find us right 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.040 next door to the River Cafe in London or online 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:56.320 at shop Therivercafe dot co dot uk. We grew up 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.280 in this family that loved food, love to eat to other, 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:05.560 loved art, loved culture, obviously loved you. What age were 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.800 you when you actually left home this beautiful home. 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.359 Life twenty to get married. 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:12.679 You were married at age twenty, very. 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:16.040 Young, super young. I was very in love with love. Yeah, 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:20.439 so I married super young and I cooked that home, 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:22.919 but I never thought I was going to have a restaurant. 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:24.400 And did you have children very soon? 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:28.399 Yes, at twenty five, I had Michelle, then Carlos and 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:31.320 then and you cooked for them every single day. 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:33.280 Did you have help at doing that? 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:34.520 In Mexico? 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:39.879 It's and again you cooked Italian and Mexican, Mexican food 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.480 and the food of the Jewish culture a lot lot. 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:47.320 Did you have a job did you have as a 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:48.240 graphic designer? 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.280 I started graphic design and I always wanted to work 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.359 all the time. I was like a carrier woman, a 0:22:55.400 --> 0:23:00.199 professional woman. So I said, I have three kids, going 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:01.800 to have a restaurant. I want to be a full 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:06.159 time mom. So I had a very big kitchen with 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:08.920 a big range and a big oven, and I said, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:11.680 I can have supper clubs. So on Tuesdays I gave 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.800 classes in the morning for twenty people and they were 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:20.359 always very liked because it was about comfort food with 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:23.280 a twist. And then at night I had supper clothes. 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.800 We moved to Vancouver. I lived in Vancouver for twelve 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.480 years with three children. With three children, and it was 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:33.840 huge to work from six o'clock in the morning to 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:36.760 three when I picked them up and then prepare for 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:38.480 supper clubs on Thursdays. 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:42.320 So you came back from Vancouver to Mexico yesterday. 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:45.520 I came back with Eduardo and I started to work 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:49.679 for a guy that had twelve restaurants and he needed 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:53.160 somebody that he can really rely on. And then one 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:55.240 day my kids sat with me and I said, Mom, enough, 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:57.439 I think you need to do your restaurant. And I 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:00.560 said what And I said, Mom, do your dream die 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:02.720 without your dream? And I said no. 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.800 So you started with did you have an investment? How 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:06.760 did you start? 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:10.400 I started by partnering with the door of my son, 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:13.920 because we share the same passion in a very deep, deep, 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:20.200 deep level. And then from day one I put my intention. 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:23.960 I found that beautiful old building that bottom part of 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:30.240 the street tree Line street off reforma between a lane. 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:34.320