WEBVTT - Paul McCartney 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.080 Welcome to River Cafe Table four, a production of iHeartRadio 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:05.800 and Adami Studios. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.000 I'm sorry, I think I'm going to sneeze. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:11.600 This is River Cafe Table four. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.720 I always managed to sneeze, like on telephone calls. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.239 With me Ruthie Rogers. 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.120 I don't think I've ever sneezed on a podcast. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.720 On River Cafe Table four. I talked to friends who 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:30.000 know the River Cafe well about food, the food they cook, 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.640 the food they eat, the food of their memories. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:37.320 Do you know what I feel? 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.800 It receding, Oh no, I wanted to hear Paul McCartney sneeze. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.120 That would have been don't worry, it may come, and 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.519 when it comes, I can do up to nine. I 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.040 warn you for me. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.040 Paul is not just a great musician, but a great 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.840 lover of food. And one of my favorite possessions is 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.360 a photograph that Paul recently sent me of him and 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.440 his grandson with a plate of tomato pasta they had 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:03.360 just cooked. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:05.600 They were both so proud. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:12.240 Cooking in Liverpool in my working class family was very 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:17.200 much how everyone else ate, so there was not much variety, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.480 and it was only when I came down to London 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.320 when the Beatles came down here to make records and 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.200 eventually to live down here. That you would go to 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:33.520 fine restaurants and try and navigate your way through the menu. 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.800 The eating was pretty much fuel until I got down 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:44.000 to London. I mean, for instance, I hated wine because well, 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:46.160 we never had it. I mean, the nearest we came 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.919 to alcoholic beverages was when we were a little older 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.080 on a Sunday with the Sunday lunch, we would have 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.880 a glass of cider. That was it. But whenever I 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:02.960 tasted wine, I hated it. And I hitchhiked to Paris. 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.960 He got given a fabulous birthday present by his rich 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.560 relatives in Scotland, and one of them gave him one 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.160 hundred pounds for his birthday. You know. I mean, I 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.160 still think that's a reasonable gift. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.040 It's very reasonable, one hundred quid. 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:25.000 I have it anyway, So we hitchhiked to Paris, and 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.480 then we used the money to get food and stuff, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.880 and we thought, oh, we've got to have a wine experience. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.000 We're in France, you know. So we went into a 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.840 cafe corner cafe, and we sort of sidled up to 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:45.040 the bar and said, do van ordinaire ciavou Play, and 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.679 she gave us two glasses of red wine and we 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:54.000 took a sip and thought, oh, that is terrible. It's 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.120 like vinegar. God, I don't know what the fuss is 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.920 about all these people going on about wine. They're crazy, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.919 We're saying. So. We never liked wine till we got 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.480 down to London. And the first time I ever remember 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.000 really liking wine it was with George Martin. My girlfriend 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.920 at the time was Jane Asher, and Jane and I 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.080 went out with George and his wife, Judy, and we 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.720 went to a little restaurant in Charlotte Street called Latroale. 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:25.639 I probably never remember that. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.600 Yeah, I was treating so the way to the wine waiter, 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.800 Somelia came up to me and said, would you like 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.760 a wine? Sir? He leaned in all very intimate, and 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.920 I sort of equally whispering. I said, I'd like you 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.280 to recommend to me. I don't know much about wine. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.560 Said oh, yes, sir, thank you very much, leave it 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.920 to me, and then he brought back a bottle of 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:55.520 Louis Latour's court Aunt Graci nineteen fifty nine, and I 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.160 took a taste of it. Oh, it was like velvet, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.760 was it. I thought, now I get it, and I 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:04.760 see why people go crazy about one. And it was 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.520 funny because years after that, I thought, Okay, got on 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.800 grant Sye nineteen fifty nine. That's the wine I've got 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.840 to order. And then years later I thought it was 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.160 not quite as good as the one I had, and 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.919 I realized that I was now ordering the fifty nine 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.560 and this was now ten twenty years later, whereas he 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.800 was serving it at five years. Yeah, it took a 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:30.400 little while for that penny to drop. 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.120 This is River Cafe Table four. In each episode, my 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.479 guess reads a recipe they've chosen from one of our cookbooks. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.240 And this is the recipe for roast aubergine. So the 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.960 Americans call eggplant. For any Americans listening, okay, So you 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:56.960 take two aubergines cut into two centimeter thick slices, eight 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:02.000 ripe plum tomatoes cut in haw then one hundred grams 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:09.360 of parmesan grated, two tablespoons of basil leaves torn into 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:14.920 small pieces, extra virgin olive oil. You place the aubergine 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.520 in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Leave for 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.039 half an hour. The pat dry preheat the oven to 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:29.360 two hundred degrees celsius. Squeeze the juice from the tomatoes 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.599 and chop into small pieces. Place the tomatoes in a bowl, 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.080 season well with salt and pepper and tossed with a 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:42.839 tablespoonful of olive oil. Then stare in the parmesan and basil. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.839 Brush an ovenproof dish with olive oil. Place the aubergine 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:52.080 slices on the dish, brush with olive oil and season. 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.000 Bake for fifteen minutes, then turn them over and spoon 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.159 the tomato mixture on top. Return into the oven for 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:08.120 five minutes. Serve warm, or they're also delicious at room temperature. 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:15.040 Thank you, beautiful. Why did you choose this recipe? 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:19.760 It's just one of my favorite dishes. Being vegetarian. In 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:24.960 some restaurants, there's limited options. Not in the River Cafe, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.520 but you know certain restaurants it's a bit limited, but 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.960 they often have an eggplant or aubergin parmesan. So I 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.719 will go for that, and I love it and I 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.839 eat it at home. It's just a great dish. It's 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:41.719 comforting when. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.440 You were growing up where they have a lot of 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:44.800 variety vegetables. 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.240 Did you come across are we going to call them 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.040 eggplant in this conversation? 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:49.440 I should? 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.960 So many words aren't there for this vegetable. I remember 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:54.640 when I first came to London. I went into a 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.960 green grocer and I asked for eggplant and he brought 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.000 me out eggs, and then I said, no, I don't 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.080 on eggs, and he brought me out a plant, you know, 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.520 And then I realized that they called them by the 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.560 French name Aubergean's, and then an Italian it smelon sata. 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.160 How do you want to refer to them? 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.680 Let's do aberging because that's what I let's do. 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.200 Okay, So tell me about Aberjean's in Liverpool. 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.320 You didn't get them. I've never heard of them till 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.760 I came down to London. Really yeah, I mean vegetables 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:28.520 would be potatoes, yeah, carrots, onion, and then you would 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.840 get broad beans, which we call butter beans. I like 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.640 them to this day. I like a nice butter bean soup. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.800 So yeah, but it was very limited, and that would 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.360 be with a piece of meat. It was a pretty 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.400 bland menu that we had. 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.080 Who did the cooking in your house? 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:47.760 My mom? 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:49.920 Tell me about your mom? Did she like cooking? 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:51.760 Do you think or did she see it as a 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.200 duty to do she did. 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.720 She have a job she did. She was a nurse, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.520 so she worked full on. Then she became a sister 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.320 on the word, and then eventually she became a midwife. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.760 So she was hard working. I think she enjoyed cooking. 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.640 But I'm sure there was a little bit of providing 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.200 for your family in there, you know, because in those 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.360 days there was no question about it. Really it was 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.000 the woman's role. I would do a little bit myself 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.720 sometimes because my mom unfortunately died when I was fourteen, 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.280 so there was my dad and me and my younger 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:33.520 brother left to look after ourselves. Sometimes I'd get home 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.880 from school before my dad would from work, and I'd 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.920 have to knock up a little bit of a meal. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:42.760 I became very good at mashed potatoes. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:44.840 What was your technique do you remember? 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.840 Yeah, I mean these days it's probably like over the 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.920 top and would need to be a little bit health aarized. 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:57.000 But then I would mash them normally with a fork 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.520 so we didn't have many cooking implements, and mashed them 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.720 up till I got all the lumps out. And I 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.840 was very keen on that. Then I would pile in. 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.000 A lot of butter, yea delicious. 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.560 A little bit of milk, and then whip that little 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.760 soccer up. And then sometimes if I was trying to 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:26.240 be exotic, I'd put some finely chopped onions raw, which 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:26.960 is kind of nice. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.880 I'd say that that is a very sophisticated way. I 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.400 mean that is, we always say that mashed potatoes and 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.240 France are really butter with potatoes. You know, did your 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.800 mother teach you how to do that or was it instinctive? 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.080 I think I probably just watched her do it. So 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.040 I would make that, and then my dad would leave 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:49.600 either some sausages or chops to go with it. That 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.400 was basically it. But yeah, you know, my mum was 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:56.640 a proper cook. The only time I really couldn't eat 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.720 what she had cooked and what she'd offered on the 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:04.840 table on a plate, there was a tongue, and I 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.520 did not like the look of this bloody grate cow's tongue. 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.319 I was not persuaded to eat that. I'm afraid. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:14.600 When you said that your dad would leave you the 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.000 sausages of the pork so he would do the shopping. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.000 Did he have a night job, would he come home 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:19.439 for dinner. 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:19.640 No. 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.079 He was a cotton salesman, so he worked just during 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.880 the day. He would leave roughly the same time as 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.760 we left for school, so he would sell cotton it 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.040 came in from the port and then he would sell 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:36.559 that onto the mills which were behind Liverpool in Lancashire. 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.680 That was a big industry at the time to this day, 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.840 I know how to take the staple of some raw cotton? 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:44.360 Do you? 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:45.240 How do you do that? 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.720 You've got a piece of cotton that's you know, just 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.720 come off the bush and being packed, and you take 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.640 it between your thumbs and you tease it, and you 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.840 keep teasing it till you all you're left with is 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:04.000 the one bit that won't tease off. That thing that's left, 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.280 the thread that's left is called the staple. And you 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.040 judge the quality of the cotton on the length of 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:10.720 that staple. 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.120 That's very beautiful. What year would this have been? What 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:14.920 years have we time? 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:26.520 In mid fifties, so I was coming to London a 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.600 huge exposure to food and to restaurants and going out. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:36.480 Yeah, absolutely, I mean in Liverpool there weren't till my knowledge, 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:41.000 any real sort of fine restaurants. You had great Chinese food, 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.520 great Indian food, but the English cooking was normally done 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.480 best at home. Yes, you know you had an ante 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.640 or somebody who was like really made a great stew 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.680 in Liverpool. There's a stew that's called scouse. 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:55.640 What's that? 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.640 It's like an Irish stew sort of everything in and 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.079 then you years later, when Linda and I became vegetarian, 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.280 we went up and my Auntie was very nice, very kind, 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.360 and she made scouts without the meat, which Liverpolitan is 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:11.839 called blind scouse. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:13.640 It. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.440 I'm sure you've written and talked about this, but how 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:21.400 did the decision by the two of you? And Mary 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.520 said to me, you must remember that my father and 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:26.160 my mother decided this together. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.400 It wasn't my mother's that's true. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.440 We will be vegetarian, said it was a joint decision, 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.199 which now everybody I have to say is thinking about 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.600 the environment. All my children and grandchildren are either not 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:38.840 eating meat or fish at all. 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.280 Goodness, so thinking about the environment exactly. 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.839 But what were you thinking about then? What made you 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:45.360 do that? 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:50.119 What it was was we were on the farm in Scotland. 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.120 We had a farm in a place called Campbelltown, which 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:58.040 is south down the Argyle Peninsula south of Glasgow, so 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.079 we spent quite a bit of time there. The Beatles 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.840 break up got a bit heavy in the business scene 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.160 and you just couldn't deal with it. So we decided 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.120 to just elope, even though we were married. We just 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.559 escaped there and it was just a sheep farm. We 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:17.280 were looking out of the kitchen window one day and 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.080 there were lambs. It was lambing season, early in spring, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.480 and the lambs were gambling around so full of life, 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.800 and it was like, wow, this is really cool. And 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.160 I always say that what they seemed like they were doing, 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.880 it would be about twenty of them. They'd start at 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.520 one end of the field and then it'd be as 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.120 if someone said let's go and they all go and 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.000 run to the other side of the field. Let's go back. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.840 So they were just running up and down, gambling and 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.520 jumping and everything were going, isn't this cute and great? 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.320 Then we suddenly realized we were eating leg of lamb. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.560 So that was when the penny dropped and it was 0:13:55.600 --> 0:14:00.440 like h leg of lamb. Then it was just we said, 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.440 you know what, do we try and not eat meat? 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.079 We try and go veggie. And in those days of course, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.360 it was actually difficult, but we decided that we'd make 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.240 it a challenge. It just became a fun challenge. Okay, 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.400 what do you do? So we gradually begun filling the 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.000 hole in the middle of the plate. We'd keep everything 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.200 else and then we'd just work on things to take 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.000 the place of where the meat had been. And it 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.680 was quite funny actually, because at Christmas, you know, I'd 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.640 always loved the role which I had been given in 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:40.000 the family of carving the turkey, and Linda did cook 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.360 the turkey great. She was really good at that. So 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.600 suddenly here we were without anything for me to carve. 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.440 So she had the brilliant idea of making a macaroni 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.920 cheese so that we know it to taste good, and 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:57.160 then she let it cool and go solid, and then 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.480 we put it in the fridge overnight, and then the 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.160 next day I had this big block that I could 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.960 come into turkey sized portions. So it was like that. 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:12.120 It actually became very interesting to work out how to 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.400 do it because nobody else was bothering, you know. I 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:20.240 remember going with Linda's father one night to clarages and thinking, oh, great, 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:21.960 you know they're going to know how to do it. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.400 We said, well, where'd you turn? Can you make some suggestions? 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:29.120 The waiter gave us a very sniffy look and said anyway. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.800 He came back with a plate of vegetables steamed. Yeah, 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.880 that was the limit of his imagination. But you know, 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.240 things started to change really quickly. 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.840 But I think, Paul, without interrupting you, that you have 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.960 to take credit for that change. Linda, have to take 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:48.400 credit for that change, because you didn't just personally become vegetarian, 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.160 but you kind of told the world about what it 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:53.760 was like and how it was like, especially you know, 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.720 with her books and her vision created a place. I'll 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.000 tell you a story. Do you remember there was that 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:03.200 restaurant called Crack. It was like the only vegetarian restaurant 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:04.320 in London. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:05.800 It was, and I thought it was very cool the 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.000 way they called it cranks. 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.800 And I once went there with Richard the first days 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:11.680 that I met him, and I was so happy to 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.000 see him, and I kept kissing him and having my 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.200 arms around him, and I saw a woman staring at 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.720 us and getting very annoyed, and so of course I 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.280 just did it more. She came over to the table 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:24.280 and she said, I think that what you've been doing 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.160 is appalling, but that you should be doing it in 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.240 a vegetarian restaurant. 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:29.880 Makes it worse. 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.840 It was somehow the idea that you couldn't be sexy 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.880 and have vegetables. So I think I think you could 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.760 say that you and Linda made vegetables sexy and rock 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:44.240 and roll. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.000 It was something very important. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.520 That is funny though, isn't it. It used to come 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.560 with the territory that if people were veggie, they were cranks, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.520 and therefore they were boring, and so it gave this 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.840 image of the whole thing being really boring. The people 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.119 are boring, there's no kissing allowed. Yeah, you know, but 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.000 that soon left the arena. 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.159 Were you unique in the group of musicians and the 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.040 other people that were performing at the in the sixties. 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.439 Did they have the same explosion of food and enjoy 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.480 of food or do you think you were kind of 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:19.720 more passionate about it. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:21.919 I don't know, you know, I think a lot of 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.240 them did, a lot of them didn't. Some people remained 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.560 traditional eaters. I mean, you know, the a couple of 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.560 people these days I know who were from those times 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.280 who just want English cooking. You know, it's just like 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.080 they want life to stay exactly the same as it was, 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.200 and I get it. You know, it kind of split 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.480 into two groups. I suppose, you know, the people who 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:48.240 weren't bothered with all that rubbishy wine and fine food. 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.680 They probably still thought it tastes like vinegar. 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.800 But when you travel, when you were on tour and 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.359 you were suddenly traveling in other countries, do you remember 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.679 being in Japan or China or an exotic place and 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.720 being confronted with food that you'd never seen before. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.359 Never Japan mainly. I mean, I haven't actually been to China, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:12.359 but Japan was quite an experience. I like Japanese food 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.920 these days because I'm vegetarian. A lot of it's a 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.040 bit fishy for me, but you can work your way 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.399 around it. I enjoy Japanese cuisine. I like sort of 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:26.280 Asian fusion. It didn't really mean that we would have 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.600 it at home. It was more when you went to 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:33.880 the country, you'd enjoy the food of that particular country. 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.760 And you've just done a book, haven't you tell me 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.840 about Linda McCartney's family Kitchen. 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.600 Yeah, we wanted to take a lot of her cooking 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.639 ideas and bring them more up to date. With the 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.040 way people tend to eat. Now it's vegetarian, but we 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.800 decided to actually make it vegan. Vegetarians so near to 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.960 be in anyway. I mean, you're only talking about cheese 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.760 and dairy products. You know that you've got so many 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.800 substitutes for those these days. So yeah, we just wanted 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.520 to get some really tasty, easy to make dishes that 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.320 would be good for a family, because I think if 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.760 you say to people, well, I'm vegetarian. These days actually 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.120 it is not so shocking, but it used to be 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.440 people say, oh, if you're coming to dinner, what can 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.120 I do? What can I get you? You know, So 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:33.119 that was originally why Linda got together a cookbook. So 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.359 it's nice to have come through it, really, you know, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.080 it puts a perspective on it for us that it 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.280 was the kind of thing where you're getting told off 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.880 for kids in a restaurant, and nowadays it's just the opposite. Yeah, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:47.760 you know, I'll tell you a restaurant I like a 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.120 lot is ABCV. 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:50.200 In New York. 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:56.800 Yeah, ABC is great. I forget the guy's name, Jean Pierre, George, George, 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:00.920 that's it. Yeah, And he made ABC, which good, but 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:06.040 ABCV is all veggie and so good. I always come 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.720 out of that having eaten too much. And the other 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.760 thing I like is that the waiters they're all very 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.520 invested in the idea. It really is kind of quite thrilling, 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.160 you know. And I sort of transport myself through time 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.440 back to play the vege of lounges through to modern day. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.320 I interviewed al Gore and again, like you not a musician, 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.520 but a very good politician and a very good environmentalist. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.640 And you know, it's hard to break the connection. 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.439 Between what we are, what our politics are, and what 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:41.920 our view on sustainability and how we vote, how we think, 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.400 how we judge, and how we eat. 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:45.480 You know, that is. 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.760 It's all connecting now, isn't it. And I think that's 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:51.720 so interesting. You have a farm. Al Gore has made 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.880 his farm, he inherited it in Tennessee, and he's made 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.960 it completely sustainable and organic. And the change the soil 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.119 tell us about your fine. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.480 Yeah, well I was this organic, went organic well over 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:08.639 twenty years ago. And when I first bought the farm, 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:13.160 there were some fields that my farm guys would say, well, 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.920 there's no worms in these fields, there's no life because 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.480 basically all you did was you put on pesticides and 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:23.879 then you put a fertilizer in. So I thought, okay, 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.200 that's the challenge. You know, we're going to go organic. 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.120 So I talked to the Soil Association, who were very 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.240 good and kind of came and gave us some clues. 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:37.119 And we went organic. And the local farmers would say, oh, 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.440 you know, you're stupid. You're doing there. You know, it's 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.840 no use. Of course, nowadays they get it and they think, oh, 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.959 it's a good idea. So yeah, we changed the soil. 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:51.919 We grow crops like I like doing things like spelt wheat, 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.880 just because it's a little bit different. Rye. We grow peas. 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.320 Actually we're just getting into growing hemp. You know. The 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:04.480 funny thing is with government regulations, you've got to keep 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:08.440 it where people can't see it. You get all the 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:10.640 kids coming in and robbing it. 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.800 You've left something else out. Because Stella told me that 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:15.960 you're making your own hair. 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:18.840 Yeah, we do. Through the years, I would hear like 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.280 a neighbor would be selling some land that was next 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.439 door to ours. So I went to this one and 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:28.320 I said, I hear you selling that hop garden there, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:30.760 and he said, yeah, you know anyway, So long story 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:33.920 should I've got it. And then I thought, well, I've 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.399 got to start doing hops. You know, I've got to 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.560